Coffin Road by Peter May

Coffin Road Reviews

• 
  Paula K (on hiatus)

  Coffin Road is probably not the best review to write on Thanksgiving Day, but I am really behind on picking up the pen these last few months.
  
  I love Peter May’s books. Especially those where the setting takes place on the outer Hebrides of Scotland. Coffin Road is on the Isle of Harris where a man washes up on the shore at death’s door only to find out he has lost his memory. Years ago 3 lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappeared and now a man has been found murdered at the same lighthouse rock.
  
  One of the great pleasures of reading May’s books when he brings us back to the Hebrides is the promise of a dark, foreboding, and menacing plot and setting. Atmospheric to the ultimate. The plot is fascinating and quite timely for environmental issues the world has seen of late.
  
  I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend to all those who thrive when reading the dark side of mysteries.
  
  I wish all of my Goodreads’ friends a wonderful Holiday whether you are celebrating the Thanksgiving Day in the US or not. Best wishes to all.
  
  5 out of 5 stars
• 
  PattyMacDotComma

  3.5★
  “The rain is as relentless as the wind, and it feels as if it is flaying the skin from our faces.”
  
  That sums up how I felt through much of the book. Wet and cold! This part of the world is known for some challenging weather, so it’s no surprise that it’s a feature here. A man washes up on a beach in the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides and has no idea who he is.
  
  He’s got a life jacket on, so he assumes he’s gone overboard somehow, somewhere. He’s bleeding a bit and stunned, of course, but he’s addressed by name, Neal, and guided to his cottage where his dog greets him with the uproarious good nature that every Labrador owner will recognise.
  
  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.
  
  He sleeps the sleep of the dead, as he puts it and then . . . well, I don’t know about you, but I’d have gone back to bed.
  
  “It is raining when I waken. A driving rain, blown in on the leading edge of a strong south-westerly. I can see it slashing across the beach, almost horizontally. The cloud is low, nearly black at its most dense.”
  
  The story switches back and forth between this man and Karen, an angry, frustrated teenaged girl who lives with her mother and would-be step-father.
  
  “She had gone from being Daddy’s little girl to Mother’s nightmare in twenty-four short months. A deliberate decision.”
  
  Green hair, piercings, tattoos, she’s the whole package. She’s also extremely bright and is determined to find out why her father committed suicide. She knew he worked in neuroscience but doesn’t know what went wrong in his life or why he’d be pushed to such despair.
  
  Back to the islands. This is a part of the world with lighthouses that tourists love to visit. They have discovered a dead body out by one of these lighthouses, so we now have the police involved. To top it off, Neal has discovered he’s a regular visitor to these places and wonders if he could have been the killer.
  
  So there are three investigations going on now. Neal on his journey of self-discovery, Karen, on her search for answers about her father’s suicide, and the police, who begin asking awkward questions of a man who doesn’t know who he is.
  
  His life is becoming dangerous, and he has no idea whom to trust. Karen finds herself in similar dicey situations in her quest for answers as well. Nothing is as it appears.
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  “The tide was out, and the sands of Luskentyre glowed silver, very nearly filling Gunn’s field of vision. They never ceased to take his breath away. Ringed by hills to the south, the mountains of North Harris, and the peaks of Taransay to the west, beyond all that simmering turquoise, he wondered if there could be any more beautiful spot on earth.”
  
• 
  Andrew Smith

  Late one night, after a few drinks, a friend told me about some books he’d read. He’d admitted that he didn’t often read fiction but that during a period of recovery form an operation he’d been gifted the first in a mini-series of three and had subsequently devoured the whole set. It got my attention and I asked him the name of the author. By the next morning I’d not only forgotten the writers name but the whole conversation was lost to me too. However, some months later, whilst browsing my local bookstore, I came across a crime fiction novel and the description rang a distant bell. Could this be the fabled work that had so excited my friend, the non-reader? It turned out that it was and a few weeks later I’d repeated the feat and all three books had been consumed. The books comprise the Lewis Trilogy, written by Scottish wordsmith Peter May.
  
  Unlike my friend, I listened to the books on audio, read by the excellent Peter Forbes. I was spellbound. It wasn’t so much the crimes or the clever plotting but more the atmosphere, the setting – the islands of the Outer Hebrides – and the life story of the lead character that struck a chord. Brilliant stuff. So I was more than excited when I was able to grab a copy of this stand-alone book which is also set on these wild and beautiful islands. As before, Forbes is at the microphone and I was soon lost, once again, in the landscape and mysteries of this place.
  
  For the most part the characters are new, though the island copper does make a return appearance. This time the story focuses on a man who stumbles from the sea one wild and windy night. He’s soaked through, desperately cold and somewhat beaten up. Moreover, he can’t remember what happened to him or even who he is; he’s lost all memory of his history and his identity. As the story develops we get to experience his reactions to his circumstances real-time and through his eyes. It’s pretty well done, though I couldn’t help wondering why he remembered how to do certain things yet was he was unable to recall any details at all regarding his life to date. Is loss of memory this selective? Maybe, but I found it a bit distracting.
  
  I wont go into details of the plot as this would be a real spoiler but I will say it’s clever science based mystery. The story is well told and the tension is maintained at fever pitch pretty much throughout. The ending is satisfying and the science interesting enough to have me undertake some research to check its authenticity. It turns out that the issues covered here are real - pretty scary stuff.
  
  I can’t say that the experience quite matched up to the Lewis Trilogy – in truth, I never expected it would – but it was a good tale, well told. If you are a fan of May’s work, you’ll certainly enjoy this return journey to Lewis. If this author is new to you then I’d probably suggest you start with
  The Blackhouse and work your way through. You’re unlikely to be disappointed.
• 
  Jeffrey Keeten

  ”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.
  
