Review: The Lewis Man by Peter May

Publisher: Quercus Books
Rating: 5*

Peter May's THE LEWIS MAN is the second book in the Lewis Island Trilogy set on the islands of Lewis and Harris, the largest in an archipelago of islands off the west coast of Scotland.  The islands are made up of beautiful hilly terrain, machair (fertile grassy plains), and bogs and they stand proud, weathering the harsh north-sea winds and deep cold winters. The islanders are hardworking people and they make a living out of harvesting peat from the bogs.  On one such day of hard work, the people digging in the bogs find a human body.  It is initially thought to be thousands of years old because peat preserves bodies from decay, but when a modern tattoo is discovered on the arm, the police realise they have a murder investigation on their hands.  DNA links the corpse to an old man, Tormod Macdonald, but Tormod, now suffering from dementia, is believed to have been an only child with no known relatives.

Fin Macleod, recently retired from the Lothian & Borders CID, following the death of his son Robbie in a hit-and-run accident and his subsequent divorce, has returned to his native island and his parents’ ruined croft. He involves himself in the investigation because Tormod’s daughter, Marsaili, was his first love, and he is indeed, as we soon guess, the father of her son, Fionnlagh.

And so we set on a long path of discovery into the past, following Fin Macleod in his investigation, with flashes of viewpoint into the childhood memories of Tormod in interspersed chapters.  We learn of the dark history of the island's past in which Tormod and two other children cling together as orphans and support and carry each other through dark times.  There are many touching scenes as they find love and courage to face the harshness of society around them.  Tormod loves the islands and the seas and he hates the modern double glazing that now locks him away from the sounds of the winds and the seas that make him feel alive.

It is only nominally a crime novel in that the discovery of the body in the peat bogs sets the story going.  It is more a beautifully written ode and a homage to these beautiful islands and the proud, hardy people who live on them.  The language is atmospheric and nostalgic, weaving the islands' landscapes and the characters' lives together into an inseparably infused whole.  Even when the islanders leave the island, they carry it as a part of themselves as Fin does, and it calls them back.  The islanders understand each other instinctively in a way outsiders cannot and it is a place of healing for Fin who finds comfort from the tragedy of his son's death and a deeper love with Marsaili and his long lost son by her.

There is a rare glimpse of humour in naming the book Lewis Man, but the characters we come to love suffer terribly through their lives and the book is full of pathos.  It is only in the end that they find well deserved happiness and joy.

Follow this link to learn more of the islands and the books. (Note you have to scroll down and turn the 3 Scottish and BBC radio broadcasts that play simultaneously off first.)

Below, Lewis island landscapes.

Bookstore Links: Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones  |  WH Smith

Reviewed for MCT by Jac Wright.

A restored croft village.

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Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

Publisher: Quercus Books (Hachette)
Rating: 4*

The concept of this story completely drew me in. It starts with disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his journey to clear his name. Now this book has a lot going on, so of course in order to clear his name he has to first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. In the course of his investigation he enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius and researcher extraordinaire.

Does he solve the disappearance? Will he clear his name? Will he ever eat anything other than a sandwich?

Things I learned about Sweden from this book:

Swedish people only eat sandwiches. Throughout the book the characters eat sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes even as a snack. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t want to look at a sandwich. I wish the author had included some authentic Swedish food in the food as a filler as opposed to all the different sandwiches one can eat.

Swedish people also like their coffee. I have never read about so much coffee drinking in one book in my life! All those giant Tea manufacturing multinational companies out there, Sweden is an untapped market!

You might think that if my biggest problem with this book is the food they eat, then the book isn’t doing too bad a job. And it wasn’t. Until I got to the relationship between Blomkvist and Berger and of course all the shrugging off of rape.

Perhaps Blomkvist and Berger’s relationship won’t be an issue for a lot of people, but to me it just seems in the same realm as unicorns and nymphs.

I loved Salander as a character personally. It’s hard not to fall in love with a genius antisocial minx, but I managed. I adore how she refuses to be a victim and is a genuinely strong female character. Maybe I am not supposed to agree with how she acted out against her guardian, but I think she was being far too nice. I thought the story as a whole was interesting and yes I am a fan of stories that have neat little endings in theory, if not in practice.

I know this book is a translation, and I don’t particularly care for translated books because the writing comes off as too stilted and awkward. And I know that a lot of readers thought that the language in this book was stilted and awkward, but trust me, when you read a truly badly translated book, you will be willing to forgive a lot! I speak from experience. So I was a bit wary of this but really for me it has turned out to be quite well written.

There are a lot of different story threads in this book, something that a majority of people did not like but personally I loved. It kept me engaged and interested throughout.

Bookstore Links: Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones  |  WH Smith

Reviewed for MCT by Celeste M.

