Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.
Drowned
Title: Drowned
Author: Therese Bohman
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Literary Fiction
Rating: 1,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Drowned, set in the idyllic countryside during a short-lived Swedish summer, gets under one’s skin from the first page, creating an atmosphere of foreboding in which even the perfume of freshly picked vegetables roasting in the kitchen becomes ominous.
On the surface, the story couldn’t be simpler. A single young woman visits her older sister, who is married to a writer as charismatic as he is violent. As the young woman falls under her brother-in-law’s spell, the plot unfolds in a series of precisely rendered turns. Meanwhile the reader, anticipating the worst, hopes against hope that disaster can be averted.
More than a mere thriller, this debut novel delves deep into the feminine soul and at the same time exposes the continuing oppression of women in Sweden’s supposedly enlightened society. Mixing hothouse sensuality with ice-cold fear on every page, Drowned heralds the emergence of a major new talent on the international scene.
Review: This is one of the most confusing books I’ve ever read. No idea if it’s the translation, or just the plot. There’s no real conclusion, no side plot to add any action, nothing is resolved, characters are flat.
Disappeared
Title: Disappeared
Author: Anthony Quinn
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
On the Irish border, Inspector Celsius Daly investigates human trafficking and a scorched corpse
The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic is a rugged place: cold, windswept, and dark. For the girls brought here from Eastern Europe, it may as well be a war zone. Put to work in a farmhouse brothel near South Armagh, the women are forced into a living hell. One night, a pimp takes one of them for a ride. She is just planning her escape when the car explodes. The next morning, there is nothing left but the pimp’s charred body and the woman’s footprints in the snow.
As his forensics specialists turn their attention to the burned corpse, Police Inspector Celcius Daly obsesses over the footprints. Where exactly did the woman come from, and where did she go? It is the sort of question asked only in the borderlands—between North and South, between life and death.
Review: An excellent read. The main character, Celsius Daly, isn’t your usual type of detective. The plot is strong and original, writing is compelling. Very enjoyable, and highly recommended.
Cast in Peril
Title: Cast in Peril
Author: Michelle Sagara
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
It has been a busy few weeks for Private Kaylin Neva. In between angling for a promotion, sharing her room with the last living female Dragon and dealing with more refugees than anyone knew what to do with, the unusual egg she’d been given was ready to hatch. Actually, that turned out to be lucky, because it absorbed the energy from the bomb that went off in her quarters…. So now might be the perfect time to leave Elantra and journey to the West March with the Barrani. If not for the disappearances of citizens in the fief of Tiamaris–disappearances traced to the very Barrani Kaylin will be traveling with…
Review: I started this series with this book, which was actually number eight, so not a very good idea. However, the characters were enthralling, and I started to enjoy their adventures. Ending was a bit abrupt though, and well, it ends on a cliffhanger. I want the next one!
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