The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone

Synopsis:

Unnerving, enthralling, and filled with gothic suspense, The Blackhouse is a spectacularly sinister tale readers won’t soon forget.

A richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner.

A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth.

Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides in the 1990s, driven by hope, craving safety and community, and hiding a terrible secret. But despite his best efforts to fit in, Robert is always seen as an outsider. And as the legendary and violent Hebridean storms rage around him, he begins to unravel, believing his fate on the remote island of Kilmeray cannot be escaped.

For her entire life, Maggie MacKay has sensed something was wrong with her. When Maggie was five years old, she announced that a man on Kilmeray—a place she’d never visited—had been murdered. Her unfounded claim drew media attention and turned the locals against each other, creating rifts that never mended.

Nearly twenty years later, Maggie is determined to find out what really happened, and what the islanders are hiding. But when she begins to receive ominous threats, Maggie is forced to consider how much she is willing to risk to discover the horrifying truth.

Edition:

E-ARC provided by Net Galley

Trigger Warnings:

My Thoughts:

Some of you might remember a while back I had reviewed Carole Johnstone’s Mirrorland as part of a blog tour, and I absolutely loved it. The Blackhouse hasn’t stuck with me quite as hard, but I definitely still devote a little bit of mental real estate to it. This one is still pretty dark, but it doesn’t quite hit the same level of omgwtf. Which as far as I’m concerned is a relief. I love-love Mirrorland, but it is a pretty tough read, emotionally speaking. I found this one to be a little bit more user friendly. Like, more Se7en than Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer if you get my drift.

Ok, I’ll try once more to explain myself like an adult with a writing degree: the focus of The Blackhouse lies in the mystery of what happened on Kilmeray all those years ago. I feel like the focus of Mirrorland was more on the absolute shit-terrible things that human beings can inflict upon one another, and the endless cycles of horrific abuse we sometimes are forced to endure. Does that make more sense? I hope so…I’m running on empty here.

In the prophetic words of Blackhouse’s Charlie,

“Aye, well. Sometimes, awful’s part of living.”

Yet again Johnstone has created a story that is as beautiful as it is terrible. She certainly doesn’t write happy stories, and for that I applaud her. You can always count on a cast of flawed and deeply interesting characters in her stories. Nobody is too good to do something almost shockingly vile, it seems. Which is not to say that everyone in these stories is evil – that is certainly not the case. I just think that Johnstone has a firm grip on the unique capacity humans seem to have to completely disregard their own morals in the name of preservation of self, or of family, or of community. Whatever the case may be, she digs into the very heart of just how far into the muck a seemingly average person or group of people might be willing to go in order to save what they hold dear.

If you like a well crafted gothic tale of suspense and mystery in a setting so masterfully described you can almost feel the bone-deep chill of salty Scottish air I strongly suggest that you visit The Blackhouse. Will you learn things you’ll wish you didn’t know? Absolutely. But I promise you that you’ll love every gods-forsaken minute of it.

Review:

The Blackhouse
By Carole Johnstone
Scribner
Published: January 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781982199678
Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio
322 Pages
Author's Website