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There's something about Scandinavian noir that works for me, and this is no exception. A superb mystery/thriller which managed a series of dizzying twists and a dose of exciting action that drew me in more and more as I progressed.
So, I must admit I didn't know this was book 5 in a series about Joona Linna when I started. I came in fresh at this point and that did make a few things in the early stages a little odd. Joona seemed a bit too much of an action hero for no reason, but as things unravelled that little oddity started to make more sense. It does work as a standalone in that regard, although I suspect anyone who has followed Joona through the four previous books will settle into this read much more easily.
It does feel odd thinking of it as a book about Joona though, the strength of the ensemble of characters makes it a book about so many people. Given a bad experience with a recent read I felt so happy having fully developed characters - even fairly minor ones who had brief appearances got treated well. Characters had personalities and lives. Women had identities. This is a book written by someone who is aware that society is made up of people with a whole host of different backgrounds and they can be included in a book.
The clever combination of characters also keeps you on your toes. I felt I cracked the case a handful of times before realising I'd forgotten something glaring obvious and wondering just how I was wrong. Of course, it helps that characters are dealing with drug addictions, traumatic memories, and even brain damage. It's a deft way to make events in the book unreliable. I found myself questioning everything, even things that seemed so clear and sure became vague and uncertain as I recalled another piece of the puzzle that didn't quite fit with my latest theory. Very quickly more and more characters became liabilities in the pursuit of the truth.
But the truth does come out. It is delivered with power. After numerous pages of guessing and double guessing, and at times utter confusion, we find what we need to know. And that's when the thriller kicks in even harder. Many books solve the mystery and rush the ending, but Kepler just ramps up the tension very gracefully. It has power, it proves captivating.
All in all a superb read. I think my lack of backstory from the earlier books did make it start a little slower, but it didn't cause any problems, and once the new story fully kicked in it was enthralling. I'd be curious about the rest of the series now - by the fifth book you can probably be confident of the quality throughout the preceding books so I'm going to have to look them up. I suspect we'll see more of Joona in the future though, so I best get reading.
So, I must admit I didn't know this was book 5 in a series about Joona Linna when I started. I came in fresh at this point and that did make a few things in the early stages a little odd. Joona seemed a bit too much of an action hero for no reason, but as things unravelled that little oddity started to make more sense. It does work as a standalone in that regard, although I suspect anyone who has followed Joona through the four previous books will settle into this read much more easily.
It does feel odd thinking of it as a book about Joona though, the strength of the ensemble of characters makes it a book about so many people. Given a bad experience with a recent read I felt so happy having fully developed characters - even fairly minor ones who had brief appearances got treated well. Characters had personalities and lives. Women had identities. This is a book written by someone who is aware that society is made up of people with a whole host of different backgrounds and they can be included in a book.
The clever combination of characters also keeps you on your toes. I felt I cracked the case a handful of times before realising I'd forgotten something glaring obvious and wondering just how I was wrong. Of course, it helps that characters are dealing with drug addictions, traumatic memories, and even brain damage. It's a deft way to make events in the book unreliable. I found myself questioning everything, even things that seemed so clear and sure became vague and uncertain as I recalled another piece of the puzzle that didn't quite fit with my latest theory. Very quickly more and more characters became liabilities in the pursuit of the truth.
But the truth does come out. It is delivered with power. After numerous pages of guessing and double guessing, and at times utter confusion, we find what we need to know. And that's when the thriller kicks in even harder. Many books solve the mystery and rush the ending, but Kepler just ramps up the tension very gracefully. It has power, it proves captivating.
All in all a superb read. I think my lack of backstory from the earlier books did make it start a little slower, but it didn't cause any problems, and once the new story fully kicked in it was enthralling. I'd be curious about the rest of the series now - by the fifth book you can probably be confident of the quality throughout the preceding books so I'm going to have to look them up. I suspect we'll see more of Joona in the future though, so I best get reading.