Book Review – His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet @SarabandBooks

About the Book

The year is 1869. A brutal triple murder in a remote community in the Scottish Highlands leads to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae.

A memoir written by the accused makes it clear that he is guilty, but it falls to the country’s finest legal and psychiatric minds to uncover what drove him to commit such merciless acts of violence.

Was he mad? Only the persuasive powers of his advocate stand between Macrae and the gallows.

Format: Paperback (282 pages) Publisher: Saraband
Publication date: 5th November 2015 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

His Bloody Project was the book chosen for February’s Radio 4 Bookclub, although it had been on my wishlist ever since it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. I was fortunate enough to attend the recording of the programme at BBC Broadcasting House and listen to author, Graeme Macrae Burnet, talk about the book with its host, James Naughtie, and answer questions from the audience of fellow readers. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the programme on BBC Sounds.

The book is made up of a series of documents including medical reports, witness statements and a court transcript. They give a remarkable feeling of authenticity, so much so that you could be forgiven for believing you’re reading about an actual crime, not a fictional one. It’s something that seems particularly relevant in an era of ‘fake news’. In fact, a few real historical figures appear in the book although, like me, you might well assume – until you read the Historical Notes – these are fictional too.

The central document, which constitutes the majority of the book, is the memoir of Roderick Macrae, the young man accused of the murder – a murder he admits to carrying out – written from his jail cell as he awaits trial. He describes his life growing up on a croft in a state of poverty and the increasing malevolence shown towards his family, especially his father, by the local Constable Lachlan Mackenzie, one of the three individuals murdered by Roddy. Roddy is unusually articulate and educated, something which marks him out in the small community of Culduie. He’s also withdrawn, something of a loner and quite sensitive which makes his subsequent actions all the more surprising.

But can we believe everything Roddy describes in his memoir? Small details that emerge from other documents, but which are omitted from his account, suggest perhaps we can’t. He doesn’t dispute he committed the murders, the brutal nature of which he describes in a chillingly dispassionate way, but what was his motive? Was it revenge for the suffering inflicted on his family or an act of insanity? What’s brilliant about the book is that the author lets us, the reader, come to our own conclusions.

The story also touches on topics such as inequality of power. A scene which illustrates this is when Roddy’s father, John, is told by Lachlan Mackenzie that he can no longer collect seaweed to fertilise his crops because it belongs to the laird. This is just one example of the personal malevolence directed at him by Lachlan Mackenzie. John Macrae is a piteable figure, subjected to just about every misfortune you can think of, including the threat of eviction from the land he cultivates. His inarticulacy and poor grasp of English means he is unable to stand up for himself, especially when he appears as a witness at Roddy’s trial. The one person who believes in Roddy’s innocence, albeit on grounds of insanity, is his advocate, Mr Sinclair. Are his efforts on Roddy’s behalf in vain? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

His Bloody Project will immerse you in the life of Culduie and its inhabitants whilst demanding your close attention to the evidence presented to you. It’s a fascinating experience and one I very much enjoyed.

In three words: Ingenious, compelling, authentic
Try something similar: The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

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About the Author

Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock in 1967. He studied English Literature at Glasgow University before spending some years teaching in France, the Czech Republic and Portugal. He then took an M.Litt in International Security Studies at St Andrews University and fell into a series of jobs in television. These days he lives in Glasgow.

He has been writing since he was a teenager. His first book, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau (2014), is a literary crime novel set in a small town in France. His second novel, His Bloody Project (2015), revolves around the murder of a village birleyman in nineteenth century Wester Ross. He likes Georges Simenon, the films of Michael Haneke and black pudding. (Photo/bio: Goodreads author page)

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