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

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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. 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. 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!

Coffin Road | Crime Fiction Lover Coffin Road | Crime Fiction Lover

It was interesting. I took a different approach. In the book there are kind of three strands to it. There’s the guy himself who’s lost his memory, there’s the girl who’s looking into the death of her father, and there’s the cop who’s investigating the body found out on the lighthouse island. And the girl’s story and the cop’s story are both told in a conventional third person narrative, but when it came to telling the guy’s story, I told it first person present tense. So that it was absolutely immediate, you’re actually in his head sharing his confusions, his discoveries, his revelations with him at every point, so that you’re entirely with him. And when I was writing it, that’s how it was for me too, I was entirely with him, I was living that experience. It was taking that first person present tense that made it totally immediate. 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. 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. The novel’s well written and fast-paced and there are quite a few twists and turns to navigate along the way. (Like the choppy unpredictable waters the characters traverse via boat!)

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”

Coffin Road by Peter May | Goodreads Coffin Road by Peter May | Goodreads

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 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.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 b A teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her father's death. Two years after the discovery of the pioneering scientist's suicide note, Karen Fleming still cannot accept that he would willfully abandon her. And the more she discovers about the nature of his research, the more she suspects that others were behind his disappearance. Have read The Lewis Trilogy, The Enzo Files, and just finished the First of he China Books…The research in each book is outstanding. I have enjoyed each book and look forward to reading all of Peter May’s books. Reply MILLION-SELLING PETER MAY MIXES MURDER, MYSTERY and MEMORY . . . AND MARKS HIS RETURN TO THE OUTER HEBRIDES

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

The writer started off pretty good with what appeared to be a female laying unconscious on a sea bed or shore. the began to describe her breathing and the way she felt. She was not in a bad shape it appears. In addition to the Lewis Trilogy, the Enzo Files, and the China Thrillers, Peter was also able to write six standalone novels including his very first novel, The Reporter published in 1978. In this novel, investigative reporter, Colin Anderson, unknowingly puts his life and the life of his assistant, Janis Sinclair, on the line when he begins to uncover what could very well be the biggest international sabotage of all time. Peter’s other standalone novels include Fallen Hero 1979, Hidden Faces 1981 and 1982, The Noble Path 1992 and 1993, Virtually Dead 2010, and Entry Island 2014. Television and Film 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. This thriller series is popular for the tempestuous relationship between Chinese detective Li Yan, and acerbic American pathologist Dr. Margaret Campbell from Chicago. The China Thrillers landed Peter the only honorary membership of the Chinese Crime Writer’s Association awarded to a westerner for its vibrant portrayal of contemporary Chinese life. 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.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.