Not only a Scandinoir thriller but one featuring a female serial killer. The statistical unicorn of all killer. Well, sure. I was game to check that out.
Mind you, it stands to mention this Scandinavian thriller is written from a far, which is…well, it’s different. Superficially, it’s similar enough, same gloomy weather, same thematical and sunsettingly early darkness. But then you begin to notice subtle difference and then the differences begin to seem less subtle. There’s just something off tonally. I’ve been trying to come up with the word to put on it and vulgar showed up. But that isn’t quite right. There’s something, though, a more in your face approach than the Scandinavians are known for. Even if the author managed to get the tone and the spareness of narrative right, there’s still a distinctly Anglo angle to the storytelling. Mind you, it fits, since the killer here is a Brit. She’s just doing all her murdering in Norway. And yes, this novel really, really, really tries to be give the readers the next Lisbeth Salander and in that it fails dramatically, doing itself a disservice by setting the bar so unrealistically high. It’s an aspirational, but a deceiving comparison. Don’t go in expecting girls with tattoos. Not all women determines to punish violent men are created equally. The novel utilizes the split narrative/timeline thing so many thrillers do, so you get the semipresent day police procedural pursuit and the dramatic past recollections of the making of the killer. Predictably enough, this woman has been abused from a young age, a product of a demonic father and a passive mother. Growing up that way has shaped our protagonist first into a surprisingly productive member of society and then into a fairly prolific murderer of abusive men. A pretty straight forward psychological trajectory…until the end where it begins to twist and turn some. After her is a Norwegian detective, a worn out by life and looking it 50some year old xenophobe, heavy smoker and an all around bitter man. Once upon a time Oslo was a city he loved, now he can barely recognize it. The foreigners. The violence. And now this…a practically unheard of female serial killer. The two meet under less than pleasant circumstances involving reckless driving and proceed to sort of tango with or around each other. Neither are quite willing to let go until they are done. So kind of a mixed bag here. Mostly good or at least very, very decent read for thriller fans. But…not that original. Not that plausible. Not that credible. Jiji, for one, is a very credulity straining character. And also, the two main leads are not that likable. Granted, they don’t have to be, if they are rendered well in all their complexity, but it seems that both characters are written just slightly south of properly engaging. You can almost, but not quite conceive of emotionally investing in them. They are almost baked all the way through, but the bottoms are saggy. And, if the Great British Bake Off has taught us one thing, it’s that the bottoms cannot be soggy. Maybe the sogginess is due to the terrible Norwegian weather. But still… So there you have it…a reasonably entertaining Scandinavian style serial killer thriller, intriguing in its own way and a pleasantly quick read. Don’t go in expecting much and you’ll be all right. Right in time for monsters. Thanks Netgalley.
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