hilarylouise's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A man closing his cottage up for winter discovers that he's been burgled. After calling the police, and being told that it'll be the next day before someone can come and investigate, he decides to explore the neighbouring cottages to see if there are any in a similar state. Instead, he discovers a dead body. When the police investigate the mystery of the body, they find links to European crime, drug smuggling, and the CIO's own daughter, Line. How does it all link together?
I wasn't keen on this book, because it's not only very slow, but very confusing. For me, there was too much going on in terms of the investigation that made the storyline hard to follow. I got lost in terms of which character belonged to which group of people (police, burglars, drug smugglers, or the criminal gang based in Oslo), and the location of the story at precise points in time.
The short chapters made me feel that the author wanted me to keep reading, so engrossed in the story that I couldn't put it down, but for me they did the opposite. Because the pace of the story was so slow, I instead found myself wanting to put it down at the end of almost every chapter. I also often found that, in a moment of extreme tension, the author would dissipate it almost immediately, instead of allowing it to build further, or leave it on a cliffhanger to keep me interested, which left me feeling a bit bereft.
I will say there were some absolute gems in here though. There are moments of tension, that typically came when something exciting was about to happen. These helped me to finish the book, without them I probably would have not finished it. I probably won't read the others in the series, although this one was fine to read out of order!
I wasn't keen on this book, because it's not only very slow, but very confusing. For me, there was too much going on in terms of the investigation that made the storyline hard to follow. I got lost in terms of which character belonged to which group of people (police, burglars, drug smugglers, or the criminal gang based in Oslo), and the location of the story at precise points in time.
The short chapters made me feel that the author wanted me to keep reading, so engrossed in the story that I couldn't put it down, but for me they did the opposite. Because the pace of the story was so slow, I instead found myself wanting to put it down at the end of almost every chapter. I also often found that, in a moment of extreme tension, the author would dissipate it almost immediately, instead of allowing it to build further, or leave it on a cliffhanger to keep me interested, which left me feeling a bit bereft.
I will say there were some absolute gems in here though. There are moments of tension, that typically came when something exciting was about to happen. These helped me to finish the book, without them I probably would have not finished it. I probably won't read the others in the series, although this one was fine to read out of order!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Drug use
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