The Blackhouse

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

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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.

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