Review of THE DESCENT by Paul E. Hardisty (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

The Descent is both a prequel and a sequel to Hardisty’s 2023 novel, The Forcing, a book which I loved (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2023/02/review-of-forcing-by-paul-e-hardisty.html). 

There are two timelines.  In 2066, Kweku Ashworth, along with his wife Julie and son Leo, sets sail from southern Australia to find missing family and to learn exactly what happened on the sea voyage taken by his stepfather David (Teacher) and his mother Francoise 25 years earlier as they looked for a safe haven from the hellish conditions of a world ravaged by climate change.  This timeline shows what happens after the end of The Forcing, and through his discoveries during his travels, Kweku is able to fill in the events Teacher didn’t detail in his written record. 

The second timeline covers events from 40 years earlier.  Kweku hears a series of radio transmissions in which a woman, who calls herself Sparkplug, reads her journal entries from February 2024 to February 2039.  Because she is the personal secretary for the Boss, the ultra-wealthy and ultra-powerful head of a multinational conglomerate, she is privy to the machinations of those like her employer who build sanctuaries for themselves while also maximizing profits by spreading disinformation about climate change.  This timeline explains the events that led to the world described in The Forcing. 

My experience has been that prequels and sequels are often disappointing.  I usually find myself asking whether a follow-up book is really necessary.  Is it just a rehash?   I must admit that I found The Descent to be less powerful than The Forcing.  In the latter, we meet Derek Argent, a villainous businessman who focused on the growth of his personal wealthy, exploited others, and sowed doubt by spreading disinformation about climate change. The Descent details exactly how the Boss and his ilk ruthlessly lie, manipulate, and exploit in order to profit.  There’s nothing new here.  Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how easily the Boss is able to accomplish what he wants. 

The novel is terrifying in its realism.  Sparkplug’s diary begins in February 2024, the month of this book’s release, and refers to current events like the war in the Ukraine.  Reference is made to things that are currently happening:  “national debt in the major countries continued to balloon, with real wealth increasingly concentrated in the hands of a very small and increasingly wealthy powerful group of people . . . the completely inadequate, conscience-assuaging efforts to combat [climate change], a series of empty national pledges . . . a global rise in fascism, and the perils of not acting decisively to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions.”  These actions, or lack thereof, are shown to lead directly to a dystopian near-future.    

There are parallel characters between fiction and reality.  For instance, Ellie Dahlberg, a Swedish climate activist, is obviously intended to be Greta Thunberg.  The “big blue rocket” that looks “like a huge boner” surely refers to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.  And Bragg (oh what a perfect name) is a stand-in for Donald Trump who is described as having “a strangely over-pigmented complexion . . . and a mullet hairdo” who boasts “like he’s some kind of successful businessman.”  At times, I felt that the book was a warning about the dangers of re-electing Trump. 

There is suspense in the plot, but the ocean voyage doesn’t come across as dangerous as I expected.  Kweku and Julie seem to quickly and easily find the people they need to find to help them.  They seem to have a lot of luck.  And there’s a deus ex machina moment involving the U.S. navy.  The addition of Fema bothered me; I immediately recognized her as a redshirt because she just seems to drift in and out of the narrative:  sometimes she is mentioned and sometimes it’s as if she’s not travelling with them. 

As in The Forcing, there is, despite the dire state of the planet, some hope.  Near the end, there’s discussion of actions that could be taken now:  “legislation taxing carbon and diverting the proceeds into renewable energy projects . . . climate-adaptation projects . . . including building seawalls, re-establishing coastal wetlands, and re-greening cities.”  The warning is that “it was way, way more expensive, and way harder to fix something after it broke than to prevent it from breaking in the first place.” 

I recommend The Descent to those who have read The Forcing.  The latter works as a standalone, but I'm not sure the former would.  The Descent details the decisions and actions which create the world of The Forcing, but for me lacks the gut-punch impact of the first book. 

