ichirofakename's review against another edition
5.0
Breathtakingly dark, tragic, despicable, sad, and heartbreaking. A group of thrill killers become rich except the girl, who hears voices in her head telling her to do horrible things, whom the others turn on. Also animal abuse. Everybody gets their comeuppance, but by the end we seem to be rooting for the girl, who has been through hell and back more than once.
Regular Department Q lovable folks; Carl gets a girlfriend on the last page, possibly.
Third-person narration is flavored by the character over whose shoulder it is currently looking, in a very artistic way.
Unusual amongst mysteries in that much more narratal time is spent with the criminal than the detective. The actual case is almost beside the point, which is the depiction of the very twisted and inhuman killers, and especially the girl, who clearly has a good character underneath, but it is overwhelmed by the voices that keep making her do bad things.
Five stars. Not recommended because somebody might hate me after reading it.
Regular Department Q lovable folks; Carl gets a girlfriend on the last page, possibly.
Third-person narration is flavored by the character over whose shoulder it is currently looking, in a very artistic way.
Unusual amongst mysteries in that much more narratal time is spent with the criminal than the detective. The actual case is almost beside the point, which is the depiction of the very twisted and inhuman killers, and especially the girl, who clearly has a good character underneath, but it is overwhelmed by the voices that keep making her do bad things.
Five stars. Not recommended because somebody might hate me after reading it.
nesmoht's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
2.0
The humour from the first book in the series is gone, leaving a ridiculous plot that is entirely unbelievable. A group of rich kids with sadistic tendencies who manage to commit heinous crimes over the course of twenty years without getting caught? In Denmark? I think the violence is supposed to shock, but it's just tasteless and silly. This is the end of the road for Mørck and me.
kingsamong's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
fredetrolle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tiffyb's review against another edition
3.0
After reading the first book in this series, I was excited to read the second one! Overall this book kept my attention just as well as the first, and I was impressed that the author managed to write something that wasn’t just a rewrite with different names.
On the other hand- this book should come with a huge trigger warning!! These are the topics written about IN GREAT DETAIL throughout this book (not topics touched on, topics that took up pages or even chapters!)- rape and every kind of non consensual sexual interaction, miscarriage, marital abuse, animal cruelty, mental illness, and obviously murder, beatings, and torture. This book was much darker than the first one.
Lots of reviews of the first book int hai series discussed the author’s racism and sexism, which I had casually noticed- but not enough for it to affect my opinion of it. This second book really heightened the racism and sexism- it was pretty obnoxious.
Aside from Kimmy, women’s only role in this book were to be either sexy or annoying (and maybe a bit of both). We had to read several times about Morick’s blue balls. Rose was added to the team, but completely devoid of any understandable characteristics or personality traits (I mean why were we supposed to hate her again? She seemed really effective and worked super hard!). It could possibly be a translation issue because I struggled to connect with any character in this book.
Assad - poor Assad! - went from being a funny yet mysterious hero in Book One to a caricature of a middle eastern man in the second. They made him seem increasingly stupid (taking insults as compliments, adding the word “then” into every other sentence - which he didn’t do in the first book!- , not knowing how to interact with people they were interviewing…). Every person who was “brown” was middle eastern and suspicious in this book. Really bothered me, especially with Assad absolutely carrying the last book.
Also the author clearly was trying to keep our interest in the series as a whole (Hardy’s health, Assad’s secret past, Moricks personal life…), but too little of the book was dedicated to those topics so it felt a bit unnecessary and distracting.
Aside from those complaints, I enjoyed the ride of this book and actually thought it was fun to follow the different groups of people, knowing who the culprits were from the start! I’m going to try reading one more book and see if it’s worth continuing in spite of all the downfalls listed above!
On the other hand- this book should come with a huge trigger warning!! These are the topics written about IN GREAT DETAIL throughout this book (not topics touched on, topics that took up pages or even chapters!)- rape and every kind of non consensual sexual interaction, miscarriage, marital abuse, animal cruelty, mental illness, and obviously murder, beatings, and torture. This book was much darker than the first one.
Lots of reviews of the first book int hai series discussed the author’s racism and sexism, which I had casually noticed- but not enough for it to affect my opinion of it. This second book really heightened the racism and sexism- it was pretty obnoxious.
Aside from Kimmy, women’s only role in this book were to be either sexy or annoying (and maybe a bit of both). We had to read several times about Morick’s blue balls. Rose was added to the team, but completely devoid of any understandable characteristics or personality traits (I mean why were we supposed to hate her again? She seemed really effective and worked super hard!). It could possibly be a translation issue because I struggled to connect with any character in this book.
Assad - poor Assad! - went from being a funny yet mysterious hero in Book One to a caricature of a middle eastern man in the second. They made him seem increasingly stupid (taking insults as compliments, adding the word “then” into every other sentence - which he didn’t do in the first book!- , not knowing how to interact with people they were interviewing…). Every person who was “brown” was middle eastern and suspicious in this book. Really bothered me, especially with Assad absolutely carrying the last book.
Also the author clearly was trying to keep our interest in the series as a whole (Hardy’s health, Assad’s secret past, Moricks personal life…), but too little of the book was dedicated to those topics so it felt a bit unnecessary and distracting.
Aside from those complaints, I enjoyed the ride of this book and actually thought it was fun to follow the different groups of people, knowing who the culprits were from the start! I’m going to try reading one more book and see if it’s worth continuing in spite of all the downfalls listed above!
alexandraairene's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
akemichan's review against another edition
3.0
Pro:
- La trama è bella
- L'arrivo di Rose ha messo altro pepe alla sezione
- protagonisti sono sempre buoni
Contro:
- L'intero giallo viene raccontato non dagli investigatori ma dagli altri personaggi; il che non è un difetto in sé, ma se leggo di determinati protagonisti vorrei fossero loro a dirmi le cose. Insomma, vorrei sapere prima quello che sto leggendo
- La trama è bella
- L'arrivo di Rose ha messo altro pepe alla sezione
- protagonisti sono sempre buoni
Contro:
- L'intero giallo viene raccontato non dagli investigatori ma dagli altri personaggi; il che non è un difetto in sé, ma se leggo di determinati protagonisti vorrei fossero loro a dirmi le cose. Insomma, vorrei sapere prima quello che sto leggendo
miitu's review against another edition
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5