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 Way Through The Woods by Colin Dexter

An Inspector Morse Novel
Publisher: Crown, Random House
Rating: 5*

They called her the Swedish Maiden – the beautiful young tourist who disappeared on a hot summer’s day somewhere in North Oxford. Twelve months later the case remains unsolved, pending further developments, and Inspector Morse just cannot let it go.

My all time top favourite series in the mystery genre, and this book is the best I have read in the series. Few modern writers can rival Colin Dexter's exquisite character building, whether within the genre or from outside. Inspector Morse is a delightful, masterpiece creation. Morse is at once brilliant; peevish yet often sly and diplomatic, kindly towards those who work under him; with classic tastes in cars, music, and lifestyle; and, as far as women are concerned, lusting after every woman in sight in a manner that is pathetic yet endearing, a little creepy yet gentlemanly mannered that kind of makes you laugh at him and yet feel sorry for him at the same time. He is a very real character with very real strengths and weaknesses.

Also in this particular book Dexter reaches his peak in literary writing. Consider the brilliant 5 stanza poem on the "Swedish Maiden" with which Dexter introduces the murder to us. This is beautiful, brilliant poetry. The scene in Lyme Regis where Morse watches the tide coming in and the sea gulls momentarily flying suspended in the air then "peeling off" like fighter air-planes ... that is exquisite writing that evokes the scene's beautiful setting very viscerally.

While the writing and the characterization delights one aesthetically, at the same time the brilliant mystery and the plot dazzles one's mind with an equally exquisitely layered puzzle one impulsively feels compelled to follow. One cannot ignore the tantalisingly sexy direction the plot veers in which teases you with its somewhat restrained sauciness. i.e. It is not explicit sex, but it is all the more tantalising and titillating for its restrained quality. In hindsight it seems to me that Morse had been investigating the case quietly on the side all along and even the vacation in Lyme Regis was a pre-planned move following a thread of investigation; not the coincidence it appears to be at first sight. Ah, just brilliant!

One should also mention the supporting cast - particularly Chief Superintendent Strange and Lewis - and Morse's interplay with them which creates moments of delightful comedy, humor, and the deep development of all 3 characters. Do all men contemplate most women they meet as sexual objects, even the straight-laced Lewis as in the scene with the victim's mother? The evidence is that they do (something I have explored in my own stories). I say Freud hit the nail on the head. It is decidedly a Freudian world out there.

There are some minor faults: Dexter makes sudden dips into the POVs of every minor character he meets. He sometimes breaks into the omniscient POV from the close third person limited POV and gives us warnings about what is yet to happen in the future. However, these minor points do not in any way lessen the sheer aesthetic beauty in the writing, exquisite characterisation, and the brilliantly woven and gripping intellectual puzzle that makes up this modern classic.

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

Reviewed for MCT by Jac Wright.

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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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