Purified is the sequel to Errant Blood by CF Peterson, set in the fictional highland village of Duncal. In it Eamon Ansgar, the local laird is looking into the deaths of two men newly moved to the village in a suspected homophobic attack. As Eamon investigates Peterson touches on many of societies contemporary issues, rewilding, divisive political figures, conversion therapy, and weaves them into what is a solid thriller plot.

However among the solid and fast moving plot there are pieces of lovely writing, and the characters of Mo, Solly and Quailm are beautifully drawn out. Seeing the Highlands through their eyes will be a delight for both those intimate with the area and those who have never been. Which is more of a feat than one would assume, as many writers, even those native to the Highlands can imbue their descriptions with a sense of twee kitsch and a paint by numbers version of what is a beautiful, but highly complex, part of the world. Writing the Highlands is easy, but writing the Highlands well, with a sensitivity to the land and it's deep history is a feat that only those with a unforced empathy can complete.

While there is much to like in The Purified it is let down by the fact that Peterson is not able to sustain this style throughout the book. Sure, this is understandable in action scenes, but characters who we spend a much longer time with such as Eamon, or Stevie, are not given the same amount of depth. Indeed our leading man Eamon becomes a bit of an empty vessel. It is unclear why exactly he feels it is his duty to investigate anything at all, and his motivation for anything remains a mystery. On top of this his recklessness is merely accepted by his wife who is stuck at home looking after an infant son and elderly mother, who despite being cast as a surely, sneering an overbearing thorn in the side, has a sudden emotional confession for what appears to be no reason at all, apart from to make a subsequent scene more poignant.


Mix this with action scenes that move, just a bit to fast for comfortable following, and the result is a narrative that holds much potential but lurches awkwardly between lyrical and thoughtful prose accompanied by wonderful characterisation, and wooden characters and a reading experience akin to watching hand held camera footage which is always slightly out of focus.


Peterson's ambition to write a thriller that can also be a lovely piece of writing is not a wrong one, it can and absolutely should be attempted, it's just that in the book he has not yet found the key to making it work - but I absolutely look forward to reading the book he writes when he unlocks this secret door.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scotland Street Press for the ARC. Wonderful covert art, very captivating. The writing is beautiful. I especially loved the landscape descriptions. Beautiful, gripping, very enjoyable.

I think it was a gripping and entertaining story, fast paced and well written.
I liked the setting, the character development and the storytelling.
I hope to read other book featuring Eamon.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thanks to NetGalley and Scotland Street Press for the ARC.
I should mention the striking Claire Galbraith cover art first up - it's what caught my eye and led me to the book's description.

Landowner and new parent Eamon Ansgar is drawn into helping the tiny local police force investigate a grisly murder, thought to be a hate crime, but nothing is quite adding up. There are local and incomer eccentrics, a rewilding project, fundamentalist religions, a terrorist subplot and a lot of family drama all mixed up into a plot that can be quite confusing. I'm not sure all the threads hang together, but it seldom drags.

This is the second in a series set in a fictional highland village and surrounds. The landscape is so well evoked throughout it was hard not to keep guessing what the real life landmarks might be.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Scotland Street Press for an advance copy of The Purified, the second novel to feature Eamon Ansgar, laird of the fictional Highland village of Duncul.

A double murder in the village has Eamon searching for answers. He thinks the police have settled for the easy answer, but the more he digs the more unsavoury secrets and acts he uncovers.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Purified, which is an unusual kind of thriller. The plot, by any stretch of the imagination, is highly unlikely and yet the official reactions to events do not stretch credibility in the slightest. This may be my rather jaundiced view of officialdom and it’s inefficiency talking, but still.

The novel is told from various points of view, chiefly Eamon’s but others contribute, and this offers the reader more intrigue and questions rather than giving anything away. Who, what and why are gradually teased out over the course of the novel and it’s compulsive reading getting to these answers. I must admit that all the goings-on with no explanation at the beginning had me a little baffled but it soon settles down and had me entranced with the contrast between the violence and the rural surroundings.