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Review: Trust No One by Paul Cleave

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Rating: 4*

Jerry Grey is a bestselling crime author. Writing under a pseudonym of Henry Cutter, his twelve novels have thrilled readers and granted a comfortable life to him and his family. Jerry is hard at work on his thirteenth book when he forgets his wife's name at a party. This seems like a simple slip of the mind, but soon he becomes more and more forgetful. Finally, he agrees to see a doctor who gives Jerry an unexpectedly grim diagnosis. At the young age of forty-nine, Jerry Grey has the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

Fast forward a year and Jerry's descent into dementia has reached a dismal low. His wife Sandra has left him. His daughter rarely visits him and refuses to call him Dad. Abandoned by his family and barely able to remember his past, Jerry finds himself in the care of a nursing home. As his malady continues to ravage his mind, Jerry begins to confuse his own actions with those of the characters he used to write about. He used the Henry Cutter pseudonym as a way to separate the horrors he wrote about from the joys of his family life, but now the two are indistinguishable. Most days find Jerry confused and confessing to murders that took place in his novel.

Jerry has a habit of wandering from the facility in the night. When he is found, he is disoriented and has no recollection of how he escaped or what he did during the time he was gone. The situation becomes more dire when the police show up at Jerry's nursing home. It is no secret that Jerry has confessed to crimes from his novels, but now he has confessed to the murder of a girl who actually existed. Worse, her murder occurred on a night when Jerry escaped. Jerry is certain that he is not a killer, but he has no memory of the events of that night. With no alibi and a group of police seeking any closure to the case, Jerry struggles to defend his innocence and maintain his grasp on reality.

The novel switches back and forth between the past and present. The past is told through Jerry's "Madness Journal" that he started keeping at the start of his diagnosis. He knew that his memory would begin to fail, so he wrote the journal to inform his future self of his life. These journal entries alternate with the story of present day Jerry and his ongoing mental decline. As the novel progresses, The past and present begin to come together and culminate in a electrifying conclusion. The mystery ends up being conventional to the crime genre, but the spin of an unreliable protagonist helps to keep the plot moving and the suspense tightly wound. Trust No One is an adequately dark thriller that skilfully breathes new life into the genre while adhering to the style that readers have come to expect.

Bookstore Links: Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones 

Reviewed for MCT by Ethan S.

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Review: Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

Publisher: Bookoutour
Rating: 4*

Very few books drive me to write reviews as soon as I'm done reading them, either because they stir very strong feelings of irritation and dislike or because they are so absolutely brilliant. Silent Scream is definitely one of the latter.

Silent Scream is one of those detective murder mysteries in the vein of Karin Slaughter. It’s realistic but not overly gritty, with a main character that is flawed but in a way that is so easy to relate to as to be likeable.

Set in the United Kingdom, D.I. Kim Stone is on the trail of a murderer, this is soon complicated when remains are unearthed near Crestwood, a former children's care home. The author manages to bring to light the hardships faced by children in the care system and at the same time shows the effect on someone who has had similar experiences without having the main character coming off as overbearing and whiny.

Now I adore mystery, I have read a lot of mystery books, so many in fact that I don’t even remember them all. A lot are predictable, it is hard to find something that is not, and this book was not only completely not predictable but that last twist still blew my mind even when I figured it out a little before the author could tell me what happened. And when I say a little before I mean 2 pages before!

So if you like whodunnits and even if you don’t but want to read something in this genre, do yourself a favour and read this.

Well executed, brilliantly done and I cannot wait to read the next one.

Bookstore Links:  Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones

Reviewed for MCT by Celeste M.

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Review: I'll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton

Publisher: Kensington Books
Rating: 4.5*

Love hurts, and sometimes it kills.

He promised to kill her. One night four years ago, Leah Carson's husband almost succeeded. Philip stabbed her twenty-three times before fleeing. The police are sure he's dead. But fear won't let Leah believe it.

It starts with little things. Missing keys. A flat tire. Mysterious flowers. All easily explained away if the pattern wasn't so terrifyingly familiar. Leah has a new veterinary practice and a new life with no ties to her nightmare. But Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent Alex Morgan suspects something. And when another woman's body is found, stabbed twenty-three times, Leah knows her past has found her. As Leah and Alex untangle the horrifying truth, he watches her, ready for the perfect moment. Until death—that was the vow they made. And a killer always keeps his word…

A fantastic read. I won't be happy now until I've read every single book in Mary Burton's backlist!

Dark and thrilling, I'll Never Let You Go had me awake until late into the wee hours, not being able to let it go until I reached the end. 

It is atmospheric and full of suspense. The author pulls no punches with killing off her characters and there is a real sense of danger and terror enveloping the story. I loved that the romantic side of the plot, although evident, was placed firmly in the sidelines to allow the suspense and the drama to take centre stage. 

From the opening chapter, I developed a liking for and attachment to Leah who had to suffer and survive domestic abuse, stalking as well as having to make a slow trek back from death's door after a horrifying attempt on her life. I inwardly cheered for her as she got her life back together and made new friends. I liked Alex as well despite his emotional detachment from people. His professionalism and genuine concern for Leah won me over fairly quickly.

