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    Blackhouse
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    Blackhouse
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    Blackhouse
    Audiobook6 hours

    Blackhouse

    Written by Peter May

    Narrated by David Nathan

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Achtzehn Jahre hat Fin Macleod - Kommissar in Edinburgh - keinen Fuß mehr auf heimischen Boden gesetzt. Jetzt führt ihn ein grausamer Mord zurück auf die stürmische Isle of Lewis im Norden Schottlands. Dort trifft er auf seine erste große Liebe, die inzwi
    LanguageDeutsch
    PublisherDer Audio Verlag
    Release dateMar 6, 2014
    ISBN9783862310470
    Unavailable
    Blackhouse
    Author

    Peter May

    Peter May has two major hobbies: fishing and horseracing and has written acclaimed books on both subjects. He has a phD in artificial intelligence, has been a former professional gambler and represents his local angling club in competition matches.

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    Reviews for Blackhouse

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Fin Macleod grew up on the Isle of Lewis, a remote outpost in the Hebrides off the coat of Scotland. His childhood wasn't exactly idyllic and he couldn't wait to bolt for the mainland and university, thinking he'd never return.And yet here he is, a policeman from Edinburgh sent back to the island of his birth to investigate whether a recent brutal killing there is related to a similar murder in Edinburgh. Solving the crime will involve confronting old ghosts and nemeses, both alive and dead.The descriptions of the setting are fabulous. I understand more now about what life on a remote Scottish Island is like than I could have gotten from any nonfiction guidebook. The bleakness of the physical scenery is matched by the bleakness in the lives of the people who continue to live there despite the lack of modern amenities and prospects.The mystery is absorbing, though I felt the ending relied a bit too much on the surprise twist without doing the foundational work to support it. And I've probably read enough about the annual harvesting of young birds from a smaller and even more remote island to last me a lifetime. Some of it is necessary for plot purposes, but I think it could have been pared down a bit without harming the book's structure.This is the first in an apparent trilogy. I didn't read anything to actively discourage me from reading the remainder, but I'm not ready to haunt the library for No. 2 just yet. So many books, so little time.
    • 3/5
      A detective story set in the Hebrides. The description of life in the Isle of Lewis is top notch, but the detective/mystery storyline was a washout. The book could easily have been about 150 pages shorter. After a point I was fatigued by the over elaborate tangents and took to skimming chapters to reach the end. The book held a lot of promise but was, ultimately, a let down.
    • 3/5
      Fin McLeod has been on leave since the death of his son. Now his marriage is on the skids. He is called back to his home, the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, to investigate a crime with the same M.O. as one he'd been investigating in Edinburgh before his leave. He must face the ghosts of his past in the course of the investigation. While the story ended up coming together, I really did not like the amount of time spent on the past story in contrast to the present investigation which received very little attention. I understand why the author to his time with the backstory and it does provide more insight into Fin for future installments, but it took a little too much time to do so.
    • 5/5
      This book was recommended to me by Eadie B and I am so glad that she did, thank you so much Eadie B  This is a novel that made me continue reading, there was no stopping for lunch, for dinner or for sleep until I turned the last page. Then with a heartfelt sigh I needed to think what to say about this novel. Good characters - yes. Character development - yes. Mystery - yes. Suspense - yes. Good plot - yes. Believable plot - yes. A mystery unfolded and I followed along chewing on the clues deciding then revising. I love to solve as the detective solves. I recommend this to any who loves a mystery and suspense.
    • 5/5
      Fin McLeod is an Edinburgh policeman who just lost his ten-year-old son, Robbie. Coming back from his leave, he is put back on the still-unsolved murder case he was investigating at the time of his son's death. A new similar murder returns him to the place he was raised, the Isle of Lewis, to see if there's any connection between the two crimes. As the investigation proceeds, Fin must confront his past, reliving it through many of the people who were is friends and acquaintances when he was growing up.The author alternates between Third Person POV for the murder and First Person for the flashbacks of Fin's past. The two are more connected than Fin realizes at first. While the Third Person chapters are a somewhat typical police procedural story, albeit very well-written, I really loved the stories of Fin's past. I've been to Stornoway (stayed at the Crown Inn where Fin resides during his visit) and visited many of the places mentioned in the book which was just an extra fillip of pleasure to me as a reader. I will quibble and say that I didn't find many places open in Stornoway on a Sunday, but otherwise, it's always fun to revisit real locations in a book. The writing, as I said, is excellent and captures the stark landscape of Lewis very well. The story itself is engrossing, filled with tension as Fin gets closer to the murderer and the resolution of his own past which is surprising and melds well together. The book deserves all the kudos it has received, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. As is said in the book, though in a different context, "A journey that you would rather never end always passes quickly." The Black House finished all too quickly for me.
    • 4/5
      Detective Inspector Fin Macleod, a native of the the Isle of Lewis, is sent back to the island from Edinburgh to investigate a murder which has similarities with a murder in Edinburgh. Although a very good story with some beautiful descriptions of the locale and its people and traditions (particularly the guga hunt), this is not really a mystery novel, though being billed as such. The flips between the past and present are done very well with both parts highlighting the other. I'll probably continue the series since the descriptions are excellent, but won't be expecting a straight-forward mystery, which I did with this one and was slightly let down.
    • 5/5
