Recently Read – Raven Black By Ann Cleeves

The Recently Read posts are not book reviews. As a writer, I do not believe I should be reviewing the hard work of other writers. These posts are simply books I have recently read and enjoyed and will share with you. They will not always be crime books as I am trying to widen my reading selection. I hope you enjoy some of these with me.

Raven Black – Ann Cleeves

It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter’s eye is drawn to a splash of colour on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour, Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance.

The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man – loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when detective Jimmy Perez and his colleagues from the mainland insist on opening out the investigation, a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community.

For the first time in years, Catherine’s neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.

My Thoughts

I picked up this book, firstly because I had heard great things about Ann Cleeves books and I hadn’t read any, and secondly, because of the sense of place I knew this book was going to offer me. And anyone who has been following my writing journey, knows that lack of sense of place, was one thing I was pulled up on during my initial round of queries.

I absolutely was not let down by this book on either point. The book is an absolutely wonderful read. Ann draws you in with atmosphere, characters and a very cold and isolated sense of place.

From the start of the book I was hooked. I knew where I was and I was absolutely freezing! I was personally bounced between thinking it was a place too cold I would never want to go, to thinking how wonderful it would be to have somewhere like that where I could write and then clear my few brain cells out in the open of Shetland.

Magnus Tait was amazingly well drawn and you couldn’t fail to see him, and the strange man that he was, living out there alone. The detective, Perez was real and believable.

The murder of a young girl in such a small community was well played out and the list of suspects worked through well. With the community being so isolated everyone is aware of each others business, so the not knowing is unsettling to all.

This isn’t a face paced crime fiction read, but it is a brilliantly well written book I loved reading. Together, the cold and isolation of Shetland, mixed with the myriad of characters, gave this novel a brilliantly, layered depth that has left me needing to read the next in the Shetland/Perez series.