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Rebecka Martinsson #3
The Black Path
The novels that inspired Rebecka Martinsson: Arctic Murders - the major TV series
"Rebecka Martinsson: the new Scandi-noir heroine to rival Saga Noren and Sarah Lund" iNews
"In a television world now awash in female coppers, there aren't many as interesting and human as Rebecka" Wall Street Journal
The frozen body of a woman is found in a fishing ark on the ice near Torneträsk in northern Sweden. She has been brutally tortured, but the killing blow was clumsy, almost amateur.
The body is quickly identified, raising hopes of an open-and-shut solution. But when a six-month-old suicide is disinterred, Rebecka Martinsson and Anna-Maria Mella find themselves investigating shocking corruption at the heart of one of Sweden's most successful mining companies. One that has powerful enemies of its own.
401 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Åsa Larsson
48 books1,091 followersÅsa Larsson is a Swedish crime-writer. Although born in Uppsala, she was raised in Kiruna in the far north. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Larsson was a tax lawyer, a profession she shares with the heroine of her novels, Rebecka Martinsson.
Series:
* Rebecka Martinsson
Series:
* Rebecka Martinsson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 492 reviews
January 6, 2014
When a book contains a detailed description of a work of art, and especially when it explains how the work was created, that's often a clue that the object in question is standing in for the book itself. In Cat's Cradle, Newt's ironic and deceptively simple painting is the focal point of the story. In A la recherche de temps perdu, Proust uses Elstir's canvases and Vinteuil's sonata to give you some indications about his overall plan. And in Kjærstad's Jonas Wergeland trilogy, the TV series Å Tenke Stort is so clearly the book that I often have trouble remembering which is which. Self-referentiality may be a trick, but many authors are clearly unable to resist the temptation to wink at their readers in this particular way.
Åsa Larsson, a Northern Swedish writer I had not come across before, appears to be another member of this distinguished family. One of the threads in Svart Stig follows Esther, a young Lapp girl who composes a number of disturbing paintings, several of which are linked to the story. One, in particular, attracted my attention. Esther's fostermother is also an artist, and sells her work to tourists who want to go home with a Lapp souvenir. She tones it down to fit the lowest common denominator: it's not smart to be too fancy and get ideas above your station. Esther loves her mother, and what she wants most of all is to paint in oils like her. But the mother won't let her, because they are too expensive. The girl has a suggestion. She asks if she can just paint a little on the canvas, and then her mother can paint over it. It would be so cute, she begs. She'd know it was there, and her mother would too, but no one else would even guess. Her mother likes the thought, but refuses: the paint would be too thick, it'd look wrong. But Esther won't let go of her discovery and realizes it in a different way. She does a watercolor on paper, then sticks another sheet on top with a different picture. She leaves one corner loose, so that it's possible to get a glimpse of what the original painting looked like.
I think that this painting, once again, is standing in for the book. On the surface, it is a competently realized thriller set largely in Northern Sweden. There is a passable intrigue which starts with a woman being found dead in an ark, a kind of little mobile home that Northern Swedish people use for ice-fishing in the frozen lakes. The charm of the novel is derived from the use of similar details about life in the Kiruna region, a desolate Arctic mining area where many of the locals are more comfortable speaking samiska or tornedalsfinska than Swedish. It's a nice piece of work and has sold well; the blurb boasts that it's already been translated into a dozen languages.
I do wonder, though, if it is the book Larsson really wanted to write. Clearly visible under the surface there is a second book, a magical-realist story with a much less clearly defined plot. It is about snow and blood and loneliness and madness, about a world where it's just as normal to own fifty reindeer that you herd and slaughter yourself as it is to spend an hour painfully composing an email to the city slicker from Stockholm that you've had the bad luck to fall in love with. It's a beautiful and unusual piece of work, judging from the fragments that are left, and it's a shame that Larsson felt she had to paint over it. But I'm sure she was right. It wasn't anything that the tourists were likely to appreciate.
Åsa Larsson, a Northern Swedish writer I had not come across before, appears to be another member of this distinguished family. One of the threads in Svart Stig follows Esther, a young Lapp girl who composes a number of disturbing paintings, several of which are linked to the story. One, in particular, attracted my attention. Esther's fostermother is also an artist, and sells her work to tourists who want to go home with a Lapp souvenir. She tones it down to fit the lowest common denominator: it's not smart to be too fancy and get ideas above your station. Esther loves her mother, and what she wants most of all is to paint in oils like her. But the mother won't let her, because they are too expensive. The girl has a suggestion. She asks if she can just paint a little on the canvas, and then her mother can paint over it. It would be so cute, she begs. She'd know it was there, and her mother would too, but no one else would even guess. Her mother likes the thought, but refuses: the paint would be too thick, it'd look wrong. But Esther won't let go of her discovery and realizes it in a different way. She does a watercolor on paper, then sticks another sheet on top with a different picture. She leaves one corner loose, so that it's possible to get a glimpse of what the original painting looked like.
I think that this painting, once again, is standing in for the book. On the surface, it is a competently realized thriller set largely in Northern Sweden. There is a passable intrigue which starts with a woman being found dead in an ark, a kind of little mobile home that Northern Swedish people use for ice-fishing in the frozen lakes. The charm of the novel is derived from the use of similar details about life in the Kiruna region, a desolate Arctic mining area where many of the locals are more comfortable speaking samiska or tornedalsfinska than Swedish. It's a nice piece of work and has sold well; the blurb boasts that it's already been translated into a dozen languages.
I do wonder, though, if it is the book Larsson really wanted to write. Clearly visible under the surface there is a second book, a magical-realist story with a much less clearly defined plot. It is about snow and blood and loneliness and madness, about a world where it's just as normal to own fifty reindeer that you herd and slaughter yourself as it is to spend an hour painfully composing an email to the city slicker from Stockholm that you've had the bad luck to fall in love with. It's a beautiful and unusual piece of work, judging from the fragments that are left, and it's a shame that Larsson felt she had to paint over it. But I'm sure she was right. It wasn't anything that the tourists were likely to appreciate.
October 13, 2022
Ik vond dit niet zo'n goed boek eigenlijk. Ik kon mij in geen van de personages inleven, het moordonderzoek bleef volgens mij meer op de achtergrond, er werd te veel aandacht besteed aan de persoonlijke problemen van de personages, en aan hun moeilijke achtergronden.
En het plot zelf vond ik ook niet zo interessant.
Ik heb het boek wel uitgelezen, omdat ik natuurlijk wilde weten wie de moordenaar was en waarom de vrouw vermoord werd, maar al met al heeft het boek bij mij een onbevredigende indruk nagelaten.
En het plot zelf vond ik ook niet zo interessant.
Ik heb het boek wel uitgelezen, omdat ik natuurlijk wilde weten wie de moordenaar was en waarom de vrouw vermoord werd, maar al met al heeft het boek bij mij een onbevredigende indruk nagelaten.
February 3, 2011
THE BLACK PATH is the sort of book that you need to read with your preconceptions and expectations firmly locked in a drawer. Having not read the second book in the series yet, I know something happened to Rebecka in that book, but the details aren't important to understanding, from the start of THE BLACK PATH, that she has been through a traumatic experience and she's struggling back into normal life.
But one thing you will find with THE BLACK PATH is that Rebecka, or Anna-Maria or any of the other characters that either reoccur from earlier books, or step forward into the limelight in this book, won't necessarily remain as the focus of the book. This isn't a book that's specifically about a single person's journey through the events that lead up to a crime (perhaps with the exception of the victim herself), but a story about the swirling circumstances of lives lived. That's not to say that the book has an unfocused or messy feel to it, rather the opposite. But it does give the way the story unfolds a fascinating, sort of ephermeral feel to it, as the focus moves around, and the events that somebody - but not everybody - are involved in, all lead to a resolution.
I have to say, that for me, there was a strong sense of Swedish about this book. But this was a combination of things. The weather, the environment, the sensibility of the people, the way that the supernatural interwove with the mundane facts of life. The book also incorporates some glimpses into Sami culture which were absolutely fascinating.
As with the first of this series that I read, I still find Rebecka and Anna-Maria slightly offputting as characters. Don't know why, but they just are. Having said that, they are fascinating, and people I'm interested in and care about slightly from afar. There's some real skill in writing a story with characters like these that keeps you so involved. But I was also very taken with the lack of predictable styling of the book - I liked the way that the story evolved without the need to ensure series characters got their alloted page space.
But one thing you will find with THE BLACK PATH is that Rebecka, or Anna-Maria or any of the other characters that either reoccur from earlier books, or step forward into the limelight in this book, won't necessarily remain as the focus of the book. This isn't a book that's specifically about a single person's journey through the events that lead up to a crime (perhaps with the exception of the victim herself), but a story about the swirling circumstances of lives lived. That's not to say that the book has an unfocused or messy feel to it, rather the opposite. But it does give the way the story unfolds a fascinating, sort of ephermeral feel to it, as the focus moves around, and the events that somebody - but not everybody - are involved in, all lead to a resolution.
I have to say, that for me, there was a strong sense of Swedish about this book. But this was a combination of things. The weather, the environment, the sensibility of the people, the way that the supernatural interwove with the mundane facts of life. The book also incorporates some glimpses into Sami culture which were absolutely fascinating.
As with the first of this series that I read, I still find Rebecka and Anna-Maria slightly offputting as characters. Don't know why, but they just are. Having said that, they are fascinating, and people I'm interested in and care about slightly from afar. There's some real skill in writing a story with characters like these that keeps you so involved. But I was also very taken with the lack of predictable styling of the book - I liked the way that the story evolved without the need to ensure series characters got their alloted page space.
May 4, 2026
I struggled a bit with this book. It seemed to be two books in one. A thriller with dodgy mining companies and a mystical theme with the sixth sense in the character of Ester. The main character has been traumatized by past experiences and while good at her job lacks self confidence in her personal life.
The plot revolves around the murder of a woman and the story is told in flashbacks. It was difficult to connect with the characters except perhaps Mella’s partner who liked cats. Northern Sweden sounds a bleak place in winter and the author describes it well.
I also found a tv series in Swedish with subtitles which is quite good. Not completely true to the book but not to bad.
The plot revolves around the murder of a woman and the story is told in flashbacks. It was difficult to connect with the characters except perhaps Mella’s partner who liked cats. Northern Sweden sounds a bleak place in winter and the author describes it well.
I also found a tv series in Swedish with subtitles which is quite good. Not completely true to the book but not to bad.