Review of THE CARETAKER by Ron Rash

 3.5 Stars

This novel, set in North Carolina in the early 1950s, examines love (familial, passionate, friendship) in its many forms.

Jacob Hampton marries 16-year-old Naomi Clarke against his parents’ wishes.  As a result, he is disinherited.  Shortly after their elopement, Jacob is conscripted and sent to Korea.  Before he leaves, Jacob asks his best friend, Blackburn Gant, to look after Naomi in his absence, especially because she is pregnant.  When his parents learn that their son has been injured, they devise a devious plan to keep Jacob and Naomi apart when he returns to the U.S. 

The title is perfect.  Blackburn is the caretaker of a cemetery.  Disfigured by polio, he is spurned or ridiculed by most members of the community so he is very much a loner.  Jacob is his only real friend.  Blackburn takes his job seriously; he is meticulous in his caretaking of the dead:  “Small acts of respect mattered.”  He is also a caretaker of the living:  “Caretaking was a duty to the living and the dead.”  As friendless as she is, Blackburn forms a bond with Naomi and helps her to prepare for the birth of her child.  After a nasty altercation with Mr. Hampton, Blackburn takes Naomi back to eastern Tennessee to live with her father.  When Jacob returns from Korea, Blackburn supports his friend.

Blackburn may be a social outcast, but he is an admirable man.  He is dependable, loyal, honest, and trustworthy – truly a man of honour.  A target of intolerance, his typical reaction is to just walk away.  He has wisdom as well.  In one conversation, Jacob comments that “’to love a person enough that you’d want them to love someone else instead of you . . . that’s hard.’”  Blackburn responds, “’Maybe it ain’t about having to make a choice which person you love . . . Maybe a heart’s big enough for both.’”  His actions prove that Blackburn does indeed possess a big heart.

There is considerable suspense.  With its forbidden love and star-crossed lovers vibe, the book will remind readers of Romeo and Juliet.  Will Jacob and Naomi’s story end in a similar tragedy?  Jacob’s parents, the town’s most prominent couple, possess an arrogance bordering on hubris.  They use their power and money to threaten others to get what they want.  Believing they know what is best for their son, they give little consideration to what would best make him happy.  Will justice prevail or will Jacob unknowingly be manipulated into the life his parents want for him?

The book is not without some flaws.  Though the motivations of the characters are clearly detailed, the scheme to keep Jacob and Naomi apart is a bit over-the-top and requires some suspension of disbelief.  Their hatred of Naomi seems excessive.  Jacob’s inaction on his return seems out of character.  And the ending feels abrupt and too pat.

Despite these weaknesses, I recommend the book.  It examines what love is and what it is not in an engaging way with a sympathetic main character.  I’m sufficiently impressed that I’ll be checking out the author’s previous novels.

Review of THE GUESTS by Agnes Ravatn

 4.5 Stars

This psychological drama reminds us ““Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

Quite by chance, Karin encounters Iris Vilden, her childhood nemesis, to whom she hasn’t spoken in 25 years.  That meeting later leads to an offer for Karin and her husband Kai to spend a week in Iris’ luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords.  While there, Karin meets a neighbour, Per Sinding, and, believing she has been treated disparagingly, she implies that the holiday home belongs to her and Kai.  Then Kai joins in the charade and the lies are compounded thereby creating further problems and a domino structure of complications.

In many ways, this book is a character study of a person who is resentful and envious.  I was reminded of the words in “Desiderata” which warn “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”  Karin is very bitter.  She admits that “The dissatisfaction that comes from comparing myself with others was more my cup of tea.”  Always she feels inadequate and worthless.  Meeting Iris who is a well-known actress just increases Karin’s insecurity.  She has much for which to be grateful:  a loving and supportive husband, two children who are doing well, a house in a nice neighbourhood, and a stable job as a legal consultant for the municipal government.  But this is not enough. 

