kbranfield's review against another edition
3.0
The Night of the Fire by Kjell Eriksson is a puzzling mystery with a topical storyline.
Ann Lindell has left the police force and settled into a quiet life in the country. However, an arsonist sets fire to an unused school where refugees are staying. Ann believes some of her village neighbors might know more than they are saying. Despite her curiosity, she tries to leave the investigating to the police. But when someone from her past reaches out to her, Ann receives information that she has no choice but to reveal to her former co-workers. Then when another fire ends in tragedy, Ann tries to balance her new life with her finely honed investigative instincts.
Ann's move to a much quieter life and new career have proved to be beneficial. She is drinking much less and enjoying a smoother relationship with her teenage son Erik. The only real disappointment stems from her platonic relationship with Edvard. She remains hopeful their romance might resume, but her expectations are beginning to plummet.
Meanwhile, Ann's former partner Sammy Nisson is heading the investigation into the second fire. He is still adjusting to his new partner Bodin who does not reveal much of what he is thinking. Sammy is also having trouble in his longtime marriage as his wife continues to distance herself from him. Sammy misses working with Ann and she provides interesting insight into the village and its residents.
While the mystery surrounding the fires is interesting, the beginning of the novel is a somewhat disjointed and difficult to follow. Fortunately, the narrative soon begins to flow much smoother. The two story arcs are interesting but the overall storyline seems a little busy with numerous secondary characters. The pacing is a little slow until well after the halfway point.
The Night of the Fire is a perplexing mystery with an all too relevant storyline. Ann is in a much better place in her life and she tries not to interfere too much in Sammy's investigation. Sammy is bit miserable as he witnesses Ann's newfound contentment as he contemplates his future. His investigation moves somewhat sluggishly as he talks to witnesses and revisits the crime scenes. With unexpected twists, Kjell Eriksson brings this multi-layered mystery to a satisfying conclusion. The final chapter is intriguing and will leave readers eager to read the next installment in the Ann Lindell Mysteries series.
Ann Lindell has left the police force and settled into a quiet life in the country. However, an arsonist sets fire to an unused school where refugees are staying. Ann believes some of her village neighbors might know more than they are saying. Despite her curiosity, she tries to leave the investigating to the police. But when someone from her past reaches out to her, Ann receives information that she has no choice but to reveal to her former co-workers. Then when another fire ends in tragedy, Ann tries to balance her new life with her finely honed investigative instincts.
Ann's move to a much quieter life and new career have proved to be beneficial. She is drinking much less and enjoying a smoother relationship with her teenage son Erik. The only real disappointment stems from her platonic relationship with Edvard. She remains hopeful their romance might resume, but her expectations are beginning to plummet.
Meanwhile, Ann's former partner Sammy Nisson is heading the investigation into the second fire. He is still adjusting to his new partner Bodin who does not reveal much of what he is thinking. Sammy is also having trouble in his longtime marriage as his wife continues to distance herself from him. Sammy misses working with Ann and she provides interesting insight into the village and its residents.
While the mystery surrounding the fires is interesting, the beginning of the novel is a somewhat disjointed and difficult to follow. Fortunately, the narrative soon begins to flow much smoother. The two story arcs are interesting but the overall storyline seems a little busy with numerous secondary characters. The pacing is a little slow until well after the halfway point.
The Night of the Fire is a perplexing mystery with an all too relevant storyline. Ann is in a much better place in her life and she tries not to interfere too much in Sammy's investigation. Sammy is bit miserable as he witnesses Ann's newfound contentment as he contemplates his future. His investigation moves somewhat sluggishly as he talks to witnesses and revisits the crime scenes. With unexpected twists, Kjell Eriksson brings this multi-layered mystery to a satisfying conclusion. The final chapter is intriguing and will leave readers eager to read the next installment in the Ann Lindell Mysteries series.
achoward's review against another edition
4.0
This is the eleventh book in the Ann Lindell series and the eighth to be translated to English for those of us (like me) who generally love Nordic noir.
The titular night of the fire is how this entry to the Ann Lindell series begins: an abandoned schoolhouse, used as temporary housing for immigrants goes up in flames, rapidly running out of control and decimating the building, killing several immigrants in the process. There are several characters introduced - one an immigrant, who ran from the building, one an old man who saw who set the blaze, but does not tell the authorities, etc.
My biggest gripe and level of disgust came when the story indicated Swedes from the area made no attempt to do anything about the fire. According to the man who saw the arsonists, they stood around "as if attending a bonfire". I had to take a short break from the book at that point, and that was right after the opening chapter.
In the meantime, someone has called the police, wanting to speak to Ann Lindell, the detective attached to the local station. But she no longer works there, leaving after her mentor retires. She now lives in a cottage in the village, making cheese , while still acknowledging to herself that she misses the thrill of the chase.
Anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows that small town folk tend to be guarded, and small towns usually have tons off secrets. Ann is drawn into the investigation, feeding the information she susses out to a former colleague. When additional fires break out, she does the same. There are also bombs going off, in the village, and in Stockholm. Are all these things related? And where is the missing immigrant? Is he the one going around doing this? If so, why?