January 11, 2015
Essentially this novel is about the corruption in a diverse multi-layered mining company. Also about the corruption in the governments which it deals with and less about solving the murder of Inna Wattrang. She was their expert at finding financing and investments for their projects. I found the way this author switched between time frames of the characters lives very jarring. Also there were way too many characters to keep track of and it seemed that this story was never going to come together. This read was a struggle for me. Disappointing.
August 6, 2021
“She looks at herself from the outside. Can’t work. Sits there on the cold toilet seat in the morning popping the tablets out of the box, afraid of what will happen if she doesn’t”.
“Why can’t I be happy? Happy that I had them for as long as I did. Nothing is forever. God, it’s so long ago. You can’t grieve forever”.
Μια νεκρή γυναίκα της σουηδικής αφρόκρεμας που στο σώμα της εντοπίζονται εμφανείς ενδείξεις βασανισμού, ένας επιχειρηματίας ιλιγγιώδους βεληνεκούς με προβληματικό υπόβαθρο και αμφιλεγόμενες εξορυκτικές δραστηριότητες σε υπανάπτυκτες χώρες, μια νεαρή κοπέλα που μπορεί να μαντέψει αμυδρά κομμάτια από το παρελθόν και το μέλλον τόσο των άλλων όσο και το δικό της, και η αστυνομία της Κίρουνα, που κινείται κάπως απερίσκεπτα, μου θυμίζουν γιατί λατρεύω τα γραπτά της Όσα Λάρσον. Αυτό που με εντυπωσίασε περισσότερο στο Μαύρο Μονοπάτι ήταν πάντως η βαθιά ψυχικά τραυματισμένη και μάλλον εμμονικά ερωτευμένη Ρεμπέκα Μάρτινσον, που παίρνει Cipramil, που προσπαθεί να καταχώσει την κατάθλιψή της κάτω από υπέρογκους σωρούς εξαντλητικής εργασίας, που θυμάται και θρηνεί τους γονείς της και όλα όσα στερήθηκε, και που υποφέρει από τον έρωτά της για τον κατά πολύ μεγαλύτερό της Μονς Βένεγκρεν. Η Όσα Λάρσον έχει κάνει τρομερή δουλειά στην ψυχογράφηση της Μάρτινσον, στην ευθραυστότητά της, στην ανάγκη της για μοναξιά και στην ανταπόκρισή της στα συναισθήματά της, που την έχουν μουδιάσει από το βάρος τους, παρόλο που συγκριτικά με τα παράλληλα αφηγηματικά χρονικά, το δικό της είναι το μικρότερο.
“I haven’t the strength to be happy, she wants to say. I can hardly even manage to be unhappy”.
Μου μένει μόνο η Λευκή Νύχτα, και ανυπομονώ να την πιάσω στα χέρια μου!
“A heart that is in love is an indomitable thing”.
“How can you feel this way about another person? She thinks. How can you feel as if you want to die, just because he does not love you? He is just a human being, after all”.
“Why can’t I be happy? Happy that I had them for as long as I did. Nothing is forever. God, it’s so long ago. You can’t grieve forever”.
Μια νεκρή γυναίκα της σουηδικής αφρόκρεμας που στο σώμα της εντοπίζονται εμφανείς ενδείξεις βασανισμού, ένας επιχειρηματίας ιλιγγιώδους βεληνεκούς με προβληματικό υπόβαθρο και αμφιλεγόμενες εξορυκτικές δραστηριότητες σε υπανάπτυκτες χώρες, μια νεαρή κοπέλα που μπορεί να μαντέψει αμυδρά κομμάτια από το παρελθόν και το μέλλον τόσο των άλλων όσο και το δικό της, και η αστυνομία της Κίρουνα, που κινείται κάπως απερίσκεπτα, μου θυμίζουν γιατί λατρεύω τα γραπτά της Όσα Λάρσον. Αυτό που με εντυπωσίασε περισσότερο στο Μαύρο Μονοπάτι ήταν πάντως η βαθιά ψυχικά τραυματισμένη και μάλλον εμμονικά ερωτευμένη Ρεμπέκα Μάρτινσον, που παίρνει Cipramil, που προσπαθεί να καταχώσει την κατάθλιψή της κάτω από υπέρογκους σωρούς εξαντλητικής εργασίας, που θυμάται και θρηνεί τους γονείς της και όλα όσα στερήθηκε, και που υποφέρει από τον έρωτά της για τον κατά πολύ μεγαλύτερό της Μονς Βένεγκρεν. Η Όσα Λάρσον έχει κάνει τρομερή δουλειά στην ψυχογράφηση της Μάρτινσον, στην ευθραυστότητά της, στην ανάγκη της για μοναξιά και στην ανταπόκρισή της στα συναισθήματά της, που την έχουν μουδιάσει από το βάρος τους, παρόλο που συγκριτικά με τα παράλληλα αφηγηματικά χρονικά, το δικό της είναι το μικρότερο.
“I haven’t the strength to be happy, she wants to say. I can hardly even manage to be unhappy”.
Μου μένει μόνο η Λευκή Νύχτα, και ανυπομονώ να την πιάσω στα χέρια μου!
“A heart that is in love is an indomitable thing”.
“How can you feel this way about another person? She thinks. How can you feel as if you want to die, just because he does not love you? He is just a human being, after all”.
December 19, 2011
The Black Path by Åsa Larsson is the third in her series of mysteries featuring Rebecka Martinsson and is a wonderful story. All the characters were vividly drawn and all the story arcs interesting. I never wanted it to be over, a feeling I rarely have as I rush from one book to another. And it did what few books ever do: it made me cry. And I still loved it.
The book begins with what seems to be the certain death of a man on the ice but rapidly changes course when he discovers the body of a woman. Inna Wattrang is part of a trio of entrepreneurs, along with her brother Diddi and led by rags-to-riches success story Mauri Kallis. The 3 are enormously successful, particularly in high risk mining in war-torn countries (their current endeavor is in Uganda) and they work just barely on the right side of the law. Rebecka Martinsson is now working in Kiruna, having left her tax law practice after her last "adventure" (in The Blood Spilt resulted in a severe emotional breakdown. She is assisting police officer Anna Maria Mella (who continues to be one of my favorite detectives: wife, mother, very human) in her investigation.
The book is well-plotted and paced with a range of interesting characters. It also examines Sweden's welfare state, capitalism, and art. Through the plot and characters, Larsson share some interesting insights and views on these complex issues. The book has made me want to learn more about Swedish culture (I've already started trying to master a reading knowledge of the language so I can read some of these mysteries in the original).
But mostly I guess I would just say the book is wonderful. Enthralling. I loved it-I'm only sorry I can't read it again for the first time.
Recommended for everyone.
The book begins with what seems to be the certain death of a man on the ice but rapidly changes course when he discovers the body of a woman. Inna Wattrang is part of a trio of entrepreneurs, along with her brother Diddi and led by rags-to-riches success story Mauri Kallis. The 3 are enormously successful, particularly in high risk mining in war-torn countries (their current endeavor is in Uganda) and they work just barely on the right side of the law. Rebecka Martinsson is now working in Kiruna, having left her tax law practice after her last "adventure" (in The Blood Spilt resulted in a severe emotional breakdown. She is assisting police officer Anna Maria Mella (who continues to be one of my favorite detectives: wife, mother, very human) in her investigation.
The book is well-plotted and paced with a range of interesting characters. It also examines Sweden's welfare state, capitalism, and art. Through the plot and characters, Larsson share some interesting insights and views on these complex issues. The book has made me want to learn more about Swedish culture (I've already started trying to master a reading knowledge of the language so I can read some of these mysteries in the original).
But mostly I guess I would just say the book is wonderful. Enthralling. I loved it-I'm only sorry I can't read it again for the first time.
Recommended for everyone.
October 26, 2015
Να σημειωθεί παρακαλώ η σημερινή ημερομηνία ως η μέρα που θα κάνω θετικά σχόλια για βιβλίο της Larsson.Μετά από 3 βιβλία και άπειρες σελίδες,ναι επιτέλους ήρθε η ώρα...
Διαβάζοντας το "Μαύρο Μονοπάτι" ήταν σα να διάβαζα ένα εντελώς ανεξάρτητο βιβλίο από τα δύο προηγούμενα.Επιτέλους,ο φόνος δε συνάδει με τη θρησκεία.Επιτέλους,δεν έχουμε άτομα κολλημένα με τη θρησκεία - πόσα πια να χωράνε σε μια μικρή πόλη όπως η Κίρουνα;!Επιτέλους,μιλάμε για ένα βιβλίο με δράση,με παράλληλη γραφή τόσο σε παρελθόν όσο και σε παρόν,με ζωντάνια,με χαρακτήρες που σου ξυπνάνε συναισθήματα.Επιτέλους,μπορείς να πεις ξεκάθαρα πως τους συμπαθείς ή τους αντιπαθείς για συγκεκριμένους λόγους,δεν είναι εντελώς "επίπεδοι" όπως στα προηγούμενα βιβλία.Επιτέλους,το βιβλίο αυτό άξια χαρακτηρίζεται αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα: συνωμοσίες,φόνοι,κρυμμένα μυστικά,βρώμικο παρελθόν,μάσκες που πέφτουν μόλις στις τελευταίες σελίδες και δράση,επιτέλους δράση!Ακόμα και η πρωταγωνίστρια,την οποία θεωρούσα εντελώς αδιάφορη στα 2 προηγούμενα,εδώ φαίνεται να έχει χάσει την εριστικότητα και τον κακό της χαρακτήρα και γίνεται πολύ περισσότερο συμπαθητική στον αναγνώστη,πιο καθημερινή,πιο "ηρωϊδα".
Ακόμα και η γραφή της Larsson είναι,κατά τη γνώμη μου,πιο...λογοτεχνική,πιο συγκεντρωμένη,πιο μεστή.Και παρόλο που το βιβλίο μας αφήνει σε ένα πολύ καλό σημείο,τόσο που θέλω να φάω τα νύχια μου για να μάθω τη συνέχεια(η οποία ΔΕΝ έχει κυκλοφορήσει ακόμα,υπομονή ως το φθινόπωρο!)του το συγχωρώ..Γιατί αυτήν τη φορά ήταν μια υπέροχη συντροφιά στο αναγνωστικό μου ταξίδι.Επιτέλους!
