When a brutal murder on the island bears the hallmarks of a similar slaying in Edinburgh, police detective Fin Macleod is dispatched north to investigate.īut since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past.Įach year the island’s men perform the hunting of the gugas, a savage custom no longer necessary for survival, but which they cling to even more fiercely in the face of the demands of modern morality.įor Fin the hunt recalls a horrific tragedy, which after all this time may have begun to demand another sacrifice. The Isle of Lewis is the most remote, harshly beautiful place in Scotland, where the difficulty of existence seems outweighed only by people’s fear of God.īut older, pagan values lurk beneath the veneer of faith, the primal yearning for blood and revenge. It is the first of a series of three books, and although it works perfectly well as a standalone, I intend to continue with the series.Get FREE worldwide delivery of THE BLACKHOUSE from The Book Depository Rather than spoil the plot, which contains a number of nice twists and surprises along with a very satisfying conclusion, I recommend you get and read the book yourself.Įvaluation: This fine example of “Tartan Noir” won a number of literary awards I could see why. Both the setting and the murder victim bring back traumatic events that still give Macleod nightmares, forcing him to come to grips both with what happened to him in the past, and what is happening now on this desolate island.
Thus, Detective Sergeant Finlay (Fin) Macleod of the Edinburgh police force, who grew up on that remote island and left it 18 years before, is sent to Lewis from Edinburgh to investigate. He also includes a map and a pronunciation guide for the Gaelic names in the story.Ī gruesome murder is committed on the Isle of Lewis that seems like it might be related to a similar murder on the mainland.
May replicates the atmosphere exactly as we remember experiencing it. My wife and I have been to Scotland twice and have been exposed to Gaelic (pronounced in Scotland as “Gahlik”) culture and language. Peter May is an excellent writer, and the setting of this book (the northernmost of the Outer Hebrides Islands of Scotland – a “godforsaken bloody place”) alone makes it worth reading. The Blackhouse begins as an interesting Scottish (like the Irish, a genre unto themselves) police procedure novel, which evolves into a complex study in character, and concludes as a well-wrought thriller.
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