The Chessmen: The explosive finale in the million-selling series (The Lewis Trilogy Book 3)

Peter May's The Chessmen is the final book of the Lewis trilogy, staring Fin MacLeod an ex police officer previously acting as detective inspector. The trilogy takes place on a remote island in Scotland - The Isle of Lewis - where its inhabitants must constantly fight the elements for survival.Upon being reunited with an old friend via his new job, Fin MacLeod and Whistler discover a wreckage at the bottom of a drained loch. Amongst the wreckage, the two find a body belonging to an old school friend. Despite his departure from the force, Fin cannot resist investigating the death of his schoolmate.In this third book similar to The Blackhouse Peter May builds up a set of characters, walking the reader through Fin’s past and the present day investigation of the body found in the loch, allowing the reader to empathize with the cast. A strong finish to the trilogy, though the author leaves some issues unresolved.

Peter May has a majestic ability to lift his readers into each world he creates with words. Chessmen, the last in the Lewis trilogy takes place in the Hebrides. The main character, Fin Macleod, whose young life was blighted by the untimely death of his parents has returned home, the Isle of Lewis. The discovery of a plane wreck opens this period of Fin's life, various childhood friends reappear adding depth to the culmination of a most satisfactory game over. If this epic author is new to you expect to feel the midges bite and taste the salty wind.

I am presently only part way through this last of the three, but the standard is just as high as the previuos two. A friend passed on "The Black House" to me and I was so gripped that I looked for more by Peter May and found "Lewis Man" and "Chess Men". All the books are a mixture of horrible or mysteriuos murders, which are investigated by the main character, Fin. The plots swing from present to past as Fin and other characters remember things that happened to them in earlier life, including some historical facts, some of which I remember from a TV programme about the Hebrides. The other great thing is the description of the Island of Lewis {and Harris}, which I always wanted to visit and now feel as if I know it quite well. The imagry is wonderful too with the author's description of the surrounding mountains, sky , turbulent seas etc. You can even learn a bit of Gaelic as you read !I would recommend these books, don't be put off by the subject as first seen {murder} if this isn't your thing, the books are a brilliant read, but you need to start at the beginning with "The Black House", otherwise characters and events will be missed.

Having read all three Lewis trilogy novels in rapid succession, I enjoyed them. I followed the locations by using Google earth & Streetview which enhanced my perception of the locations. The story/plot was always very good and Peter May alternated between current day stuff and memory stuff effectively. Pacing is also very good. Peter May did his research and it shows.Personally, I have one criticism of Peter May's writing - I read "The Coffin Road" also. My criticism is concerned with the amount of and the depth of atmospheric and location description into which he delves, more especially where he is writing memory scenes. The colour of the sea, the machair, the cloud formations, the lighting etc. There was so much of this that I found myself not wanting to "wade" through it, instead skipping ahead a bit to simply stay with the great storylines. That level of laborious atmospheric description was too much for me when (for example) I was reading scenes from Fin McLeod's past, described by Fin himself. For my taste he had over-egged the pudding and thereby stretched the credibility of the memory scenes. But that's just my view and doubtless there are many who'd differ with me. Nonetheless Peter May in my view remains a very readable novelist.

Having read the first two in the trilogy I didn’t think it could get any better. But I was so wrong this was a brilliant story,the description of the islands and the weather conditions brought you right into the situation. Plot good although I had worked it out before the end it didn’t detract from the overall tale. I’m looking forward to reading more of his books