I've had the fortune of visiting northern Scotland, and I do mean fortune. It's hard to describe the isolation to anyone who has yet to visit. Coming from Ireland, I expected it to be like parts of Kerry I love best, but I was wrong. Scotland is a world apart from what I know. Over here, no matter where you go there is a house over the next rise, a telephone signal, the sound of a car in the distance and a town no more than a twenty minute drive.
Scotland, the highlands...that's wild.
This book sparked that feeling in me once more and it was like having an old friend over to visit. I could see in my mind the slick gray rock, stripped to the root by a relentless wind. I could feel the eyes of the locals on the backs of strangers. I smelt the sea-salt riding on ocean air. The cold, the biting cold...the hardness it takes to survive in such a place. This was the best thing about this book.
As for the story? Well, this was my first read of this series and I did enjoy it. I quiet liked Rhona, and I really liked Chrissy, but McNab left me a bit flat. The story itself was well woven, perhaps too well woven. Some story threads, which I will not name, seemed to fall into the high-grass as the story charged toward a conclusion. This was a little disappointing. I know they may have been necessary to bring the story cast together but they should not have been simply forgotten.
As for the final climax, it was completely satisfying. I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed it as a stand alone book and this is despite the clear hook left in the end for the next installment. Wink Wink Ms Anderson.
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