A past buried in peat

Second part of a trilogy, "The Man Lewis" is very much in the line of the first part, "The Island of bird hunters." It is neither suspense nor the discovery of the murderer who make the salt of these thrillers. For me, the key lies in Peter May in the very literary talent to embody the characters, places and eras with realism and sensitivity.

The harsh Hebrides always provide the framework but the author here stirs the previous generation secrets. A body found in the peat will indeed make us back in time to the 50s and beyond. End unofficially seized the investigation. The most obvious reason is that DNA analysis connects the body to Tormod, Marsaili father and grandfather of his son. It is also perhaps a little professional bias (he has just resigned from the police) or a good excuse to postpone the renovation of the house of his parents. If he thought escape the demons of his own past, this story will return it rather brutally to its orphan status. As in the previous game, the plot, though well done, has largely sociological vocation, even here history since the author refers to "homers" once children placed by the Catholic Church in families Hebrides. Alzheimer Tormod requires the plot a rather unexpected place. Thus the chapters of the End of inquiry alternate with those sinuous reminiscences Tormod to form a strange race to the outcome.