Book description
MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2016 BY NEWSWEEK, NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE TELEGRAPH, AND THE SUNDAY TIMES
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE
"THOUGHT PROVOKING FICTION"-THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
A brutal triple murder in a remote Scottish farming…
Why read it?
2 authors picked His Bloody Project as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This fascinating murder mystery that is part memoir and part trial. The structure of this novel is unique and inventive. The author leads with a preface claiming that what follows is the memoir of the murderer who is standing trial for the bloody murder of three people. This is no ordinary whodunit, but rather a revealing glimpse into the lives and grievances of the inhabitants of a small Scottish highlands village in 1869. I was drawn in from page one. This novel barrels its way to the very last page.
I love books with unusual structures, and this one certainly fits the bill. The story concerns the violent murder of three crofters (farmers) in a remote Scottish Highland community in 1869.
When reading the book and the way it is presented, you are never sure if you are reading true witness testimonies, contemporaneous court reports and medical statements, or the confession of the actual murderer himself. Unreliable narrators can sometimes be frustrating, but in this case, how sure are we that any of what we are reading is actually true?
The book delivers a sort of courtroom drama in which…
From Les' list on diversity of Scottish crime writing.
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