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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
dark
tense
"The Owl Always Hunts At Night" by Simon Bjork is the second in the Nordic Noir 'Munch/Kruger' police procedural series set in Norway and is a decent thriller and certainly worth a read.
The criminal element of the book was interesting to read and quite unique. It gathered pace towards the end and became quite compelling.
However, I did feel (in my opinion only) that too much time was spent on the two main characters emotional state of mind and this slightly detracted the story from the main plot.
Detective Mia Kruger is a woman on the edge, still struggling with several deaths in her family and a distressing case in the previous book which has made her resort to alcohol and various pills to get her through each day. Her boss, homicide investigator Holger Munch is an unfit, tired, overweight policeman who still finds the breakdown of his marriage quite raw. Although Kruger must pass psychiatric therapy before being readmitted back onto cases, she refuses to fully comply. Regardless, Munch is desperate to have her back on the team so therefore brings her in to help solve the mystery of the death of a young girl found in what looks like a ritual murder. When no forensic evidence is found it takes a young hacker to uncover something that makes the team believe they may soon be looking for a second victim.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the main plot in itself, I just found the overload of character emotions throughout the book a little excessive for my liking.
I would still read more by this author in the hope that the characters emotional states take a bit more of a back seat to the main story. I understand that the first in the series "I'm Travelling Alone" was a cracking book so I may even look that up to fully understand Kruger's mental issues.
4 stars
The criminal element of the book was interesting to read and quite unique. It gathered pace towards the end and became quite compelling.
However, I did feel (in my opinion only) that too much time was spent on the two main characters emotional state of mind and this slightly detracted the story from the main plot.
Detective Mia Kruger is a woman on the edge, still struggling with several deaths in her family and a distressing case in the previous book which has made her resort to alcohol and various pills to get her through each day. Her boss, homicide investigator Holger Munch is an unfit, tired, overweight policeman who still finds the breakdown of his marriage quite raw. Although Kruger must pass psychiatric therapy before being readmitted back onto cases, she refuses to fully comply. Regardless, Munch is desperate to have her back on the team so therefore brings her in to help solve the mystery of the death of a young girl found in what looks like a ritual murder. When no forensic evidence is found it takes a young hacker to uncover something that makes the team believe they may soon be looking for a second victim.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the main plot in itself, I just found the overload of character emotions throughout the book a little excessive for my liking.
I would still read more by this author in the hope that the characters emotional states take a bit more of a back seat to the main story. I understand that the first in the series "I'm Travelling Alone" was a cracking book so I may even look that up to fully understand Kruger's mental issues.
4 stars
Heel spannend en goed in elkaar gezet. Wat ik jammer vind is dat dezelfde persoon weer de dupe is en dat de twee hoofdpersonen wel erg veel moe zijn, drinken en roken. Deed het verhaal geen goed voor mij.
Ended up finding the murderer a bit predictable, predicted who it was around halfway through the book.
Samuel Bjork is an excellent nordic noir writer. I’m a huge fan of his inventive + engaging crime, thriller novels. I found this one particularly interesting and different from most other books in the genre. Do note that The Owl Always Hunts at Night is the second installment in the Mia + Munch series by Samuel Bjork. I’d recommend starting with the first - I’m Traveling Alone, but I so think it stands alone quite nicely.
For a book with praise of 'tense, thrilling and genuinely scary' I expected just that...but after completing it I am still waiting. Not fast-paced at all. I was, sadly, not scared. I would have given this 2 stars but I felt bad so it got a sympathy star.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book reminded me how much I love mystery. A great book that keeps u hooked all the way through.