      What a surprise! I was expecting the usual police procedural but instead got what amounts to a dark personal history and travelogue of the Hebridean Isle of Lewis with police activity taking a lesser part. The format was the most enticing part of the story that alternately recounts Fin Macleod's personal memories of growing up on the island with the investigation in which he is currently taking part. This is definitely the best from Peter May that I've read and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
    • 1/5
      It's not very often that I put a book down without finishing it, but I just could not get interested or care enough about either Fin, or the mystery to read it. I know it is an award winner, but I am finding that winning an award doesn't automatically make it a book I will like. Example: I did managed to finish Expats but only to give it the lowest rating I'd ever given before this one. This one will go to the library booksale.
    • 4/5
      This was recommended by a few people, but I avoided it because it seemed dark and grim. One more recent recommendation prompted me to give it a try. Is it dark and grim? Yes, but the characters, story, and landscape made it worth it.
    • 3/5
      Rating: 3* of five, but just barelyThe Publisher Says: From acclaimed author and television dramatist Peter May comes the first book in the Lewis Trilogy--a riveting mystery series set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a formidable and forbidding world where tradition rules and people adhere to ancient ways of life. When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that has the hallmarks of a killing he's investigating on the mainland, Edinburgh detective and native islander Fin Macleod is dispatched to see if the two deaths are connected. His return after nearly two decades not only represents a police investigation, but a voyage into his own troubled past. As Fin reconnects with the places and people of his tortured childhood, he feels the island once again asserting its grip on his psyche. And every step forward in solving the murder takes him closer to a dangerous confrontation with the tragic events of the past that shaped--and nearly destroyed--Fin's life. The Blackhouse is a thriller of rare power and vision that explores the darkest recesses of the soul.My Review: This was a huge, long slog of a story, alternating between Fin (the main character) as narrator of his life of unremitting grimness and misery, and third person limited, basically the camera-eye PoV that one would expect to find in a novel by a screenwriter. This made the pace slow for me as each time we shift, I have to hit the brakes or push in the clutch to shift up.This isn't to say that the author is a bad writer, his prose is limpidly clear. But keep Google open while you're reading, since there are unexplained, untranslated Gaelic words all over the place. There are exciting sea scenes and tense moments of nailbiting stress during the islanders' unique rite of passage for males.There are also characters who are unnecessary, flashbacks of unconscionable length and questionable necessity, and an ending that will break a decent person's heart...that has holes the size of a gannet in it. (You'll get the joke later.) If the ending is true, and I think it is true to the character and the build-up, the obliviousness of the responsible adults of the island is unconscionable and unpleasant.Trigger warning for animal rights activists and the tenderhearted towards all gawd's creation, and for child abuse.
    • 5/5
      I can see I am going to be adding another mystery writer to my list. I had never read anything by Peter May before but my husband bought this book for me for Christmas and I loved it. The surprises just keep piling up, almost right to the end. Fin Macleod is a detective with the Edinburgh police force but he is hoping to do something else with his life and he's been taking courses in computer science at Open University. Recently, though, he's been through a tough patch because his young son was killed. He has been at home for a month when he is fingered to go to the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides islands, to help with a murder investigation. The HOLMES computer noticed that the murder was similar to a murder in Edinburgh on which Fin was the lead detective. Plus Fin grew up on the Isle of Lewis; in fact he lived in the small village in which the murder took place. So Fin goes back home for the first time in 18 years and some things are still the same but many things are different. Fin is not sure the murders were committed by the same person but he wants to stay and investigate. Mainly he wants to tie up some loose ends from his boyhood. He's a different person than he was then and he regrets some of his actions. He also has a unique insight into the community that may be useful in solving the murder. When he does figure out who the murderer is, he is facing even bigger problems. I thought the plotting of this book was very clever. We get hints about things that occurred years before but May keeps us guessing about them for many pages. Then, just when one secret has been exposed, we get a hint about another. Very tight plotting. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      I do not like reading series books out of order, but this time it did not matter. This is book 1 of the Lewis trilogy and sets the scene for what follows, but not knowing about it did not spoil my enjoyment of book 2, nor was the reverse true. One of the best things about this book is the sense of time and place, I know a bit about Edinburgh and a bit more about Glasgow, the subsidiary settings; but nothing about Lewis, but this book makes me feel as though I know it very well. The characters are very well drawn and their histories are unveiled for us in elegant flashbacks; the who-dun-it aspects are very good with lots of red herrings and twists and the whole thing moves along at a cracking pace. Highly recommended! I will read book 3 very soon.
    • 3/5
      Black houseFin MacInnes is a police officer in Edinburgh who is dispatched to Stornoway to investigate a murder near his birth place. It appears to be a copy cat murder, similar to one he is investigating in Edinburgh.I found this hard to read because it is a long slog, there is a lot of dreary weather, sea and wind. Flashbacks to his childhood, the death of his parents, school and locals populate the story. His marriage is strained by the hit and run death of his eight year old son just a month previously. A lot of time is spent describing Fin's voyage with 11 others to a distant island to harvest 2,000 gugas which are the young of gannets. The trip is an important turning point in the story but we don't find this out until the final pages. I found the outcome very disappointing after investing so much time in the narrative. I don't think I will ready another May murder mystery.
    • 4/5
      *I received a complimentary e-book from the publisher Quercus Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

