The Black House
by Peter May
ISBN:
9781623659988
An August, 2014
release
from Quercus
The Outer
Hebridies lie off the Northwestern shores of Scotland. One of the northernmost
islands is named Lewis Island. At the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis is
the port of Ness and the town of Butt. They lie north of 59 degrees north
latitude at the very edge of the European continent. Lewis Island, setting for
the novel, is an isolated place of almost two thousand square miles and 26,000
souls.
Ruins on the
island indicate settlements going back thousands of years. The inhabitants are
farmers or crofters and they also harvest peat. It is from this setting the
author’s latest protagonist arises, Fin McLeod is a policeman with Edinburgh
Law Enforcement. He’s investigating a brutal murder involving substantial
desecration of the body when word arrives of a similar murder in Butt. McLeod
was born and raised in the town so it’s logical that he should be sent to the
Isle of Lewis to try to determine if there is a connection between the two
killings.
Angus (Angel)
Murdo has long been the town bully and Fin well-recalls his youthful
confrontations with the man. But Angel Murdo has been found murdered and
partially disembowled, hanging from a rafter in a shed near the harbor. McLeod
is seen as an interloper by local police and he’s uncomfortable in the role.
It’s also been nearly two decades since he’s been home.
The novel moves
back and forth in time as Fin McLeod interacts with people and locations from
his past while searching for the killer of a man McLeod disliked. The novel is
packed with emotional scenes of recollection, physical action and reaction. The
author is skilled, the pace of the novel is relentless and it’s a wonderful
reading experience leading to a not-unexpected conclusion. Yet this reviewer
wished at times for a little more relief from the gloom and depression and I
wonder about just how personal this novel, in a long run of highly accomplished
books, might be.
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