The Blackhouse

Miscategorized

I have no clue why this book was listed as a "police procedural", or even as a murder mystery for that matter. The mystery was almost an afterthought (and completely predictable).

That said, the character studies, the scene setting, and story of Fin's life were actually interesting and the writing is top notch. May's writing style is very engaging. I might even read the rest of the series...albeit I won't hold my breath for a mystery.

For those, like me, who prefer not to read about animal killings, be prepared to skip the bird hunt. It was grim.

The narrator was wonderful.

17 sur 18 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

A tale of awakening and facing one’s deepest fears.

This was a wonderfully descriptive story of human emotion, death, and reawakening against the bleak backdrop of a remote island. Just as the island of Lewis is cut off from the rest of the world by its geography, Finn McCloud is removed from his memories and emotions until a catharsis occurs. The characters take life through the narrative and one becomes completely caught up in their inner dialogues.

3 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Best of the Three

I enjoyed all three of Peter May's Lewis Trilogy, and would recommend the whole series, but I enjoyed this one, the first of the three most (I would rate Chessmen higher than Lewis Man). First of all, it is the only one of the three that truly can stand alone; for the subsequent novels it really helps to have the previous development of Fin, the series protagonist. But the essential differential for me is how much more vividly the work of men on Lewis, especially the annual bird harvest, brings the place to life. All the books are quite good when it comes to landscape and with varying degree providing the place with cultural context, but there is something about the work of the place tied to its traditions that really makes The Blackhouse a special piece of writing within the suspense genre, and even moreso, the current crop of Scottish and Irish suspense writing.
Peter Forbes is simply terrific as a narrator. The narrator of the book I started to listen to after listening to Forbes' narration of the Lewis trilogy, somewhat average in her delivery, seemed by contrast even worse. Just as Gerard Doyle does a terrific job of bringing Adrian McKinty's novels to life, Forbes is simply wonderful in interpfeting characters and providing different points of view with equal sensitivity and brio.
I listen to quantities of this kind of writing. Of course, given the genre is somewhat limited while also being overpopulated in the market, characterization is an essential to the best writing, and to some degree May is quite good at presenting idiosyncratic characters. But a vivid sense of place brought to life not just from description but as fleshed out by the characters, setting that actually almost borders on a characterization enveloping the listener in the world in which the story is being told is a rare and entertaining pleasure. This one is really worth a listen.

2 sur 2 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Solid writing and performance.

BUilds up to an overdramatic cliff top ending which seemed out of scale. May does such great work with character and scene and then pushes it too much

2 sur 2 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Excellent

This book was even better than I’d hoped. Excellent narration. I felt as if I were there. The descriptive writing didn’t bog down the story line but enhanced the listening experience.

1 sur 1 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

challenging mystery

more delightful to hear because of the sonorous Scottish accents. A mystery with many emotion laden twists and turns, weather and Scottish lore told beautifully.

2 sur 3 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

What a bloody miserable tale!

The story is as bleak and lonely as the island it is set on. The reading’s repetitive tone and meter is guaranteed to put you to sleep. Every sentence has the same rhythm and the paragraphs roll from one into the next without any change in tempo.
The murder is almost secondary to the resurrection of a sad childhood and a mixed-up adolescence of a policeman who doesn’t really want to be a policeman and who has been sent to the island without any real power to investigate anything.
The weather is always cold, gray and raining ... it seems that the islanders’ lives mirror their weather and their landscape... I keep waiting for the sun to break through but so far it hasn’t happened. Maybe something happy will happen in one of the next two books in the trilogy.

3 sur 5 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Great story but troubling

Story ends well but a lot of sadness and man's inhumanity to man and emotional pain.

Fantastisk og nervepirrende

Boka er full av spennende vendinger og det som først virker opplagt, endres raskt rundt neste vending.

A wonderful surprise!

I don't remember selecting this book. I probably picked it up on sale. So glad I did. What a gem.

I know this is categorized as "Modern Detective", but I'd say it would be more aptly described as a great fiction with some detecting thrown in. Even though it's not the most uplifting story, I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in life on the Scottish Isle. I found that I could easily visualize characters and landscape based on the author's descriptions.

As for the narration, couldn't be better. I'd definitely listen to Peter Forbes again, he's terrific!