His Bloody Project: A Historical Thriller

His Bloody Project: A Historical Thriller, written by Graeme Macrae Burnet, is a historical crime novel originally published in 2015. Presented as a series of fictionalized historical documents compiled by Burnet, the story concerns a gruesome triple homicide perpetrated by Roderick Macrae, a young farmer living in the Scottish Highland in the mid-19th century. Told through a number of often-contradictory perspectives, the novel deals with the nature of free will, the origins of criminal behavior, and social inequality. His Bloody Project has received several awards and, in 2016, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. This guide references the edition first printed by Arcade Publishing in 2017.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with a Preface, in which a fictionalized version of the author introduces the book to come by presenting it as a series of documents concerning the case of Roderick Macrae, a young Scottish farmer living in the small Highland village of Culduie who committed a triple murder in the mid-19th century. This is followed by a series of witness statements given to the police following Roderick’s murder of fellow villager Lachlan “Broad” Mackenzie and his two children, Flora and Donnie. In these statements, various individuals who knew Roderick present contradictory characterizations of the boy, and while some insist he was perfectly normal, or even of exceptional intelligence, others characterize him as wicked or out of his mind.