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Fidra's Archive
It was on a beautiful morning in June 1973 that eleven-year-old Miller McAllister's world fell apart . That was the weekend that police found the remains of three missing teenage girls on the tiny Scottish island of Fidra. And that was the weekend that Miller's father, Douglas, was arrested for triple murder. Thirty-two years later, Douglas has died in prison and Miller returns home after decades of self-imposed exile. The McAllister family always maintained Douglas's innocence - as steadfastly as Miller maintained his guilt. But when Miller is given the legal archive and a letter his father wrote to him just days before his death, suddenly everything looks less clear. To excavate the past and recover the truth, Miller immerses himself in the terrible events of over thirty years ago and his family's darkest hour. Was nothing quite as it seemed on that fateful June day? Could Douglas McAllister have been innocent after all? And if he didn't kill the girls . who did?
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First published February 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
December 13, 2015
Audio - a well narrated, easy to listen to tale that grips the imagination.
It was on a beautiful morning in June 1973 that eleven-year-old Miller McAllister’s world fell apart … The family returned from an idyllic weekend on the tiny island of Fidra to find the police waiting on the docks for them. Miller’s father, Douglas, is arrested for triple murder.
Thirty-two years later, Douglas has died in prison and Miller returns home after decades of self-imposed exile. The McAllister family always maintained Douglas’s innocence – as steadfastly as Miller maintained his guilt. But when Miller is given the legal archive and a letter his father wrote to him just days before his death, suddenly everything looks less clear. To excavate the past and recover the truth, Miller immerses himself in the terrible events of over thirty years ago and his family’s darkest hour. Was nothing quite as it seemed on that fateful June day? Could Douglas McAllister have been innocent after all? And if he didn’t kill the girls … who did?
This is my first Sue Walker book, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Her characters are realistic, all humanly flawed, but not overly so. The plot is interesting, absorbing , and although I suspected the killer (rightly) at times, there was enough going on to make me change my mind several times before the truth was revealed.
A worthwhile read.
It was on a beautiful morning in June 1973 that eleven-year-old Miller McAllister’s world fell apart … The family returned from an idyllic weekend on the tiny island of Fidra to find the police waiting on the docks for them. Miller’s father, Douglas, is arrested for triple murder.
Thirty-two years later, Douglas has died in prison and Miller returns home after decades of self-imposed exile. The McAllister family always maintained Douglas’s innocence – as steadfastly as Miller maintained his guilt. But when Miller is given the legal archive and a letter his father wrote to him just days before his death, suddenly everything looks less clear. To excavate the past and recover the truth, Miller immerses himself in the terrible events of over thirty years ago and his family’s darkest hour. Was nothing quite as it seemed on that fateful June day? Could Douglas McAllister have been innocent after all? And if he didn’t kill the girls … who did?
This is my first Sue Walker book, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Her characters are realistic, all humanly flawed, but not overly so. The plot is interesting, absorbing , and although I suspected the killer (rightly) at times, there was enough going on to make me change my mind several times before the truth was revealed.
A worthwhile read.
July 21, 2019
I tried, I really did, not least because I paid for the book. I just could not get through it. Where was the editor? Why did nobody point out to the author that the long-winded approach to obvious parts of the plot just bores the pants off (some) readers? For example: it is quite clear from the onset that Miller, the only member of the presumed killer's family who does not believe in his father's innocence, will find something among his dead father's papers that will change his mind. Why does the author make the readers wait for so long before Miller even considers reading the stuff? And Miller's reluctance is kept up even though the solicitor points out that he strongly believed in his client's innocence, a man he knew and respected for many years. Similarly, it is obvious that Miller will meet his childhood fancy Catriona again. Why does Walker delay this meeting for so long? Instead we are told exactly how many times each of the children looked at the house on the island through binoculars or what the inside of the respective houses looks like. I like a bit of tension and I understand the concept of not giving everything away right at the beginning, but I get very annoyed when authors think they can just keep me hanging in there by doling out trivial information ad infinitum. It's not that Sue Walker can't write. Her books always start out with lots of promise, but then they just peter out. Pity. Btw: I found the exact same shortcomings in her other novel, The Burning, which I also put down after about 100 pages.
