The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

This is your space for any and all spoilers while reading The Lewis Man.

The Catholic Church has much to answer for!

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "The Catholic Church has much to answer for!"

The Protestants running that orphanage didn’t strike me as representing the best of us either :)

I’m 2/3 through and the treatment of all of the kids (Ceit’s dad and step-mom sending her away because she was an inconvenient reminder of her dad’s dead wife? ) is very difficult to read about.

Did you enjoy the book as a whole, April? What did you think?

I've finished, I loved it.

I wish I'd read the first book The Blackhouse first, I feel like there were things in this Lewis Man that give away some of the plot for that book. Perhaps I'd better read it soon and find out !

Carol wrote: "aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "The Catholic Church has much to answer for!"

The Protestants running that orphanage didn’t strike me as representing the best of us either :)

I’m 2/3 through a..."

Thank you for giving me the motivation to start this trilogy Carol ( albeit in the 'wrong' order) I've read Blackhouse now and will try and get the third book form the library later this week.

Looking forward to the discussion when more people have finished.

I loved the book! A terrific thriller as well as a mystery. I'm now a fan!

MissLemon wrote: "Carol wrote: "aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "The Catholic Church has much to answer for!"

The Protestants running that orphanage didn’t strike me as representing the best of us either :)

I’m..."

It's definitely a bias on my part, MissLemon. I'd prefer to judge a series by its best entry over its first, but totally own the mantle of "annoyer of orderly series readers." lol

We're halfway through the month and this is the spoilers-okay thread, so who has questions or comments for discussion?

Mine fall generally under the header ... suspension of belief. How far is too far and does May keep all of his expectations of readers in this category in-bounds, in your opinion, in this book?

I was willing to accept the happy endings all around because I like happy endings even those that stretch plausibility, like the dad being the one to fire the critical shot to get our pals out of that last bit of seemingly insurmountable trouble. But the basis of 80% of the story being the mystery of who's Tormold seemed pretty tortured to me.

You? Was there a solution or a mystery that struck you as so implausible, you gave the novel a mental demerit?

Aside from that, I found Fin MacLeod to be a flat and uninteresting character. As a detective, he didn't capture my interest. As a man, even less. He's a nice enough guy sort-of, although in the first book (view spoiler)[my understanding is that he breaks Marsaili's heart in a manner that isn't kind (hide spoiler)], but not a lead. I was completely there for Tormold and the scenery, which isn't typically the case in a series lead.

What did you think of Fin?

Well, can I be honest? The characters are not of the best types. They are all deeply flawed, broken. Childhood unmoored them all whatever the generation.

Frankly, the parent characters in the 1950's timeline and the kid characters in the 1960's/1970's timeline are like the ones who populated MY neighborhood when I was a child. The book as far as characters are is true to life.

All of the characters are broken and depressed, moving forward without oars to paddle, secret and not-so-secret drunks and addicts, underachievers, primarily living to survive with barely anything left over to spare to help their unwanted/surprise children. Religious education without substance, no resources, few jobs and what jobs there are coursen personalities and everyone develops crude violent tastes.

If you wonder how underclasses happen, this is how.

The plot teeters into unbelievable - agree. In my opinion, it doesn't quite fall into soap opera...however, it totally does in The Chessmen, which I finished.

I loved this series, but the last book is a little too much unbelievable.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Well, can I be honest? The characters are not of the best types. They are all deeply flawed, broken. Childhood unmoored them all whatever the generation.

Frankly, the parent characters in the 1950..."

That's good to know (about Chessman). May has a ton of standalones. If you or anyone else has another to recommend that avoids some of the soap-opera-itis, please do. I'd like to give him another try. The social gritty-ness appeals to me, although it's difficult to read some of the experiences in the Dean home and the violence/risk minors had to deal with. May made great choices about pulling back just when certain scenes would have become overwhelming. I'm very, very glad we didn't get any more details about Peter's death, for instance.

I'd classify this as a 3-star read for me - truly a matter of personal taste because I'm more of spare/noir/realistic mystery/crime reader than this offers - but there were a lot of good things about the Lewis Man in terms of the gradual reveal and ability to shift between timelines and POVs in a manner far better than many other authors. I can imagine that May might have written other novels that would give me Scotland and the harsh social reality without some of the weaknesses -- for me -- of this book.

How’s everyone doing? Any recent finishers?

I finished it last night. I thought it was alright, although a bit of a slog at times. I gave it 3 stars.

I found some of the subject matter a bit too grim - the dementia and John unknowingly eating his pet lamb in particular. I thought the ending was rushed and a little far-fetched too. I did like the vivid descriptions of Scotland and its weather. I liked and felt for Fin and John, but didn't care that much about any of the other characters.

I hadn't read anything by the author before and I wouldn't go out of my way to read any more of his work to be honest.