SUN STORM, Åsa Larsson’s widely touted debut novel, has a few strikes against it: The descriptive text can be plodding at times, one of the protagonists withholds vital information from the police for no coherent reason, and the book features yet another pregnant law enforcement official. I swear, Knocked-Up Cops could have its own section at Borders.
But the book – from Scandinavia – also has a lot going for it: the exotic setting of far northern Sweden; a creepy, righteous church that can count on the insularity of its members; and an interesting, dual-protagonist structure where one can actively root for both the cops and the amateur detective.
Rebecka Martinsson is a lawyer who has left the northern town of Kiruna behind her. But both families and churches have long arms, and she is brought back to town by the brutal murder of a local religious leader. Paralleling her in the investigation is the almost due Anna-Maria Mella, a bright spot of humanity and intellect on the force. While not strictly working together, they approach and unravel the case from different perspectives. The author strives for full characterization and often succeeds. There is a wonderful vignette of the pregnant Mella becoming frustrated with domestic work, and even minor characters like Martinsson’s boss have their dreams revealed, providing some surprising depth.
When Viktor Strandgård’s mutilated body is found in the church he helped to start, and when the murder weapon is found his sister Sanna’s house, suspicion naturally falls on her. Sanna calls for her old friend Rebecka, who is reluctant to revisit her hometown and reopen old wounds. And those wounds run very deep. This is a chewy book, filled with betrayals, wrongs, emotional scars and a rich, all-too-human plot that’s very strong for a debut effort. –Mark Rose
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
Related posts:
- Snow Blind
- Dead Wrong
- The Thieves of Heaven
- Forecast: DEEP STORM moving in for Child
- The Colorado Kid
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }