Tag: contemporary fiction

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

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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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#BookReview They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera @simonschusterUK

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They Both Die at the EndAbout the Book

On September 5th, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: they’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but for different reason, they’re both looking for a new friend on their End Day. The good news: there’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure – to live a lifetime in a single day.

Format: Paperback (368 pages) Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 7th September 2017 Genre: YA, Contemporary Fiction

Find They Both Die at the End on Goodreads

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My Review

This book illustrates the joy of a book club because They Both Die at the End is not a book I would have ever chosen for myself but which I absolutely loved. Other members of the book club had trouble with the whole concept of an organisation like Death-Cast but strangely enough, although I usually shy away from any element of fantasy in a book, this didn’t bother me. I think this was because I just let myself get swept along by the story of Rufus and Mateo.

Obviously it’s a bold move by an author to publish a book with a title that is effectively a spoiler but it’s just one of many clever touches that I really enjoyed. The book switches between the perspectives of Mateo and Rufus over the course of their last day, occasionally interrupted by other characters who come within their orbit, even if that’s only that they passed them in the street or served them in a shop.

The two boys each have their own characters. Mateo is socially awkward, risk averse and solitary by nature (and necessity) but has a loving nature witnessed by the letters he leaves for his neighbours and his reluctance to let his friend Lidia bear the burden of knowing he is going to die. