The story opens on a boat and pretty much sets the atmosphere of bleakness and isolation from the start. DI George Lennox is on her way to investigate an apparent suicide on a remote and desolate island. With DI Richard Stewart she buckles down for the incoming storm that menaces and threatens this isolated and suspicious community. Ways of lives little changed are deeply seated in religion and ancestors and outsiders are always seen as a threat. Rural communities communicate much with a look, a feeling and a crime that brings in outsiders is a threat to them all. This is a dark and menacing story with threats hidden in the layers and years of the islanders history. Fascinating and addictive I enjoyed every moment.

Loved the slight supernatural feel of this book, the tight knit rather strange community was perfect for this book!
Will look out for more books by Laura McCluskey

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc for this truly amazing read. Here’s my honest review and am I can say is you have to give this a try especially if this is your book genre. I was gripped from the start to the end and didn’t put it down! Been laid up so this was a perfect escape for the day and it didn’t disappoint In The slightest! Loved the characters and the plot line kept me on my toes.

A young man has presumably committed suicide by throwing himself off the lighthouse on the remote Scottish Island of Eadar. Its thought to be a simple assignment for DIs George (Georgina) Lennox and Richie Stewart, simple because George is recovering from an on the job injury. It’s not that simple. The island is plagued by constant wild storms. The residents are cold, unfriendly and seem to be hiding something. Although the population is small, no one seems to know much about the unfortunate young man. All are devoted to their small church but behind their religion lie ancient old habits and suspicions. These practices are not to be shared and the detectives face unknown danger as they try to link them to the suicide.

The Wolf Tree is a deliberately slow paced combination of mystery and horror. The relationship between George and Richie faces changes that may destroy it as George is impulsive and fast acting compared to the more thoughtful Richie. She’s also using pain and sleep medication regularly because of her still healing injuries and Richie feels this is leading to addiction. He may be right. I like the pairing of the two and this complicated plot. However, it is Eadar, with its haunting, violent weather, that is the star of The Wolf Tree. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and Laura McCluskey for this ARC.

A page turner, intriguing and fascinating. A different concept, new and exciting.*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

This was such an interesting book. A damaged detective inspector George (Georgia) and her protective friend/father figure partner DI Richie head to one of Scotland’s isolated small community islands to investigate an apparent suicide for any evidence of foul play. The site of this suicide just happens to be at the site of a centuries old mystery of missing lighthouse keepers. They receive a mixed welcome and soon strange behaviours, howling at night and local superstitions all converge in a story that kept me
Guessing until the end.
The main character is not particularly likeable as of yet but I did like the friendship between Her and Richie. There were a few grammatical errors but nothing major. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its mix of old mystery and current thriller moments.

It could be argued that the author is a little more focused on creating an uncanny atmosphere than is strictly necessary when she could be concentrating on drawing the reader in through genuine action in order to make them want to keep turning the pages.

A remote (fictional) Hebridean island sounds like an ideal location in which to create a crackling crime novel, but somehow the narrative feels too flat and uninspired for it to be any more than a mediocre text in the already crowded market place of contemporary crime fiction. At least for this reader it is. The islanders — all unsympathetic in their own way — are predictably passive-aggressive in their suspicion of the two police inspectors from the Scottish mainland attempting to unravel the mysteries of an alleged suicide and there is insufficient tension in terms of any locals who might ostensibly have a motive for murdering the victim instead of him taking his own life. For a small island there appear to be an awful lot of people with similar-sounding names which some readers will find confusing. Arguably, the author would have been wiser to centre on fewer characters, but to explore them in more depth — their lives, their role within the community, any reason they may have disliked the victim and wanted him to be gone.

The Wolf Tree is supposedly the author's debut at crime writing, yet it's threaded with constant obscure references to a previous case in which the female DI was injured, but the circumstances are never fully explained. This not only adds to the novel's numerous shortcomings, it also makes one wonder what the point of these indicators is if the author chooses not to enlighten the reader. Furthermore, the random shifts between past and present tense, sometimes even within the same paragraph, add to a sense of incompetence on the part of the author. .

The reader has to wait until fifty pages before the end of this 350 page novel for anything even remotely typical of genuine crime fiction to take place. For the sake of the author and her publishers I hope other readers show the perseverance necessary to get this far in the narrative without giving up.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

4* An engrossing read with an unempathetic and unlikeable female lead.

Let's get this out here - I disliked Georgina/George, her headstrong ways, her selfishness, her lies, her attacks on Rich, her chip on her shoulder and her attitude, despite sort of knowing about the trauma in her past via flashbacks. But the author kept those flashbacks incomplete and made Georgina seem all of the above, so tbh, I didn't care about her. Rich was the gentler, kinder, fatherly contrasting cop, and I actually liked Georgina having to take it when he chastised her and expressed his disappointment and doubts in her, because of - well, take your pick of the above. Did she deserve it? Yes. Did the author let us 'see' George? Nope. Did that spoil the tale? No. It was a good read, but ugh, slow, dull and confusing in parts due to lies, obfuscation and the inhabitants' beliefs. And because of the godforsaken weather on the island. How come the weather wasn't a portent that what the inhabitants were doing was wrong, because after all, their lives depended on it, and they believed in signs from beyond/bigger/other?

I sussed out pretty quickly who was at the core of stuff that happened on the self-policing island, but finding out another's part in it, right at the very end, was a shocker I hadn't seen coming. I don't think these people knew the meaning of doing the right thing, having a guilty conscience, of not lying, of going against their church that was meant to be at the centre of island life. They were all in on it, and they looked each other in the eye, lied silently to each other's faces, never acknowledged anything openly, lived with lies, obfuscation and subterfuge. How could everyone, including the seemingly OK Lewis, be so complicit, so devoid of a moral compass?

It was worth the read, but I'm not sure George has anything redeeming about her that'd make me get invested in her, root for her or want to see her as the lead of another book. She needs medical help, counselling, a good dose of honesty and to be benched for a while.

Hopefully the tale will undergo more editing, because the Ethan reveal was clumsy and hard to understand due to the wording. I had to read it about 3 times, think back to his previous appearances, his attitude and aggression, before I clocked. And as that's a huge catalyst for events in the tale, it needs to be clearer.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, Hemlock Press, for my reading pleasure.

The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide.

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for four days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders.
A great read that kept me reading as I didn't want to put it down. Great characters in Geogina and Richard and I enjoyed reading about their relationship and the way they worked together.

A good debut novel set on a remote island in Scotland where DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart have been sent to investigate a apparent suicide, but is there more to the death then meets the eye, the plot had a few good twists and will definitely keep you guessing and I hope to read more from Laura McClusky.

Excellent story. More twisted than you could imagine. Couldn't put it down.
Can't wait for more from Laura McCluskey.