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jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is the first in a multi-book series about a Swedish police detective. It was written twenty-five years ago. I had some problems with it and I’m not sure if it’s just because the book is dated.
There was an ongoing emphasis on men being, at best, woefully ignorant of sexual harassment and sexual assault. I would’ve thought those issues would have been addressed in orientations and by HR. The Detective Superintendent has no clue how to deal with the ongoing harassment that plagues his department and is unaware his outlook contributes to the feeling that any boorish behavior among his staff is acceptable. This is repeated over and over.
The book starts off pretty slowly, or at least it was slow to grab my attention for a murder mystery. There were a LOT of characters, both major and minor, and the author does a good job of keeping everyone straight. There’s pretty good character development even with the minor characters.
The is a lot of Gothenburg geography - street names, neighborhoods - that went right over my head. It would have made sense to a local but I had no idea if any of the references were important to the story or just providing context.
Despite my quibbles I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. The detective is an interesting woman and I want to know her better.
There was an ongoing emphasis on men being, at best, woefully ignorant of sexual harassment and sexual assault. I would’ve thought those issues would have been addressed in orientations and by HR. The Detective Superintendent has no clue how to deal with the ongoing harassment that plagues his department and is unaware his outlook contributes to the feeling that any boorish behavior among his staff is acceptable. This is repeated over and over.
The book starts off pretty slowly, or at least it was slow to grab my attention for a murder mystery. There were a LOT of characters, both major and minor, and the author does a good job of keeping everyone straight. There’s pretty good character development even with the minor characters.
The is a lot of Gothenburg geography - street names, neighborhoods - that went right over my head. It would have made sense to a local but I had no idea if any of the references were important to the story or just providing context.
Despite my quibbles I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. The detective is an interesting woman and I want to know her better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Murder, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug abuse
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