Stoirm Island’s secrets are worth killing for in this immersive, unrelenting thriller for readers of All the Missing Girls and Neon Prey—“this crime novel has it all” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). When reporter Rebecca Connolly gets a tip that suspected murderer Roddie Drummond will be returning to the island of Stoirm, she smells a story. Though never convicted in the death of his … never convicted in the death of his girlfriend Mhairi fifteen years earlier, Drummond is still guilty in the eyes of many islanders, and his return for his mother’s funeral is sure to stir up old resentments, hatreds, possibly even violence. Rebecca has another reason for going to Stoirm. Her own father came from there, but he never went back, and he always refused to speak of it or say what drove him away.
Defying her editor, Rebecca joins forces with local photographer Chazz Wymark to dig into the mystery surrounding Mhairi’s death and her unexplained last words, “Thunder Bay”—the secluded spot on the west coast of the island where, according to local lore, the souls of the dead set off into the afterlife. When a string of violent events erupts across the island, Rebecca discovers the power of secrets, and she must decide what to bury, and what to bring into the light.
Longlisted for Bloody Scotland’s McIlvanney Prize for best crime book of the year, Thunder Bay has been hailed as “Immersive, compelling . . . [with a] jaw-dropping climax” (Neil Broadfoot, author of the MacGregor and Drummond thrillers).).
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It took the authore quite a while to get the plot going. Characters never really developed. It was very difficult to read because I just couldn’t get myself involved with the book. I had to force myself to finish it.
Immersive, compelling, and shot through with Skelton’s pitch-black humour, Thunder Bay will reverberate like the last echoes of a storm long after you read the jaw-dropping climax.
A darkly claustrophobic tale set on a remote Scottish island, where secrets and lies and family feuds all lead to murderous consequences. Douglas Skelton’s writing always delivers, nowhere more than with Thunder Bay.
Razor sharp… An outstanding piece of crime fiction. Not to be missed.
I was delighted to discover a new-to-me author in Douglas Skelton. I really enjoyed this first book in the series with Rebecca Connolly, a journalist in Scotland. In this first outing, she goes to an island off the west coast of Scotland in pursuit of a story. I really enjoyed this book, and the cast of characters.
I was surprised at the ending. Great read!
*I received a free digital ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Darkness on the Sound
This story is based on a fictional Scottish Island, Stoirm, based in one of the Scottish Sounds. Now there are a couple of straits in Scotland with the name “Sound” as far as I can figure out: either “Inner Sound”, close to Skye, or “Sound of Islay”, between the islands of Islay and Jura. I’m not sure which is meant, but there are a couple of islands in either area which could give you that “small island community” feel. Not that I’ve ever been to Scotland, let alone a remote island with one main town where everyone knows each other.
So I took my ideas of what such a small community would feel like based on my very limited experiences of a small village community where, yes, everyone knows each other, and not always in a friendly way.
This small community on Stoirm has its secrets, which no one repeats, and must stay in the past. But that is all about to be stirred up with the return of Roddie Drummond, who was “not proven” of murdering his girlfriend, Mhairi, 15 years previously, and Rebecca Connolly, who not only wants to dig into the past to find out the truth of what happened to Mhairi, but also wants to discover why her father left the island in his youth, and why he never talked about it.
There’s a lot of twists and turns into finding the truth, which not only the islanders, but some dangerous men (such a typical cliché, them being Eastern Europeans) want to keep well hidden.
The trouble is, the truth. Well, the truth is not exciting at all. And the truth of why Rebecca’s father left, it didn’t give the impact expected, either. The most action to be had was in what appeared to be a homophobic attack on two of Rebecca’s new-found friends. That aside, Rebecca defying everyone to get the story she’s looking for, which is just as much her boss as the islanders themselves, is just as cliché as some of the rest.
The best part about this book, apart from the cover (the main reason I picked up the book in the first place), was probably the place descriptions. Thunder Bay was described beautifully, as a place that must be visited, and the scenery on the routes was just as detailed.
It’s a shame, really, as there was so much that could have been good and even better about this. In the end, I’m a little disappointed, with the grip not quite catching me completely.
Final rating: – Sort of liked/OK
Enjoyed the story and would have rated it higher had the unusual culture and character of the island been described in more depth. Most of the characters from the island could have been made into mainlanders without much tinkering.
An insular setting (a Scottish island), closely-held family secrets, a good writer. But this got a bit confused, I felt, with characters emerging so steadily that they got a little hard to keep track of.
Rebecca Connelly decides to investigate a fifteen-year-old murder mystery against her boss’s orders. Roddie Drummond was accused of killing his old girlfriend, Mhairi,. Although he was never acquitted, the Island of Stoirm believed he did. Roddie returns to attend his mother’s funeral. Rebecca has other reasons to come to the island. Her father was born and raised here but never talked about his childhood or the reason he left. Rebecca recruits two locals to help her solve the mystery and to provide answers about her father.
I received this book for free from Edelweiss for an honest review. I enjoyed the novel. The characters seemed so realistic, you felt as if you knew them in real life. The action kept you riveting to see what would happen next. The author was especially detailed in describing Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay is full of strong winds, harsh rocks and wild splashes of water. Thunder Bay felt like another character in the book.