Entry Island - blurring the lines between the past and present

Detective Sime Mackenzie is sent to Entry Island to investigate the murder of the wealthiest man on this tiny island nestled in the Gulf of St Lawrence, many, MANY miles from mainland Canada. Escaping a failed marriage and debilitating insomnia, Sime welcomes the distraction and change of scenery. All the initial evidence appears to point to the victim's wife, Kirsty, as an act of revenge for his infidelity, but when Sime meets her, he has the strange feeling that they have already met and is determined to prove that she didn't do it. As the investigation continues, Sime's dreams (when he snatches a moment of sleep) are filled with "memories" of the ancestor he is named after, who came from a distant Scottish island, and his childhood friend who is remarkably like Kirsty. Sime is torn between what feels like a very personal story and the evidence being brought to light by the investigation. But can he trust his gut, or is stress and the lack of decent sleep affecting his reasoning? Entry Island by Peter May, may be a gripping police procedural, but it is also an emotional tale of the shared history of immigrants and long lost love. Full of great characters and a smattering of the history - the Highland Clearances and the mass emigration of a good chunk of the Scottish population to Canada - there is much to admire. I found myself transported between times and places, and felt the lines blurring between the past and the present much as the main character does. This author really knows how to suck the reader into a story and keep them there, and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone (and indeed, the Lewis Trilogy). I read the audio edition, narrated with skill and feeling by Peter Forbes - excellent!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 544 print pages.

Formats: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

Price I paid: £2.98.