LJ Ross - Holy Island

Detective Chief Inspector Ryan retreats to Holy Island seeking sanctuary when he is forced to take sabbatical leave from his duties as a homicide detective. A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby Priory.
When former local girl Dr Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface making her confront her difficult past. She and Ryan struggle to work together to hunt a killer who hides in plain sight, while pagan ritual and small-town politics muddy the waters of their investigation.

Comment: Last time I was at the library I decided to only bring one book, for I expected August to be a busy month - work wise is definitely so - but it turned out that my free hours were mostly dedicated to reading and I could have managed more after all. Anyway, I only brought this one, I had not heard of the author before and the information this was the first in a series convinced me.

In this book we have a mixed plot of police investigations and the secretive plans of a sort of cult. On the island of Lindisfarne, history and cultural facts abound, the tourists especially love the solstice and equinox celebrations and the mood is even better since the island is often not accessible by car during the high tides. When the story begins inspector Ryan is taking some time after what we are told was a terrible case which also affected a family member. However, when a young woman is found dead in what seems to be a ritualistic pose, Ryan feels like investigating properly and his boss gives him the authorization. A former inhabitant of the island, dr Anna Taylor is called to help since she is knowledgeable of the rituals which might have been done with the victim, but coming back brings her bad memories... as the investigation progresses, more secrets start being unraveled, but will the killer plan on stopping them by killing someone else?

In terms of atmosphere, vibe and tone, I kind of liked reading this story. I also like the fact the island is real and looking for it on google maps has allowed me to have a better notion of what was being described.

The plot is captivating and I was quite taken with what was happening, even though I must say the big villain was obvious from the start. I think the author did a good job putting other characters on the way and doing things well enough to distract the reader - I would not say exactly with red herrings, considering the development of the plot - but the person most guilty was a little obvious to me. Despite the obvious flaws (in my opinion) this was an easy book to read, quite fluid.

However, I must say that it wasn't the most likely type of plot one could find and not even the characters' behavior acceptable if one bears in mind the psychology of it. With this I mean that while it is possible, it's not that easy to accept some of the characters' choices would have been that radical, especially when we learn the truth of some things, and that people could live in such a way for so long, in such a contemporary and public setting, let's say, as opposed to a truly isolated location and not a touristic island where foreigners could show up almost every day.

I would even add the fact that this is a contemporary mystery, not some weird sci fi tale or speculative fiction or whatever some might label books with the type of content this one has. 

Nevertheless, the story was engaging for the most part and I what I liked best was the police work, how they would go from one clue to the other collecting information until certain things made sense.

The story starts with a young woman dying and it is obvious from the start it happened in a way to allow the woman's body to be discovered a certain way. That leads the investigators to analyze the tradition of the island, which is linked with a christian saint but how many visit the island now for its history but also how things evolved in such ways that now the place is considered a good spot for special equinox and solstice pagan rituals and many visit the island especially in those annual moments. I figured this would mean the story would have some kind of obvious ritualistic situations and so on but all the inhabitants of the island were or taking advantage of the touristic attractions or mocking the whole thing somehow.

Then, we would have the POV, without the identity being shared, of the villain, and there were mentions of certain characters who appeared to be quite bland but it turned out they were part of this cult like belief, there were references to satanism and masters and sacrifices and such and I was a little annoyed to be honest, because it felt the author wanted to keep things secretive, which is fine, but the rest of the story and the characters just could not be that bizarre without some kind of clue from everyone else. Besides, even if I accept this as possible, how on earth would not someone guess or find out and tell the truth or do something, this is set in the 21th century, not an historical novel.

I suppose my disappointment is with the execution, in the attempt to keep secrets, to unveil things slowly, as the plot advances, the author let things get to a very silly point, in my opinion. I won't even talk about the epilogue, which I know many found twisty and amazing but that to me was the most ridiculous thing ever, and not even being proven about my suspicions made me change my mind.

There is also a little bit of romance but I've found it to be weak. I liked some secondary characters but the plot was too confusing, with too many things, I think the author should just let things be focused on one or two elements instead... were practically all characters weirdos and did incomprehensible things? Yes. Did those things made any sense? No. 

I see this is a long series and reading a few blurbs tells me most of them will be like this one, so I'll say this: if I find another at the library I might read it, if not I won't be sad about it.

Grade: 5/10