Coffin Road: An utterly gripping crime thriller from the author of The China Thrillers

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With the action going on in the Outer Hebrides, there is a third mystery forming in Edinburg, where a teenage girl is making discoveries that turn her world upside down. It’s been two years since her father’s disappearance was ruled a suicide, and Karen’s mother has just moved her boyfriend into the house with them. Karen’s transformation from a young teen at the time of her father’s death to a bitter, rebellious young woman with multiple tattoos and body piercings two years later has brought her to the point of breaking with her mother. Desperate for an anchor, Karen Fleming turns to her godfather, who worked with her father, for information about her father, something to help her find closure. She finds anything but closure, and lives are in danger as a result. Another suspenseful tale from Peter May, although not quite as enjoyable for me as his three previous Lewis novels. For those who have read May’s ‘Lewis Trilogy,’ Detective Sergeant George Gunn makes a reappearance in this standalone. He’s as seemingly bumbling as ever, and the big question is: Can he unravel this tangled mess without Fin Macleod? You’ll have to read to find out. 3 stars, because the Lewis books are better. But still, this is a very good crime novel. And as always with this author, I loved his superb landscapes of the Hebrides, a part of the world I hope to visit someday: He finds himself washed up on a beach with no memories of who he is. With the help of a few clues from people who seem to know him, he finds where he lives, but his house has no more clues to who he is than his own brain is providing.

Peter May - Book Series In Order Peter May - Book Series In Order

But in the interests of fairness, I’ll add a quote about the appeal of the place rather than the rainstorms I complained about earlier. He does write some nice descriptions. A WELL-PACED ATMOSPHERIC STORY THAT CATCHES THE READER'S ATTENTION FROM THE OPENING SCENE" -- Deadly Pleasures Magazine Così, benché soddisfatta, mi è dispiaciuto molto chiudere il libro e venir via da queste splendide selvagge Isole.

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On the remote Isle of Harris in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a man washes up on a deserted beach, hypothermic and completely disoriented. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his condition is a map of the island showing a desolate, ancient path called the Coffin Road. With a sense of dread and no clear idea what lies at the other end, he knows he must follow the trail if he has any hope of discovering his identity. I have no idea where this is. And for the first time since consciousness has returned, I am aware, with a sudden, sharp and painful stab of trepidation, that I have not the least notion of who I am. This was an enjoyable first outing with Peter May and lovers of crime fiction and suspense novels should most certainly enjoy his latest offering. And the other one was when the cops open up the garden shed, which he hasn’t been into since he lost his memory, and they open it up and it’s like a little lab inside. And it’s just that moment of revelation for him. And also for the reader. What was it like working with him on a subject that he’s obviously so invested in and passionate about?

Coffin Road by Peter May | Waterstones

Coffin Road starts off great but never got to be the hit I had expected the book to be. But thanks to Peter May's great milieu descriptions and his excellent way of writing makes the book readable! Peter May knows the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland and provides some beautiful descriptions of the land and the weather - neither of which is very hospitable on any given day. The book begins with a man washed up on the shore of the Isle of Harris. He does not know his name, or what happened to him. It's as if he just awoken and found himself in a place he has no idea of why he is there. Neal sleeps a long time and is awakened by a visit from the couple from next door. He tries to fudge his way through a conversation about the book he is supposedly writing, and a little later there’s a surprising romantic interlude which is even more confusing, but welcome and relaxing. He finds a map with a route along Coffin Road marked, so he figures he might was well go to the end of the mark and see what’s there. His lady friend offers to drive him.I particularly liked the man who washed up on the beach with no memory. A man who apparently called himself Neal but who—as he sets about rediscovering his life—now realises he was a fraud. And perhaps worse. Neal’s our main narrator and perhaps that’s why I identified most with him. I’m not sure of the scientific veracity of Neal’s memory loss as described in the novel (as dissociative amnesia), but it was interesting that he remembered how to do many things without knowing how he knew how to do them. If that makes sense. According to Goodreads and my own somewhat-dilapidated memory, I’ve never read any books by France-based Scottish-born author Peter May. This surprised me as he has three series under his belt, a number of standalone novels and has been involved in writing for television in the UK. This is one of the most abysmally poorly written books I've come across in a long time. I always knew the plot would be far fetched and I've read and watched enough crime fiction and drama to accept things that are hugely unlikely in the name of entertainment, but... I had expected three plotlines. The mystery of the lighthouse keepers that disappeared 100 years ago, the plotline of the man without a memory and of Karen, who refuses to accept that her father has committed suicide. The first one was moot, so it's only the present day voices. The man without the memory washes up on the beach and does not have the first clue of who he is. When a man is found killed on a remote island, the man without memory thinks he might have killed him. And lastly we have Karen Fleming, a young teenage rebel who since her father's death, has gone off the rails a bit, but after discovering some alarming information, wants to investigate her father's death, as she knows something isn't right.

Coffin Road: An utterly gripping crime thriller from the

Detective Sergeant George Gunn has been assigned to investigate the discovery of a body on the Flannan Isles. He does not know the man's identity, who killed him or why, and begins an investigation that seems to have absolutely no clues. Well there are two things behind it really. One, was this vision I had in my mind’s eye of a man washed up on a deserted beach. I very much knew what beach it was, it was a beach called Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris which has been voted the most beautiful beach in Britain and one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world, and it’s enormous. It’s winged by mountains and the sea is turquoise, it’s an extraordinary place. And I just had this image of a guy getting washed up there, coming to, and realising that he had no idea who he was, where he was or how he’d got there. And that was the vision that I had for the opening of the book.The light at Luskentyre is stunning. The wind is brisk but soft. The land has soaked up everything thrown at it last night by the storm. It has, it seems, an endless capacity to do so. The sky presents itself in torn strips of blue interspersed by teased-out cotton wool, and the sun reflects in countless shades of turquoise across an outgoing tide that leaves silver sands shining” On top of that, there is an underlying environmental issue. I did feel a bit hit over the head with facts, and while the drama was believable, I definitely felt a bit as if I were being given lessons. There are better ways to introduce information to a reader than to have one character explaining things to another.

COFFIN ROAD | Kirkus Reviews COFFIN ROAD | Kirkus Reviews

Location is always important for me. I always regard the location of the book as being like one of the characters. When I wrote the China series, China was the third character. Or sometimes it was Beijing, or sometimes it was Shanghai, wherever it was set, that setting would dominate and dictate the shape of the story in lots of ways. So it’s exactly like that for the islands as well. They are absolutely essential to me in placing a story and shaping a story, because the kind of stories that I’ve written which are set on the islands, you couldn’t really set them on the mainland. They are very specific to those locations. So evoking the location, making that real and a living thing for the reader is absolutely essential for me. If you like the sound of Coffin Road, you may also enjoy Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy. We reviewed the final book in that set – The Chessmen – in 2013 and you can read the article here. Coffin Road is released 14 January.And in turn, what was it like writing his interactions with characters who do know him? His relationship with Sally in particular is a complex one. Meanwhile, George Gunn, a detective, is on the case, as he too has to cross the sea and he discovers the aforementioned body, Gunn, a man who can't take the sea well, is ridiculed by his colleagues due to his weak stomach, this provided some comical moments in an otherwise serious story. Neal’s chapters are written in first person, but our other two leads (DS Gunn and Karen) are written in third person. I didn’t get much of a sense of Gunn, but he’s really only a means to an end, whereas we spend some time with Karen who’s struggling with her father’s suicide. The Karen / Neal storylines take a while to converge and just when we think we know the connection, May cleverly redirects our attention.