A review by melaniesreads
Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson
4.0
What a fantastic opening to a book, with an extremely hungover Karen trying not to wake the occupant of the bed as she searches frantically for her clothes the morning after the Oyster Festival. We soon learn she has good reason for not waking him as it turns out he is her boss.
However it only goes downhill from there as her boss’s ex wife is then found murdered and she is his alibi. Not great when you are the Detective Inspector assigned to the case. With the police all sticking by her boss even though it was an acrimonious marriage and he is a pretty horrible man, is that enough for murder? With very few suspects Karen starts digging into the victim’s past.
Having to fight against sexism in the workplace Karen has a tough job on her hands. The locals shut down and become insular, trying to protect their secrets.
It made a pleasant change to read from the point of view of a woman my age rather than the normal green and much younger police officers. It lent the book some gritty realism even when the setting was completely imagined, not that it ever felt fictitious.
I haven’t read much translated fiction, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. This is very much in the former category and I look forward to returning to Doggerland.
However it only goes downhill from there as her boss’s ex wife is then found murdered and she is his alibi. Not great when you are the Detective Inspector assigned to the case. With the police all sticking by her boss even though it was an acrimonious marriage and he is a pretty horrible man, is that enough for murder? With very few suspects Karen starts digging into the victim’s past.
Having to fight against sexism in the workplace Karen has a tough job on her hands. The locals shut down and become insular, trying to protect their secrets.
It made a pleasant change to read from the point of view of a woman my age rather than the normal green and much younger police officers. It lent the book some gritty realism even when the setting was completely imagined, not that it ever felt fictitious.
I haven’t read much translated fiction, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. This is very much in the former category and I look forward to returning to Doggerland.