One thing I have discovered a love for these last few years is Nordic Noir and I knew I needed to read this book so I jumped at the chance to take part in this book’s journey.
After eighteen-year-old Samuel finds himself in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong, he is forced to leave home in a hurry. Heading south, he finds refuge in a sleepy coastal town, working as a live-in assistant to the son of a wealthy family.
When the body of a young man washes up in Stockholm’s southern archipelago, investigator Manfred Olsson is called in to work the case. With his two-year-old daughter in a coma, he is reluctant to leave her bedside – but once another body is discovered, his search for the killer intensifies.
As Samuel adjusts to life under the radar, he begins to feel safe, even with a gang out for blood and the police on his trail. But it isn’t long before he realises that his sanctuary may be home to a deadly secret.
A Nordic Noir in every sense of the word, this novel is a tense, well-written book that features multi-layered, strong characters. I found it to be a slow-burner of a novel. As you slowly get to grips with the plot and characters, the pace starts speeding up and before you know it you are heading towards the conclusion.
Camilla Grebe has successfully blended a psychological thriller with a crime thriller and got the balance perfect. An intense character-driven story with enough twists to fulfil psychological thriller readers as well as crime thriller ones also. The sense of place in this absorbing book is excellent, the translation has not spoiled the setting of the book, which I loved.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Nordic Noir and doesn’t mind a slow burner.
Thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for my copy of the book to bring you my thoughts today.
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