Category: Reviews

#WWWWednesday – 23rd February 2022

whatcathyreadnext8 Comments

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

These DaysThese Days by Lucy Caldwell (Faber & Faber via Readers First)

Two sisters, four nights, one city.

April, 1941. Belfast has escaped the worst of the war – so far. Over the next two months, it’s going to be destroyed from above, so that people will say, in horror, My God, Belfast is finished. Many won’t make it through, and no one who does will remain unchanged.

Following the lives of sisters Emma and Audrey – one engaged to be married, the other in a secret relationship with another woman – as they try to survive the horrors of the four nights of bombing which were the Belfast Blitz, These Days is a timeless and heart-breaking novel about living under duress, about family, and about how we try to stay true to ourselves.

Love in a Time of War final revisedLove in a Time of War by Adrienne Chinn (One More Chapter)

Three sisters
The Great War
The end of innocence…

In 1913, in a quiet corner of London, the three Fry sisters are coming of age, dreaming of all the possibilities the bright future offers. But when war erupts their innocence is shattered and a new era of uncertainty begins.

Cecelia loves Max but his soldier’s uniform is German, not British, and suddenly the one man she loves is the one man she can’t have.

Jessie enlists in the army as a nurse and finally finds the adventure she’s craved when she’s sent to Gallipoli and Egypt, but it comes with an unimaginable cost.

Etta elopes to Capri with her Italian love, Carlo, but though her growing bump is real, her marriage certificate is a lie.

As the three sisters embark on journeys they never could have imagined, their mother Christina worries about the harsh new realities they face, and what their exposure to the wider world means for the secrets she’s been keeping… 

Recently finished

Unhinged by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, trans. by Megan Turney (Orenda Books)

The Matchmaker: A Spy in Berlin by Paul Vidich (No Exit Press)

The One by Claire Frost (Simon & Schuster) 

Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn (William Collins)

Ghosts of Spring by Luis Carrasco (époque press) 

A young girl, anonymous and ignored, sits through a cold, hard west-country winter, begging for change and searching for a warm place to sleep.

Ghosts of Spring explores one girl’s desire to transcend the limits of her environment and forge a new life against all the odds.  (Review to follow)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Lean On MeLean On Me by Serge Joncour, trans. by Louise Rogers Lalaurie and Jane Aitken (Gallic Books) 

When a flock of crows invades their shared apartment block, farmer-turned-debt collector Ludovic and fashion designer Aurore speak for the first time. With nothing but the birds in common, the two are destined for separate lives, yet are drawn inexplicably together.

Though their story is set in Paris, the tale of Ludovic and Aurore is far from an idyllic romance. With one trapped in an unhappy marriage and the other lost in grief, the city of love has brought each of them only isolation and pain. As Aurore faces losing her business and Ludovic questions the ethics of his job, they begin a passionate affair. Love between such different people seems doomed to failure, but for these two unhappy souls trapped in ruthless worlds, perhaps loving one another is the greatest form of resistance.

From the award winning author of Wild Dog, Lean on Me explores the realities of unlikely love, and how connection and intimacy offer us an escape from all that is harsh and cold in our modern day lives.

#BlogTour #BookReview Unhinged by Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst @RandomTTours @OrendaBooks

whatcathyreadnext3 Comments

Unhinged Blog Tour BannerjpgWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Unhinged by Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Megan Turney. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Orenda Books for my digital review copy. Do check out the review by my tour buddy for today Claire at bookreviewsforu.

UnhingedAbout the Book

His colleague is dead. His daughter may be next. It’s time to do things his way…

When police investigator Sofia Kovic uncovers a startling connection between several Oslo murder cases, she attempts to contact her closest superior, Alexander Blix before involving anyone else in the department. But before Blix has time to return her call, Kovic is shot and killed in her own home – execution style. And in the apartment below, Blix’s daughter Iselin narrowly escapes becoming the killer’s next victim.

Four days later, Blix and online crime journalist Emma Ramm are locked inside an interrogation room, facing the National Criminal Investigation Service. Blix has shot and killed a man, and Ramm saw it all happen.

As Iselin’s life hangs in the balance, under-fire Blix no longer knows who he can trust … and he’s not even certain that he’s killed the right man…

Format: Paperback (276 pages)           Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication date: 17th February 2022 Genre: Crime, Contemporary Fiction

Find Unhinged (Alexander Blix & Emma Raam #3) on Goodreads

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My Review

Described by the Sunday Times as ‘An exercise in literary tag-teaming from two of Norway’s biggest crime writers with a bold new take’, Unhinged is the third in the authors’ crime series featuring police investigator Alexander Blix and young news blogger Emma Ramm. I haven’t read either of the previous two books in the series and I’m kicking myself for not having done so now because there are too many references to events in the earlier books to make it worthwhile. However, that does mean Unhinged can definitely be read as a standalone.

The book opens with Blix being questioned about how and why he came to shoot a man whose identity he claims not to have known. The story then alternates between Blix’s interrogation and descriptions of the events which led up to that moment, including how his daughter, Iselin, came to become involved. As the book demonstrates, actions have consequences – often unintended – and the results can be life-changing. A dramatic event part way through the book threatens to destroy Blix and Emma’s relationship irreparably, a relationship already complicated by their past experiences. It also makes Blix reflect on actions he’s taken in the past, wondering if his interventions have done more harm than good and sending him into a spiral of depression that sees him lonely, isolated and in a very dark place. He is emotionally ‘unhinged’.

Meanwhile, Emma’s journalistic instincts see her continue to investigate just why someone might have wanted to kill Sofia Kovic. What did Sofia know that would make her a target for an execution style killing?  Perhaps someone else out there is also ‘unhinged’ but in a much more destructive way?

At one point Blix describes his approach to a new case: ‘He always looked for things like this in an investigation. Discrepancies. Things that didn’t quite fit.’ When reading crime fiction this reader is the same but the authors are masters in the art of inserting red herrings and laying false trails that you can’t resist following but which usually result in a dead end. The book is full of ‘I can’t believe you just did that’ and ‘I wasn’t expecting that’ moments along with a few ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Blix’ and ‘I definitely don’t think that’s a good idea, Emma’.

The ending of the book had me cursing and wiping away tears at the same time. But after all, as Thomas Enger confides in the authors’ acknowledgments  – which, by the way, is sheer genius – ‘I know all about cliffhangers’.

Thanks to Orenda Books and the skill of translator Megan Turney, English speaking crime fans can enjoy another fabulous helping of Nordic Noir.  I’m not a fan of the word ‘unputdownable’ and I’m not going to use it now (okay, I just have) but the deliciously complex plot and relentless pace of Unhinged makes it the perfect one sitting read. It’s brilliant.

In three words: Taut, compelling, intense

Try something similar: A Memory for Murder by Anne Holt

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About the Authors

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are the internationally bestselling Norwegian authors of the William Wisting and Henning Juul series respectively.

A former investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense. Thomas Enger is a journalist-turned-author whose trademark has become a darkly gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer.

Death Deserved was Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller, closely followed by Smoke Screen, and the series has sold more than two million copies worldwide, outselling Jo Nesbo in their native Norway, Sweden and Germany.

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