Life and Limb

Dicte Svendsen #5

by Elsebeth Egholm

There is no beauty in death, thinks crime journalist Dicte Svendsen. And so it would appear as she arrives at her next murder scene. A young woman has been found in the carpark next to the sports stadium. Dressed in jeans and a pink T-shirt with 'I love U' written on it, in she sits propped up against a car. The words 'rag doll' come to mind as she seems to be held together by skin and hair alone; as if someone had removed the skeleton. Not only that, her eye sockets were empty. This was the work of a very particular killer.

Genres: Crime, Denmark, Mystery, Audiobook

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Bestselling Danish novelist Elsebeth Egholm began her career behind the keyboards of a piano. She was a student of music as a performer at The Royal Academy of Music and at the Department of Musicology at the University of Aarhus, before she changed instrument and enrolled at the Danish School of Journalism, also based in her hometown of Aarhus. She spent a few years working for a daily newspaper, but by 1992 she was living with future husband, the late British author Philip Nicholson, in the Maltese island of Gozo, working as a freelance writer.
Eventually she began making a name for herself as the author of a string of well crafted short stories published in women's magazines in both Denmark and the other Nordic countries. Her first novel had three long time friends mourning the death of a fourth and facing a mysterious stranger. ‘The Free Women's Club' was published in 1999 to unanimous acclaim. In ‘Scirocco' (2000) and ‘Opium' (2001) she moved into the darker corners of family and marriage, and combined a fullgrown plot with an engaging dose of international suspense.

Then, in 2002, she introduced full time journalist and part time sleuth Dicte Svendsen in ‘Hidden Errors', a novel about a dead baby found in a creek in the middle of big city Aarhus. By the second and third book in the series, ‘Own Risk' (2004) and ‘Personal Damage' (2005), both author and heroine were well known and highly treasured in her homeland. ‘Next of Kin' was published in 2006, dramatically outselling the previous novels, and Elsebeth Egholm found herself published, or about to be published, in Germany, Holland, Sweden and Norway. Afterwards, in 2008, the novel 'Life and Limb' reached the bookshelves followed by 'Against All Odds' i 2009. 'Three Dog Night' was published i 2011.

Currently Elsebeth Egholm divides her time between living in Aarhus, as does Dicte Svendsen, and on the Maltese island of Gozo.

Reviews

[Helle Daugaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

En ok fortælling med hvad der kan blive vores virkelighed en dag hvis der mangler donorer. Blev lidt flad i spændingen hen i mod slutningen

[Birthe Høy-Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spændende men lidt lang.

[Lafrog8 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't hate it (I finished the book), the story was ok, but probably too long and writing was not great.

[Védís · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hef lesið betri krimma verð ég að segja. Þessi var ekkert sérlega grípandi eða spennandi - ég gat hæglega lagt frá mér bókina í lengri tíma.

Persónur þær sem sjónarhornið var hjá voru of margar og afskaplega misspennandi. Vissulega náði allt að tengjast þegar málið leystist en framan af var maður bara að fylgjast með hversdagnum hjá nokkrum ólíkum persónum.

Ljósi punkturinn við bókina var áleitin spurning sem hún spyr lesanda sinn - spurning um mjög mikilvægt málefni í nútímasamfélagi. Án þess flatar hefði bókin aðeins fengið tvær stjörnur.

Til að komast að því hver þessi flötur er verður þú að lesa bókina því ef ég segi þér það spilli ég fléttunni fyrir þér.

[Astrid Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liv og legeme er en rigtig god og spændende bog, ligeså spændende som de andre bøger i serien om Dicte, men når det er sagt, så savner jeg noget mere om Rose og hendes kæreste som nærmest er skrevet ud af serien, og veninder Anne og Ida Marie, de bliver nævnt en lille bitte smule, men ikke så meget som i de andre bøger i serien.
Så kort sagt er plotet meget spændende, men syntes at rammerne om historien har ændret sig, og jeg er ikke sikker på hvad jeg skal syntes om det.

[Lone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nr. 5

[Ann Tonks]

Effective, layered mystery with a gutsy heroine, complex relationships and unpredictable plot developments. Just what you want from a good thriller.

[Unnur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Góð glæpasaga sem hreyfir svolítið við ákveðnum lífsgildum hjá mér.