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A review by ojtheviking
Djevelpakten by Max Seeck
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The thing I like the most about the Niemi series, is the overall dark and occult brutality of these cases. I'm used to Scandinavian crime overall, but there is a darker and sinister tone in Seeck's series that I enjoy. Especially the continued vague tease of something a little on the supernatural side, but presented in a way where you never truly know. Even in this third book, it continues to be left ambiguous as to whether something is actually going on or just a symptom of a certain mental illness.
At the same time, things can ironically be a bit one-dimensional, in the sense that this series continues along mostly the same tracks. There's a little bit more character development, but it's still a bit too plot driven for my taste, with characters just going from A to B to solve the case, and so on. Jessica Niemi continues to have monopoly on actual development. When this series overall is centered around a lot of occultism and human's darkest aspects, it can become paradoxically monotonous when it's all mostly a plot device, and essentially just a more morbid whodunit. The depth of man's corrupted psyche isn't as thoroughly explored as it could have been for a series like this, so the villains become a bit clichéd after all.
Then again, it's a bit hard to comment too much on the writing, since this is a translation. However, depending on how loyal the translator is to the core material, and how accurately things have been possible to translate, I'd say that Max Seeck is a capable enough writer for the crime genre. Even though I say these books are very plot driven, the way he drives a plot can be pretty effective. There are some good ideas along the way that increases the suspense. Sometimes I would just simply care just a tad more about some of the other characters and what happens to them if they were more thoroughly developed and/or didn't have some stereotypical traits.
I don't know if this makes it sound like I've had a mostly negative reading experience. I haven't; they have been quite entertaining for the most part. And they have been enjoyable in the kind of way where you see the less ideal aspects more clearly, like a stain on an otherwise clean surface, wishing for that part to look cleaner as well.
Had this series been intended as a trilogy, some plot points would have felt more like coming full circle here, as we revisit some stuff from the first book. But I know that a fourth one is already out. It does close up some things, but leaves the door open for future developments, which I assume we'll see more of in the fourth book, which I currently do not own.
At the same time, things can ironically be a bit one-dimensional, in the sense that this series continues along mostly the same tracks. There's a little bit more character development, but it's still a bit too plot driven for my taste, with characters just going from A to B to solve the case, and so on. Jessica Niemi continues to have monopoly on actual development. When this series overall is centered around a lot of occultism and human's darkest aspects, it can become paradoxically monotonous when it's all mostly a plot device, and essentially just a more morbid whodunit. The depth of man's corrupted psyche isn't as thoroughly explored as it could have been for a series like this, so the villains become a bit clichéd after all.
Then again, it's a bit hard to comment too much on the writing, since this is a translation. However, depending on how loyal the translator is to the core material, and how accurately things have been possible to translate, I'd say that Max Seeck is a capable enough writer for the crime genre. Even though I say these books are very plot driven, the way he drives a plot can be pretty effective. There are some good ideas along the way that increases the suspense. Sometimes I would just simply care just a tad more about some of the other characters and what happens to them if they were more thoroughly developed and/or didn't have some stereotypical traits.
I don't know if this makes it sound like I've had a mostly negative reading experience. I haven't; they have been quite entertaining for the most part. And they have been enjoyable in the kind of way where you see the less ideal aspects more clearly, like a stain on an otherwise clean surface, wishing for that part to look cleaner as well.
Had this series been intended as a trilogy, some plot points would have felt more like coming full circle here, as we revisit some stuff from the first book. But I know that a fourth one is already out. It does close up some things, but leaves the door open for future developments, which I assume we'll see more of in the fourth book, which I currently do not own.