  That breathless realisation banishes all else. The cold, the taste of salt, the acid still burning all the way up from my stomach. How can I not know who I am? A temporary confusion, surely? But the longer I stand here, with the wind whistling around my ears, shivering almost beyond control, feeling the pain and the cold and the consternation, I realise that the only sense that has not returned to me is my sense of self. As if I inhabit the body of a stranger, in whose uncharted waters I have been washed up in blind ignorance.”
  
  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.
  
  He is very frustrated with himself, whoever that might be. He would gladly go back and punch his knowing self in the face for leaving him with so few threads to pull. And who is this beautiful, married woman who slides into his bed as if she belongs there? He knows he likes her just as he knows what scotch he likes to drink. None of it is forgotten, just locked away in his head. He is so close to discovering what he must know. It is like being too tired to walk any further under the blistering hot sun of the desert, even though your nostrils are filled with the sweet scent of an oasis a few staggering steps away.
  
  Even when he does learn a name, it fits like borrowed clothes. The more he discovers, he starts to wonder if he really wants to know who he once was.
  
  ”Nothing, absolutely nothing since I found myself washed up, semi-conscious, on the Traigh Losgaintir, has made sense. My memory loss. My failure to find a single clue to my identity, beyond my name, even in my own home. My affair with Sally. The book on the Flannan Isles mystery that I am not writing. Beehives on the coffin road. My missing boat. Now someone trying to kill me. And someone else stepping in to save me. The weight of it all is very nearly crushing.”
  
  Peter May returns to the setting of his famed Lewis trilogy with this fast paced thriller set in the beautiful desolation of the Hebrides in Scotland. Corporate greed and intrigue are at the heart of this novel, and the only thing standing between the final destruction of the bees is a man with no memory of what he knows. This is not written with the depth of the Lewis trilogy, but with an eye more for a diverting, delightful read that will have your Scottish Morn tea cooling in the cup before you remember to take a sip.
  
  If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit
  http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
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• 
  Sharon

  When a man washes up on a remote beach he has no recollection of how he got there or who he is. What he does know is that he is in quite a bit of pain and he can’t stop shivering. As he struggles to get himself up, he begins to stagger along the sandy beach, but he has no idea where he is or where to go. Then he hears a woman yelling out to him by name, Neal Maclean, she helps him to a nearby cottage which appears to be his, but none of it looks familiar to him.
  
  Neal sees bills in his name and various documents, including a map which someone had marked the word Coffin Road, which was on the table, but Neal had no idea what it meant. As the story unfolds so do the twists, turns and intrigue.
  
  Peter May is a new author to me and I can’t wait to read more of his books. Coffin Road was a fast paced mystery/ thriller which had me hooked right from the beginning. Highly recommended.
  
• 
  Gary

  This is probably the best book I have read so far this year and really I shouldn't be surprised as I have never been disappointed by Peter May's story telling.
  I find him an excellent writer who is very descriptive and paints a picture for the reader without boring them.
  A man is washed up on a deserted beach on the Hebridean Isle of Harris, with no memory of how he got there or who he is. The only clue to his identity is a map tracing a track called the Coffin Road. His neighbours know him as Neal Maclean, a writer who is working on a book. He soon realises that this is a cover but for what? He tries to uncover the truth but the more he learns the harder it is to comprehend.
  Peter May writes excellent books that paint great pictures of the location and the characters. I find them informative with just the right amount of descriptive text and so well paced. This is a page turner that is well thought out and great entertainment. Full of suspense and plenty of surprises that make this book an excellent read.
  
• 
  Phrynne

  One thing I can always count on when I open a
  Peter May book is a really good read and
  Coffin Road was no exception. It is set in the wild, bleak Hebrides, a place where it seems almost anything unusual could happen - and it did.
  
  The story was involved but always intriguing, I enjoyed the characters very much and there was a bit of a twist at the end which I was not expecting. One star lost though for bombarding me with 'scientific' information. If I wanted to know that much detail about bees I would read a science journal and be sure I was reading facts. That's just me though.
  
  Everything else about the book was really good. Four well deserved stars.
• 
  Sue

  A man washes up on a beach with no recall of who he is, where he is, but others know him. So begins Coffin Road, another excellent offering from Peter May. As in the other books I've read from May, the descriptions of the natural world and the power of nature are wonderfully expressed and often beautiful. On the second page of the book, the beauty of the land and fragility of man are front and center.
  
  Behind me the sea retreats, shallow, a deep greenish-
  blue, across yet more acres of sand toward the distant, dark
  shapes of mountains that rise into a bruised and brooding
  sky. A sky broken by splinters of sunlight that dazzle on the
  ocean and dapple the hills. Glimpses of sailor-suit blue seem
  startling and unreal.
  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. (p. 2)
  
  After this scene---oh yes, this is merely a very brief set-up for all that will follow. Set on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, this story follows several threads to their ends in alternating chapters, building a mystery that could be taken from the front pages of a national newspaper.
  
  For those who have already discovered Peter May, add this to your reading list ASAP. For those unfamiliar with this author, do give him a try. This is a standalone book and well worth a try. Also read the
  The Lewis Trilogy: The Blackhouse, The Lewis Man, The Chessmen (which also exists as individual books but should be read in order. Now I will have to try his other series books, myself.
• 
  Susan

  4.5 stars
  
  I could read Peter May just to enjoy his descriptions of the various islands in Scotland. I can feel the wind whipping around my face and see the beauty of the countryside. I feel like I am actually with the characters as they live their lives on the unique, stunning islands they call home.
  