Διαβάζοντας το "Μαύρο Μονοπάτι" ήταν σα να διάβαζα ένα εντελώς ανεξάρτητο βιβλίο από τα δύο προηγούμενα.Επιτέλους,ο φόνος δε συνάδει με τη θρησκεία.Επιτέλους,δεν έχουμε άτομα κολλημένα με τη θρησκεία - πόσα πια να χωράνε σε μια μικρή πόλη όπως η Κίρουνα;!Επιτέλους,μιλάμε για ένα βιβλίο με δράση,με παράλληλη γραφή τόσο σε παρελθόν όσο και σε παρόν,με ζωντάνια,με χαρακτήρες που σου ξυπνάνε συναισθήματα.Επιτέλους,μπορείς να πεις ξεκάθαρα πως τους συμπαθείς ή τους αντιπαθείς για συγκεκριμένους λόγους,δεν είναι εντελώς "επίπεδοι" όπως στα προηγούμενα βιβλία.Επιτέλους,το βιβλίο αυτό άξια χαρακτηρίζεται αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα: συνωμοσίες,φόνοι,κρυμμένα μυστικά,βρώμικο παρελθόν,μάσκες που πέφτουν μόλις στις τελευταίες σελίδες και δράση,επιτέλους δράση!Ακόμα και η πρωταγωνίστρια,την οποία θεωρούσα εντελώς αδιάφορη στα 2 προηγούμενα,εδώ φαίνεται να έχει χάσει την εριστικότητα και τον κακό της χαρακτήρα και γίνεται πολύ περισσότερο συμπαθητική στον αναγνώστη,πιο καθημερινή,πιο "ηρωϊδα".
Ακόμα και η γραφή της Larsson είναι,κατά τη γνώμη μου,πιο...λογοτεχνική,πιο συγκεντρωμένη,πιο μεστή.Και παρόλο που το βιβλίο μας αφήνει σε ένα πολύ καλό σημείο,τόσο που θέλω να φάω τα νύχια μου για να μάθω τη συνέχεια(η οποία ΔΕΝ έχει κυκλοφορήσει ακόμα,υπομονή ως το φθινόπωρο!)του το συγχωρώ..Γιατί αυτήν τη φορά ήταν μια υπέροχη συντροφιά στο αναγνωστικό μου ταξίδι.Επιτέλους!
December 23, 2014
Third in the Rebecka Martinsson mystery series set in the country in Sweden and revolving around a tax lawyer who cracked up.
The Black Path was nominated in 2009 for a Barry Award for Best Paperback Original.
My Take
Whoa, this one is CRITICAL. Read this. Try to read this as soon after The Blood Spilt , 2, as possible. It'll help with remembering as Larsson pulls events at the end of The Blood Spilt right in at the start of The Black Path. And do not skip ahead to Until Thy Wrath Be Past , 4, and The Second Deadly Sin , 5.
Most of the time it's just the little things that hit you odd when you read out of sequence. It's not like that in The Black Path. Too much happens in here including explaining why there is such an emphasis on Rebecka's having spent time in an asylum, how she became enmeshed in the prosecutor's office in Kiruna, and finally, something comes of Rebecka's interest in Måns, and vice versa. It's not believable, but at least I'm out of my misery in wondering what and when is something going to happen!
This "love" interest is still a mystery to me. And probably one of Larsson's few weak points. It's all tell, and an extremely weak one. Most of the books have been of Rebecka whining on, maybe being interested in Måns; it's not until now that we get more than a hint. As for Måns' interest. Tell me more than these little, bitty grade school snippets.
One of the things I like about Larsson is her truth. Her memories of childhood and how she retains those impressions. I love her insight into the old ladies buying her [Rebecka as a child] ice creams! Her perspective on therapists and their stupid questions. The smells and joys of a toddler. That truth she states about journalists. Yeah, more interested in a good sound bite than truth. And isn't that a sad state of affairs in the news world?
We do get more background on Rebecka about her dad, her parents' marriage and their deaths, and its effect on Rebecka as a child. What happened to her after she was kicked out of the church in Sun Storm , 1. How she ended up living with Grandmother. How she gets her job in Kiruna — Bjönfot knows just what to say to entice her in. It's too much fun to read of Rebecka getting down to work; how she's putting everyone off, lol. How it's pulling Bjönfot in.
We also learn more about Anna-Marie and Sven-Erik. This was one of those conundrums for me, where I wish I hadn't read ahead. Read this series in its proper order, and you won't find your head spinning in frustration as you try to reconcile events you've read that haven't happened yet!
In The Black Path, Larsson takes us in backwards as the team struggles to learn who the murder victim is. It takes everyone to start down this path, to rip up the quirky clues that paint an unlikely picture of this odd death with weird injuries, and it's fascinating to read along as Larsson reveals the meaning of those clues. They all make sense, and I'd never have got a single one.
Larsson winds off onto a tangential path when we delve into Kallis and the Wattrangs. It's all PR perfect until we begin to slip under their mantle of achievement. It's a careful path Larsson treads as she makes us fall in like with Mauri. He's come from a horrible background and has struggled all his life to feel of any worth. It breaks your heart what he had to go through as a child and then a young man. And it's a ping-pong of memory and today. Rest assured, however, lol, it's only frustrating in that Larsson takes so bloody long to finally reveal it all.
It amazes me how well Larsson gets me caring for the bad guys. Even as you realize that they do deserve it, you're crying a little inside at the waste of it. Although, I do not understand why Mauri is so attracted to Inna. I'd'a thought he was too smart for that.
I completely get where Mauri is coming from with regards to the African situation. You can't trust the third-world African governments at all. But then I'm conflicted by the other side of it. What that money is also helping to destroy.
I love Ester's story. Hmmm, I do feel a need to explain that. I love the artist side of it even as I deplore how poorly her mother took care of her and the rest of the family. But I do want to see Ester's artwork, I want to encourage her to continue on with it, to take advantage of those opportunities! And then I have to wonder if she "saw" how it would all turn out. Why didn't she say something to Mikael, if not Mauri?
As depressing as Larsson's situations are in her stories, they're also so very upbeat, warm, and cozy. I know, it's a weird combination. It's the old-fashioned of Grandmother's house, of other people's homes, of pastries or cookies on a plate that takes me back to my own grandmother. It's the family-style caring of the people around her. It's an odd contrast that plays against the horror of the killers, the morally bankrupt.
The Story
It's Patient Rebecka Martinsson in a secure unit due to a severe psychosis, and a frozen stiff huddling under a blanket in an ark, but only one is coming out of it.
The Characters
Rebecka Martinsson was severely traumatized in The Blood Spilt , and is slowly coming back to life, but not the same one as a lawyer in a big firm in Stockholm. She shares an inheritance, her grandmother's house in Kurravaara, with her Uncle Affe. Inga-Britt is Affe's wife. Jussi was the dog of her childhood. Sivving is Rebecka's neighbor in Kiruna; he was Theresia Martinsson's friend. Bella is his dog. Lena is his married daughter; his wife, Maj-Lis, is dead.
The police in Kiruna…
Inspector Anna-Maria Mella is partnered up on the job with Sven-Erik Stålnacke (he's Valfrid Stålnacke's boy); off the job, the easygoing, somewhat thoughtless Robert is her partner. Together they have four kids: Marcus, Jenny, Petter, and Gustav is the youngest. Hanna is Marcus' girlfriend. Sven-Erik's daughter lives in Luleå with her family, and he still hasn't replaced his missing cat, Manne, who has been missing for 18 months. Although, at one point Larsson says that Manne is dead. Hjördis is his ex-wife. Inspector Fred "Fredde" Olsson is their computer expert and good at physical social networking. Inspector Tommy Rantakyrö is another member of the team.
Lars Pohjanen is the medical examiner who had the throat cancer operation. Anna Granlund is his very loyal technician. Inspector Krister Eriksson is a dog handler; Tintin is one of his tracker dogs.
Chief Prosecutor Alf Bjönfot wants Rebecka to work for him, and I mean he WANTS her. He's seeing all that potential for financial crime. Margareta Huuva is his boss and the head of chambers. Gudrun Haapalahti is with the main office, and she's stopped sending anyone to Kiruna. What's the point? All the work is already done.
Northern Explore Ltd.…
…is part of Kallis Mining owned by Mauri Kallis, a wunderkind; he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, wanting to do good in the world. Even as he falls into those corporate-third-world traps. He's married up. Way up. Ebba von Uhr is from a noble family and now breaks Arabians; Echnaton is one of them. They have two sons: Magnus and Carl. Honorine "Inna" Wattrang is the head of information for Northern. Jacob "Diddi" Wattrang is her brother and Mauri's first friend. Ulrika is Diddi's wife, and they have a seven-month-old son, Philip. The three of them live in individual houses on the Regla estate. Mikael Wiik is the head of security who's come up through Special Protection Unit, then private security. Sven Israelsson is on the board; he's also the boss at SGAB.
Ester, Mauri's psychic half-sister, has a gift for foretelling. Britta Kallis is his nutjob of a mother. Ester's "real" parents were trying to make it as reindeer breeders, but her Sami mother was an artist who became too lost in her work. Antte was their birth son. Bengt was a bullying little boy at school. Musta and Sampo were the dogs; Herkules was the neighbor's dog. Marit is her mother's sister, always with the lousy choices in men. Jan-Åke is just the latest.
Nils Gunnarsson is the nuthouse consultant where Britta is incarcerated. Ajay Rani is supposedly Ester's father.
Businessmen Mauri is working on or with…
Gerhart Sneyers owns mining and oil companies and is the chairman of African Mining Trust, an association of foreign mine owners in Africa. He's also on the blacklist. Quebec Invest will be the downfall. Heinrich Koch is vp of Gems and Minerals Ltd; Paul Lasker and Viktor Innitzer owned mines in Uganda; and, former general Helmuth Stieff are the dinner guests.
Zimbabwe
Museveni is the current president of Zimbabwe. Kadaga, Museveni's cousin, was the general of the army. Mrs. Florence Kwesiga is the Minster for Industry in Uganda. Museveni's current general is Joseph Muinde. Pastor Kindu was a good man.
Mauri at school…
Anders was a student neighbor; Håkan and Mattias are roommates. Mauri's foster parents were small-time cons. Jocke is his brutal, psychotic foster brother.
Torneträsk…
…is a lake popular with ice fishermen. Leif Pudas must'a been a bit drunk that night. An ark is a shelter on the ice for ice fishermen. Persson's ark is in better shape than Pudas', although it has one more occupant than Pudas thought. Abisko is a tourist station near the lake. Riksgränsen is a ski resort the law firm is coming up to visit.