      If you're a fan of a mystery novel with some dramatic elements mixed in, you'll like this book. While it starts out slow, I couldn't put it down during some parts particularly during the end. The descriptions made me feel like I was actually there even though I've never been to that part of the world. Sometimes, however, I felt like the descriptions were too long-winded and I found myself skimming the paragraphs until I got back to the action. Overall, it was a well told story with an unforeseen ending and twists. I highly recommend it.
    • 3/5
      Detective facing in depth exploration of his own psyche. But two deaths by falling is a bit of a stretch.
    • 5/5
      The first of a trilogy. Detective Inspector Fin Macleod from Edinburgh is forced to return to his childhood home on the Isle of Lewis to try to solve a gruesome murder. Details of Macleod's life on Lewis slowly are revealed as he meets his friends on the island. I was very impressed by this book. It has lots of plot twists as Macleod learns more about the murder and his friends. I would highly recommend this book and can't wait to read the next one.
    • 3/5
      The Blackhouse by Peter May, first of a trilogy, isn't really so much a police procedural, as I'd expected, as a dark psychological study set in the Outer Hebrides. The island of Lewis provides an inhospitable setting and the author spends a lot of time describing the life, countryside and weather of this isolated part of the world. I learned more than I wished about the annual guga (bird) hunt. In some ways, The Blackhouse, has a Scandi-Noir flavour. Nearly all the characters have secrets, especially our protagonist, Fin Macleod, an Edinburgh policeman who grew up on the secluded island. Fin's story unravels very slowly and is told viaalternating chapters of the present in third voice and his past in first voice. This device worked fairly well and didn't impede the flow of the narrative for me. I was disappointed with the outcome of Fin's story, feeling May relied on a too-often used backstory. Also, what should have been a suspenseful ending was too quick and easy in my opinion. Overall, I liked, rather than loved, The Blackhouse, partly because I never developed a strong connection to the any of the characters. I'll likely try the next book, The Lewis Man, since I've already invested time with the author, who I found slightly long-winded.
    • 4/5
      First of the "Lewis Trilogy", set on the island of Lewis, in the Hebrides. A gruesome murder occurs in Edinburgh; there is then one with the same modus operandi on Lewis. Is it the same killer or a copycat? And why on an isolated spot with conservative, Gaelic-speaking inhabitants? DI Fin Macleod is sent to investigate, as he is from there originally. There are really two narratives: one being the murder investigation and the other, an interspersing of Fin's childhood and adolescence until he leaves the island to attend college on the mainland--Scotland. He breaks all ties until he returns then as part of his investigation, resumes them. An annual trip to the rock "An Sgair", which can be a kin of coming-of-age to older teenaged boys coming along figures strongly in the story and the events on it are clues to the solution. A deftly written story with insights into the culture and language. I'm glad a short guide to pronunciation of some of the Gaelic names and expressions was included.
    • 4/5
      A very enjoyable book; well written excellent atmospheric story with a very good sense of time & place. Tension was well maintained right to the end.
    • 4/5
      An unusual crime story set on the Isle of Lewis, where a brutal killing with possible connections to a similar crime in Edinburgh, brings Inspector Fin Macleod back to the island he grew up on and which holds unpleasant personal memories for him. The story revolves around an ancient Lewis tradition of hunting Guga, young Gannets, on a barren rock 50 miles off the island and the special bond which draws together the men who have participated in this hunt. The story uses flash-backs to Fin Macleod's childhood to paint the picture of his upbringing and understand his personal history, but this slows the pace of the plot somewhat, which I felt dragged a bit.
    • 5/5