  Still, I read May for more than that. He can write some rip roaring mysteries. A man washes on a beach with no idea how he got there. He is freezing cold, disoriented and scared. He stumbles his way home and has no idea of his name until a neighbor calls out to him. He tries to remember who he is but the life he stumbles into is almost blank. He kept things secret before his accident.
  
  As he stumbles around looking for his identity he discovers some bee hives he has been tending. He instinctively knows how to care for them. I have a particular fondness for bees as my oldest son kept them as a 4H project. While he did admirably with them out at the hives he always seem to disappear when the messy, back breaking work of harvesting came about. The problems of the disappearance of honey bees is a real crisis and should be dealt with immediately. People seem to have no idea how much our food production depends on them and their continuing survival. I really like this problem is a central point in this mystery.
  
  I gave it 4.5 stars as I found the daughter, Karen, annoying. Her lack of awareness of how dangerous her actions were was just plain dumb. She was like a two year old stamping her feet and insisting she wanted it now and didn't care about the trouble it caused. There were a few minor strands that didn't make sense to me either but they were minor.
  
  Still if you're looking for an exciting mystery that actually deals with real life problems, this would be the book for you. As an added bonus you get a lovely travel story on the Isle of Harris in Scotland.
• 
  Brenda

  4.5★s
  
  When the man staggered out of the waves on a deserted beach, he had no idea where he was. He was barely alive – his life jacket had definitely saved his life; but as he thought more about the circumstances (of which he could remember nothing) he also realised with horror that he didn’t know WHO he was either. In pain, shivering terribly, he staggered up the beach not knowing where to go; when he was hailed by a woman who called him by name, then escorted to a cottage he assumed must be his, the moniker of Neal Maclean became his. And when he discovered an electricity bill addressed to Neal Maclean of Luskentyre he knew who he was and where he lived…
  
  The only thing of interest Neal could find in the cottage was a map on which someone had highlighted Coffin Road. He assumed that someone was him, but he had no idea what Coffin Road meant to him; he was sure he needed to find out though. As Neal struggled with his lack of memory, the frustration that absolutely nothing would come to him was wearing him down.
  
  Karen Fleming was still struggling with the death of her father two years previously. Grief stricken she had turned from the plain young fifteen year old she was when he died, to a rebellious, tattoo covered and bitter teenager. Karen hated her mother, and the new man who was now living in her father’s house – and she was determined to find out what had really happened to her beloved dad. But could a seventeen year old girl discover the truth? Or would Karen be in for further heartache?
  
  When Detective George Gunn was summonsed to cross the Atlantic to the Flannan Isles where a long standing mystery was still unsolved, his sense of unease was great. The ensuing discovery of a man’s body with no identification meant Gunn had to find his killer, as well as a motive – and he wasn’t sure he was up to the task.
  
  Three people on different paths in their lives – the danger and peril which was bearing down on them all, unbeknown to each other would become catastrophic. What would be the outcome? Was something terrible going to happen?
  
  Coffin Road by Peter May is another brilliant thriller by this author! Gripping and intense with a fast paced and definitely intriguing plot, I was fascinated by the storyline. I loved the previous standalone,
  Runaway and when I saw this one was coming out, knew I had to read it. Highly recommended.
  
  With thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for my copy to read and review.
  
• 
  Don

  My second read of Peter May's books after reading The Man With No Face, this looks a good story, how will it hold up?
  
  Told from three point of view characters, this is a rather complicated and interesting tale.
  A man wakes up on a beach, with no memory of who he is or how he got their, he appears to be known as Neal Maclean, though this rings no bells for him.
  He does seem to be on good terms with the neighbouring couple, even forgetting he is having an affair with the woman, Sally, who is keen to carry things on, and despite not remembering, soon takes Sally to bed.
  another big clue is a map of Coffin road, it appears Neal was in the process of writing a book, and he feels he has done something wrong when he discovers a body.
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  All 3 characters of the story eventually become interwined, and it was overall an entertaining read, and I did like the ending and came to like the characters, but a lot of the first half was slow, and it took me a while to warm to Neal, who I did like by the end, but it still didn't make up for a long first half, nonetheless its still worth a read.
  
  ⭐⭐⭐1/2 Stars.
• 
  Patricia

  4 stars
  I was introduced to Peter May by a Goodreads friend (thanks Gary) and am really enjoying his books. This book is his most recent and I looked forward to reading it whenever I had to put it down.
  
  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.
  
  In Edinburgh, a teenage girl, Karen, is in rebellion over the suicide death of her father. She does not want to believe that he is gone even though 2 years have passed and he has not been heard from since the day his boat and a note was found out at sea.
  
  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.
  
  Peter May does an excellent job of bringing these three storylines together and answering all of the questions raised while reading this book. I recommend to those who have not tried Peter May to consider reading his work. This book is a stand-alone and is one of his best.
• 
  Cat Woods

  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...
  a man wakes up on a beach not remembering anything about himself and within hours has discovered wow, he is very attractive with a fabulous house and loyal dog. He also finds himself having sex with an amazingly beautiful woman - during which he refers to his "arousal" and describes sex as a passionate battle. Good lord. Does the author remember that it is his character who has not remembered anything of his life as a writer and that hideous sex scenes and complete lack of reality and even adjectives are inexcusable for anyone with a publishing contract?
  If you love crime,
  if you love books,
  if you can put a sentence together most days of the week,
  don't punish yourself here.
  There are a zillion FANTASTIC crime authors out there. This isn't one of them.
• 
  Barbara

  This thriller starts with a man washed up on a beach. As he struggles along the adjacent road, he is recognized by a resident as James McLean and the older woman with her dog walks him to his cottage. McLean doesn't remember who he is or what happened to him. He is greeted by his dog, Bran, is only companion. Later other neighbors drop by and he is able to piece together a bit more. Searching his cottage yields few clues to his identity, and he keeps his amnesia a secret.
  