Kai is Karin’s foil.  She acknowledges, “He wasn’t prone to envy, unlike me; he didn’t instinctively compare himself with others” and “I was insecure and neurotic, Kai was calm and confident” and he “compensated for all my weaknesses.  Offset my inferiority complex with his poised sense of calm.  It’s not that Kai lacked introspection, but it never sent him into a negative spiral.”  At the holiday home, he’s happy to embrace and enjoy the opportunity, whereas Karin can’t relax because her surroundings remind her of what she doesn’t and won’t ever have. 

Karin is aware of some of her flaws, but she just doesn’t seem to be able to do anything about them.  She knows she needs to “pull myself out of this spiral, to rise above it.”  She admits to being “prone to destructive patterns of thinking at the earliest opportunity, my negative assumptions ran away with me.”  She thinks of herself as damaged, superficial, and trivial.  She even worries about negatively influencing her children, that she’d “turn them into victims of never-ending self-scrutiny, I’d infect them with my solipsism.”

Though she sometimes seems self-aware, there are times when it’s obvious that she’s not totally honest with herself.  Since Karin is the sole narrator, we are given only her perspective and I certainly had doubts about her reliability.  For instance, she describes what happened when she and Iris were in school together.  Though Iris behaved appallingly if Karin’s version is accurate, it is Karin’s reaction that seems extreme and irrational.  Later, when she learned Iris lived two blocks away, Karin moved!  And she blames Iris for her own underachievement:  “I could have been someone else, I thought to myself, if it hadn’t been for Iris holding me back, or worse:   causing me to hold myself back.”  She has such an obsessive hatred for someone she hasn’t seen in 25 years?  As I read, I kept wishing Karin had taken to heart the words of the Greek philosopher Epictetus who said, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Karin is also implacably judgmental of anyone who seems to have a better life than she does.  Of course she questions Iris’ motives in giving them a week’s retreat:  is she just showing off or trying to humiliate Karin or “To make sure my holiday is spent in the maximum amount of misery”?  She assumes there is an ulterior motive.  A statement by Per has Karin jumping to the conclusion that she has been “well and truly dismissed” instead of thinking that maybe  what he says is “a straightforward statement, not an attempt to strip me of my humanity.”  She asks Hilma Ekhult, Kai's wife, "purposely puerile questions," but then judges her for her "condescending and terse responses"?  Eventually Karin even starts to question Kai’s motives.  Ironically, she sees others as judgmental when she herself is.  Isn’t this called projection?

Though this is not a conventional suspense novel, there is a lot of tension.  The book is an uncomfortable read; I kept silently screaming at her to just tell the truth.  The false reality that she and Kai create is not sustainable so tension ramps up.  It’s only a matter of time before the dominoes will come crashing down. 

Besides being angry and frustrated with her, I also felt so sad for Karin.  She is a lawyer, apparently good at her job, and Kai is a master carpenter.  Because of their knowledge and skills, both are able to help Kai and Hilma.  Karin has so much, but she doesn’t appreciate her blessings and so can’t be happy.  Because of her deceptions, Karin deprives herself of an honest conversation with Hilma, her favourite author.  She and Hilma even have similar opinions about the property search engine developed by Iris’ husband, so the two could well have become friends. 

This book is brief, really more a novella, but it is dense and powerful.  I could go on and on because there is so much to analyze and admire.  The author has an insightful understanding of human psychology.  I was left in awe, and I think others will be too.

I’ve read Ravatn’s previous novels, The Bird Tribunal (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2018/02/review-of-bird-tribunal-by-agnes-ravatn.html) and The Seven Doors (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2021/07/review-of-seven-doors-by-agnes-ravatn.html), and I highly recommend these as well.

Review of THE CRUELEST MONTH by Louise Penny

 3 Stars

This is the third in the Armand Gamache series, the Canadian series that has become my companion on morning walks.

