A review by susannam
Forty Days Without Shadow: An Arctic Thriller by Olivier Truc

2.0

So many books, so little time. Why did I continue reading a book I was so irritated by? I don't regret finishing it, but I don't recommend it unless you want to pick up some interesting history about the Sami people and their history in the northern part of what is now Scandinavia and Finland. There is information about the sad and all too familiar oppression and attempted extermination of Sami people and their culture by the political majority and an interesting plot line of the discovery of a rare Sami drum (hundreds of Sami drums were collected and destroyed in the past as they were considered pagan and dangerous). Unfortunately, the author resorted to one-note characters and over-the-top dialogue that made sure we knew who the bad guys were and who the good guys were, making it less than satisfying. I'll give props to the last few chapters when plot threads came together and there was real tension. The two main characters, modern-day Reindeer Police Nina and Klemet, look like they'll develop into an interesting team in future books, but I hope the author will let readers figure out the villains without big arrows pointing to them.