  Two other protagonists in the story are a local detective DS George Gunn and a teenage girl, Karen Flemming, in Edinburgh. Eventually their paths cross as the mystery deepens and then begins to unravel.
  
  This thriller kept my attention throughout. Details about life on Lewis and Harris, and the Outer Hebrides appealed to my interest in the area. This is a well constructed, riveting story that I highly recommend.
• 
  Carol - Reading Writing and Riesling

  Brilliant!
  
  My View:
  Peter May starts this book with a hook that is triple barbed and efficient! You will take a deep breath and walk with the protagonist as he staggers barely alive, soaking wet life jacket still on, up the beach. Shipwrecked? Swept overboard? Dumped at sea? Even he (Neal) doesn’t know – he has amnesia. What a great way to engage the reader – what could be more unreliable than a narrator who has no memory of who he is or how he ended up washed up on a beach – all he has is a deep sense of foreboding. He interrogates the essence of his existence or what he thinks he knows of his past trying to make sense of his past and future, all the time worried about what he has done, what he might have done, or what he is capable of.
  
  A wonderful story of intrigue, duplicitous behaviours, conspiracy, murder and economic war fare. Peter May’s writing is intense, the narrative is complex, the path to enlightenment and the truth littered with half-truths, betrayals and self-doubt and… bees. What a wonderful narrative, full of twists and surprises .Peter May is an eco-warrior – who would have known? Not me.
  
• 
  Marianne

  “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”
  
  Coffin Road is the eighth stand-alone novel by British author, Peter May. A man wakes, washed up on a beach on the isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides: he doesn’t know who he is, where he is, or how he got there, but he has an overpowering feeling of dread about something that has happened. Instinctively, he does not reveal his amnesia to those around him, relying on the information he gleans from conversations and from items in his cottage to gain knowledge of who he is.
  
  His neighbours know him as Neal Maclean, a writer who is almost finished a book about three lighthouse keepers gone missing from the Flannan Isles in 1900. It soon becomes apparent to him that this is a cover, but for what? A boat trip to one of the Flannan Isles, Eilean Mor, leads to a discovery that explains the dread, and has him wondering if he is a murderer.
  
  In the two years since her father’s suicide, Karen Fleming has gone from a hormonal teenager to a rebellious adolescent, mired in guilt over her last words to him, maintaining a defiant ugliness with shockingly dyed hair, tattoos and piercings, layers of pretence that hide her inability to accept that her father took his own life. Craving a closeness no longer possible, she seeks out her godfather, Professor Chris Connor, her father’s closest friend. And learns something that makes her determined to know the truth.
  
  Stationed at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, DS George Gunn is sent to investigate the bludgeoned corpse discovered by tourists in the chapel on Eilean Mor. The victim is unidentified, and murder is a far from common crime in the Outer Hebrides: he wonders if this case will see him completely out of his depth.
  
  As he effortlessly builds the suspense, May gives the reader a real page-turner: the plot is original, with quite a few twists and a dramatic climax in a remote island lighthouse during a fierce storm; the characters are, with their flaws and failings, totally believable; the setting is expertly rendered, and the gorgeous descriptive prose is a bonus: “The cloud formations coming in off the Atlantic are torn and shredded by the wind, sunlight breaking through them in beams of pure gold against black, criss-crossing the incoming wash and the silver of the sand like spotlights on a stage. Nature’s own theatrical production, dazzling and majestic”
  
  May touches on some interesting and very topical themes: the importance of bees in the world’s ecosystems; the devastating effect of reputedly harmless pesticides; the power of the large, multi-national agrochemical companies; and the concealment of unfavourable research results. May’s love of the Outer Hebrides is apparent in his wonderfully evocative descriptions: “…I can see the rain falling from it in dark streaks that shift between smudges of grey-blue light and occasional flashes of watery sunshine that burn in brief patches of polished silver on the surface of the sea”
  
  He draws some marvellous word pictures: “Despite the absence of people, there were plenty of boats. Fishing boats and motor launches, a couple of sailing boats and a handful of rowing boats which had seen better days, all lined up side by side, nudging each other playfully in the wind” and “The sky is more broken now, the light sharp and clear, clouds painted against the blue in breathless brushstrokes of white and grey and pewter. Moving fast in the wind to cast racing shadows on the sand below” are examples.
  
  May has written novels set in the Outer Hebrides before, and this novel is bound to have readers seeking out his earlier works. A brilliant read!
  With thanks to Hachette and TheReadingRoom for this copy to read and review.
  
• 
  Marianne

  “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”
  
  Coffin Road is the eighth stand-alone novel by British author, Peter May. The audio version is narrated by Peter Forbes. A man wakes, washed up on a beach on the isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides: he doesn’t know who he is, where he is, or how he got there, but he has an overpowering feeling of dread about something that has happened. Instinctively, he does not reveal his amnesia to those around him, relying on the information he gleans from conversations and from items in his cottage to gain knowledge of who he is.
  
  His neighbours know him as Neal Maclean, a writer who is almost finished a book about three lighthouse keepers gone missing from the Flannan Isles in 1900. It soon becomes apparent to him that this is a cover, but for what? A boat trip to one of the Flannan Isles, Eilean Mor, leads to a discovery that explains the dread, and has him wondering if he is a murderer.
  
