What a fantastic book this was to read. It has been quite a while since I read the others in the series so thankfully there was enough in this book to remind you what happened previously when it was connected to the current storyline. Great characters and a storyline that kept you hooked from the off, wanting to read on until I got to the end - my sign of a great book! Highly recommended.

An informative ecological read wrapped up in a thought provoking crime novel set against the backdrop of the atmospheric Isle of Lewis.
With beautiful scenery, old familiar characters and a edgy crime to solve, this was a 'wrap up with a hot chocolate ' sort of read.
Meeting Fin again was joyful, the circumstances, not so much. A usual May's depiction of island life feels authentic and with a murder to solve as well as long ago but not forgotten secrets to uncover, The Black Loch was a compelling enjoyable read

The Black Loch by P. May, published by Quercus, is book 4 in the Lewis Trilogy. The book can easily be read as a stand alone, anyway, for best reading experience I recommend to read the books in order.
Seasoned Detective Sergeant George Gunn and Detective Louise McNish's latest case includes a dead girl found. Set in Scotland the investigation starts and the reader is along for the ride, intriguing, twisty full of unexpected turns, a fantastic read.

An intricate and interesting thriller. Well developed characters who nearly all knew each other when they were growing up,made for good dynamics.

It’s over 10 years since Peter May’s ‘Lewis Trilogy’ was published, though I came to the books only in the past year, quickly becoming hooked and reading them in quick succession, so the characters and events in those three were reasonably fresh in my mind when embarking on this book, the fourth in the series. The fault is mine, then, when I say that I was disappointed to find so many pages given over to filling in Fin’s background, the events and relationships of his youth. I can well see, though, that someone coming to this series for the first time would need all this information - this story would be mind-boggling without it - better still, of course, to read the first three first. Having said that, many characters and events are new and it was interesting to see where they fitted into the whole (or, more often, onto the fringes of what we already knew about Fin’s Lewis).

Apart from the mystery surrounding Caitlin’s death, the main story here is about the horrors of industrial salmon farming and it is not for the squeamish among us. This was all new to me. And, apart from Fin of course, the main character here (as has been said so many times before about Peter May’s writing) is the Outer Hebrides. I always find his descriptions of the islands compelling - dark and foreboding, cloud-covered mountains and cliffs, transformed by sudden bursts of sunlight breaking through the gloom. Must visit sometime.

With thanks to Quercus, riverrun via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

The,Black Loch by Peter May

The body of eighteen-year-old TV personality Caitlin is found abandoned on a remote beach at the head of An Loch Dubh - the Black Loch - on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis. A swimmer and canoeist, it is inconceivable that she could have drowned.
Fin Macleod left the island ten years earlier to escape its memories. When he learns that his married son Fionnlagh had been having a clandestine affair with the dead girl and is suspected of her murder, he and Marsaili return to try and clear his name.
As always a great story by this author , although I much preferred the present day rather than when Fin & Marsalli were younger but I can see it was done for backstory so I can see the point. All the characters were brought to life in a brilliant way and I enjoyed reading how they were all connected .