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toofondofbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Well, I’ve not been reading much over the last couple of weeks – I’ve been ill and my concentration has been rubbish but I’d been so keen to get to Death Deserved so picked it up to give it a try and I’m so glad I did. This is such a brilliant crime thriller, it’s one of those books that I was thinking about whenever I wasn’t reading it and I already want more!
Death Deserved opens with a police officer entering a house and shooting a suspect, and then the novel moves forward nineteen years to the present day. The same officer is called to a missing woman’s house by a journalist and this leads to such a gripping investigation! Blix is the officer and Emma is the journalist and they begin to work together as it becomes apparent that someone is murdering celebrities and it seems the killer has a very definite plan in mind for how and when he going to commit the murders.
I loved Emma Ramm from the off in this book. She is so feisty and determined to make something of her career, and she felt so real to me. She doesn’t put herself in silly situations, she’s astute. Blix is also great, he has demons in his past but it only fuels him to be better and to get things right in the future. He’s mindful of what came before but he never lets it stop him fully focusing on what is in front of him now. I can see why Emma and Blix came to work well together, they really do make a brilliant pairing!
I had so many theories as I was racing through this crime thriller and pretty much all of them were wrong. It’s a novel that wrong foots you every time you think you’ve got a grip of what’s going on, it made me feel like I was in amongst the investigation as the police were also scrambling to put a theory together.
I loved the way this novel also explores celebrity and how people become famous, and how we come to revere people who are in the public eye. Blix’s daughter is in a reality TV show and he has a slightly strained relationship with her but he’s constantly catching up with how she’s doing on the show and making sure she seems okay. The show is like Big Brother but way more tough on the contestants in what it puts them through. It was fascinating to me how the viewers were judging the contestants and voting them out based on transgressions that perhaps most of us might have committed at one time or another in our lives. It felt it was holding a mirror up to all of us so realising that the killer was at the incredibly heightened, extreme, obsessed end of a scale that perhaps we are all on was very unnerving and unsettling. We are constantly making judgements and wishing people would be voted off shows because they’re not worthy enough, or nice enough or they made a mistake that we feel they should pay for. Obviously, I know we’re not all psychopaths but the dichotomy definitely brings you up short at times as you read this book!
Death Deserved is an intense, sophisticated crime thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and I loved every single minute that I spent reading it! I love a book that is such a gripping, unputdownable thrill-ride whilst also making me pause for thought, and Death Deserved it definitely that! This is the best crime thriller that I’ve read in quite some time and I can’t wait to read more by these authors! I highly recommend this book!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
Death Deserved opens with a police officer entering a house and shooting a suspect, and then the novel moves forward nineteen years to the present day. The same officer is called to a missing woman’s house by a journalist and this leads to such a gripping investigation! Blix is the officer and Emma is the journalist and they begin to work together as it becomes apparent that someone is murdering celebrities and it seems the killer has a very definite plan in mind for how and when he going to commit the murders.
I loved Emma Ramm from the off in this book. She is so feisty and determined to make something of her career, and she felt so real to me. She doesn’t put herself in silly situations, she’s astute. Blix is also great, he has demons in his past but it only fuels him to be better and to get things right in the future. He’s mindful of what came before but he never lets it stop him fully focusing on what is in front of him now. I can see why Emma and Blix came to work well together, they really do make a brilliant pairing!
I had so many theories as I was racing through this crime thriller and pretty much all of them were wrong. It’s a novel that wrong foots you every time you think you’ve got a grip of what’s going on, it made me feel like I was in amongst the investigation as the police were also scrambling to put a theory together.
I loved the way this novel also explores celebrity and how people become famous, and how we come to revere people who are in the public eye. Blix’s daughter is in a reality TV show and he has a slightly strained relationship with her but he’s constantly catching up with how she’s doing on the show and making sure she seems okay. The show is like Big Brother but way more tough on the contestants in what it puts them through. It was fascinating to me how the viewers were judging the contestants and voting them out based on transgressions that perhaps most of us might have committed at one time or another in our lives. It felt it was holding a mirror up to all of us so realising that the killer was at the incredibly heightened, extreme, obsessed end of a scale that perhaps we are all on was very unnerving and unsettling. We are constantly making judgements and wishing people would be voted off shows because they’re not worthy enough, or nice enough or they made a mistake that we feel they should pay for. Obviously, I know we’re not all psychopaths but the dichotomy definitely brings you up short at times as you read this book!
Death Deserved is an intense, sophisticated crime thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and I loved every single minute that I spent reading it! I love a book that is such a gripping, unputdownable thrill-ride whilst also making me pause for thought, and Death Deserved it definitely that! This is the best crime thriller that I’ve read in quite some time and I can’t wait to read more by these authors! I highly recommend this book!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
cclaytonr's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ihtak_kathi's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
debtat2's review against another edition
4.0
This is the start of your new Nordic Noir obsession!
