The Blackhouse (The Lewis Trilogy, 1) - Softcover

May, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 162365999X ISBN 13: 9781623659998

Publisher: Quercus, 2014

Synopsis

The first book in an enthralling mystery series from award-winning author Peter May.

"A WRITER I WOULD FOLLOW TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH." --Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
"SHINES WITH INTRIGUE AND SUPERB PLOTTING." --USA Today

Every step toward solving the case brings Scottish detective Fin Macleod closer to a dangerous confrontation with the dark events of the past that shaped--and nearly destroyed--his life.

When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on mainland Scotland, Edinburgh detective and native of the Isle of Lewis Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.

As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs assert their grip on his psyche.

About this title

About the Author:

An award-winning journalist at 21 in his native Scotland, Peter May's first novel was adapted for television and he left newspapers at the age of 26 for a career as a screenwriter. He created three prime-time British drama series, and accrued more than 1000 television credits before quitting TV to return to writing novels. He is the author of The Lewis Trilogy, The Enzo Files and The China Thillers as well as several standalone books. May has won several literature awards in France where he now lives, and The Blackhouse won the U.S. Barry Award for Best Mystery Novel of 2013. He is the only Westerner to become an honorary member of the Chinese Crime Writers' Association.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Scottish novelist May (whose series include the Enzo Files, starring a Scottish forensic scientist working in France) starts a projected trilogy, again with a Scottish sleuth, with a shotgun blast of a debut. Two bodies are found hanging from trees: one in Edinburgh, the other on the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly isle in the Outer Hebrides. Edinburgh cop Fin Macleod, originally from Lewis, is assigned to the case for no more reason than that he speaks Gaelic. Two narratives vie with each other. One involves Macleod’s struggles with confronting people whom he left behind years ago. The other, which eventually informs the first, is Macleod’s first-person memories of his life on the island. The reader knows that Macleod, against all odds, overcame poverty and bad schooling to win a spot at the University of Glasgow and that he threw it all away in his sophomore year and became a cop, a decision he’s regretted ever since. The two narratives are brilliantly executed until they converge in an absolute stunner of an ending. The isolation and desolation of Lewis is an apt metaphor for Macleod. For once in crime fiction, a detective confronting demons from his past is not merely a stock plot device. May gives it an urgency that, by novel’s end, makes perfect sense. A gripping plot, pitch-perfect characterization, and an appropriately bleak setting drive this outstanding series debut. --Connie Fletcher

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 162365999X
• ISBN 13: 9781623659998
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 501