The Blackhouse: Book One of the Lewis Trilogy
As seen:
By Peter May, and and, Peter Forbes
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1 review
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. But older, pagan values lurk beneath the veneer of faith, the primal yearning for blood and revenge. 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. But since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past. Each 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. For Fin the hunt recalls a horrific tragedy, which after all this time may have begun to demand another sacrifice. The Blackhouse is a crime novel of rare power and vision. Peter May has crafted a page-turning murder mystery that explores the darkness in our souls, and just how difficult it is to escape the past.
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Most of our group absolutely loved this book. It was well-written, fast paced, and had a strong sense of place. The alternation between detective Fin McLeod’s childhood and the present day gave a strong feeling for island life, and all episodes from his childhood were relevant to the eventual denouement. The guga hunt was so well-written that you could visualise the geography of the island and feel the fear as the men inched their way up and down the cliffs. One member found it formulaic, but all the rest thought it was the best book they’d read for a long time (many having read it when it first came out, but enjoyed it just as much the second time around). Highly recommended!
