Book Reviews - Coffin Road Peter May and The Muse Jessie Burton

Coffin Road - Peter May

I've read some of Peter's previous novels.  In particular his Lewis Chessman trilogy.  This is again set in the Western Isles Peter's preferred setting.  We are presented with a classic amnesia story.  Man comes too on a shore in the middle of a storm, he has been shipwrecked it seems but he has no idea how, or who he is, or what is going on.

A terrific page turning thriller as you want to know who our hero really is?   This is made more difficult for him and us since he can find nothing in his croft as to who he really is.  Just some odd clues.  His neighbours don't help much they tell him he is a writer researching a book.  But... he finds no notes, no writing on the laptop.  Actually... nothing at all again... Only that he is a beekeeper with some hives that are secreted somewhere he clearly didn't want them to be found in.

The second thread is a teenager who is convinced her missing father isn't dead and then when his best friend is killed just after giving her a clue that she may be right she suspects foul play.

Brilliant story as I say - especially the science at the bottom of the plot.

Two thumbs up on the FITUBRS*


The Muse - Jessie Burton 

I loved her first novel the Miniaturist.  This one is set in two locations and times.  1967 in London and the beginning of the Spanish Civil war in Spain.  What is the link?  Other than a undiscovered masterpiece painting that is uncovered in 1967.  Who was the artist?  What happened to them?  Who is the mysterious Quick who gives our heroine a job in an art dealership in 1967?

Nicely spun with the true link between the times and the characters kept hidden and still some surprises towards the end that weren't telegraphed in the plot make this a really enjoyable read.

One thumb up definitely possibly two - close call on the FITUBRS* 

* Furtheron International Thumbs Up Book Review Scale -
lowest is both thumbs down with a frown
two thumbs down,
one thumb horizontal,
two thumbs horizontal,
one thumb up,
two thumbs up
two thumbs up with a grin - very rarely awarded

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