July 9, 2025
Read it super quick while waiting for a plane - it's a page turner indeed. I did guess the murderer but not all the details, and I wasn't completely engaged with the main character. There are reasons why he's so damaged, but at time I wanted to strangle him myself LOL
Definitely worth a read, and an author to note.
Definitely worth a read, and an author to note.
February 14, 2009
Another crime story. It took me A LONG TIME to really get into the story, but once I got there, I enjoyed the rest of the book a lot.
July 12, 2019
Far too long. Took ages for things to develop.
Book club book.
Book club book.
August 14, 2017
A serviceable thriller but one that could have done with much better editing. It took a fair while to get into the actual story and then there was unnecessary repetition where I was wondering why I was being told something I already knew. I guessed who the murderer was quite early on so, for me, it needed more red herrings to make it more of a murder mystery. I listened to this as an audiobook and enjoyed the reading by Jonathon Hackett but the actual story needed some tightening up. Would recommend as a good enough read/listen but might annoy the reader at times.
December 4, 2019
I had never read any books by this author but will definitely be looking out for more. This was my November book club book and I started this book early as it is quite a thick book. From the beginning I enjoyed the story. Easy to read and very enjoyable. I thought I had picked the killer early in the piece but was distracted by the author, though I ended up being correct. I loved the description of the island and surrounding areas and certainly liked the characters. A very enjoyable read.
December 2, 2020
It took me a long time to get into this story, but once I did I couldn't stop listening.
This is a great whodunnit and I found myself suspecting everyone but still didn't get it right! I loved the almospheric setting of an old house on a remote island and the author's descriptions really helped me picture the place and I found myself googling the island of Fidra.
It also took me a while to get used to the narrator, Jonathan Hackett, but once I did he was perfect for the book.
This is a great whodunnit and I found myself suspecting everyone but still didn't get it right! I loved the almospheric setting of an old house on a remote island and the author's descriptions really helped me picture the place and I found myself googling the island of Fidra.
It also took me a while to get used to the narrator, Jonathan Hackett, but once I did he was perfect for the book.
August 15, 2025
Quite liked this. Seemed like a story which had already been concluded and it was the protagonist that had to come to terms with things but the more he does the more he has doubts. I did guess the twist within the first few chapters but it didn't take away from the further twist and the outcome. Not a predictable outcome. Good story telling though.
September 12, 2018
Very very good.
May 21, 2019
Shocker...
December 19, 2020
Very well-crafted overall, bit stupid at the end which was a shame.
June 17, 2021
I like the plot, well written. But a bit too angst for me, overlong and the villainy I guessed from the very early chapters.
November 22, 2021
Ok, if you don't have any other books to read.
December 19, 2022
I didn't see this end coming.
May 22, 2025
Way too long, repetitive, and a slog to get through.
I suspected early on who the killer was and I was correct.
None of the characters were likeable and it was just a tedious, grim read.
I suspected early on who the killer was and I was correct.
None of the characters were likeable and it was just a tedious, grim read.
July 2, 2008
In the summer of 1973, 11 year old Miller McAllister is very happy. His family own a house overlooking the sea on the East Coast of Scotland and the small island, Fidra, that's visible from the mainland house. The youngest of three children, Miller and his father Douglas love the island, with its birds, wildlife, old ruins and the simple cottage residence.
When Douglas is arrested, tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of three young girls, Miller is profoundly affected. To start with he believes in his father's innocence, but when the girl bodies are found on Fidra, he falls apart. While Miller's mother, sister and older brother stand stoically beside Douglas, protesting his innocence, Miller believes totally in his guilt and he cuts himself off from his father - a dramatic and damaging act for such a young boy. He tries to start his own life when he is old enough, but nothing is ever really right with Miller from that day on. More than 30 years later Miller is pulled back to the family home and island when his father dies. Despite Miller's reaction to his father, he alone has inherited the house and the island but the condition seems to have been a plea to re-assess the evidence against Douglas. Despite his better judgement Miller is pulled into rechecking the facts. With the help of his childhood friend Catriona Buchan and Duncan - a monk and close friend of his mother, Miller unearths the truth of the triple murders and confronts the whole family's demons.
