What another cracker of a read from Peter May! This book starts off in Paris when a car bomb goes off killing Niamhs' husband...Was it a terrorist incident? Did Ruairidh have secrets? Shattered by grief after losing her husband Niamh returns home to lewis where she is followed by Detective Sylvie Braque. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it's fast-paced throughout and will keep you hooked to the very end. A truly absorbing read. I really enjoyed the whodunit style set in france!

There is little that banishes the January blues quite as effectively as a new book from the popular, and diverse,  crime novelist Peter May. It is with some pleasure that the Raven can declare that I'll Keep You Safe, another Hebridean outing and laced with a touch of the Parisian, accompanied by leftover Christmas chocolate and a wee dram was, by and large, a real new year treat… For my review I will only dally fleetingly on the plot of this one, as there are neat little twists and tricks, heralded by the literally explosive beginning that will unsettle, surprise and delight you in equal measure. Integral to the success of these is the structure of the book, and the characterisation, and this is what I would particularly like to draw your attention to. Strangely, I'm going to compare Peter May to a stand up comedian, and here's why. Just as a good stand up comedian would begin to tell you a story, then seamlessly goes off on what appears to be a largely unconnected tangent, then drawing you back to their original story, and repeating this process to the story's conclusion, so May uses this same device to great effect. He provides us with a relatively linear plot in that woman's possibly unfaithful husband is killed in car explosion and setting the reader on the course to find out who did it, but by using casual small references to previous events,  he then takes us on an intriguing circular perambulation to explore these happenings, satisfyingly building up layers of the personal histories of his characters. It's also akin to looking at an old photograph album, so that we can picture Niamh and Ruairidh at crucial points in their formative years, as well as in the life they build together. Niamh's life and experiences in particular are a real driving force in the book, and as the book is so closely structured around her grief, confusion and anger, I felt incredibly drawn to her. I enjoyed discovering more about her as the book progressed, and the emotional weight that May invests in her does to a certain extent put other characters in the shade, most notably French detective Sylvie Braque, who aside from her interactions with the island police, disappointingly failed to ignite my interest to any degree. Some of the more minor Hebridean characters like Richard Faulkner of Ranish Tweed, and ruddy faced policeman George Gunn provide some good local colour, but I had mixed feelings about another character who brings strife and chaos in their wake... Throughout the book I couldn't shake the sense that although I was enveloped in the characters' lives, the authorial voice of May was very strong as he embellishes his narrative with the depth of research, the evocation of landscape, and his astute understanding of human frailty and strength compounded with his natural flair of almost seeming to speak to the reader one-to-one. For this reason I found myself genuinely interested in the history of tweed, bizarre burial rites, the dangers of peat, and other random facts, that I will be certain to introduce into conversation when the opportunity arises. But seriously, May's depiction of the landscape, texture and rhythm of life in this island community is fascinating as always, triggering our senses, and enveloping us completely in the story. I was enthralled by his descriptions and observations, so much so that the strangeness of the ending, which I confess did baffle, and slightly perplex me, faded into the background due to the mesmeric beauty of the four hundred pages which preceded it. I loved the pure storytelling I'll Keep You Safe, and was again in thrall to May's ability to so closely draw the reader in to this insular and unique community, and the secrets and lies that come to bear. Your senses will be tantalised, your fancy will be tickled, and I guarantee that ending will get you talking...

I'm not usually much for crime fiction but when Peter May's Black house trilogy originally came to my attention I read it as it was set on the same island I grew up on. I have since made sure to read all his subsequent books set in the Western Isles and so I was delighted to receive an advanced reading copy of 'I'll Keep You Safe' from his publisher, Quercus. Once again Peter May has created a gripping crime novel that keeps you guessing right to the end. It has twists and turns that you really won't see coming and the ending was a blinder. But more importantly he has once again managed to capture the very essence of my home island and how life is on it. The main character is a 40 year old woman, so the same age as me, and the flashbacks to her past growing up on the island really did ring true with me from the description of the primary school right up to the Friday night disco's. It can be difficult to be objective about the story when you're an islander reading the book as you can lose yourself in picking apart the author's descriptions of your home to make sure he's got it just right, but I re-read the book before returning to the Island for the launch event to make sure I also had a good feel for the story. It was just as good the second time round. I loved the different locations in the book and the main female characters were all such strong women in their own ways. Maybe I wasn't a fan of crime novels because I grew up in a place where, contrary to what Peter May would have you believe, there wasn't any? But his imagination has increased the hypothetical death rate in Lewis and made me a new crime fiction fan which it turns out is a good thing :)

#fromourbookshelves The book opens with a table of Pronunciations for Gaelic, the names and places, which is very helpful and saves gurning one’s way through the narrative, trying out possible pronunciations. Niamh (Neave) and Ruairidh (Roo-are-ee) have been a couple for some years, living up on Lewis, and they have hit fame with their company Ranish Tweed, It has certainly not been an easy ride for them, but after several setbacks they get chosen by famous British designer Lee Blunt to feature in a new collection. He cannot rate their cloth highly enough. Thus, from a teetering start, they build up a good and prosperous business and we learn about their successes in flashback descriptions. The novel opens in the centre of Paris when Ruairidh and a young woman are blown up in a car. Niamh had been growing suspicions that her husband was having an affair with that beautiful young woman and that is the thought that haunts her as she buries him. Her best friend Seonag (Shonnak) comes back into her life and offers her support, and as Niamh tries to untangle the complex web of her husband’s life, she inevitably follows a variety of leads. Who would want her husband dead? There are clues in his earlier years but there aren’t any actions that would warrant a killing. Surely?! Detective Sylvie Braque from the French police plays a significant part in the story and eventually is despatched to carry out further investigations in the Hebrides. The setting of the Hebrides forms a very strong backdrop to the story and is a character in itself. This is a very readable novel but it does have its weaknesses in the plot that make the ending perhaps just a little overly contrived.

Firstly, thank you to Quercus for the advance review copy! I am a major Peter May fan so it was such a delight to read it early... This will not disappoint his fans, in true style it keeps you guessing right to the end. Certainly recommend it.