Initially, I was excited about reading this book, however, the second plot line involving the political election started to really turn me off. The more I read, the more I started skimming over the subplot of the election. I found the bumbling about with the detectives, whilst trying to find the killer, became cumbersome and I found myself wishing it would end already. The continued incompetence of the investigators got me to lose interest and the only thing that kept me from putting the book away was the prospect of who the killer really was. ‘The Killing’ is yet another high quality Scandinavian crime novel with a strong and interesting female character: namely Sarah Lund, a detective in the Copenhagen Police department. It’s Sarah Lund last day in the Danish police force. She is about to move to Sweden with her son to start a new life with her partner. All that changes when a 19 year old girl is found raped and murdered. Her replacement, Jan Meyer has not got her experience when it comes to this type of investigation, so she is asked to stay on to help solve the crime. The unusual thing about this book is that it is based on a screenplay of a very successful Danish television series of the same name, when usually the book comes before the film. I have yet to see the TV series and I am very glad I read the book first. Obviously the core of the novel is the murder investigation. However, the murder was committed at the time of an election campaign for the Mayor of Copenhagen, and there are links to the girl with officials at city hall which adds an interesting dimension to the story. The author ‘David Hewson’ also does a skillful job of bringing the Sarah Lund’s character to life, with her obsession with the murder case and all her flaws, especially regarding her relationships with her lover, son and Jan Mayer who is working with her on the case. The victim’s family is also a major theme in the novel and the affect the murder has on the parents is also handled really well.This book is 700 pages, which is long for a crime thriller. There are also a lot of suspects. Although the book griped me from the start, there was a point after about 500 pages where I was beginning to think that, there are elements to the story that work better as a TV series and perhaps could have been cut out of the book. However, I was not tempted to skip any pages and it wasn’t long before there were a number of new twists and turns and I was drawn back in again.
What do You think about De Killing (2012)?
The excellent TV series was a very satisfying degustation. The book a full blown feast.
—Nic
Full of twists and turns and very well written. Slow start, but improved.
—Kay
Fantastic. Dying to watch the series now!
—Classykalee