  In the two years since her father’s suicide, Karen Fleming has gone from a hormonal teenager to a rebellious adolescent, mired in guilt over her last words to him, maintaining a defiant ugliness with shockingly dyed hair, tattoos and piercings, layers of pretence that hide her inability to accept that her father took his own life. Craving a closeness no longer possible, she seeks out her godfather, Professor Chris Connor, her father’s closest friend. And learns something that makes her determined to know the truth.
  
  Stationed at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, DS George Gunn is sent to investigate the bludgeoned corpse discovered by tourists in the chapel on Eilean Mor. The victim is unidentified, and murder is a far from common crime in the Outer Hebrides: he wonders if this case will see him completely out of his depth.
  
  As he effortlessly builds the suspense, May gives the reader a real page-turner: the plot is original, with quite a few twists and a dramatic climax in a remote island lighthouse during a fierce storm; the characters are, with their flaws and failings, totally believable; the setting is expertly rendered, and the gorgeous descriptive prose is a bonus: “The cloud formations coming in off the Atlantic are torn and shredded by the wind, sunlight breaking through them in beams of pure gold against black, criss-crossing the incoming wash and the silver of the sand like spotlights on a stage. Nature’s own theatrical production, dazzling and majestic”
  
  May touches on some interesting and very topical themes: the importance of bees in the world’s ecosystems; the devastating effect of reputedly harmless pesticides; the power of the large, multi-national agrochemical companies; and the concealment of unfavourable research results. May’s love of the Outer Hebrides is apparent in his wonderfully evocative descriptions: “…I can see the rain falling from it in dark streaks that shift between smudges of grey-blue light and occasional flashes of watery sunshine that burn in brief patches of polished silver on the surface of the sea”
  
  He draws some marvellous word pictures: “Despite the absence of people, there were plenty of boats. Fishing boats and motor launches, a couple of sailing boats and a handful of rowing boats which had seen better days, all lined up side by side, nudging each other playfully in the wind” and “The sky is more broken now, the light sharp and clear, clouds painted against the blue in breathless brushstrokes of white and grey and pewter. Moving fast in the wind to cast racing shadows on the sand below” are examples.
  
  May has written novels set in the Outer Hebrides before, and this novel is bound to have readers seeking out his earlier works. A brilliant read!
• 
  Tanja Berg

  Peter May is what I consider an unreliable author. I've loved some of his works, hated some of it, but found most of it okay. The setting of remote Scottish island was enticing enough for me to get my hands on this latest installment quickly. Now that I'm done, I'm not sure what to think.
  
  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.
  
  Funnily enough - because it is so unexpected - is that his book is mostly about the importance of bees and how modern pesticides kill hem. To not spoil anything I will not reveal exactly how bees tie the plot together, but they do.
  
  This was perfectly okay. I will undoubtedly read more of Peter May, as long as he sticks to his dismal, wind-blown, Scottish islands.
• 
  Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede

  Dual review with Swedish first and then English!
  
  SWEDISH REVIEW
  
  Peter May är alldeles fantastisk författare och trots att denna bok inte riktigt griper mig som t.ex. Isle of Lewis series gjorde så Coffin Road en bra bok, mycket tack vare att May har en sådan bra förmåga att skriva så målande så det känns som man sugs in i bokens handling. Så varför bara 3 stjärnor om boken nu är bra? Jo, jag kände aldrig den där känslan av att sträckläsa boken som jag har haft tidigare när jag läst vissa av Mays böcker.
  
  Coffin Road är som bäst i början, när allting är så mystiskt, med den främmande mannen som flyter i land utan minne. Men, det är också början som för mig funkar bäst, sedan flyter handlingen på utan att riktigt gripa tag i mig, men tack vare Mays fantastiska skrivförmåga så är boken ändå bra. Men karaktärerna klickar inte riktigt för mig, jag finner att jag inte riktigt kommer dem nära. De föreblir bara karaktärer, inga personer som jag saknar när jag vänder sista bladet. Coffin Road är en helt OK bok, men jag fann aldrig att jag verkligen gillade handlingen utan det är snarare så att för stunden så var boken helt OK att läsa.
  
  Coffin Road börjar bra, men blev inte riktigt den fullträff jag hade hoppas på. Men Peter Mays underbara miljöbeskrivningar och hans sätt att skriva så inlevelsefullt gör boken läsvärd!
  
  Tack till
  Modernista för recensionsexemplaret!
  
  ENGLISH REVIEW
  
  Peter May is a great author and even though this book does not really grip me like, The Isle of Lewis series did, is Coffin Road a good book, much thanks to May having a great ability to write so good that it feels like you sucked into the book's story. So why only 3 stars if the book is good? Well, I never felt that feeling of having a hard time putting the book down, like I had before when I read some of May's books.
  
  Coffin Road is best at the beginning, when everything is so mysterious, with the stranger washed ashore without memory. But, it's also the beginning that works best for me, then the story progress without really getting hold of me, but thanks to May's amazing writing ability, the book is still good. Yet, the characters do not really click for me, I find that I do not really get close to them or really care for them. I can't say I miss them when I turn the last page. I liked the book, but I did not love it. It's an OK book to read.
  
  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!
  
  Thanks to
  Modernista for the review copy!
• 
  Wyndy

  One man is dead. A second man is presumed dead. A third man is alive but has no memory and no record of his true identity. Two of these men have bee stings. A teenaged girl wants to know more about her father and embarks, alone, on a perilous journey for answers. A non-profit director rages and threatens. A detective sergeant keeps an open mind and takes copious notes. And all the while, a squatter watches through binoculars.
  
  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:
  
  “Places like the Valley of Drizzle, and Raven Rock, seemed somehow reminiscent of Tolkien in this land torn and shaped by the great glaciers of some past ice-age. Tree-covered islands in vast, still lochs cast dark reflections on darker water, great jagged mountains rising above the tree line to vanish into brooding low cloud.”
  
  
• 
  Thomas Stroemquist

  My first book by the author and a nice acquaintance it is. Two things bug me about this otherwise very readable mystery. One is the 'memory loss' plot tool. I feel at all times like this was introduced as a means to get the story working and fill out the pages more than being anywhere near plausible. Which brings me to number two; the story herein is really a 'paint by numbers' when it comes to thriller writing. It's competent, but never new or surprising.
  
  The good parts were the writing, which is fluent and enjoyable, and also the characters, which works very well and are both convincing and interesting for most parts.
  
  Doesn't immediately make me want to read more, but I'll surely try one more, should I stumble upon it at a good time.
• 
  Rose

  Another great Peter May book. I really enjoy his visual descriptive style of writing.However I did think as the plot developed it got a bit weak near the end.
• 
  Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall

  I suspect much of my disappointment from reading my first Peter May novel was that I had expected more from a writer with an immense back catalogue and such a venerable reputation. Coffin Road is the authors latest standalone mystery, an eco-thriller, set in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Harris. Whilst I wouldn't necessarily have selected an eco-thriller as my first choice of reading matter, as an avid crime fiction reader any relatively plausible plot can catch my imagination and take a firm hold. Often it is not simply the plot that irks, but rather the characters and dialogue as is the case with Coffin Road. Added to this is the over-complicated nature of the story which takes a long while to become clear and employs a rather haphazard feel as it jumps between three central characters. At times Peter May does stretch the bounds of plausibility but Coffin Road is a highly readable novel, however it is also a decidedly mediocre thriller. If I hadn't been aware of the author prior to reading, I would have been surprised that it was the work of such an illustrious writer as my overall impression was that the story was all rather formulaic.
  
  The novel begins with a man washed up on a beach, sand on his lips, clothes soaked through and shivering half to death as he manages to stagger to his feet and looks around with a feeling of foreboding, only to realise that he cannot remember who he is. Catching the eye of a local busybody who swiftly takes his arm and dispatches him to a cottage, he discovers that he is Neal Maclean.. Or is he? His utility bill tells him so, and informs him that he resides at Dune Cottage, Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris.. All news to 'Neal' and when his neighbours tell him that he is an academic spending his sabbatical writing a book about the enduring mystery of the three lighthouse keepers who disappeared from the Flannan Isles in 1900 he is again left nonplussed. If that is the case he can find no trace on his computer, nothing to point him further than the dog-eared map with a clearly marked route, known locally as coffin road and regarded until fairly recently as the route which people on the east coast of Harris used to carry their dead over the hills to bury them on the west side. 'Neal' treks the marked route the following day, discovering bee hives that he clearly has some familiarity with and eventually venturing out to the Flannan Isles, only to come across a dead man's body lying in the derelict chapel that stands alongside the lighthouse. All in all this is more than enough to cause him to wonder if that explains the ominous feeling he felt when he washed up on the beach. Spotting a tourist excursion as he flees the Flannans, 'Neal' knows the police will soon be on his tail, but decides to travel south in the hope of discovering his identity and thus proving whether or not he is responsible for murdering the man. Could he have killed a man and does this explain his dissociative amnesia? 'Neal's' story is delivered in the first person and gets off to a promising start, albeit the dissociative amnesia has a familiar feel, largely because it has been fairly generously employed in the crime fiction genre to date.
  
  It is at this point (a quarter of the way through the book) that the third person narrative takes over as we meet Karen Fleming, a headstrong and belligerent seventeen-year-old living in a suburb of Edinburgh, impressively bright but rebelling against her mother after her fathers suicide two years previously. With her mother swiftly moving her lover in, Karen is both angry and tortured by the lasting memory that she told her father she hated him prior to his suicide. Discovering that her mother and father's marriage was estranged prior to his death Karen sets out to contact her godfather and learn more about the man that was her father and the work that he was so passionate about. It seems Karen's father's suicide was brought on by the smothering of some highly sensitive scientific research discoveries surrounding his findings on the bee population that a certain Swiss agrochemical firm was very keen to keep out of the public domain. May then takes his readers back to the Isle of Harris and introduces DS George Gunn, who is sent out to investigate the dead body located on the isolated Flannans, swiftly sending him on the heels of the man who had spent the last eighteen-months living in Dune Cottage under the identity of Neal Maclean. May then follows all three in their stories to eventually unravel and converge on a common theme... Bees!
  
  Coffin Road is an entertaining tale but it is sadly let down by its cliched dialogue and cardboard characters. The "us against the world" plot was a little trite and I suspect that the subject matter is something of a hobby horse for Peter May as he delivers a crusading tale about trying to save the world by ensuring the continued development of the bee species. Notice I did not resort to using the "bee in his bonnet" idiom! The scientists and bee fanciers along with Karen are responsible for the majority of the cringe-inducing dialogue, dropping in the casual swear words as May attempts to show us how "right-on" and modern they are. May explains the connections surrounding the scientific discoveries well and the theory all ties up, but I found it hard to summon up much enthusiasm or concern for the theme.
  