      I have tried to read a few other mysteries by Peter May, and always abandoned them part way through, and figured his style of writing and characterization just weren't for me. However, my husband told me I would really like The Blackhouse, and the setting in the Hebrides intrigued me, so I decided to give him another try. Wow. I loved the story and Fin Macleod, the cop who was raised on Lewis and comes back to investigate a murder there that may have tie-ins with one he investigated in Edinburgh. The story is told in the present, and in flashbacks to his rather bleak childhood on the island, with some very funny moments as well. The characterization was fantastic as I felt that all of these people were real, and I wondered if the author himself grew up there. It was an excellent mystery that kept me guessing all the way through, and enjoying very much the journey, which was over 400 pages, and I wouldn't remove a single word. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      It does not surprise me that THE BLACKHOUSE has won two French literary awards. The book is compelling reading and the story is delivered in an unusual style.And yet it was a novel that took me a little effort to break into. A prologue contains the hook: a young couple discover an eviscerated body hanging in a boat shed in the harbour. Once we are into the book proper it takes a while to piece together the tragedy that struck Fin and Mona MacLeod only four weeks earlier and that is now steadily coming between them. In the mix are nightmares that Fin barely remembers and does not understand. A recurrent nightmare from childhood.The murder on the Isle of Lewis seems to have the same MO as the Leith Walk case in Edinburgh Fin had been investigating before tragedy struck. Now his boss is insisting Fin return to work, and the HOLMES computer has tagged Fin as a person to be attached to the Lewis enquiry. It is 18 years since Fin left Lewis to go to University in Glasgow and going back will mean letting his past catch up with him, and indeed Fin catching up with his past. The fact that he is an "insider" allows Fin to ask questions that an incoming investigative team would not even have thought of.I was particularly struck by the structure of THE BLACKHOUSE. The author uses two "narrators". There is the third person narration where events involving Fin are described from an outsider's viewpoint, and then Fin's reminiscences and memories which are recounted in the first person. This division is particularly effective in giving the story pace at the same time as giving us Fin's life story.This is a book where the setting almost becomes another character - whether it is the Isle of Lewis which seems remote enough for me, or the even remoter An Sgeir, three hundred feet of storm-lashed cliffs rising out of the ocean fifty miles to the north-north-east of the tip of Lewis, where the annual guga hunts take place. And yet there is something attractive about the author's description of these wind-swept locations that makes you want to see for yourself.
    • 4/5
      A compelling but bleak novel, set on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Detective Inspector Fin McLeod, still distraught following the death of his eight year old son, is despatched back to Lewis to assist in the investigation of a murder bearing many of the hallmarks of a case he had been working on in Edinburgh.McLeod had left Lewis eighteen years previously when he went to attend Glasgow University, and had never returned again until now. Upon his return he finds much has changed though an alarming proportion of the bigotry and suspicion remains. His investigation brings him into contact with many friends from his childhood but this proves to be more challenging than he could ever have expected.May uses this engaging novel as a vehicle to describe many of the customs of the Hebrides - some of them cutely archaic, others menacing and upsetting, including the description of the annual guga cull. I found this fascinating and perhaps more interesting than the basic plot of the story.
    • 5/5
      When Fin Macleod returns to his native Lewis Island, circumstances could hardly be worse. He just lost his son and the relationship with his wife is breaking under the stress. He is forced back to work on a murder that occurred on the island that looks very much like an open case of his in Edinburg. Coming back to the island after nearly 20 years, he has to confront his past. As he reconnects reluctantly with the people in his past, we learn their history and relationships. And this is where the motive for the killing will eventually be found.

