time never passes so quickly as when it is in short supply."

Fin has come back to the island he spent his whole childhood trying to get away from. But now he's a cop, investigating a murder that is similar to a murder he's investigating on his home turf. He's pulled in to see if they are by the same killer and to alleviate the worry they have a serial killer in their midst. But there is an awful lot Fin hasn't dealt with on this island. Previous loves, friendships, and even enemies. He walked away from them all without so much as a backward glance. Now he'll have to atone for the time gone and finally face the things he ran from so long ago.

I liked this dark, stormy story. The relationships were complicated, the past was slow to reveal itself. The story is told in the then/now back and forth, each chapter, and it felt slow to get the mystery going as it delved longer in the past starting when they were just kids all the way to just before he left. The mystery, however, was solid once it got going and I spun myself silly trying to figure what was going on. I'm not sure I'll hunt another Fin book down but if I happen to stumble on one, I'll keep reading this series.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The Black House The Lewis Trilogy Book 1 by Peter May

401 Pages
Publisher: Quercus Books (US), Quercus
Release Date: August 5, 2014

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Scottish, Police Procedural

Finn Mcleod grew up on an island off the Scottish coast. He is still dealing with the loss of his son when he is summoned back to work as a Detective Inspector. There is a murder in his hometown like one he was investigating in Edinburgh. Finn arrives back on the island, but nothing is the same. He has been gone for too long. This visit reminds him of his childhood and his guga hunting trip.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view with memories in first person. I was immediately sucked into this book. The story is well written, and I felt as if I was on the island. If you like Shetland and/or books by Ann Cleeves, you will enjoy reading this one.

A solid mystery and a great start to the Lewis Trilogy. I enjoyed it very much.
Many thanks to Quercus and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Fin McLeod is a policeman who is just returning to work after leave, when he is assigned to work an unsolved murder case. There is the hunt for the killer, an explicit autopsy, and tough questioning of former friends he grew up with.

I liked this book, but may have to read it again to see if it grows on me more. It is well-written, but I think I may have missed something. . .

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although Peter May is a good storyteller, skilled in his craft, I found the book a bit dark for my taste. The setting, which is what appealed most to me, was described in lucid detail. The starkness was the perfect backdrop for the tale. The characters were well developed, and in a timely way in relation to the plot reveals.

Another great thriller from May. His novels have so much depth. The Scottish Hebrides provides an interesting setting, and the ending couldn't have been any better.

OKay so this was pure reading satisfaction! Hubby almost had to rip it from my hands to get any supper it was soooo good! The writing...oh wow was so beautiful and flowing. The characters were fun and so real and I loved the setting on an island! The Blackhouse has a bit of everything I love in a good mystery, lies, murder, creepy townfolks, awesome setting, and the past and present playing out......

This was Literary Hoarder Elizabeth's first Peter May novel, but it certainly won't be the last. Excellent read! (Read this back in 2014)

I was first attracted to this book due to the setting, in the Outer Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland, specifically the Isle of Lewis. I was hopeful that there would be fabulous descriptions of this wild and at times treacherous coastal landscape, and I was not disappointed. But I found much more to like about this book than the author’s talent in describing the natural landscape. The author demonstrates great skills at character development, and at building a multi-layered and engrossing plot.

In Fionnlagh Macleod the author has given us a complex man, a detective in Glasgow who has mostly escaped his memories of his childhood growing up on the Isle of Lewis. We hear a great deal of detail about Fin’s early life, from his first days at school where he was the sole child who spoke only Gaelic, and had to quickly begin to learn English; to the loss of his parents at a young age; his teen years where he was guided toward a university education by a friend’s father, and his later career in policing in Glasgow. The story about the current murder investigation alternates a great deal with these back stories, so much so that this seems every bit as much a coming-of-age story as it is a mystery and detective one. And as the story unfolds, we learn more and more about how the events of the past are still having a tremendous and sometimes horrible impact on the present.

I am very glad to have found this new-to-me trilogy, and will be looking forward to the next one. My thanks to Netgalley, the author, and Quercus publishing for the copy of this book I was provided.

Here's a book that's part police procedural, part coming of age, part study in how we can never truly escape our past, whether or not we realize it. It fares well on all counts. There's a mystery to be solved, and it's a good one. The coming of age story is told in flashbacks as detective Fin Macleod returns to the small island in Scotland's Hebrides where he grew up. He knows the area and the victim and the powers that be think there are similarities to a case he's already working on. This is a book that's rich in storytelling, detail, and has an incredible sense of place and time. As we read we realize there's a lot more going on under the surface, both for Fin and for the people he grew up with and is now reconnecting with. It held my interest and kept me guessing, right up to the tragic, yet satisfying end. I did listen to parts of this book, in fact to most of it because of the wonderful narration (which helped with the pronounciations of names and places that I would've butchered in my head!).
My thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

Even the cover page had that stay away look about it. THE BLACKHOUSE by Peter May was suspenseful to say the least. But the title itself, along with the color black and the black writing should tell the reader that there might be something sinister going on. Is there? An awesome read.