Stockholm
Meijer & Ditzinger…
…is the law firm where Rebecka worked. Måns Wenngren used to be Rebecka's boss at the law firm. I'm not getting why Rebecka is attracted to him. He sounds like an absolute jerk. Maria Taube is a friend and was a colleague who still keeps in touch with Rebecka. Sonja Berg was the secretary at Meijer & Ditzinger. Malin Norell deals with company law and would like to be with Måns.
Johan is one of the nurses at St. Göran's hospital.
Gunilla Petrini is the curator at the Color Factor and a board member of the national art council with some influence at the Idun Lovén Art School.
Benny is a local locksmith. Malou von Sivers is a TV show interviewer. Sofia Fuensanta Cuervo is Diddi's first downfall. John McNamara wears a summer overcoat. Per-Erik Seppälä is a journalist with a local station with a tidbit of news for Anna-Marie. Örjan Bylund had been a journalist with Norrländska Socialdemokraten. His wife, Airis, loves cats. Boxer is one of her cat's kittens. Dr. Erlander helped bypass the police. Axel is Airis' grandchild who has Örjan's computer. Tieva is Airis' mother. Ecke and Malte Gabrielsson are some of Inna's many "friends". Douglas Morgan is a former paratrooper and a former mercenary with Blackwater, with a little problem.
The Cover and Title
I think the cover is Ester as she races down the trail through the trees with the horizontal lines representing the speed with which she moves as well as the scratches she accumulates. I do like the red in Larsson's name. A blood red.
The title is the trail that Ester follows, The Black Path to salvation. It's one that comes in many forms.
The Black Path was nominated in 2009 for a Barry Award for Best Paperback Original.
My Take
Whoa, this one is CRITICAL. Read this. Try to read this as soon after The Blood Spilt , 2, as possible. It'll help with remembering as Larsson pulls events at the end of The Blood Spilt right in at the start of The Black Path. And do not skip ahead to Until Thy Wrath Be Past , 4, and The Second Deadly Sin , 5.
Most of the time it's just the little things that hit you odd when you read out of sequence. It's not like that in The Black Path. Too much happens in here including explaining why there is such an emphasis on Rebecka's having spent time in an asylum, how she became enmeshed in the prosecutor's office in Kiruna, and finally, something comes of Rebecka's interest in Måns, and vice versa. It's not believable, but at least I'm out of my misery in wondering what and when is something going to happen!
"…if everybody's dodgy, in the end nobody's dodgy, somehow."
This "love" interest is still a mystery to me. And probably one of Larsson's few weak points. It's all tell, and an extremely weak one. Most of the books have been of Rebecka whining on, maybe being interested in Måns; it's not until now that we get more than a hint. As for Måns' interest. Tell me more than these little, bitty grade school snippets.
One of the things I like about Larsson is her truth. Her memories of childhood and how she retains those impressions. I love her insight into the old ladies buying her [Rebecka as a child] ice creams! Her perspective on therapists and their stupid questions. The smells and joys of a toddler. That truth she states about journalists. Yeah, more interested in a good sound bite than truth. And isn't that a sad state of affairs in the news world?
We do get more background on Rebecka about her dad, her parents' marriage and their deaths, and its effect on Rebecka as a child. What happened to her after she was kicked out of the church in Sun Storm , 1. How she ended up living with Grandmother. How she gets her job in Kiruna — Bjönfot knows just what to say to entice her in. It's too much fun to read of Rebecka getting down to work; how she's putting everyone off, lol. How it's pulling Bjönfot in.
We also learn more about Anna-Marie and Sven-Erik. This was one of those conundrums for me, where I wish I hadn't read ahead. Read this series in its proper order, and you won't find your head spinning in frustration as you try to reconcile events you've read that haven't happened yet!
In The Black Path, Larsson takes us in backwards as the team struggles to learn who the murder victim is. It takes everyone to start down this path, to rip up the quirky clues that paint an unlikely picture of this odd death with weird injuries, and it's fascinating to read along as Larsson reveals the meaning of those clues. They all make sense, and I'd never have got a single one.
Larsson winds off onto a tangential path when we delve into Kallis and the Wattrangs. It's all PR perfect until we begin to slip under their mantle of achievement. It's a careful path Larsson treads as she makes us fall in like with Mauri. He's come from a horrible background and has struggled all his life to feel of any worth. It breaks your heart what he had to go through as a child and then a young man. And it's a ping-pong of memory and today. Rest assured, however, lol, it's only frustrating in that Larsson takes so bloody long to finally reveal it all.
It amazes me how well Larsson gets me caring for the bad guys. Even as you realize that they do deserve it, you're crying a little inside at the waste of it. Although, I do not understand why Mauri is so attracted to Inna. I'd'a thought he was too smart for that.
I completely get where Mauri is coming from with regards to the African situation. You can't trust the third-world African governments at all. But then I'm conflicted by the other side of it. What that money is also helping to destroy.
I love Ester's story. Hmmm, I do feel a need to explain that. I love the artist side of it even as I deplore how poorly her mother took care of her and the rest of the family. But I do want to see Ester's artwork, I want to encourage her to continue on with it, to take advantage of those opportunities! And then I have to wonder if she "saw" how it would all turn out. Why didn't she say something to Mikael, if not Mauri?
As depressing as Larsson's situations are in her stories, they're also so very upbeat, warm, and cozy. I know, it's a weird combination. It's the old-fashioned of Grandmother's house, of other people's homes, of pastries or cookies on a plate that takes me back to my own grandmother. It's the family-style caring of the people around her. It's an odd contrast that plays against the horror of the killers, the morally bankrupt.
"I feel fine, I say to myself. This is what it's like to feel fine."
The Story
It's Patient Rebecka Martinsson in a secure unit due to a severe psychosis, and a frozen stiff huddling under a blanket in an ark, but only one is coming out of it.
The Characters
Rebecka Martinsson was severely traumatized in The Blood Spilt , and is slowly coming back to life, but not the same one as a lawyer in a big firm in Stockholm. She shares an inheritance, her grandmother's house in Kurravaara, with her Uncle Affe. Inga-Britt is Affe's wife. Jussi was the dog of her childhood. Sivving is Rebecka's neighbor in Kiruna; he was Theresia Martinsson's friend. Bella is his dog. Lena is his married daughter; his wife, Maj-Lis, is dead.
The police in Kiruna…
Inspector Anna-Maria Mella is partnered up on the job with Sven-Erik Stålnacke (he's Valfrid Stålnacke's boy); off the job, the easygoing, somewhat thoughtless Robert is her partner. Together they have four kids: Marcus, Jenny, Petter, and Gustav is the youngest. Hanna is Marcus' girlfriend. Sven-Erik's daughter lives in Luleå with her family, and he still hasn't replaced his missing cat, Manne, who has been missing for 18 months. Although, at one point Larsson says that Manne is dead. Hjördis is his ex-wife. Inspector Fred "Fredde" Olsson is their computer expert and good at physical social networking. Inspector Tommy Rantakyrö is another member of the team.
Lars Pohjanen is the medical examiner who had the throat cancer operation. Anna Granlund is his very loyal technician. Inspector Krister Eriksson is a dog handler; Tintin is one of his tracker dogs.
Chief Prosecutor Alf Bjönfot wants Rebecka to work for him, and I mean he WANTS her. He's seeing all that potential for financial crime. Margareta Huuva is his boss and the head of chambers. Gudrun Haapalahti is with the main office, and she's stopped sending anyone to Kiruna. What's the point? All the work is already done.
Northern Explore Ltd.…
…is part of Kallis Mining owned by Mauri Kallis, a wunderkind; he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, wanting to do good in the world. Even as he falls into those corporate-third-world traps. He's married up. Way up. Ebba von Uhr is from a noble family and now breaks Arabians; Echnaton is one of them. They have two sons: Magnus and Carl. Honorine "Inna" Wattrang is the head of information for Northern. Jacob "Diddi" Wattrang is her brother and Mauri's first friend. Ulrika is Diddi's wife, and they have a seven-month-old son, Philip. The three of them live in individual houses on the Regla estate. Mikael Wiik is the head of security who's come up through Special Protection Unit, then private security. Sven Israelsson is on the board; he's also the boss at SGAB.
Ester, Mauri's psychic half-sister, has a gift for foretelling. Britta Kallis is his nutjob of a mother. Ester's "real" parents were trying to make it as reindeer breeders, but her Sami mother was an artist who became too lost in her work. Antte was their birth son. Bengt was a bullying little boy at school. Musta and Sampo were the dogs; Herkules was the neighbor's dog. Marit is her mother's sister, always with the lousy choices in men. Jan-Åke is just the latest.
Nils Gunnarsson is the nuthouse consultant where Britta is incarcerated. Ajay Rani is supposedly Ester's father.
Businessmen Mauri is working on or with…
Gerhart Sneyers owns mining and oil companies and is the chairman of African Mining Trust, an association of foreign mine owners in Africa. He's also on the blacklist. Quebec Invest will be the downfall. Heinrich Koch is vp of Gems and Minerals Ltd; Paul Lasker and Viktor Innitzer owned mines in Uganda; and, former general Helmuth Stieff are the dinner guests.
Zimbabwe
Museveni is the current president of Zimbabwe. Kadaga, Museveni's cousin, was the general of the army. Mrs. Florence Kwesiga is the Minster for Industry in Uganda. Museveni's current general is Joseph Muinde. Pastor Kindu was a good man.
Mauri at school…
Anders was a student neighbor; Håkan and Mattias are roommates. Mauri's foster parents were small-time cons. Jocke is his brutal, psychotic foster brother.
Torneträsk…
…is a lake popular with ice fishermen. Leif Pudas must'a been a bit drunk that night. An ark is a shelter on the ice for ice fishermen. Persson's ark is in better shape than Pudas', although it has one more occupant than Pudas thought. Abisko is a tourist station near the lake. Riksgränsen is a ski resort the law firm is coming up to visit.
Stockholm
Meijer & Ditzinger…
…is the law firm where Rebecka worked. Måns Wenngren used to be Rebecka's boss at the law firm. I'm not getting why Rebecka is attracted to him. He sounds like an absolute jerk. Maria Taube is a friend and was a colleague who still keeps in touch with Rebecka. Sonja Berg was the secretary at Meijer & Ditzinger. Malin Norell deals with company law and would like to be with Måns.
Johan is one of the nurses at St. Göran's hospital.
Gunilla Petrini is the curator at the Color Factor and a board member of the national art council with some influence at the Idun Lovén Art School.
