Entry Island
by Peter May
Having read Peter May’s Lewis trilogy, I wanted to read one of his stand -alone novels and I wasn’t disappointed.
The story interweaves two timelines and two countries – Canada and Scotland and the murder of a man on Entry Island (an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence) and the Highland Clearances.
Detective Sime Mackenzie is drafted on to the team investigating a murder on Entry Island – an island with 130 inhabitants – because he is the only English speaker. Leaving Montreal behind, he carries with him his loneliness and his insomnia. When he meets the wife of the deceased, he instantly feels a connection with her and she becomes a regular visitor in his dreams of his ancestor during the brutal Highland Clearances.
I liked the switching between past and present and both stories were engrossing. Sime is a well drawn detective and he is someone that a reader can relate to – I did, I was rooting for him all the way. I was also drawn to the Sime of the past. May has created two rounded characters and the novel never loses pace.
I loved it.
Milly Reynolds 