      The books is wonderfully atmospheric and the relationships today and then come to life with subtle undertones. Peter May puts you there on the island and engages your emotions. Great read.
    • 5/5
      This is a very exciting entry into the Lewis Trilogy. It is the story of DI Fin Macleod and his friends from childhood and youth. Macleod is sent to the Isle of Lewis, where he was born and raised in order to solve a murder, which has similarities to a murder he treated in Edinburgh. On the island arrived, not only the investigation of the murder awaits him, but he has to deal with his past. He is not only received with open arms, but suddenly faces reticence and aggression. By the time he comes back the cause of the murder and his messed up childhood has to process painful.It was a very gripping reading and I liked it very much.
    • 4/5
      Dark and atmospheric - a police procedural (sort of) set on the Isle of Lewis. DI Fin Macleod is sent back to his childhood home to investigate the murder of a childhood bully. The chapters alternate between the present day and the Macleod's past when he lived on the island.
    • 4/5
      interesting landscape, character studies and thorough introduction to Fin Macleod.on to book #2
    • 5/5
      Book Description From acclaimed author and dramatist Peter May comes the Barry award-winning The Blackhouse, the first book in the Lewis Trilogy--a riveting mystery series set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.

      When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on the mainland, Edinburgh detective and native islander Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.

      As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs once again begin to assert their grip on his psyche. Every step toward solving the case brings Fin closer to a dangerous confrontation with the dark events of the past that shaped--and nearly destroyed--his life.

      From acclaimed author and dramatist Peter May comes the Barry Award-winning The Blackhouse, the first book in the Lewis Trilogy-a riveting mystery series set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.

      When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on the mainland, Edinburgh detective and native islander Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past.

      As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs once again begin to assert their grip on his psyche. Every step toward solving the case brings Fin closer to a dangerous confrontation with the dark events of the past that shaped--and nearly destroyed--his life.

      My Review I enjoyed this beautifully written book very much. It was an interesting view of an isolated island and its habitants.The characters were memorable and the story was a definite page-turner. The ending was not expected and a complete surprise. I look forward to reading the other books in the trilogy.
    • 4/5
      This was probably the favorite of my recent mystery reads. Edinburgh detective Fin Macleod is sent to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides to determine whether a murder similar to the one he is investigating in Edinburgh is the work of the same killer. Finn is a native of the Isle of Lewis, but has not been back since he left at age 18.The novel consists of two narratives alternating between the past and present. In one, Fin relives his difficult childhood and youth; the other consists of a police procedural involving the murder. At first there seems no connection between the two narratives, but they converge in the end. This makes the book, not only a page-turner, but so much more, as Fin and the other islanders from his past inhabit a story that could have been a stand alone novel.I was fascinated by the island--dark, gloomy, stormy, rainy--it is a character in and of itself. We also learn a lot about the religious and cultural characteristics of the islanders, for example the annual gurga (gannet) hunt, a rite of passage many of the young men on the island must undergo. I've said before that I am frequently annoyed by mysteries that end in car chases and/or shootouts. This one ends with an aged tub of a boat racing through a horrible storm in the North Sea, and I didn't mind that at all. We are kept guessing until the very end of this one.I highly recommend this.
    • 5/5
      Fin, now with the Glasgow police, is sent back to the remote Scottish Island where he grew up to investigate a grisly murder. Fin left for college and never came back until now. He encounters old friends, old enemies, memories and emotions. The victim is the town bully. But there are more and darker secrets hidden under the surface. What really happened on that long-ago hunting trip? There are many dark undercurrents, but which one is the motive for a murder?The Blackhouse is an engrossing mystery that I didn't want to put down. Filled with surprises, this story draws you in on an emotional level and then throws in a twist at the end. Great!