Benny is a local locksmith. Malou von Sivers is a TV show interviewer. Sofia Fuensanta Cuervo is Diddi's first downfall. John McNamara wears a summer overcoat. Per-Erik Seppälä is a journalist with a local station with a tidbit of news for Anna-Marie. Örjan Bylund had been a journalist with Norrländska Socialdemokraten. His wife, Airis, loves cats. Boxer is one of her cat's kittens. Dr. Erlander helped bypass the police. Axel is Airis' grandchild who has Örjan's computer. Tieva is Airis' mother. Ecke and Malte Gabrielsson are some of Inna's many "friends". Douglas Morgan is a former paratrooper and a former mercenary with Blackwater, with a little problem.
The Cover and Title
I think the cover is Ester as she races down the trail through the trees with the horizontal lines representing the speed with which she moves as well as the scratches she accumulates. I do like the red in Larsson's name. A blood red.
The title is the trail that Ester follows, The Black Path to salvation. It's one that comes in many forms.
January 12, 2012
I've become a big fan of Asa Larsson. I see no need to compare her to the likes of Karin Fossum, whom I also love to read. She can stand on her own merits.
Personally, I think that Black Path is excellent. I like all of the storylines and am not troubled by the fact that our heroine, Rebeka, isn't always the main focus of the book. I enjoy Anna-Maria Mella and her partner, Sven-Erik, tremendously, and I think that the back and forth of the different plots was skillfully handled and very effective.
Ester is an unusual character and I was a bit thrown by all of the spiritual references, etc. I'm a pretty literal gal and yet I thought that the author did a fine job of making it all come together at the end.
Mauri was bone-chilling. His business-like arrangement of the murder. Fascinating to observe him justify his actions, view his world, analyse his options.
And poor Diddi. A pitiful, weak excuse for a human being, let alone a husband, father, brother. he was no loss, but whew! what a mess he brought to pass at the end. The sad inevitability of it all combined with the uncertainties of Anna-Maria and Sven-Erik's involvement added intensity to the ending of the story. And Ebba and Mauri's escape was brilliant: will they surface again? Or is Ester's vision to come true...
Personally, I think that Black Path is excellent. I like all of the storylines and am not troubled by the fact that our heroine, Rebeka, isn't always the main focus of the book. I enjoy Anna-Maria Mella and her partner, Sven-Erik, tremendously, and I think that the back and forth of the different plots was skillfully handled and very effective.
Ester is an unusual character and I was a bit thrown by all of the spiritual references, etc. I'm a pretty literal gal and yet I thought that the author did a fine job of making it all come together at the end.
Mauri was bone-chilling. His business-like arrangement of the murder. Fascinating to observe him justify his actions, view his world, analyse his options.
And poor Diddi. A pitiful, weak excuse for a human being, let alone a husband, father, brother. he was no loss, but whew! what a mess he brought to pass at the end. The sad inevitability of it all combined with the uncertainties of Anna-Maria and Sven-Erik's involvement added intensity to the ending of the story. And Ebba and Mauri's escape was brilliant: will they surface again? Or is Ester's vision to come true...
March 19, 2009
Do not--I repeat--do not attempt to read this book if you are feeling even a tiny bit sad. Chapter after chapter of Bergmanesque neurosis, angst, violence, perversion, and sadism will have you heading directly into the nearest black bog. The ragged psyches of the many deftly drawn characters in this book range from a woman lawyer obsessing like a 13-year-old over an imagined romantic interest to a millionaire sociopath. Damn, don't these Swedes have therapists or clinical psychotropic drugs? Some of these characters really need help, even if it's from a good belt of aquavit. I don't mean to imply that the book is bad, despite the range and intensity of dysfunction. The setting in northern Sweden above the Arctic Circle is a harsh land of neutral tones. The friction between the indigenous Sami culture (who still keep reindeer herds) and the modern internationalist one is shown in the clashes between the priorities and values of the disparate characters. The story is very tightly plotted, with clear shifts between the many characters' points of view. However, let me tell you, this is one bummer book. Don't pick it up unless you're in the mood for playing chess with Death on the shore of the Baltic Sea.
September 9, 2016
Una historia que mantiene el ritmo, aunque las dos primeras novelas de la serie me gustaron más.
Como el propio título indica el ser humano puede ser lo más oscuro que exista y la senda que recorre para ello también.
Como el propio título indica el ser humano puede ser lo más oscuro que exista y la senda que recorre para ello también.
January 14, 2025
IN A NUTSHELL
I loved how unexpected the book was. I don't mean that it had plot twists. I mean that the narrative was focused not on the plot but on the people: who they are, who they have been, what they want.
The mental health of the characters in the book is fundamental to the story. Some of them have been through trauma that has affected how they relate to the world. Some have a family history that includes dealing with people whose behaviour and perceptions are seen as pathological. I liked that none of these things are trivialised or simplified and that the possibility that some types of divergent thinking are as much a gift as a curse.
'The Black Path' took both happiness and sorrow seriously. It wove memory, reflection and action into a square of cloth for each character and used the plot to combine the squares into a quilt. The result was something that was about emotions and choices and how what we experience shapes who we are.
Other than to say that this is a superb read, I've found it hard to classify 'The Black Path'. It was a rich, complex, serious book that was also accessible, engaging, at times exciting.
The plot starts with the discovery of a murdered woman in a fishing arc on a frozen lake in the Arctic Circle. As we find out how the woman came to be murdered, we are introduced to family life as lived by Sweden's rich and privileged and by rural Sámi people. We have high finance and we have art that borders on magic. We have a man born into poverty and abuse who has used his wits to become wealthy enough to move among and marry into Sweden't elite without ever becoming one of them. We have a privileged, charismatic, sometimes manic, brother and sister who trade on their glamour. We have a young woman born of two mentally unstable parents, one Swedish and one Indian, adopted by a Sámi woman who was a gifted artist and raised to believe she has the sight.
The plot is relatively straightforward, made unusual only by taking place partly in the dangerous world of venture capitalists plying their trade in African war zones.
What makes the book special is how it pulls the reader into the minds of the characters. Larsson writes about people in a way that weaves memory and reflection, past and present, thought and action into a seamless rendering of a character's consciousness. Normally, if I see that a writer is doing something new with form, I groan, knowing that the extra effort I have to put in as a reader is unlikely to be matched by an improvement in enjoyment yet Larsson requires nothing more of me as the reader than to enjoy the experience.
'The Black Path' was enriched by continuing to discover more about the two main women in the series, Rebecka Martinsson and Anna-Maria Mella. Martinsson plays a role in solving the crime but the main focus is on her recovery after the traumas of the previous books overwhelmed her mental health. Mella, a tiny woman, is a powerhouse as an investigator who finds her strength and her renewal from her home life.
I loved how unexpected the book was. I don't mean that it had plot twists. I mean that the narrative was focused not on the plot but on the people: who they are, who they have been, what they want.
The mental health of the characters in the book is fundamental to the story. Some of them have been through trauma that has affected how they relate to the world. Some have a family history that includes dealing with people whose behaviour and perceptions are seen as pathological. I liked that none of these things are trivialised or simplified and that the possibility that some types of divergent thinking are as much a gift as a curse.
'The Black Path' took both happiness and sorrow seriously. It wove memory, reflection and action into a square of cloth for each character and used the plot to combine the squares into a quilt. The result was something that was about emotions and choices and how what we experience shapes who we are.
Other than to say that this is a superb read, I've found it hard to classify 'The Black Path'. It was a rich, complex, serious book that was also accessible, engaging, at times exciting.
The plot starts with the discovery of a murdered woman in a fishing arc on a frozen lake in the Arctic Circle. As we find out how the woman came to be murdered, we are introduced to family life as lived by Sweden's rich and privileged and by rural Sámi people. We have high finance and we have art that borders on magic. We have a man born into poverty and abuse who has used his wits to become wealthy enough to move among and marry into Sweden't elite without ever becoming one of them. We have a privileged, charismatic, sometimes manic, brother and sister who trade on their glamour. We have a young woman born of two mentally unstable parents, one Swedish and one Indian, adopted by a Sámi woman who was a gifted artist and raised to believe she has the sight.
The plot is relatively straightforward, made unusual only by taking place partly in the dangerous world of venture capitalists plying their trade in African war zones.
What makes the book special is how it pulls the reader into the minds of the characters. Larsson writes about people in a way that weaves memory and reflection, past and present, thought and action into a seamless rendering of a character's consciousness. Normally, if I see that a writer is doing something new with form, I groan, knowing that the extra effort I have to put in as a reader is unlikely to be matched by an improvement in enjoyment yet Larsson requires nothing more of me as the reader than to enjoy the experience.
'The Black Path' was enriched by continuing to discover more about the two main women in the series, Rebecka Martinsson and Anna-Maria Mella. Martinsson plays a role in solving the crime but the main focus is on her recovery after the traumas of the previous books overwhelmed her mental health. Mella, a tiny woman, is a powerhouse as an investigator who finds her strength and her renewal from her home life.
October 27, 2023
Gelukkig! Na twee delen waar de auteur, op overigens kundige wijze, lijkt af te rekenen met religiueze tramaus en als gevolg daarvan op even bloederige als creatieve wijze geestelijken laat vermoorden, lijkt dat nu achter de rug. En daarmee doel ik op de geestelijken, natuurlijk niet op het bloederig en creatief mensen vermoorden, het blijft immers wel een detective in Scandi-stijl. Tere zieltjes laten dit boek dan ook vooral links liggen. Nu zijn de pijlen gericht op succesvolle zakenlui. En ook daar is het enigszins voorspelbaar: met succesvolle zakenlui moet er wel sprake zijn van louche business. En dat is precies wat er aan de hand is.
Toch is dit boek gelukkig meerlagiger dan dat succesvolle zakenlui niet te vertrouwen zijn. Juist doordat Larsson een aantal karakters door de serie heen verder uitdiept, profiel geeft, wint het verhaal aan diepgang. De (overigens onuitgesproken) PTSS van de hoofdpersoon en al haar bijbehorende worstelingen wordt langzaam steeds zichtbaarder. Dat gebeurt uiterst geloofwaardig. Ook hoe de karakters van de twee politieagenten meer en meer vorm krijgt is erg goed gedaan. Het eindeloze rouwen om een verdwenen kat door een van hen wordt nooit overdreven en lijkt model te staan voor het verdriet in zijn leven. Kortom: ik vind de boeken langzaam beter worden. Ik heb zelfs overwogen of vier sterren al van toepassing zou kunnen zijn, maar houd het nog even op drie. Maar het volgende deel ga ik wel met veel interesse lezen. Want als deze lijn doorzet wordt de lezer beloond!
Recenties van eerdere delen uit deze serie:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Toch is dit boek gelukkig meerlagiger dan dat succesvolle zakenlui niet te vertrouwen zijn. Juist doordat Larsson een aantal karakters door de serie heen verder uitdiept, profiel geeft, wint het verhaal aan diepgang. De (overigens onuitgesproken) PTSS van de hoofdpersoon en al haar bijbehorende worstelingen wordt langzaam steeds zichtbaarder. Dat gebeurt uiterst geloofwaardig. Ook hoe de karakters van de twee politieagenten meer en meer vorm krijgt is erg goed gedaan. Het eindeloze rouwen om een verdwenen kat door een van hen wordt nooit overdreven en lijkt model te staan voor het verdriet in zijn leven. Kortom: ik vind de boeken langzaam beter worden. Ik heb zelfs overwogen of vier sterren al van toepassing zou kunnen zijn, maar houd het nog even op drie. Maar het volgende deel ga ik wel met veel interesse lezen. Want als deze lijn doorzet wordt de lezer beloond!
Recenties van eerdere delen uit deze serie:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
June 27, 2021
Tengo sentimientos encontrados. Reconozco que Åsa Larsson da un salto hacia delante con esta tercera entrega en cuanto a complejidad argumental y estructura narrativa, pero he añorado el tono pausado y descriptivo de las anteriores.
March 5, 2017
Στο ίδιο στυλ με τα προηγούμενα δύο, χωρίς ιδιαίτερες εκπλήξεις. Η υπόθεση αυτή ήταν λίγο πιο ενδιαφέρουσα (όχι πάλι φόνος ιερέα), αλλά όλες οι εξελίξεις γίνονται μαζεμένες στο τέλος, με μια δόση υπερβολής ως συνήθως. Η πρωταγωνίστρια τουλάχιστον έχει λίγο πιο ενεργό ρόλο, αλλά και πάλι δεν λύνει αυτή το μυστήριο.
Δεν νομίζω να συνεχίσω με το τέταρτο πάντως...
Δεν νομίζω να συνεχίσω με το τέταρτο πάντως...
April 20, 2018
Well this one shocked me! And I'm not easy to shock in this genre. I've read many Nordic noir by more than 10 different authors. And dozens and dozens of rather heavy /gritty for other more treacherous parts of the world as well. But this one was actually fairly hard to rate when all is done. It's like two different types of books in one. Not up until the 80% point (a clear 4 star) was it hard to rate, but after that point. The ending is/ was possibly the one that others might garner a 5 star ending. But not I. In fact it almost lowered the entire to a 3 star total for me.
So in total, a 3.5 star rounded up for the excellent character depth and Northern Swedish town vibes so precisely developed that you rarely find in the Nordic mix. Most of them (Nordic series writers) are pure dire, depressive, down viewing to any avenues that might lead to Hope, and then proceeding to "life is crap, and then we die" kinds of philosophy. Men or women voiced- the same. And these Asa Larsson are NONE of that. That's why I like them far above average for the Nordic genre. They are not all foul mouthing and brew drinking darkness as "personality" at all. Much more layered and her main 4 or 5 characters, especially the two women lawyers/ police, Rebecka and Anna-Marie, are fully fleshed and people defined way, way beyond just their jobs and cases. Or illnesses or health.
So that's why this last 1/3rd of the book just about took the rug out from under my feet. Did NOT expect it as a tale, case, book or any literary window or direction to go international and also finance and mega business gigantic mode. Not out of a small town in Sweden, not even from some few placements in Stockholm.
But it did.
There was also added some gratuitous small sections for background and relationship understanding between the siblings that was unexpected. Rather belonged more in Nesbo? But perhaps not and I'm just a prude? Not really.
But regardless, she's way above average in talent and output for this Rebecka Martinsson series. This is book #3 and the afterword states in her own declaration that she will continue to end it in book 6. And therefore this denouncement equates to that this Black Path ending is exactly 1/2 way through the entire series. And as book #4 is translated into English- I am sure I will read it. But this ending sure did give me some pause to not rush.
Karma reigns here to the supreme. Up until now Rebecka has been and had periods of psychotic depression and just detachment because of the individuality of her own position (she killed 3 people to save her own life and 2 others' lives and was judged by this culture in a way!- well, you read it).
But now after this book, the page is really going to be turned. Because those who judged, they will be judged by the very same crowds and cultural "norms". Even a Mom of 4 children with a long and happy marriage too. Is she going to be sent round the bend by their civil, work related, or societal friendships' reactions?
Regardless, this particular book was a difficult read. Names and new characters are falling in constantly. Plus the worst of it was that any of the main 7 or 8 police or authority figures, and their siblings too, all of them, may experience and DO experience flashbacks to their childhood memories of something similar or related to what they are doing, studying, training etc. for in their adult "now" time. So there were points here where I had to reread an entire chapter or introduction to a page break. Where are we now, who is this thinking of that lake or forest edge? And as many of the characters had childhoods in Northern Sweden- sometimes here in reading I found it was pages before I could context properly to the right past history and originator of the narrative. Animals again are embedded in this too. And the people who need them.
There is no way to properly estimate this book without letting some spoiler in because of the changes in the form, prose, style and actions toward the last 1/3rd of the book. So stop reading if you want no inklings.
It has a triumphant ending for Rebecka- and she asserts herself to deserve a relationship by the very end. It looks like it is now all roses for her and NOT for the others who became entrapped in this HUGE vastly horror of occurrence in another location.
Know that there also is past and back history for seer and sight skills developed in this one too. And NOT by any of the police force or the main characters of this book. But as tangent as it is, it proves mighty in outcomes.
Enjoyment factor until about page 200 was a 5 star. Lots of reasons and the wit is supreme too. But this last third set me down considerably. Know I am not a chewy, gory, genocide scale, or any type of large horrific (like a bombing or a terrorist run down or even a terrible natural disaster) event in print kind of person. I'm just not. So perhaps this kind of ending will be 5 star for others in the action, thriller, corporate espionage or whatever type of category genre they prefer. But it wasn't for me when I think I'm reading a tiny town (where a hammer or a fireplace tool is the former biggest "weapon")? In fact, I think it crossed out and over all boundaries of what I would have defined as this type of partial procedural or criminal police station territory altogether. Far into the paid assassin or terrorist cabal or far flung gang enterprise LLC. Those who do not like business procedure and law copy by page after page will also not be prone to like this last 1/3rd portion of the book.
But overall, I couldn't put it down and was never once bored or indifferent for any progressions. And feel like Rebecka has finally passed her Rubicon. There was a definition of depressive reality from stuck "eyes" in this one that was one of the best I have ever read. It's about getting out of a car and getting into the house and settling goods, taking a coat off etc. etc. Like moving in syrup and being half paralyzed. It's 5 star. That's how it is and it can be and seem endless.
Hopefully I can read all six and they will be translated in quick order. But regardless, I am super glad I read this one directly after book 2 or I probably would not have understood about a 1/4th of it. Because all is complex and finely cross connected to more than just the "affect" of these people. Some have been decades isolated and have reached tipping points to emotional or intellectual future windows. Two of the men especially who have been core pivotal from book #1.
Almost no foul language at all, but there are some viscous acts and it has a R rated violence quotient. Whereas the other books, they really didn't.
And I have to add too, that I think the translator does a 5 star job. Some of the English words have nuance and flow that enhance, do not detract, from the core individual "think" and emotion. And at times the natural world is lyrical in snow and ice senses as well as the dark thickets of leafless trees.
So in total, a 3.5 star rounded up for the excellent character depth and Northern Swedish town vibes so precisely developed that you rarely find in the Nordic mix. Most of them (Nordic series writers) are pure dire, depressive, down viewing to any avenues that might lead to Hope, and then proceeding to "life is crap, and then we die" kinds of philosophy. Men or women voiced- the same. And these Asa Larsson are NONE of that. That's why I like them far above average for the Nordic genre. They are not all foul mouthing and brew drinking darkness as "personality" at all. Much more layered and her main 4 or 5 characters, especially the two women lawyers/ police, Rebecka and Anna-Marie, are fully fleshed and people defined way, way beyond just their jobs and cases. Or illnesses or health.
So that's why this last 1/3rd of the book just about took the rug out from under my feet. Did NOT expect it as a tale, case, book or any literary window or direction to go international and also finance and mega business gigantic mode. Not out of a small town in Sweden, not even from some few placements in Stockholm.
But it did.
There was also added some gratuitous small sections for background and relationship understanding between the siblings that was unexpected. Rather belonged more in Nesbo? But perhaps not and I'm just a prude? Not really.
But regardless, she's way above average in talent and output for this Rebecka Martinsson series. This is book #3 and the afterword states in her own declaration that she will continue to end it in book 6. And therefore this denouncement equates to that this Black Path ending is exactly 1/2 way through the entire series. And as book #4 is translated into English- I am sure I will read it. But this ending sure did give me some pause to not rush.
Karma reigns here to the supreme. Up until now Rebecka has been and had periods of psychotic depression and just detachment because of the individuality of her own position (she killed 3 people to save her own life and 2 others' lives and was judged by this culture in a way!- well, you read it).
But now after this book, the page is really going to be turned. Because those who judged, they will be judged by the very same crowds and cultural "norms". Even a Mom of 4 children with a long and happy marriage too. Is she going to be sent round the bend by their civil, work related, or societal friendships' reactions?
Regardless, this particular book was a difficult read. Names and new characters are falling in constantly. Plus the worst of it was that any of the main 7 or 8 police or authority figures, and their siblings too, all of them, may experience and DO experience flashbacks to their childhood memories of something similar or related to what they are doing, studying, training etc. for in their adult "now" time. So there were points here where I had to reread an entire chapter or introduction to a page break. Where are we now, who is this thinking of that lake or forest edge? And as many of the characters had childhoods in Northern Sweden- sometimes here in reading I found it was pages before I could context properly to the right past history and originator of the narrative. Animals again are embedded in this too. And the people who need them.
There is no way to properly estimate this book without letting some spoiler in because of the changes in the form, prose, style and actions toward the last 1/3rd of the book. So stop reading if you want no inklings.
It has a triumphant ending for Rebecka- and she asserts herself to deserve a relationship by the very end. It looks like it is now all roses for her and NOT for the others who became entrapped in this HUGE vastly horror of occurrence in another location.