THE RECKONING is a pretty harrowing book. The setting, which incorporates the old house, the island, rugged coastlines and the brooding presence of a ruined castle perched high above the sea create a feeling of closed off, sinister insularity. Add to that a family, initially seemingly very happy, who are forced, with very few close and lifelong friends, to close ranks and protect themselves in the aftermath of the conviction of the father for such dreadful crimes. The insularity of the family translates directly into Miller's own personality - he has become more and more disconnected from himself, his own wife and children, and his siblings. As he fights the conflict he feels towards the memory of his father and reinvestigating the trial, he becomes more stressed and more fragile.
The story is relatively well paced, and there are a reasonable set of possible suspects - including the man who Scottish justice convicted of the crime. There are attempts peppered throughout the book to provide third party background on the case, the island and the family. This does break up the flow of the narrative slightly and, given that Miller is such an intense, worrying, almost foreboding character in his own right, these forays into extra information are a bit distracting and give the whole book a bit of a choppy feel at times. It's certainly a very busy plot, moving from the current, back to the lead up to the deaths of the girls, through the investigation and then briefly into the families lives post the trial, although sometimes some of these areas were overly detailed and some too brush stroke.
What was really interesting about THE RECKONING was the exploration of a brutal series of murders and the affect that they have on more than just the victim's family. In this case there were three dead girls, and one very damaged little boy.
When Douglas is arrested, tried and found guilty of the rape and murder of three young girls, Miller is profoundly affected. To start with he believes in his father's innocence, but when the girl bodies are found on Fidra, he falls apart. While Miller's mother, sister and older brother stand stoically beside Douglas, protesting his innocence, Miller believes totally in his guilt and he cuts himself off from his father - a dramatic and damaging act for such a young boy. He tries to start his own life when he is old enough, but nothing is ever really right with Miller from that day on. More than 30 years later Miller is pulled back to the family home and island when his father dies. Despite Miller's reaction to his father, he alone has inherited the house and the island but the condition seems to have been a plea to re-assess the evidence against Douglas. Despite his better judgement Miller is pulled into rechecking the facts. With the help of his childhood friend Catriona Buchan and Duncan - a monk and close friend of his mother, Miller unearths the truth of the triple murders and confronts the whole family's demons.
THE RECKONING is a pretty harrowing book. The setting, which incorporates the old house, the island, rugged coastlines and the brooding presence of a ruined castle perched high above the sea create a feeling of closed off, sinister insularity. Add to that a family, initially seemingly very happy, who are forced, with very few close and lifelong friends, to close ranks and protect themselves in the aftermath of the conviction of the father for such dreadful crimes. The insularity of the family translates directly into Miller's own personality - he has become more and more disconnected from himself, his own wife and children, and his siblings. As he fights the conflict he feels towards the memory of his father and reinvestigating the trial, he becomes more stressed and more fragile.
The story is relatively well paced, and there are a reasonable set of possible suspects - including the man who Scottish justice convicted of the crime. There are attempts peppered throughout the book to provide third party background on the case, the island and the family. This does break up the flow of the narrative slightly and, given that Miller is such an intense, worrying, almost foreboding character in his own right, these forays into extra information are a bit distracting and give the whole book a bit of a choppy feel at times. It's certainly a very busy plot, moving from the current, back to the lead up to the deaths of the girls, through the investigation and then briefly into the families lives post the trial, although sometimes some of these areas were overly detailed and some too brush stroke.
What was really interesting about THE RECKONING was the exploration of a brutal series of murders and the affect that they have on more than just the victim's family. In this case there were three dead girls, and one very damaged little boy.
June 18, 2017
The death of a man who had spent over thirty years in prison, for a series of serial murders he denied committing, forces his youngest son to deal with what happened.
Sue Walker can certainly write. This is a page-turning read. She handles the past and present strands well and paints a vivid, but largely implied picture of a family destroyed by events beyond their control. The conclusion is also effective, but in a sense this is where the book is at its weakest. While on the page, everything seems to make sense, thinking about it afterwards, I'm not sure whether some of the revelations contradict information given to the reader from the inner thoughts of characters. Still, an enjoyable read from a great writer.
Sue Walker can certainly write. This is a page-turning read. She handles the past and present strands well and paints a vivid, but largely implied picture of a family destroyed by events beyond their control. The conclusion is also effective, but in a sense this is where the book is at its weakest. While on the page, everything seems to make sense, thinking about it afterwards, I'm not sure whether some of the revelations contradict information given to the reader from the inner thoughts of characters. Still, an enjoyable read from a great writer.