The villagers of Three Pines have a séance in the infamous Hadley House during Easter.  One of the participants dies, apparently of fright.  Gamache and his team (Beauvoir, Lacoste, Lemieux, and Nichol) arrive to investigate.  Is it possible to die of fright or is Madeleine Favreau a murder victim?  A second plot involves Gamache’s dealing with personal attacks intended to undermine him.  He suspects they have to do with the old Arnot case which is alluded to in the previous books.  The identities of Madeleine’s killer and Gamache’s enemy are revealed on the same night, again in the Hadley House.

Three Pines is again portrayed as this lovely, almost magical place.  This idyllic description is starting to be problematic because once again there is a murder in the village.  It’s becoming very much like Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove in Murder, She Wrote.  Another issue with the setting is that the reader knows that the murderer is not one of the regulars in the series (Clara, Peter, Gabri, Olivier, Ruth, Myrna) so the pool of suspects is limited to the new characters who are introduced. 

Gamache continues to be the hero with virtually no flaws in his character.  He’s cultured, well-read, observant, empathetic, patient, and introspective.  He’s so astute that he recognizes a risk and sets in place a long-term plan to contend with it.  Beauvoir’s hero worship is added to illustrate the type of love and respect Gamache commands. 

Another issue I had with characterization is the portrayal of Lemieux.  He seems to undergo a change that is such a dramatic contrast with how he has been portrayed in the previous book that it’s difficult to believe.  I also had difficulty accepting his motivation since there has been no indication of his ambition and his feelings for Gamache seem to be extreme given the limited amount of time he has spent with him.

I did like how the theme of jealousy is explored.  It proves to be a major motivation for several characters, some of whom seem to take inspiration from Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello.  Even Peter Morrow does something to Clara that clearly indicates his envy of her artistic talent. 

I had no difficulty correctly identifying Madeleine’s killer.  Myrna’s discussion of the psychological concept of near enemy emotions is a major clue to point the reader in the right direction.  Because the murder is committed in a complex way requiring a lot of information about Madeleine, there are few people who could have successfully carried it out. 

I disliked the Agatha Christie-style ending in which the suspects are gathered in a room with the detective at the end and the killer is revealed.  But Penny does one better because she has Gamache’s confrontation with his enemy take place at the same time.  Having his antagonist there at that time stretches credulity. 

There are other annoyances.  Why must there be a detailed description of the food every time someone eats?  Again, there’s almost a fixation with women and weight gain.  And the repeated suggestions that the Hadley House is a malevolent entity become tedious. 

Readers of the series keep telling me that the books get better.  I haven’t really seen any improvement thus far; I’ve rated them all as mediocre, as in ordinary and adequate but not outstanding.  But I’ll continue following the series . . . at least for now.

Review of LEAVING by Roxana Robinson (New Release)

 4.5 Stars

This novel, an insightful and powerful examination of a conflict between honour and passion, asks what we owe both others and ourselves. 

Forty years after their breakup in college, a chance meeting brings together Warren Jennings and Sarah Watson.  Sarah, a museum curator, is a mother and grandmother who has been divorced for almost two decades.  Warren, a successful architect, has been married to Janet for 34 years, and they have one daughter, 24-year-old Katrina.  The two rekindle their relationship even though Sarah lives near New York and Warren lives in Boston.  Warren admits to not being completely happy in his marriage; though Janet “has given him everything she has.  It’s not enough.”  When he tells her he wants a divorce, Janet resists and then Katrina threatens to totally cut him out of her life.  Both Warren and Sarah must decide what they are willing and not willing to leave behind for true love. 

The book raises so many questions.  Is it morally acceptable to leave a marriage in order to pursue personal happiness or should personal happiness be sacrificed for the greater good, to protect “family, order, duty, honor”?  What responsibilities does a parent have for grown children who are living independently?  How does a parent maintain a connection with grown children?  Should adult children have the power to emotionally control their parents?  What do we owe ourselves and others when our choices have consequences, both for ourselves and others?

