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The Blackhouse (Lewis Trilogy, #1)

Peter May

Start date: November 15, 2025

Finish date: December 15, 2025

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Gina

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Sep 06, 2013 Kathy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, bouchercon-2013-authors, crime-thriller, series, scotland

Dark, dismal, delightful. It's the Scottish isles at their most dark and battered, the Hebrides Isle of Lewis where murder and secrets team up with the bleak weather to create a riveting, suspenseful tale of lives damaged and distorted. For those of us who love our Scottish tales served up with a liberal dashing of despair, The Black House does not disappoint. Of course, the superb skill of Peter May as a writer tends to make the dark an acceptable atmosphere by including intriguing characters a Dark, dismal, delightful. It's the Scottish isles at their most dark and battered, the Hebrides Isle of Lewis where murder and secrets team up with the bleak weather to create a riveting, suspenseful tale of lives damaged and distorted. For those of us who love our Scottish tales served up with a liberal dashing of despair, The Black House does not disappoint. Of course, the superb skill of Peter May as a writer tends to make the dark an acceptable atmosphere by including intriguing characters and a powerful plot. Local color of this isolated island also made for fascinating reading, with the annual pilgrimage to An Sgeir and the killing of the gugas there providing insight into the lives of the men of Lewis.

Fin McLeod has been away from the Isle of Lewis for almost twenty years, during which time he has become a policeman, gotten married, and had a son. It is at a point in his life when great tragedy has struck, his young son killed in an accident, when he has returned to work and finds himself being sent to his boyhood home to investigate a murder. The all-knowing Sherlock computer program pairs Fin up with a murder he is currently investigating in Edinburgh to one just committed on the Isle of Lewis. As expected, going home is not easy, as he leaves behind one broken life to encounter another. First love, damaged friendships, and bad memories are just some of the issues with which Finn McLeod must deal when he returns to a place he never expected to see again. The secrets he must uncover to solve his life's issues and a murder are complex and hidden deep in the recesses of memory and time. What Finn thought was finished on the place of his birth was only simmering and biding its time. As often is the case, the present can only be explained by the past.

I'm looking forward to reading the remaining two books in this trilogy, The Lewis Man and The Chessmen, to follow Fin McLeod through more police work and coming to terms with himself. I hope to learn more about this island in the Hebrides, where the population may be small, but the drama is large.

On a personal note, the length of time reading this book does not reflect on its ability to engage the reader. I went on a vacation where I was busy all of the time and unable to even fit in my beloved reading. Once I was able to return to normal life, which is reading for me, the pages flew through my fingers. ...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Kevin rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-thrillers, barry-awards, library, scotland

An interesting mix of knowledge of the Isle of Lewis and other Scottish islands and a really dark mystery.

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2013 Renata rated it it was amazing

I really liked this book. Of course, it's the first of a trilogy so I can't wait to read more. I especially loved the setting - very northern Scotland. Learned a ton about that part of the world. ...more

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Oct 10, 2025 spoko rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, mystery, fiction, book-club

This book’s real strength is a relentless atmosphere. The Isle of Lewis is shrouded in darkness for the length of it; it’s difficult to imagine the sun even shining in this world, much less breaking through the clouds. The story and characters, to be honest, are always secondary to that brooding darkness.

As far as the story itself . . . I found Fin and his return home intriguing, especially in the early chapters. But over time, both he and his story seem to lose energy. As I got more details abo ...more

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May 28, 2013 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Finn McLeod, an Edinborough detective, returns home to the Isle of Lewis after 20 years to investigate the murder of a man he knew growing up. The author does an exceptional job of interweaving Finn's memories and scenes from the island. ...more

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