Coffin Road by Peter May will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club on Monday 1 February.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK.
We have an exclusive extract available for you to read, and you can even win 10 copies of Coffin Road for your reading group when you visit our Noticeboard!
Take a look at the video trailer for Coffin Road:
Discover the true story behind the Coffin Road.
Coffin Road
A man is washed up on a deserted beach on the Hebridean Isle of Harris, barely alive and borderline hypothermic. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his identity is a map tracing a track called the Coffin Road. He does not know where it will lead him, but filled with dread, fear and uncertainty he knows he must follow it.
A detective crosses rough Atlantic seas to a remote rock twenty miles west of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. With a sense of foreboding he steps ashore where three lighthouse keepers disappeared more than a century before – a mystery that remains unsolved. But now there is a new mystery – a man found bludgeoned to death on that same rock, and DS George Gunn must find out who did it and why.
A teenage girl lies in her Edinburgh bedroom, desperate to discover the truth about her father’s death. Two years after the discovery of the pioneering scientist’s suicide note, Karen Fleming still cannot accept that he would wilfully abandon her. And the more she discovers about the nature of his research, the more she suspects that others were behind his disappearance. Coffin Road follows three perilous journeys towards one shocking truth – and the realisation that ignorance can kill us.
Selection panel review
Our library reading panel really enjoyed Coffin Road – here are some of their comments:
“This excellent crime thriller set in the Hebrides involved me from the first page, covering topics including self-discovery and determination, trust, family ties. It’s gripping, well-written, with super twists and wonderful descriptions of the terrain. I learnt much about bees, an unexpected pleasure, as well. I found it very difficult to put it down, and it has definitely stayed with me.”
“I was immediately swept up by the initial mystery – who is the man washed up on the beach, and what has he done? As well as intrigue and mystery, I was caught up in the captivating descriptions of the landscape, the harsh terrain and the strange beauty of the island.”
About the author
Peter May was an award-winning journalist at the age of just twenty-one. He left newspapers for television and screenwriting, creating three prime-time British drama series and accruing more than 1,000 television credits. Peter now lives in France where he focuses on writing novels. Peter May’s most recent novel, Entry Island, was a top 3 Sunday Times bestseller and The Lewis Trilogy has sold over 2 million copies in the UK. In 2014, Quercus brought into print Enzo Files, which have since sold over 140,000 copies. Peter has won numerous awards; in 2013 he won the ‘Best Crime Novel Award’ for The Blackhouse at Bouchercon in the US. In September, Entry Island won the Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year and in October it won the Specsavers ITV3 Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read Award.
Get involved
Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 1 February to hear a live interview with Peter May talking about his book.
Have you read Coffin Road, or other books by Peter May? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter, post a review, or add it to your group’s reading list. You can also follow author Peter May on Twitter.
Want to find out more? Take a look at the Radio 2 Book Club Twitter feed or find out more on the Radio 2 Book Club website.