Point of view is particularly effective.  The reader is given both Sarah and Warren’s perspectives.  Because we are given their thoughts and feelings, we get to know them intimately.  We experience their joys and sorrows and understand their motivations.  We might not agree with their decisions, but we can follow their thought processes. 

My feelings about the characters did not remain static.  This speaks to the complexity of the characters:  good but flawed people.  Warren, for instance, had my sympathy as he sees his future as a life sentence of “the torture of false intimacy” or life without his daughter, yet I also felt anger because he sometimes seems so weak in his encounters with Katrina.  His choice at the end, not removing his backpack, tells a lot about his character.  I wanted to shout at the young Sarah for being so quick to jump to conclusions about Warren.  Why didn’t she speak to him openly about her concerns?  But of course “She’d known nothing about choosing a husband.”  At times she tries to minimize her role in breaking up Warren’s marriage.  On the other hand, her efforts to connect to Meg and Jeff are so sincere.  The one person whom I consistently did not like is Katrina who just seems selfish, emotionally immature, manipulative, and implacably judgmental. 

The ending is perfect.  Given the discussions of operas and tragedies, it is predictable, but given what has gone before and Warren’s character, it is entirely appropriate.  I would love a sequel focusing on the three women and their thoughts/reactions to Warren’s choice at the end.  Would they question what happened and re-evaluate their actions?  Would Sarah, if she suspected what happened, see Warren’s action as breaking the social contract “to see this through to the end”? 

I highly recommend this book which has so much depth.  It is so well-written:  I loved the allusions to literature, art and the opera which work so well in developing theme.   It is such an honest and authentic portrayal of marriage and family relationships.  The novel would be an excellent choice for book clubs because it is so thought-provoking.  Readers will certainly have strong feelings about who behaved honourably and who let passion rule and broke moral codes.

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of DEAD SWEET by Katrín Júlíusdóttir

 4 Stars

This is the first installment of a new Icelandic crime series.

Óttar Karlsson, a charismatic and well-respected government official, is found murdered on a beach after not turning up for his 50^th birthday party organized by his girlfriend Erla.  Sigurdís Hölludóttir, a young police officer, finds a well-hidden home safe in Óttar’s apartment.  The documents inside suggest that Óttar was involved in dubious business dealings.  It seems that the murder victim’s public persona was a sham because he led a double life.  Garðar, in charge of the investigation, thinks that Óttar’s killer will be linked to these financial crimes, but Sigurdís believes strongly that the perpetrator will be found connected to Óttar’s personal life.  She follows her intuition and investigates on her own, even taking an unapproved trip. 

Sigurdís is a likeable protagonist, both intelligent and intuitive.  She had a traumatic childhood because of an abusive father; as a result, she and her younger brother Einar lived with their aunt Halla.  It is these relationships that show her soft side; for instance, she’s very loving and protective of Einar.  With others she has trust issues; certainly, her relationship with her mother is very complex, full of both anger and guilt.  Her experiences are an advantage in that they make her particularly perceptive to abuse victims.   Professionally, she is ambitious; she wants to prove herself a capable detective.  She starts at a disadvantage because a physical altercation with a young man resulted in her being confined to desk duty and having to see a psychologist.  Garðar, concerned about Sigurdís’ mental health, tries to restrict her to administrative tasks, but she perseveres and makes crucial contributions to the case.  When convinced that she is correct, it’s obvious that she will not always comply with the rules. 

Sigurdís’ relationships with colleagues show that others like her as well.  Garðar, for reasons that gradually become clear, is definitely protective of her, but he also has affection for the young woman.  Elín, a member of the financial-crime unit, makes a point of thanking Sigurdís for her contributions.  Unnar, another detective, works with her closely and comes to have a high regard for her abilities.  Of course, it doesn’t take much intuition to imagine that a romance will develop between Sigurdís and Unnar!

