His Bloody Project.

This novel is not all that it seems.

I am a member of a book club. I’m not a member because I am particularly bookish. I enjoy this book club because once a month I can sit in the local pub amongst a group of well educated and erudite gentlemen and learn just a little more about being a well rounded human being.

This article considers His Bloody Projects by Graeme Macrae Burnet, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. This crime thriller set in 1869 is set in a remote Scottish Highland village in which a brutal triple murder has been committed by a young crofter named Roderick Macrae. The narrative is structured as a series of legal documents, that includes witness statements, medical reports, and Roderick’s own account of the events leading up to the crime.

Roderick Macrae is born into a poor crofting family, and the novel highlights the harsh socio-economic conditions of the time. The Macrae family struggles with poverty, and their livelihood is tied to the land. The oppressive circumstances and the struggles faced by the community contribute to Roderick’s state of mind.

The book does not focus upon who committed these murders. The reader discovers the perpetrator in the first page. Roderick Macrae undoubtedly murdered Lachlan Mackenzie, his daughter Flora and grandson Donald. The primary victim…