When I read my imagination allows me to feel myself right there in the story. Oh I'm not delusional, I know what's real and what isn't but I still feel myself in the story in almost every book I read. Good authors allow me to do that more than so so or bad authors will. Usually that's a good thing. Not so in this book to an extent.
This is the first Scandinavian mystery I've read for a bit and I enjoyed coming back into the land, feeling the cold, seeing the snow, the cold waves crashing on the beaches. And the people; the procedures of crime investigation, the social dynamics are all interesting to me.
So what was bad about this book? I'm not sure that's the right question. The right question would be, in spite of a very well written book, a good plot, interesting characters, why was this book so unsettling to me?
Fanny Jansson.
Fanny was a 14 year old girl, bi racial, bright, pretty, lonely, depressed. Her father was absent in her life though she knew where he was. Her mother was present in her life but in a very fractured way. The mother was an alcoholic and spent far too little time being aware of her daughter, of how her daughter felt, of offering comfort and love.
Fanny didn't have friends. You might say part of that was her fault and it would be true, but how much blame can you lay at the feet of a child who has to go home, to be the parent to her dysfunctional mother, to walk the dog because that mother can't be bothered, to fix dinner, to clean, in short, to run the house? How could she have friends when she didn't have time to be friends nor if she had friends, could she bring them to her house?
So it's little wonder that when an older man showed interest, complimented her, boosted her ego, that Fanny was impressed.
But the man wasn't a friend, he was grooming her. And when Fanny tried to back out, to end the relationship he not only didn't accept that but raped her instead. He continued to bully and groom, to groom and bully. But eventually Fanny had enough. In spite of her fear of this man she told him no. So he killed her. And I cried.
Fanny is not the only victim in this novel nor is indicating that she was murdered a spoiler. That's told in the dust cover blurbs. There is another murder victim, there are violations of friendships, of marital vows, of lovers.
This is a good mystery, filled with hidden clues and the interaction of police with colleagues, with husbands and wives, lovers and other strangers (OK, I'm stealing that from an excellent 1970s era movie but it's appropriate), and between police and suspects. But if that sounds good to you then be aware, Fanny can steal your heart and her fate may just break that heart.
I am not sorry I read this book, on the contrary, like the first book of this series, I liked it quite a lot. But my heart was broken.