Firstly I wish to thank Charlotte Cooper of Midas Public Relations for inviting me to be part of this Blog Tour for I’LL KEEP YOU SAFE by Peter May.

PUBLICATION DAY 11th JANUARY 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION

** AUTHOR OF CAST IRON, COFFIN ROAD AND THE BLACKHOUSE **
** OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD **
** AN EXPLOSIVE NEW THRILLER SET IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES **

WHATEVER HAPPENS

Niamh and Ruairidh Macfarlane co-own the Hebridean company Ranish Tweed. On a business trip to Paris to promote their luxury brand, Niamh learns of Ruairidh’s affair, and then looks on as he and his lover are killed by a car bomb. She returns home to Lewis, bereft.

I’LL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU

Niamh begins to look back on her life with Ruairidh, desperate to identify anyone who may have held a grudge against him. The French police, meanwhile, have ruled out terrorism, and ruled in murder – and sent Detective Sylvie Braque to shadow their prime suspect: Niamh.

I’LL KEEP YOU SAFE, NO MATTER WHAT

As one woman works back through her memories, and the other moves forward with her investigation, the two draw ever closer to a deadly enemy with their own, murderous, designs.

‘Peter May is a writer I would follow to the ends of the earth’ New York Times

HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS AND REVIEW

I didn’t feel much when Ruairidh was blown up in a car in Paris with his lover Irina, well not for him anyway, only compassion for Niamh, his now widow. She had only been left with an email from ‘a well wisher’ and a bitterness of not having had questions and accusations answered, before he left for a supposed meeting. The pair of them driving away together, before the explosion, she supposed, was probably conformation in itself. The last thing that he had done before he left was lie to her. I had only a couple of sentences to judge him by and decided that I didn’t like this man who had been cheating on his wife.

What a tremendous opening! I had really been flung in at the deep end with so much happening all at once. I was making rash decisions that were constantly changing with every chapter. Niamh I instantly liked, although I meet her probably at her worst, angry, upset and very vulnerable. All she wanted was to go home, back to the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Hebrides, where Ruairidh and her had their thriving Ranish Tweed business and their home.

I loved the contrasts between the major cities of London, Paris and New York to the simplicity and ruggedness of the Hebrides, oh my, oh my, this book’s words just turned into the most vivid pictures in my mind that stayed with me long after I finished reading. For so many things it was like a step back in time, with traditions that had been adhered to, no matter how the rest of the world changed. Some I was aghast at, while others I envied. But it was the land and sea that took my breath because it was as if it was alive constantly changing from indescribable beauty to savage and unforgiving. There is something about the Hebrides that will never truly be owned by any man.

The story I would describe as a fine tweed, woven together with a shuttle toing and froing, back and forth between present day and the investigation, to Niamh bringing to mind anyone from their past that could hold a wicked grudge that had festered. The more of these stories she thought of, the more I could see why she fell in love with Ruairidh. There was one particular heart breaking story from the past that really touched my soul and could never be forgiven.

There are quite a lot characters to keep in mind but it is told in such a way that each is memorable from the chapters they are captured in. The comparisons between the French Detective, Lieutenant Sylvie Braque, sent from Paris and Detective Sergeant George Gunn a resident of Lewis was as if they had worked in different centuries. Yet they gelled perfectly, each bringing their own distinctive skills, what a perfect pairing. Then the traditional ways in which the tartan cloth was manufactured to its journey down the cat walks of the fashion shows were just stunning.

An awesome read, loved the story, from some of the eccentric characters to the timeless Island inhabitants with a setting that was just breath-taking.

I wish to thank the Charlotte Cooper of Midas Public Relations for an ARC of this book which I have honestly reviewed.

HERE IS A LITTLE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Peter May is a writer I’d follow to the ends of the earth” New York Times

Peter May is the multi award-winning author of:

– the Lewis Trilogy set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland;
– the China Thrillers, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell;
– the Enzo Files, featuring Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, which is set in France. The sixth and final Enzo book is Cast Iron (January 2017, Riverrun).

He has also written several standalone books:
– I’ll Keep You Safe (January 2018, Riverrun)
– Entry Island (January 2014, Quercus UK)
– Runaway (January 2015, Quercus UK)
– Coffin Road (January 2016, Riverrun)

May had a successful career as a television writer, creator, and producer.

One of Scotland’s most prolific television dramatists, he garnered more than 1000 credits in 15 years as scriptwriter and script editor on prime-time British television drama. He is the creator of three major television drama series and presided over two of the highest-rated serials in his homeland before quitting television to concentrate on his first love, writing novels.

Born and raised in Scotland he lives in France.

His breakthrough as a best-selling author came with The Lewis Trilogy. After being turned down by all the major UK publishers, the first of the The Lewis Trilogy – The Blackhouse – was published in France as L’Ile des Chasseurs d’Oiseaux where it was hailed as “a masterpiece” by the French national newspaper L’Humanité. His novels have a large following in France. The trilogy has won several French literature awards, including one of the world’s largest adjudicated readers awards, the Prix Cezam.

The Blackhouse was published in English by the award-winning Quercus (a relatively young publishing house which did not exist when the book was first presented to British publishers). It went on to become an international best seller, and was shortlisted for both Barry Award and Macavity Award when it was published in the USA.

The Blackhouse won the US Barry Award for Best Mystery Novel at Bouchercon in Albany NY, in 2013.