The mystery and suspense unfolded with many twists and turns. I thought very early into the novel that I had a good idea of how the story would go, but I was wrong! I was not expecting the twists that occurred and I was genuinely as surprised as the characters were themselves at the turn of events towards the end of the novel.

Bookstore Links:  Amazon.com  |  Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones  |  WH Smith

Reviewed for MCT by Cailin.

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Review: LITTLE BLACK LIES by Sharon Bolton

Publisher: Minotaur Books, Macmillan
Rating: 4.5*

After finishing this, I don’t know whether I need a nap or a stiff drink. If you’ve read the author’s Lacey Flint series, you know she’s a master of creating dark, gripping stories with complex and sympathetic characters. That continues in this stand alone novel.The promotional blurb gives you the gist of the story but there is so much more to this richly atmospheric book set in a small, isolated community on the Falkland Islands.

When we meet Catrin, it’s clear she was broken by the loss of her two young sons three years ago. She still eats, sleeps and goes to work but is just a shell of the woman she used to be with room for only one emotion. Hate. As the anniversary of the boys’ death approaches, she puts the finishing touches on her plan for retribution. The book begins to count down the next two days. In the meantime, a little boy goes missing, the 3rd in two years.

There are good and bad aspects to living in any small town. Everyone knows everyone’s business. And in times of trouble, neighbours band together to help. There’s also a naiveté based on the belief that people you know can’t possibly be capable of horrific acts. But as one of the characters notes, fear changes a community. Residents begin to eye each other with doubt & when one of their own falls under suspicion, it’s scary & all too realistic how quickly a mob mentality can infect a group of people looking to lay blame.

The book is told in three parts, each with a different narrator. Just when you think you have a grip on what happened and who is responsible, you read the next account of events through a different set of eyes and start to question what you thought you knew. The first two parts end abruptly at crucial moments and you may find yourself yelling at the pages in frustration. The tension is palpable and you’re acutely aware of the passage of time as the clock ticks down on Catrin’s plan. It will mess with your head & make you realize you may have rushed to judgement just as quickly as some of the islanders.

The three main characters are well drawn and complex. Each has experienced the pain of loss in some form and you can feel their grief as they stumble through the aftermath of a horrible event, trying to figure out how to go on living or if they even want to. As in real life, no one is all good or all bad and each is guilty of something. As the story progresses and your grasp of the situation expands, you start to wonder if maybe there are no true villains here, only victims.

The setting itself is an important character. Descriptions of the isolation, cold rock, creeping fog and relentless pounding of the ocean lend a chill and quiet sense of menace to the background. The result is a growing unease as the story unfolds. With three plausible versions of events to choose from, it’s not ’til the final few pages that we learn the truth.

It’s a profound and at times, difficult read that examines some of the darker aspects of human nature and will suck you in from the get-go. Set aside a few hours before you start. With expert pacing and heightened suspense, this is a book you’ll resent having to put down. Highly recommend.

Bookstore Links:  Amazon.com  |   Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones  |  WH Smith

Reviewed for MCT by Sandy S.

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Review: TOOTH & NAIL by Ian Rankin

Publisher: Orion, Hachette
Rating: 4.5 *

Rankin's dark and brooding signature noir.

Rebus is called to London by New Scotland Yard to assist as the consulting investigator in a series of murders in which the serial killer leaves his mark by taking a bite out of the flesh of the body of each of his victims. Rebus has to deal with issues of the north and south divide and acceptance by his London officers who feel threatened by his presence.  He also takes the opportunity to see his ex wife who lives with his teenage daughter, stirring up a lot of unresolved issues, and falls hard for the female researcher who wants to build a psychological profile of the killer.

Why does his daughter's boyfriend he disapproves of turn up at a trial related to the murder? What is the motivation behind the sick mind of the murderer?  Who is the killer's next target and is Rebus or someone he loves at risk?

This book gets off to a somewhat slow start but it creeps up on you. It is as if you are alone, reading on the floor of a dark empty room with a single light, a room in which the walls are slowly closing in on you a fraction of an inch at a time. You feel relaxed and a little uninvolved in the beginning until you hit a point when you suddenly come to the realisation that the walls are closing in on you and there is no way out! The mood is dark and brooding and the pace is perfectly controlled - slowly mounting tension and suspense that grips you in an ever tightening vice. The ending is superbly dramatic (if a bit melodramatic).

The only thing is I don't believe in serial killers so much. I believe killings are generally personal or, if serial, sexually motivated. It's only a tiny pet peeve of mine, but I think Rankin gets the psychology a little wrong there.

Rebus is well developed and the supporting character of Inspector Flight, his New Scotland Yard counterpart, is well defined. Character development is not as strong as in the Inspector Morse series and the writing is toned down and slightly less literary than that of Colin Dexter's. Loved Rebus in London.

Bookstore Links:  Amazon.com  |   Amazon.co.uk  |  B&N  |  Waterstones  |  WH Smith

Reviewed for MCT by Jac Wright.

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