The Lewis Man by Peter May is the second novel of The Lewis Trilogy. I had read the first after a friend had suggested I might enjoy it. I liked it very much as is apparent in my review of The Blackhouse.

In The Lewis Man several of the main characters are back but not necessarily in the way expected. Detective Fin Macleod is back. Detective Macleod grew-up on the remote Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.  But in this story he is no longer with the police but has moved back to Lewis.

Another main character here Tormod MacDonald was a minor character in the first book but takes center stage here. Tormod is the father of Marsaili, Fin’s former girlfriend, and it soon becomes apparent that he is related to the murdered body in the bog. Oh, I forgot to mention that a body is found  in the bog at the very beginning of this story.

As in both books, Peter May uses 2 alternating narrators to tell the story and that works well.  In The Blackhouse it was a third person narrator and a young Fin as first person narrator.    In The Lewis Man there is a similar third person narrator but the first person narrator is Tormod who is in the advanced stages of dementia.  The imperfection of human memory is key in both.

I liked The Lewis Man  immediately.  Perhaps it was because I read the first in the series.  A word of warning, the story is disturbing and  very intense at times.

I think it was a very good book and I’d highly recommend it.  My friend who initially suggested that I try this series says his favorite is the third.  So I am looking forward to that one.  I plan on finishing the Lewis series and trying other books by Peter May.