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malinowy's review against another edition
4.0
Actual rating more around 3.5 stars. There was so much good in this book. I mean, if you start with Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", I'm bound to be hooked. Also, it's refreshing to see a main character that's not an alcoholic (former) police officer, even if a former drug addict with a military background isn't that big of a leap to another direction. However, all that ties very well into the story, creates a great backstory and is a nice way to introduce characters. The main plot, a boy going missing in the 1970s, and his brother disappearing a couple of decades later. Katz, the main character with no detective background being hired to find out what happened, and things snowballing from there. There's a perfect setup, a good mix of suspension and moments that make you want to keep reading page after page, religion and beliefs, and things that make you go "...could something like that really happen?". I liked the way it was all unravelled in the end, even if it's a bit too much like typical crime novels. It's very obvious there is and will be more.
My one little nitpick is about religion. Katz is repeatedly told to be Jewish, there's even stuff about his father and his paternal grandparents. However, even though there are denominations that accept children with Jewish father to be Jewish as well (especially if they're raised into Judaism and the traditions), most branches of Judaism are matrilineal. And Katz's mother is described as a normal Swedish woman, with no mention of her being Jewish. Thus, Katz technically isn't Jewish. Given how big of a role the whole thing has in this book, it's a pretty glaring error from the author (and whoever's read and edited this before it was published.) I know it probably doesn't bother 98% of the readers, but it bothered me quite a lot.
My one little nitpick is about religion. Katz is repeatedly told to be Jewish, there's even stuff about his father and his paternal grandparents. However, even though there are denominations that accept children with Jewish father to be Jewish as well (especially if they're raised into Judaism and the traditions), most branches of Judaism are matrilineal. And Katz's mother is described as a normal Swedish woman, with no mention of her being Jewish. Thus, Katz technically isn't Jewish. Given how big of a role the whole thing has in this book, it's a pretty glaring error from the author (and whoever's read and edited this before it was published.) I know it probably doesn't bother 98% of the readers, but it bothered me quite a lot.
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