  In conclusion, if eco-thrillers appeal and you like Peter May's writing then Coffin Road makes for a decent yarn, with a very effective sense of place and a coherent storyline, but it is rather haphazard, as May doesn't even begin to tie up how the stories relate until almost a third of the way through the book. The belligerent teen who refuses to back down with her uncompromising attitude; the portly Detective Sergeant George Gunn who yearns to make it home in time for dinner and is prone to seasickness; to the washed up 'Neal' who is willing to risk his life in pursuit of the answers to the questions he is facing... All disappointing stereotypes and there was little here that was new or surprised me. A solid novel but nothing to make this standout from the crowd, and there was something faintly naive about this survival of the species story which pits "naked greed versus the existence of mankind". An atmospheric thriller, but not the most exciting plot and Coffin Road all felt rather familiar.
• 
  Jeanette

  All about mood and suppositions for 250 pages. This is my last from this author. Everything is nearly an unknown for 2/3rds of the book and then the smartest people act stupidly. There is almost no joy in anything or anyone which belongs in the straightforward honest category. And the worst is that all of the dour combines with the endless physical descriptions to make the entire feeling one more of morose affect than anything of tension to "know". I didn't ever feel embedded. The last May I read was part of the trilogy and I felt barely able to sustain any entertainment value and pushed to the end. But I won't do these, any of them in this Hebrides setting again. Joyless and the people act foolishly for their supposedly high IQ and talents.
  
  Some of the "reality" for this amnesia victim was preposterous from a cognitive psychology reality of what I have learned about amnesia, and coupled with the sex scenes within those periods and issues of his non-remembering (multiple within 48 hours of such a trauma)?? This was a romance novel for men? Plus the fabulous house and loyal dog! It's simplistically ridiculous for even fiction.
• 
  Christine

  Review to add
• 
  Antonella Imperiali

  Siccome non ho un passato, sono senza presente. E senza presente non ho futuro.
  
  Chi è Neal? Come mai non ricorda nulla del suo passato da quando si è riavuto su una spiaggia sulla quale la burrasca lo ha scaraventato? Cosa è successo prima? Chi sono le persone che mostrano di conoscerlo tanto bene?
  
  In questa storia i misteri e le domande, a cui non seguono risposte adeguate, si susseguono incessantemente, creando una bella atmosfera fatta di suspense, rivelazioni e colpi di scena a più livelli.
  
  All'io narrante di Neal, infatti, si alternano capitoli in terza persona in cui si muovono gli altri (non molti) personaggi. Personaggi, tra l'altro, tutti caratterizzati molto bene, ma Karen... quanto mi è piaciuta Karen... che ragazza determinata, che carattere, quanto coraggio!
  
  Ed incontriamo anche qualche nome noto, come l'agente George Gunn, già apparso nella bellissima Trilogia di Lewis, anello di congiunzione tra questi romanzi.
  
  Interessante è anche il fulcro della storia: una ricerca sulle api e sulla loro sopravvivenza, per garantire un futuro sostenibile al genere umano. Uno studio ostacolato, condotto privatamente in gran segreto, i cui risultati rischiano di essere boicottati, perché la loro divulgazione desterebbe non poco scompiglio fra i colossi che speculano nel settore degli insetticidi.
  
  Se le api si estinguessero, la razza umana morirebbe nel giro di quattro anni.
  (Frase attribuita ad Einstein)
  
  Come al solito, però, è l'ambientazione che imbriglia il lettore, accompagnandolo nel racconto meglio di una guida illustrata: gli scenari da cartolina in continua mutazione davanti ai quali ci si incanta, la furia scatenata degli elementi che coinvolge tutti i sensi, i rumori amplificati da spazi enormi tra cielo e mare e terra, i colori di ogni stagione come pennellate in quadri perfetti, gli odori che solleticano le narici ed evocano ricordi, la diversità l'asperità e la consistenza del suolo che si avverte sotto i piedi...
  Una meraviglia!
  
  Ancora una volta May e la sua scrittura mi hanno incantata e incatenata fino all'ultima riga.
  Così, benché soddisfatta, mi è dispiaciuto molto chiudere il libro e venir via da queste splendide selvagge Isole.
  
  
  🌍 Europa Tour con un libro sotto il braccio - 🇬🇧 Regno Unito/Scozia (Isole Ebridi) 🇬🇧
  
  📚 Biblioteca
• 
  Kathy

  I first fell in love with the wild and wooly Outer Hebrides of Scotland in Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy, three outstanding novels that captured the beauty of that isolated wildness. I also have the companion book by May and photographer David Wilson that is a testament to just how on target the written descriptions from the Lewis Trilogy are. Now, Peter May returns to the setting of the Hebridean archipelago in his latest book, a standalone, Coffin Road. This time, it is the Isle of Harris that is the featured spot in the Outer Hebrides, and it is once again a tale of depth as only Peter May can pull from these islands. Three stories that need to be resolved. Three stories that are dependent upon one another to fill in the blanks.
  
  And, the book begins with just that. A blank. A man is washed up on the beach at a sparsely populated area of the Isle of Harris and doesn’t remember who he is or why he’s there. All he knows is that something bad has happened and he might be involved. He’s wearing a life jacket, but there’s no boat or other means of explaining his arrival. Struggling up the beach, he encounters an elderly woman who just happens to be his neighbor and calls him Mr. Maclean. The woman realizes Maclean is not well and leads him to his cottage. He is able to add the first name of Neal and a profession of writer after other neighbors, apparently friends, drop by. Neal makes a decision not to reveal his amnesia due to his uneasy feeling on the beach, and thus begins a frustrated effort to regain his identity and memory. A map with Coffin Road designated on it surfaces, but with no memory of it or its significance. He was supposedly writing a book about Eilean Mor and the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers on that island in 1900, but he can’t find a manuscript or any related work.
  