As expected, there are some twists, but I appreciated that there are clues throughout to Óttar’s personality.  The prologue, an interior monologue from his perspective, is revealing.  Then there’s the repeated description of him as someone who always managed to get his way.  The diary entries periodically interspersed between chapters also work well in suggesting his true nature, as well as creating suspense.

Regular readers of my reviews expect that I will find flaws, and, yes, there are some irritations.  What’s with everyone sliding to the floor?  Thrúður, Erla, and Sigurdís all react in this way!?  Does Sigurdís actually wear her police uniform when visiting someone outside her jurisdiction?  Sigurdís has a fear of flying but after just a few flights, “she’d mastered the art of travelling”?  Would police really install security systems in someone’s home? 

Despite these very minor annoyances, I certainly enjoyed this book.  I really like Sigurdís, and my interest was maintained throughout.  The case is solved at the end, but the book ends with a cliffhanger as well.  I am already anxious to read the next book in this very promising series. 

Review of THAT PINSON GIRL by Gerry Wilson (New Release)

 3 Stars

This novel is set in North Mississippi in 1918.  Seventeen-year-old Leona Pinson gives birth to a son whom she names Isaiah.  Unmarried, she refuses to name his father, Walker Broom, to anyone.  Walker has gone off to fight in the war, but Leona believes he will return and they will become a family.  In the meantime, she lives with her damaged, dysfunctional family.  Leona’s father Herbert was murdered and his sister Sally, a dwarf, moved in afterwards.  Other members of the household are Leona’s remote mother Rose and her dangerous and abusive brother Raymond.

Sally helps Leona look after Isaiah, and Luther Briggs, the son of Leona’s grandfather and one of his slaves, helps her with the farm.  Since Raymond is often absent from home, Luther and his 15-year-old son Jesse, described as remaining “forever a child,” do a lot of the physical farm work.  Raymond is a racist so when he is around, tensions often arise between him and Jesse in particular.  Then Walker returns from overseas, but he brings someone with him.

Leona is admirable in many ways.  She is a young woman who has many burdens.  She is a single mother raising a child alone and, because she has a child out of wedlock, she has to endure shaming from the residents of the nearby town.  Raymond’s behaviour is dangerous so she has to protect herself and her son; also because her brother is irresponsible and unreliable, she has to ensure that the farm work is done.  Influenza arrives in the area and Leona is worried about her son, especially after several members of a friend’s family die.  And then she has more than one heartbreak. 

The perspective of several characters is given:  Leona, Luther, Walker, Rose, Raymond, Sally, and Jesse.  This narrative approach does allow the reader to know the characters better and to understand their motivations.  As a consequence, characters are shown to have both positive and negative traits.  For instance, Leona thinks Raymond is “incapable of love.  She imagined her brother’s heart a shriveled thing, cold to the touch, relentlessly beating.”  Certainly, many of his actions are deplorable and difficult to justify, but his thoughts do explain his motivations.

Unfortunately, I found the motivations of several characters to be rather weak.  Sally’s decision to keep a package from her niece is not convincing, though I imagine her mother’s comment that “’No man will ever have you’” suggests an underlying jealousy.  Edith’s not wanting to ask her mother-in-law for the name of a seamstress makes little sense since such a conversation might have served to promote a relationship.  Sometimes actions are never explained:  why doesn’t Luther return with cough syrup, especially when “It wasn’t like him not to keep his word”?

The novel as a whole has a disjointed feel.  Characters appear and then disappear until needed to impact the plot.  Luther, who is so important to Leona, is not present as much as one would expect.  When Sally’s presence would complicate issues, she is helpfully removed.  The Ridge Riders conveniently appear and disappear.  Wouldn’t Luther recognize Raymond’s beloved horse Belle when the Ridge Riders visit?  Sally doesn’t know the young man who drops in to see Leona?  She has lived in the area for two years and has never been to the mercantile store?  Comments she makes later suggest that she certainly knows his family!