Two of Norways best loved crime writers come together to create something extremely special and bring us the unique due that is Blix and Ramm. With a crack hot double team and a hunt for a serial killer that has a flair for the dramatic, this book will have you racing through the pages as fast as the body count increases!
This is the first book of a new series featuring Blix and Ramm, who are now one of my favourite duo’s, and judging from this one it is going to be nothing short of outstanding!
When former athlete, turn novelist, Sonja Nordstrom fails to attend the high-profile launch of her much-anticipated autobiography, Blix finds himself heading up the missing persons investigation, which soon escalates as more high profile people go missing or turn up dead. What started off as a missing person investigation soon turns into the hunt for a serial killer.
Emma Ramm is a celebrity blogger, writing pieces for a online news company so when it comes to her attention that Sonja didn’t show up to her mornings appointments she decides to show up at the celebrities house and it is from there she knows something isn’t right. With signs of a struggle taking place inside the front door of Sonja’s house, Emma phones the police and this is where the unlikely duo meet.
As they are both looking into and covering the same cases they slowly begin to trust each other and it is whilst sharing that a piece of the puzzle falls into place, but now, can they pull together to stop this killer before any more lives are lost and before the killer reaches his finale?
Packed to the brim with some really great, memorable characters, extremely clever plot lines, twists and turns, this is set to be the start of something spectacular!
Crime fiction, police procedurals readers are going to love this book and even if you have not been a fan of foreign crime fiction before, I urge you to give this one ago – you won’t be disappointed, it is one of my favourite books so far this year.
Two of Norways best loved crime writers come together to create something extremely special and bring us the unique due that is Blix and Ramm. With a crack hot double team and a hunt for a serial killer that has a flair for the dramatic, this book will have you racing through the pages as fast as the body count increases!
This is the first book of a new series featuring Blix and Ramm, who are now one of my favourite duo’s, and judging from this one it is going to be nothing short of outstanding!
When former athlete, turn novelist, Sonja Nordstrom fails to attend the high-profile launch of her much-anticipated autobiography, Blix finds himself heading up the missing persons investigation, which soon escalates as more high profile people go missing or turn up dead. What started off as a missing person investigation soon turns into the hunt for a serial killer.
Emma Ramm is a celebrity blogger, writing pieces for a online news company so when it comes to her attention that Sonja didn’t show up to her mornings appointments she decides to show up at the celebrities house and it is from there she knows something isn’t right. With signs of a struggle taking place inside the front door of Sonja’s house, Emma phones the police and this is where the unlikely duo meet.
As they are both looking into and covering the same cases they slowly begin to trust each other and it is whilst sharing that a piece of the puzzle falls into place, but now, can they pull together to stop this killer before any more lives are lost and before the killer reaches his finale?
Packed to the brim with some really great, memorable characters, extremely clever plot lines, twists and turns, this is set to be the start of something spectacular!
Crime fiction, police procedurals readers are going to love this book and even if you have not been a fan of foreign crime fiction before, I urge you to give this one ago – you won’t be disappointed, it is one of my favourite books so far this year.
meijke's review against another edition
4.0
A suspenseful, exciting thriller, where you're constantly waiting for what (or who) is next. Well-written, very enjoyable.
calturner's review against another edition
4.0
Death Deserved is the first in a brand new crime thriller series by Norwegian authors Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. This is the first book I’ve read by either of these authors, but it definitely won’t be my last. With twists, turns, shocks and surprises throughout, this is a book that had me on the edge of my seat from the very first page, right up until the final page had been turned.
Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm find themselves on the hunt for a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high profile murders. The unlikely duo join forces, determined to find and stop the merciless killer before he or she strikes again.
What follows is an exciting and fast paced thriller that kept me on my toes throughout. The two main protagonists are a fascinating combination and I look forward to finding out even more about them as the series progresses. With a colourful cast of characters and a tense storyline that had me enthralled from beginning to end, Death Deserved is a book I thoroughly enjoyed.
Skilfully translated by Anne Bruce, this is Nordic Noir at its very best and is yet another worthy addition to what is fast becoming one of my favourite genres to read.
Highly recommended.
Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm find themselves on the hunt for a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high profile murders. The unlikely duo join forces, determined to find and stop the merciless killer before he or she strikes again.
What follows is an exciting and fast paced thriller that kept me on my toes throughout. The two main protagonists are a fascinating combination and I look forward to finding out even more about them as the series progresses. With a colourful cast of characters and a tense storyline that had me enthralled from beginning to end, Death Deserved is a book I thoroughly enjoyed.
Skilfully translated by Anne Bruce, this is Nordic Noir at its very best and is yet another worthy addition to what is fast becoming one of my favourite genres to read.
Highly recommended.