  Another man lies dead from a head bashing in a small chapel at a lighthouse on Eilean Mor. Detective Sergeant George Gunn is sent from Stornoway on Isle of Lewis to investigate who the dead man is and what he was doing on the uninhabited island and who would want him dead. No small task with no ID on the murder victim. His only lead is the identification of a man seen fleeing the island by a tourist boat captain.
  
  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.
  
  Peter May is a genius at many things in his writing, but two of the most brilliant are the aforementioned setting descriptions and the skill that must bring these layers of story together to fit seamlessly into a complete picture of who, what, when, where, how, and why. Is the murder of a lone man at an isolated lighthouse connected to a girl’s quest to find answers about her father? Is a man’s loss of identity authentic or a convenience? There are secrets hiding in every crook and cranny of this book, and May orchestrates their revelations into a perfect flow of need to know.
  
  Peter May also is adept at turning out interesting characters, and his movement of them reminds me of chess pieces that are strategically and expertly placed. The main character of the novel is that of the amnesia sufferer, Neal Maclean, so readers must deal with an unreliable narrator much of the time, but one on a fascinating path. There are alternating narrators, with George Gunn and Karen Fleming taking their minor turns, but it is through Neal that readers must try to make sense of most of the twists and turns. Being a fan of the unreliable narrator when done well, I think May pulls it off quite well with the amnesia being the vehicle of unreliability. With every move towards regaining identity and memory, Neal Maclean edges towards reliability, and the story moves towards resolution.
  
  And, with all the substance Coffin Road has with the characters and the setting and the layers of story, there is a cause. The reason for the secrets and the isolation and murder, a world issue that is woven into the story elements that will leave the reader with lingering fears of an all too real terror. I am pleased to say that with Coffin Road, readers will be treated to one of Peter May’s best and most thrilling tales yet.
  
• 
  Siobhan

  Another enjoyable read from Peter May. Whilst not my favourite of his works, it was still great.
  
  I’ve pretty much worked through all of Peter May’s work now. I just need to finish the China thrillers and then I’m up to date. Reading his Lewis trilogy first ensured I would read more of his work, and whilst nothing has quite lived up to the first Lewis book, I’ve still had fun with everything he’s written. Some has been more enjoyable than others, yet all have ensured he remains on my list of favourite authors. I doubt he will ever be my number one author, but he’ll always be an author I’ll pick up.
  
  Coffin Road sits around the midline in terms of where it sits on my list of favourite Peter May books. It isn’t quite the Lewis trilogy, but I liked it more than the Enzo Files. It was better than Runaway, yet it wasn’t quite Entry Island. Middle ground. Of course, middle ground for Peter May is still higher than my average middle ground. Worth a read if you’re a Peter May fan; a good starting point if you’re new to his work but not the first book I would direct you towards.
  
  As with all of his books, Coffin Road has a good dose of mystery. You have multiple aspects to the story, which you know are interconnected, yet you’re not quite sure how they interconnect. You have your ideas but it’s only as the story progresses that you start to see where the links can be found. In this one, you have three main mysteries. First, who is the man washed up on the beach? As we follow him, more and more contradictory information comes to light. There is little by way of information, and each new thing that comes to light can be questioned. Second, who is to blame for the murder? Oddly enough, the murder is the aspect of the story with the least information. It is clearly linked in with the rest of the story, but you don’t know the why. Third, what is the truth behind the absent father? We have a question of whether he truly committed suicide or whether there was more to his disappearance than meets the eye. As more comes to light to this aspect of the story, you quickly become tangled in a web of deceit that is so much larger than one person leaving their family behind.
  
  These three aspects come together brilliantly, working together to slowly unfold the main mystery of the book. Parts reminded me of the first China thriller, in the way there was something much larger than any of the individual characters at play, but it was far from a carbon copy of the book.
  
  Overall, it was a great read. As I said, it’s not my favourite Peter May book, but it was more than worth reading.
• 
  Mariafrancesca di natura viperesca sta con gli ultimi della terra

  Intervallo tra un troppo serio e l'altro
  
  Ha avuto voglia Peter May a imparruccare di nero Neal David Mclean (o chiunque si celi sotto la fittizia identità dello smemorato): ma è lui, Harrison Ford, a prestargli corpo atletico, movenze e tic per tutta la spy story sulle Ebridi. Così sai, fin dall’inizio, che comunque si mettano le cose il finale non può essere che un happy and, perché Harrison è Harrison.
  
  Ecco, io non amo le spy story ma questa si fa godere per due motivi: l’essere ambientata in quelle isole che sai abitate da poche centinaia di persone e che di queste ne compariranno nella storia non più di una decina i cui i nomi ne devi tenere a mente soltanto due o tre (a cui aggiungerne altri quattro di gente più o meno di passaggio);
  il secondo motivo è che le ammazzatine sono limitate all’indispensabile per l’intreccio, non certo per l’indispensabilità del delitto in sé.
  C’è quel po’ po’ di mondo, a fare da scenario, che google maps non rende, propinando qualche foto turistica.
  A me, che non l’ho mai visto, bastano per immaginarlo nei dettagli, anche perché lo scrittore scozzese ci mette, allo scopo, tutto l’amore per quel mondo: scogliere a picco, tramonti tra le nuvole, mare mai, dico mai, tranquillo e inaspettati sciami di api perchè, tra quelle impervie scogliere, dalla primavera all'autunno è un tripudio di colorati profumi e pollini a gogò. Eh, se non ci fossero le api...
  
  [Unica pecca: troppa pioggia, tanta quanta se ne sta “assuppando” mio figlio in viaggio di nozze nelle Filippine in cui, secondo le sue informazioni, sarebbe stato periodo terso e assolato.
  E dire che la pioggia a me piace …]