The thriller aspect of the novel is good with all the requisite twists and turns and a suitably exciting final action scene, but it’s not the be all and end all of the novel. It covers a few socially relevant topics that I found I could relate to, so I loved the author’s take on them. I liked that the novel took aim at the excesses of both the left and the right.

The novel takes place in the Scottish Highlands and is beautifully described. I always like a bit of tartan noir, but I’m an urbanite through and through, a west coast one at that, so there was no sense of familiarity for me, either in the location or the dialogue.

The Purified is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Fantastic depiction of Scottish landscape, and engrossing story of intrigue..better, and cheaper than a Highland holiday.(and safer at present re:CV-19) See quote from the book below, The brewing conflict and danger lurking at sea is really well-conceived, broadminded in its grasp of the various factions like a Hieronymous Bosch painting in print! This book clearly arose from an insightful curiosity, opening a world of false idealists, Arabs, refugees, Greens seeking refuge from the plight of the world..and Christian extremists-denying the LGBT soul- drawn together as a master painting; free and fluent the Laird is a stalwart champion of outsiders.The reader's conscience is pricked and awakens, as s/he is drawn into the conspiratorial world of subterfuge. Humility comes across from the overseeing poetic prose. Is the man part of the Scottish Renaissance-an Orcadian, perhaps in his past life, leading us to heights of self-awareness....in contrast to ugly conspiracies? Scotland stands aloft as a calm place of transcendence, where the Laird finds himself drawn to transformative beauty, as though raising those old voices of Edwin Muir or Scott-Moncrieff. Favourite Quote:
'They had flown into Glasgow and had been driven out of the city in a taxi by a man who spoke a strange language that for part of every twentieth sentence sounded like English. Their reaction to the landscape, after they had left the suburbs of the city, was to stare in silence, with faint smiles. Somehow it evoked memories, but of a dream they had never had, built of colours they had not known existed; soft greens, browns, purples, intertwining, swirling in three dimensions, up, until they blended with mists both chaotic and sublime. As they travelled over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe the sense had grown, a palpable lightness in the chest, that they were nearing both an earthly heaven and some kind of earthly hell; as if the peaks and dark glens between them pierced the thin mist between this world and others beyond. By the time they had passed Fort William they had been stunned into a state of transcendental contemplation, a state that would have been impossible to maintain, it seemed, without some part of the mind breaking, so that they were glad of nightfall and the relief that the slow drawing down of darkness brought.'
When he wrote 'evoked memories' one feels sure he meant what Plato invoked as 'Divine conscience.' Below a link to where I mention the highly innovative publishing house...as recipient of Poetry in Motion Award. A Special Award surely poetry-in-motion?

Thanks to NetGalley and Scotland Street Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I did enjoy this Scottish-set crime thriller (hadn't read the first Duncul offering) but did find some bits non-PC but I guess there are still "characters" like that in remote places and it reflects real-life. There are some interesting plot twists, some nice reveals (including the ending) but, for my part, just too many characters to keep track of (that's my issue – I can't handle too many characters).

Interesting eco-stuff in the book and also the way a certain character views the world and the surrounding wildlife. To say more would be a spoiler.

The last 25% of the book speeds along to a satisfying conclusion and it will be interesting to see where this series goes next.

I didn't enjoy this book very much. It was a bit obvious who had done the killing. I think it should've been more difficult to work out.

Calvinists, Anarchists and a Dutch eco-extremist intent on rewilding the area with wolves cluster round the small village of Duncul, where Afghan war veteran Eamon Ansgar lives alone in the castle by the Minch. A violent murder leads to a police investigation from outside, and the village is already attracting media attention for an alternative political convention soon to be held. Only Eamon suspects how murky the swirling currents of culture and counter-culture riddling the peninsula are. What are the three South African divers looking for at the bottom of the sea? Duncal has inadvertently become the epicentre of international activity and there is more trouble brewing. 'The Purified' is a gripping, intelligent thriller which races the reader to its spectacular conclusion.