November 17, 2016
This was very hard to get through because of a lot of repetitiveness. There would be multiple narrators going over one scene or one other character, & providing the exact same information already given. Instead of getting new insights with multiple perspectives, the reader gets the same opinions and observations a few times.
There was also a lot but of apparently pointless detail. Again, repetitive as well. I think it was meant to create atmosphere but it didn't succeed, in my opinion.
The ending is also surprisingly abrupt for all the tedious build up. It's a decent mystery, which is why I'm not rating it one star, but I don't think it was executed at all well.
There was also a lot but of apparently pointless detail. Again, repetitive as well. I think it was meant to create atmosphere but it didn't succeed, in my opinion.
The ending is also surprisingly abrupt for all the tedious build up. It's a decent mystery, which is why I'm not rating it one star, but I don't think it was executed at all well.
June 23, 2008
We picked this up from the English-language bargin bin at Dussmans. It is a servicable whodunnit which doesn't 'cheat' by introducing to many previously-unknown details about the killer during the 'reveal' at the end of the book. I found the ultra-short 2–3 page chapters irritating, but unfortunately they occur in so many modern thrillers that they are not really anything unusual.
Overall, this is a perfectly decent escapist type of read, but has nothing in particular to recommend it over the hundreds of similar works in this genre.
Overall, this is a perfectly decent escapist type of read, but has nothing in particular to recommend it over the hundreds of similar works in this genre.
December 29, 2013
Bit of a disappointment. I have been eying this book off for a while, but it was really hard to get interested in as it needs some editing. It was very repetitive and the author re-hashes the same point over and over. It's all right I got it the first time .
A series of murders were committed on a lonely island and a lot of the flashbacks are through the eyes of the children. So are all their memories correct.
A few red herrings add to the suspense and the ending was quite melodramatic, it could have ended at the confession.
A series of murders were committed on a lonely island and a lot of the flashbacks are through the eyes of the children. So are all their memories correct.
A few red herrings add to the suspense and the ending was quite melodramatic, it could have ended at the confession.
August 8, 2013
Oh dear! Others have reviewed this story which I should have read before reading it myself. It was a relentless repetitive story of a mans guilt which was unfounded. I agree with others, where 'o' where was the editor? I listened to it on audio while in the car and had I been reading it myself I certainly wouldn't have completed it.
After the first few chapters I had worked out who committed the crimes, not many red herrings. Is the weather in that part of the country ever nice?
After the first few chapters I had worked out who committed the crimes, not many red herrings. Is the weather in that part of the country ever nice?
March 20, 2016
Miller McAllister has spent his life believing his father was rightfully convicted of murdering 3 local girls over a few years in their Scottish coastal town. But after his father dies, he is forced to consider the possibility that his father was innocent all along and has spent over 30 years in gaol for a crime he did not commit. A page turner with tense psychological twists and turns.
December 22, 2014
Pretty average really. Average story, characters and writing. I did like it but it isn't a standout. Nothing jumped of the page at me and gave me that one more chapter feeling. In saying that, it wasn't a bad read, just not overly exciting either.
August 12, 2012
Interesting perspective of family following the conviction of an accused killer. Good plot. Although the author introduces alternate plausible suspects, the ending is predictable. Still,a good read, if a little drawn out.
January 6, 2015
Quite a while since I read it, but I enjoyed it a lot. Standard crime thriller and a tad predictable in parts but a good read if you've got a day or two doing not a lot else!
Went to North Berwick not long after and sat and watched the lighthouse on Fidra - lovely view.
Went to North Berwick not long after and sat and watched the lighthouse on Fidra - lovely view.
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January 16, 2016Nicely written and easily read crime story of which there are many to chose from . If you've an affinity to Scotland it might provide added impetus otherwise no reason to chose this above the many others on offer.
May 17, 2011
This is a page-turner. Not at all what I expected when I first began to read it.
Lots of surprises. Enjoyed very much.
Lots of surprises. Enjoyed very much.
March 6, 2012
OK, but lenghty for an obvious story line.
May 30, 2012
Brilliant just a great read was gripped from start to finish
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews