I don't know what it is about Scandinavia, but every book I've read (in translation) by an author from that region of the world has been extraordinary, regardless of genre. Perhaps it's the cold that invites such introspection and spare prose.In 2002, an up-and-coming liberal politician, Merete ...
This very highly regarded novel is just not my cup of tea. Well written, sure, but just too dark for me. Perhaps that's just the nature of Scandinavian writing.The hero, barely, is a police detective, Carl Mørck. Mørck has problems: he just survived an attack that killed two of his police c...
I love it when I find a new author. Once this got going I found it riveting especially as it raced towards the end. I did find the revenge exacted rather excessive but it made for excellent drama and tension. Great characters too, the curmudgeonly detective was a bit stereotypical but well dra...
скандинавський детективний трилер, «бєсмислєнний і бєспащадний»: регіон з найнижчим, мабуть, у світі рівнем злочинності, а надто тяжких злочинив з убивствами, генерує криваві психопатичні сюжети, малоцікаві з точки зору художньої цінності, і сам же їх залюбки споживає =/ мабуть, тут є робота для ...
Excellent introduction to this Danish author. Centred around the cold case unit led by Carl Morck, he is investigating a series of crimes supposedly carried out by a group of boarding school teenagers, most of whom are now respectable leading businessmen. It would have been 5* but for me person...
Why I read this book? Simple: "Keeper of the lost causes" was awsome and I really liked the character development. Here? Not so much.The plot is ok, character of Kimmie is in my opinion written very well. It's other villians that I have problem with. They are grotesque, I'm supposed to be at leas...
While a typical mystery novel, the author is able to pull you into the story and the character's lives. The "bad guys" are identified early one so the mystery is more whether the police will solve the historical crimes before anything worse happens and whether one of the missing gang members wil...
As a reader who has spent decades reading books by and about white men, I really did enjoy this book. It was fun reading a crime thriller set in a country other than Britain or the US. The story was interesting and presented a set of truly bad 'bad guys' with just enough of a twist that one might...
Deel 3 in Serie Q vond ik veel beter dan deel 2. Na het fantastische deel 1 (De Vrouw in de Kooi) viel 'De Fazantenmoordenaars' wat tegen. 'De Noodkreet in de Fles' maakt dat echter meer dan goed: een erg intrigerend startpunt gecombineerd met het precies snel genoeg ontrafelen van het plot maakt...
Excellentissime ! Carl Morck tente de faire le tri dans les enquêtes non résolues empilées sur son bureau, lorsqu'il reçoit un colis envoyé par ses collègues écossais, mais dont il ne sait que faire : les restes d'une bouteille et son contenu, une lettre dont seuls les mots « au secours » semblen...
I think I enjoy the character development in these books, especially with Assad and Rose. What is going on with them individually? Rose does something really strange in this book, and I hope we find out why eventually. Assad's mysteries continue to be revealed bit by bit. Karl continues to be ace...
Jeugdvrienden Bryan en James zijn op een verkenningsvlucht boven Duitsland in 1944 als ze geraakt worden, neerstorten en moeten zien te ontvluchten. Dat doen ze door op een trein te springen. Ze belanden in een wagon vol SS-officieren die gewond zijn: sommigen fysiek, maar veel ook zo shellshocke...
Received as an ARC, the premise of this book intrigued me greatly. I have never read anything before by this author so I was game to try it. Plowed right through it. Again, it brought out a microcosm of WWII that is not greatly known - the mental health treatment of its own soldiers.I will def...
When they drove onto the car deck of the ferry, Rose’s cargo of goods had already arrived. And it was clear that the axle load definitely wasn’t to the benefit of the undersize removal van. Damn it, all this rubbish had to go down in their basement area. Carl could hardly believe it, not to menti...
‘Last time we didn’t make it as far as we should have, did we?’ Carl surveyed her world, the posters of beautiful nature scenes, palms, mountains and the like. Bright, sun-splashed colours. Two chairs made of precious wood, wispy plants. Such astonishing tidiness. There were no accidental element...
asked Marco, pointing down at his clothes. The elderly man in the dry cleaners threw up his hands and shook his head. What was the boy thinking? he seemed to say. “How long to get this clean?” Marco repeated, and began to take off his sweater. “Now ...
His security apparatus, set up specifically to remove all obstacles, had made fatal errors, and people who once were silent were now sounding off.It was as though, amid all the recent triumphs of his Purity Party, disasters were now queuing up to happen, snapping at him and his life’s foundation ...
Assad had a morning appointment at the offices of the Immigration Service, which was the new name the government had assigned to its old system of sorting out aliens, the Immigration Administration, in order to put a nice face on the situation. In the meantime, Carl would be running all over town...
2002 Over the next two days the messages began piling up. Merete’s secretary tried to hide her annoyance and pretended to be amiable. Several times she sat and stared at Merete when she thought her boss wouldn’t notice. She once asked if Merete would like to play squash with her on the weekend,...