Many current issues are brought up in the book: immigration, xenophobia, racism, and so on. Ann fights through all of these things in addition to the tight-lipped nature of her village. Eventually, the mystery is solved, but while on vacation, Ann is approached by a man who works for the national police, and cryptically tells her perhaps they will meet again when she walks away. Will she be drawn back to the work permanently and officially? I suppose we'll need to read the next book to find out.
Overall impression: it does go heavy on current events, as noted. On the plus side, the book works just fine as a standalone, so reading the previous books in the series, while informative, is not necessary. Ann is a complex, deep character, without some of the tics/schticks that some writers put in place to make their characters memorable for reasons other than whatever it is they do in the story. The story is good, the investigations are carried out competently, without anyone suddenly doing anything completely out of character.
On the downside, at times the narrative got a bit clunky, but this could be more about the translation than anything else, as is not always easy to translate something and have it retain the same flavor as the original. The pacing drags just a bit, and there are numerous characters the reader has to track throughout, and this may be an issue for some people. The issues that pop up in the story may be a tad depressing for some people, and at times threaten to overwhelm the entire narrative. if you're looking for a fast-paced mystery, this is not the book for you.
I'm giving it a solid four out of five stars. Ann is what really carries this book through to the end.
Thanks to Minotaur/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.
The titular night of the fire is how this entry to the Ann Lindell series begins: an abandoned schoolhouse, used as temporary housing for immigrants goes up in flames, rapidly running out of control and decimating the building, killing several immigrants in the process. There are several characters introduced - one an immigrant, who ran from the building, one an old man who saw who set the blaze, but does not tell the authorities, etc.
My biggest gripe and level of disgust came when the story indicated Swedes from the area made no attempt to do anything about the fire. According to the man who saw the arsonists, they stood around "as if attending a bonfire". I had to take a short break from the book at that point, and that was right after the opening chapter.
In the meantime, someone has called the police, wanting to speak to Ann Lindell, the detective attached to the local station. But she no longer works there, leaving after her mentor retires. She now lives in a cottage in the village, making cheese , while still acknowledging to herself that she misses the thrill of the chase.
Anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows that small town folk tend to be guarded, and small towns usually have tons off secrets. Ann is drawn into the investigation, feeding the information she susses out to a former colleague. When additional fires break out, she does the same. There are also bombs going off, in the village, and in Stockholm. Are all these things related? And where is the missing immigrant? Is he the one going around doing this? If so, why?
Many current issues are brought up in the book: immigration, xenophobia, racism, and so on. Ann fights through all of these things in addition to the tight-lipped nature of her village. Eventually, the mystery is solved, but while on vacation, Ann is approached by a man who works for the national police, and cryptically tells her perhaps they will meet again when she walks away. Will she be drawn back to the work permanently and officially? I suppose we'll need to read the next book to find out.
Overall impression: it does go heavy on current events, as noted. On the plus side, the book works just fine as a standalone, so reading the previous books in the series, while informative, is not necessary. Ann is a complex, deep character, without some of the tics/schticks that some writers put in place to make their characters memorable for reasons other than whatever it is they do in the story. The story is good, the investigations are carried out competently, without anyone suddenly doing anything completely out of character.
On the downside, at times the narrative got a bit clunky, but this could be more about the translation than anything else, as is not always easy to translate something and have it retain the same flavor as the original. The pacing drags just a bit, and there are numerous characters the reader has to track throughout, and this may be an issue for some people. The issues that pop up in the story may be a tad depressing for some people, and at times threaten to overwhelm the entire narrative. if you're looking for a fast-paced mystery, this is not the book for you.
I'm giving it a solid four out of five stars. Ann is what really carries this book through to the end.
Thanks to Minotaur/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.
mreadsbooksnfics's review against another edition
4.0
This is the 8th book of the series, but the first I read. I am still new to Nordic Noir. This one was pretty good, but I think I would have liked it more having read prior books before picking this one up.
I have been reading many thrillers and could not pass this one up. However, this was one I did not find myself drawn to, I liked it, But when i would put it down, I did not want to quickly pick it back up. I think it because I was not drawn in fully, but I still liked the book when I was reading.
The main character is retired and lives in a small village. But she still has some problems in her life. Because you cannot have a thriller series without the main character having some type of major flaw. It seems like a lot of the book is drawn from the previous ones, so I was sure I was missing out on a lot not having read the other ones. Of course she is drawn into the investigation about these fires, but she is. told to stay away because danger reasons! which means she is going to go even harder into it...
I think this book was pretty good, but it was not my favorite one. Overall, it works for the genre but dunno if I would pick up more from this author.
Thank you NetGalley and SMP for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have been reading many thrillers and could not pass this one up. However, this was one I did not find myself drawn to, I liked it, But when i would put it down, I did not want to quickly pick it back up. I think it because I was not drawn in fully, but I still liked the book when I was reading.
The main character is retired and lives in a small village. But she still has some problems in her life. Because you cannot have a thriller series without the main character having some type of major flaw. It seems like a lot of the book is drawn from the previous ones, so I was sure I was missing out on a lot not having read the other ones. Of course she is drawn into the investigation about these fires, but she is. told to stay away because danger reasons! which means she is going to go even harder into it...
I think this book was pretty good, but it was not my favorite one. Overall, it works for the genre but dunno if I would pick up more from this author.
Thank you NetGalley and SMP for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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