It’s by failing to settle on any real kind of resolution, and for allowing his expertly drawn cast to speak - or not, as the case may be - for themselves where Graeme Macrae Burnet’s real achievement lies. The real interest here lies beyond the barnstorming central tale of injustice and poisonous rancour that leads to murder and ruin. Amongst other things, it’s the entirely vindictive changes to that arrangement at the behest of town constable Lachlan Mackenzie that leads to the Bloody Project in question. The Macrae’s are crofters, and rely on the crops they farm on their allotted patch of land, an ancient arrangement passing down through generations. The journal also serves as a bleak portrait of Roderick’s feculent, turbulent life alongside his doughtily embittered father, sister, and much younger twin siblings. So begins Roderick John Macrae’s prison journal, in which he accounts the crimes for which he has been imprisoned. It is thus for no other reason than to repay my advocate’s kindness towards me that I commit these words to paper. My life has been short and of little consequence, and I have no wish to absolve myself of responsibility for the deeds which I have lately committed. I am writing this at the behest of my advocate, Mr Andrew Sinclair, who since my incarceration here in Inverness has treated me with a degree of civility I in no way deserve. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2015) Contraband (2015) 280 pp
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |