The Lewis Man

I did not find the central mystery as intriguing as in the first of the trilogy and I definitely don't think it was as strong a book overall, but I loved so much being returning to this part of the world, and all the wonderful atmospheric touches May adds to his descriptions of the land and its people. In fact, I enjoyed this part of the book so much that I think I'm going to start the final part of the trilogy immediately. It's a shame that there was little suspense in this book due to the flashbacks and the reader always being one step ahead of our “investigation”, Fin. I was also fairly frustrated by what I thought was a repeat from the first book; that is, the relationship between Johnny and Ceit as children felt like a complete copy of Fin and Marsailli's as childhood sweethearts. I think May needs to write both stronger female characters and stronger romantic relationships. This all felt more of the same.... Most of all, I hope the main mystery is stronger and more tense in the final book.

This is a great follow up to The Black House, taking you further into life in the Outer Hebrides and with an interesting mystery. If you're intrigued by bog bodies or by stories with moody, atmospheric orphanages or by unreliable narrators or by hidden lifelong sinister origin stories, this is a good little package of mystery. Pro tip: get this in audiobook format. Mmm, Scottish accents.