Know that there also is past and back history for seer and sight skills developed in this one too. And NOT by any of the police force or the main characters of this book. But as tangent as it is, it proves mighty in outcomes.
Enjoyment factor until about page 200 was a 5 star. Lots of reasons and the wit is supreme too. But this last third set me down considerably. Know I am not a chewy, gory, genocide scale, or any type of large horrific (like a bombing or a terrorist run down or even a terrible natural disaster) event in print kind of person. I'm just not. So perhaps this kind of ending will be 5 star for others in the action, thriller, corporate espionage or whatever type of category genre they prefer. But it wasn't for me when I think I'm reading a tiny town (where a hammer or a fireplace tool is the former biggest "weapon")? In fact, I think it crossed out and over all boundaries of what I would have defined as this type of partial procedural or criminal police station territory altogether. Far into the paid assassin or terrorist cabal or far flung gang enterprise LLC. Those who do not like business procedure and law copy by page after page will also not be prone to like this last 1/3rd portion of the book.
But overall, I couldn't put it down and was never once bored or indifferent for any progressions. And feel like Rebecka has finally passed her Rubicon. There was a definition of depressive reality from stuck "eyes" in this one that was one of the best I have ever read. It's about getting out of a car and getting into the house and settling goods, taking a coat off etc. etc. Like moving in syrup and being half paralyzed. It's 5 star. That's how it is and it can be and seem endless.
Hopefully I can read all six and they will be translated in quick order. But regardless, I am super glad I read this one directly after book 2 or I probably would not have understood about a 1/4th of it. Because all is complex and finely cross connected to more than just the "affect" of these people. Some have been decades isolated and have reached tipping points to emotional or intellectual future windows. Two of the men especially who have been core pivotal from book #1.
Almost no foul language at all, but there are some viscous acts and it has a R rated violence quotient. Whereas the other books, they really didn't.
And I have to add too, that I think the translator does a 5 star job. Some of the English words have nuance and flow that enhance, do not detract, from the core individual "think" and emotion. And at times the natural world is lyrical in snow and ice senses as well as the dark thickets of leafless trees.
April 16, 2019
So very good and well written, so many turns.. rather quite a number of murders... and complicated at times, but always good to read. Couldn't wait to finish the book and to know how it would end.... Now I do... and I couldn't possible know the end in advance, and that's what I really like. She leads you an highways and sideways but at the end... love it!!
September 9, 2021
Rebecca, Anna, y Sven-Erick vuelven a la carga, esta vez para resolver un asesinato dificil de entender, muchas vertientes y nada claro. Pero al final, siempre se consigue al asesino.
May 24, 2010
PROTAGONIST: Anna-Maria Mella, detective; Rebecka Martinsson, attorney
SETTING: Kiruna (north Sweden)
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 5.0
It's early spring, and the ice on the lake in Tornetrask, northern Sweden, is thick. The inhabitants of nearby Kiruna journey here to go ice fishing, setting up small cabins on runners called arks, which protect them as they fish. A powerful storm blows one of the arks away, and its owner scrambles into a nearby cabin to escape from the elements. And what he finds is more than enough to chill him to the bones – the body of a woman who appears to have been tortured.
Anna-Maria Mella is the lead detective on the case, assisted by Sven-Erik Stalnacke. They soon establish that the victim is Inna Wattrang and that she had been killed elsewhere. The investigation is going slowly until they are helped by a recently hired special prosecutor named Rebecka Martinsson. At one time, Rebecka was a powerful attorney in the big city. However, she was the victim of a horrible crime and has had a lot of difficulty managing to recover from what happened to her. It suits her perfectly to be working in a remote area without a lot of people contact. She is dedicated and intuitive; through her efforts, the case moves forward.
Inna and her brother, Diddi, were key employees of Kallis Mining, an endeavor set up by Mauri Kallis who is a brilliant entrepreneur. He is able to see opportunities far before others realize their potential and has become hugely successful as a result. At the moment, he is working on a mining venture in Uganda that is experiencing a lot of trouble due to the local political regime. However, the potential rewards are enormous.
Martinsson's research reveals that another person who had an association with Kalllis Mining died recently, supposedly committing suicide. Could Mauri Kallis be behind these deaths? Is there something he is trying to hide? Is a competitor trying to bring him down? Or is it someone else in his organization working for purposes only known to them?
THE BLACK PATH is one of the best books that I have read in a very long time. The reality is that I can find nothing that did not work for me. The setting was wonderfully drawn, with poetic descriptions that made me feel and see the environment being described. The plot had just the right degree of complexity; there were several different directions that it followed, all leading to a resolution that was perfectly wrought. The denouement was exciting and suspenseful, and I loved how the black path was integrated into the conclusion.
There was a large cast of characters, but each of them was treated with care and had an important part in the narrative. Reading the book was like playing a game of chess with pieces that had been carved by a master. Although some of them may have been more secondary than others, each was finely detailed and essential to playing the game.
On a scale of 1 to 5, THE BLACK PATH was a 6.
SETTING: Kiruna (north Sweden)
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 5.0
It's early spring, and the ice on the lake in Tornetrask, northern Sweden, is thick. The inhabitants of nearby Kiruna journey here to go ice fishing, setting up small cabins on runners called arks, which protect them as they fish. A powerful storm blows one of the arks away, and its owner scrambles into a nearby cabin to escape from the elements. And what he finds is more than enough to chill him to the bones – the body of a woman who appears to have been tortured.
Anna-Maria Mella is the lead detective on the case, assisted by Sven-Erik Stalnacke. They soon establish that the victim is Inna Wattrang and that she had been killed elsewhere. The investigation is going slowly until they are helped by a recently hired special prosecutor named Rebecka Martinsson. At one time, Rebecka was a powerful attorney in the big city. However, she was the victim of a horrible crime and has had a lot of difficulty managing to recover from what happened to her. It suits her perfectly to be working in a remote area without a lot of people contact. She is dedicated and intuitive; through her efforts, the case moves forward.
Inna and her brother, Diddi, were key employees of Kallis Mining, an endeavor set up by Mauri Kallis who is a brilliant entrepreneur. He is able to see opportunities far before others realize their potential and has become hugely successful as a result. At the moment, he is working on a mining venture in Uganda that is experiencing a lot of trouble due to the local political regime. However, the potential rewards are enormous.
Martinsson's research reveals that another person who had an association with Kalllis Mining died recently, supposedly committing suicide. Could Mauri Kallis be behind these deaths? Is there something he is trying to hide? Is a competitor trying to bring him down? Or is it someone else in his organization working for purposes only known to them?
THE BLACK PATH is one of the best books that I have read in a very long time. The reality is that I can find nothing that did not work for me. The setting was wonderfully drawn, with poetic descriptions that made me feel and see the environment being described. The plot had just the right degree of complexity; there were several different directions that it followed, all leading to a resolution that was perfectly wrought. The denouement was exciting and suspenseful, and I loved how the black path was integrated into the conclusion.
There was a large cast of characters, but each of them was treated with care and had an important part in the narrative. Reading the book was like playing a game of chess with pieces that had been carved by a master. Although some of them may have been more secondary than others, each was finely detailed and essential to playing the game.
On a scale of 1 to 5, THE BLACK PATH was a 6.
June 3, 2012
It is spring in northern Sweden, when a body is found hidden in a fishing ark, on the frozen lake of Torneträsk. She’s dressed for running, not for fishing in icy conditions, yet she’s wearing make-up. Whilst inspectors Mella and Stålnacke think it’s probably another case of a husband killing his wife, the soon realise she has been tortured. When Mella discovers a link between the dead woman and Kallis Mining, she asks newly appointed special prosecutor, Rebecka Martinsson, to help find out more about one of Sweden’s seemingly most successful mining companies. Will they find corruption beneath the respectable façade?
It starts with Rebecka’s release from St. Göran’s psychiatric unit and her decision to leave her life in Stockholm for her rural home town of Kurravaara near Kiruna. This is the third book in the series of which I have only read the fourth, Until Thy Wrath Be Past, but as she is starting again after a traumatic experience, it’s a reasonable place to pick up the plot. I just had to remember that some things hadn’t happened yet!
There’s a large cast of characters and at times there doesn’t seem much point to all of them. Whilst they slow the pace down a bit, by the end, they all have their place in the plot. The family background of Kallis explains not only his rise from nowhere but his mother’s mental illness goes some of the way to explaining Ester’s behaviour at the end. The head of security is there to add some context to the situation in Uganda and Diddi’s wife has her worries about financial security. It does create a wide range of suspects but there’s not a lot of time for developing the on-going series characters.
Each character has their moment though and I really like the little moments that Åsa Larsson writes into their stories. Stålnacke and his lost cat, Ester’s painting and Rebecka’s worrying over the man she left behind. And the climax is one of the most gripping scenes I’ve read in a long time.
It starts with Rebecka’s release from St. Göran’s psychiatric unit and her decision to leave her life in Stockholm for her rural home town of Kurravaara near Kiruna. This is the third book in the series of which I have only read the fourth, Until Thy Wrath Be Past, but as she is starting again after a traumatic experience, it’s a reasonable place to pick up the plot. I just had to remember that some things hadn’t happened yet!
There’s a large cast of characters and at times there doesn’t seem much point to all of them. Whilst they slow the pace down a bit, by the end, they all have their place in the plot. The family background of Kallis explains not only his rise from nowhere but his mother’s mental illness goes some of the way to explaining Ester’s behaviour at the end. The head of security is there to add some context to the situation in Uganda and Diddi’s wife has her worries about financial security. It does create a wide range of suspects but there’s not a lot of time for developing the on-going series characters.
Each character has their moment though and I really like the little moments that Åsa Larsson writes into their stories. Stålnacke and his lost cat, Ester’s painting and Rebecka’s worrying over the man she left behind. And the climax is one of the most gripping scenes I’ve read in a long time.
January 8, 2016
Tercera entrega de la abogada Rebecka Martinsson, que intenta volver a la normalidad tras el trágico desenlace de la novela anterior. Termina su estancia de ingreso en un centro psiquiátrico, y a su regreso decide ayudar a la inspectora Anna-Maria Mella en la resolución de un caso de asesinato de una importante ejecutiva, aparecida en una cabaña abandonada junto a un lago helado.
Lo que parecía un simple asesinato acabará derivando en una importante conspiración que afecta no sólo a la empresa donde trabajaba la mujer asesinada, sino que tendrá ramificaciones en importantes países mineros de África, en donde saldrán a la luz los turbios intereses económicos de altas corporaciones, confabuladas con gobiernos corruptos del llamado tercer mundo.
