A review by flying_monkey
Sun Storm by Åsa Larsson

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I have been having Scandi Crime withdrawal symptoms, and none of my favourite writers have published anything new for a while (some due to being dead...), so I tried another moderately well-recommended series from Sweden. This series features a Stockholm tax lawyer, Rebecka Martinsson, who gets in way over her head, when she returns to her far northern hometown after a friend from her teenage years is found brutally murdered and mutilated in the massive evangelical church which he helped to found. The book is atmospheric, redolent of northern Swedish small town and country life in the darkness of early winter and some of the players are memorable characters particularly a (heavily pregnant) local policewoman, Rebecka's odd friend Sanna, and the three pastors and their wives at the centre of religious life in the town. However the latter group are a little underdrawn, and worse the protagonist herself is not very interesting or engaging, and seems more described for potential TV or film adaptation (she's even said to look like an actress at one point) than actually developed as a person. In fact in many ways, the the most well developed characters are both dogs, which tells you something. Finally, the plot relies a bit too much on shock revelations from nowhere and a contrived climax, which always annoys me, and just seems too unlikely to make you suspend your disbelief. Will I read the next one? Well, if you know me, you know I'll refuse to until I find myself with nothing to read and then I'll give in and (maybe) be disappointed again...

PS: Be careful if you are looking for Larsson's books because some have been translated at least twice in to English under different titles in Britain and the USA, so read the description!