The book examines the destructive power of secrets.  Leona hides the identity of Isaiah’s father, but she is not the only one who has secrets.  So do Rose, Sally, Luther, Walker, and Raymond.  Much tragedy could have been prevented if secrets had not been kept.  Even Jesse might have been better protected if he had been more forthcoming.  I was not shocked by Raymond and Luther’s revelations; there are clear indications that both are burdened by guilt. 

Though it touches on several important issues, the novel is uneven in quality.  The pace at the beginning is slow, and then the ending feels rushed.  And, as mentioned, the plot lacks fluidity and there are some plot holes. 

Review of YULE ISLAND by Johana Gustawsson

4.5 Stars 

If you enjoy dark and disturbing books with genuinely shocking twists, this one is for you.

The setting is Storholmen, an island in the Stockholm Archipelago.  Emma Lindahl, an art expert and appraiser, is sent to the island to the manor house of the Gussman family, one of the wealthiest in Sweden, to catalogue their collection.  The Gussman estate has a bit of a history; nine years earlier the body of a teenaged girl, the victim of a ritualistic killing, was found hanging from a tree on the property.  Inspector Karl Rosén investigated this case of Sofia Axelsson’s murder, but it remains unsolved.

Emma’s hours at the Gussman manor house are strictly regulated so she spends time at the island’s café and gets to know the owner, Anneli Lund, and other island residents.  Then the body of another teenaged girl is found in waters nearby; Maria Sjögren seems to have been killed in the same way as Sofia.  Karl is brought in to investigate, even though he has recently experienced a tragic loss.  Emma makes some discoveries at the house and ends up assisting Karl. 

The novel is told from three perspectives:  those of Emma, Karl, and Viktoria, a housekeeper in the manor.  Each is narrated in the first person in present tense.  Whenever first person point of view is used, I always question the reliability of the narrator.  I was correct to do so here because two of the narrators, though perhaps not deliberately deceptive, do withhold vital information; only slowly is it revealed that they have a personal connection to and interest in the murders. 

One of the revelations is totally shocking and will leave the reader questioning all that s/he has read thus far.  A clarification concerning Viktoria and her employers also upends assumptions.  I love books that manage to shock me with twists, and this one does that more than once.  I found myself re-reading portions to make certain I had not read incorrectly.  What is wonderful is that this is a fair-play mystery.  The clues are there, subtle though they are, but I missed them.  There were times I suspected that something was not quite right and periodically I had questions, but I didn’t stop to analyze because I was just so compelled to continue reading.  To say that the author is a master of misdirection and complex plotting is an understatement.

Lovers of Gothic fiction will find the elements they enjoy because there is definitely an unsettling atmosphere.  The island, though not remote, feels isolated because it’s car-free.  Then there’s the large, gloomy manor house with its tragic past and rather strange residents and the dark and cold of a Scandinavian winter. 

Both Karl and Emma are flawed but likeable.  They are both determined to uncover the truth of what happened to Sofia and Maria.  Though intelligent, they are sometimes duped by others.  The two also carry heavy personal burdens, including guilt, so it’s impossible not to feel compassion for them.  I did find myself sometimes questioning my conclusions about characters, but in the end all is made clear so even shocking behaviour makes complete sense.   This book is apparently the first installment of a projected series, the Lidingö Mysteries, so I wonder whether either or both will reappear. 

The novel also has thematic depth.  It explores family relationships like sister/sister and mother/daughter.  Fathers do not fare well; they are either absent, distracted, abusive, or embarrassed.  The book suggests that people often have hidden personalities:  more than one person has an alternate ego.  I loved Lulu, Emma’s best friend, who is both a university professor/papyrologist and a drag queen.  The book also reinforces the idea that trauma in the past affects the present.  And the information about Norse mythology adds another dimension to the narrative.

I loved this book.  Some of the shocks made me feel as if I had, like the Swedes, taken a dive into freezing water.  I challenge anyone to see all of the author’s sleights of hand.  I can’t wait for the next book in the series.