La trama es interesante, pero, en mi opinión, hay demasiados personajes entrelazados, y además numerosos flash-backs de cada uno de ellos, lo que hace que la lectura pierda frescura a menudo, sobre todo si tenemos en cuenta que muchos de ellos no son necesarios para la total comprensión de los hechos. Da la impresión de que la autora no quiere que la novela se le quede “corta” de páginas, y decide alargarla de forma innecesaria. De no ser por ello, quizás le hubiera dado cinco estrellas, porque la historia es interesante, y está finalmente bien resuelta, pero tanto personaje hace que en algún momento te puedas perder, sobre todo con esos nombres nórdicos tan difíciles de retener. Yo habría puesto menos personajes, y me hubiese centrado más en ellos. Aún así, y siendo hasta ahora la más floja de las tres que he leído, no es desdeñable, ya que tiene pasajes muy buenos.
La serie de Rebecka Martinsson consta en principio de seis novelas, de los que creo que ya ha escrito cinco, aunque el último salió en 2012, y parece ser que está teniendo problemas para terminar la sexta y última entrega. No sé si será cierto. De momento me quedo con la primera de la serie: “Aurora Boreal”.
Lo que parecía un simple asesinato acabará derivando en una importante conspiración que afecta no sólo a la empresa donde trabajaba la mujer asesinada, sino que tendrá ramificaciones en importantes países mineros de África, en donde saldrán a la luz los turbios intereses económicos de altas corporaciones, confabuladas con gobiernos corruptos del llamado tercer mundo.
La trama es interesante, pero, en mi opinión, hay demasiados personajes entrelazados, y además numerosos flash-backs de cada uno de ellos, lo que hace que la lectura pierda frescura a menudo, sobre todo si tenemos en cuenta que muchos de ellos no son necesarios para la total comprensión de los hechos. Da la impresión de que la autora no quiere que la novela se le quede “corta” de páginas, y decide alargarla de forma innecesaria. De no ser por ello, quizás le hubiera dado cinco estrellas, porque la historia es interesante, y está finalmente bien resuelta, pero tanto personaje hace que en algún momento te puedas perder, sobre todo con esos nombres nórdicos tan difíciles de retener. Yo habría puesto menos personajes, y me hubiese centrado más en ellos. Aún así, y siendo hasta ahora la más floja de las tres que he leído, no es desdeñable, ya que tiene pasajes muy buenos.
La serie de Rebecka Martinsson consta en principio de seis novelas, de los que creo que ya ha escrito cinco, aunque el último salió en 2012, y parece ser que está teniendo problemas para terminar la sexta y última entrega. No sé si será cierto. De momento me quedo con la primera de la serie: “Aurora Boreal”.
June 3, 2012
The latest instalment in Asa Larsson's 'Rebecka Martinsson' series and to my mind, her best to date. Rebecka has seemingly made a full recovery from the horrific attack of the previous book and after her release from the psychiatric unit, finds herself embroiled in another murder investigation with the wonderful female detective Anna-Maria Mella. This is where Larsson excels in her characterisation that portrays Rebecka as an outwardly strong but essentially damaged woman and Anna-Maria, who witnesses so much horror in her day job, as an incredibly grounded and centred character, and who acts as a perfect foil to Rebecka's polar opposite characteristics. The interplay and deep-seated respect and affection between them is even more prevalent in this plot as they work together to uncover some insidious goings on within an extremely influential yet corrupt mining corporation that leads to greed and murder. I think this book is the closest in context that I've read to say 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' or 'The Killing' where the more socio-political plot is given centre stage and I did find the detail regarding the corruption of big business in Third World countries extremely interesting. Obviously this was running parallel with the murder investigation and the strange trinity of the murdered woman, her brother and his friend- the figures at the forefront of the mining corporation- and their interaction and relationships with each other which was equally compelling. An accomplished and highly readable thriller from Larsson who just gets better with every book...
October 10, 2013
It's not the first time it happens: I begin reading a book with thrill (you know, there's a mysterious murder, no clear suspects, and so on), and then you find out about everybody's personal story. That's the traditional outline for any piece of crime fiction. I may be too critical, but that is exactly what I dislike. There are some characters that don't make any important contribution to the novel, yet the author devotes nearly hundreds of pages to them. To what purpose? I don't know. I didn't care the slightest bit about Ester Kallis. She just appeared now and then, but the author was determined that the reader should know every single detail about her life and her thoughts. In my opinion, this was a piece of crime fiction, not Ester's biography. Moreover, when did we get to see Rebecka Martinsson? What role did she play in the investigation? A very subtle one, yes. We get to know about her family and her obsession with her boss. Apart from that, she could perfectly be out of the novel. As far as I'm concerned, if the main character doesn't get completely involved in the plot, why the hell is she there?
September 19, 2019
Dark, dark, and beautiful. I will not summarize the plot - many others have, but it was complex ranging from mental illness to international corporations. I found Rebecka more emotionally captivating in this novel, and Inspector Anna-Maria Mella demonstrates her usual rough charm. I did feel emotionally drained by the time I finished reading, and may take some time before reading the fourth in the series.
October 2, 2008
damn, she's good--each book, this is the 3rd, gets better and fascinating. im beginning to see a theme in mysteries, the greed and meanness of mining interests, esp first world in third world countries....same in shadow walker. plus some spirit world thrown in, a la colin cotteril. plus its the cold world of sweden!
October 7, 2025
No sé como sentirme con respecto a este libro.
Está bien, aunque la historia se enrevesa demasiado y se vuelve algo inverosímil en mi opinión.
A ver como continúa la saga.
Está bien, aunque la historia se enrevesa demasiado y se vuelve algo inverosímil en mi opinión.
A ver como continúa la saga.
August 11, 2013
Wiser heads than mine are probably puzzling as to why Scandinavia produces so many good crime writers.
Maybe they are just better educated: and informed about the world.
I often think so - but anyhow here is another cracker, with a character (and cast of characters) all its own.
I don't know about you but I love stories where I learn about cultures I know little or nothing about.
I liked this one enormously, partly because it's set in a part of Scandinavia I knew nothing about - the north east where all the reindeer are, and where the Sami live.
It seems damn cold there pretty much all the time, and they seem to be a delightful people who have been persecuted for centuries in the same way as so many other minorities.
Much, if not most of Scandinavian crime fiction seems to have been influenced to a great degree by the Martin Beck series. This is less the case here. A different voice.
The plot, revolving around investment skulduggery to do with mining in Africa, is highly involving. There's a plentiful supply of torture, bloody deaths, a very sexy victim, incest and more.
Also there is a startlingly explicit and detailed condemnation of Museveni, the crook currently running Uganda and now organising his next rigged election. (He is a good soul-mate for Mugabe, but gets less publicity).
All the characters are interesting, even the minor ones; I would say at least half the main ones are mentally disturbed.
A very good read.
Maybe they are just better educated: and informed about the world.
I often think so - but anyhow here is another cracker, with a character (and cast of characters) all its own.
I don't know about you but I love stories where I learn about cultures I know little or nothing about.
I liked this one enormously, partly because it's set in a part of Scandinavia I knew nothing about - the north east where all the reindeer are, and where the Sami live.
It seems damn cold there pretty much all the time, and they seem to be a delightful people who have been persecuted for centuries in the same way as so many other minorities.
Much, if not most of Scandinavian crime fiction seems to have been influenced to a great degree by the Martin Beck series. This is less the case here. A different voice.
The plot, revolving around investment skulduggery to do with mining in Africa, is highly involving. There's a plentiful supply of torture, bloody deaths, a very sexy victim, incest and more.
Also there is a startlingly explicit and detailed condemnation of Museveni, the crook currently running Uganda and now organising his next rigged election. (He is a good soul-mate for Mugabe, but gets less publicity).
All the characters are interesting, even the minor ones; I would say at least half the main ones are mentally disturbed.
A very good read.
October 15, 2012
I like Asa Larsson's stories and style she uses, which is true about The Black Path but for the end. The plot is skillfully planned but I simply have problems with the political background of perp's economic interests. However, it's nothing new in Scandi crime fiction: in Jo Nesbo's Leopard and Henning Mankell's Kennedy's brain similar motifs can be found. Why is the Northerners relationship to Africa so strong? Guilty conscience that their life is much better than people's lives over there? Probably. My favourite line was that of Ester - born to a lunatic mother and an Indian father growing up in a Sami family... What stranger (politically correct: more multicultural) can you get. On the other hand, I feel that her character could have been better integrated into the story. Again, if I could, I would have given it 3.5 stars.
NB Ester lives on Jungfrugatan in Stockholm where I stayed 2 times in a hotel :)
NB Ester lives on Jungfrugatan in Stockholm where I stayed 2 times in a hotel :)
October 19, 2012
Há muito que pretendia ler este livro, tinha uma enorme curiosidade pela autora.
Confesso que os autores nórdicos me apaixonam.
Inna Wahring, uma executiva da empresa Kallis Mining é encontrada assassinada num das cabanas "flutuantes" que povoam o lago Torneträsk.
Rebecka Martisson, que se encontra em recuperação de uma enorme trauma, acaba por ser uma peça essencial na compreensão deste quebra cabeças que Anna-Maria Mella, a inspectora da policia encarregado do caso, tem em mãos.
Este livro é um policial envolvente e muito peculiar, não só no enredo como na forma de escrita.
Tem uma escrita eloquente e penetrante, com constantes flasbacks, sem contudo perder a coerência da história, bem pelo contrário, cria um interesse constante e crescente de quem lê. Recomendo...
Aguardo a oportunidade de ler "Aurora Boreal" e "Sangue Derramado", obras já publicadas desta autora.
Confesso que os autores nórdicos me apaixonam.
Inna Wahring, uma executiva da empresa Kallis Mining é encontrada assassinada num das cabanas "flutuantes" que povoam o lago Torneträsk.
Rebecka Martisson, que se encontra em recuperação de uma enorme trauma, acaba por ser uma peça essencial na compreensão deste quebra cabeças que Anna-Maria Mella, a inspectora da policia encarregado do caso, tem em mãos.
Este livro é um policial envolvente e muito peculiar, não só no enredo como na forma de escrita.
Tem uma escrita eloquente e penetrante, com constantes flasbacks, sem contudo perder a coerência da história, bem pelo contrário, cria um interesse constante e crescente de quem lê. Recomendo...
Aguardo a oportunidade de ler "Aurora Boreal" e "Sangue Derramado", obras já publicadas desta autora.
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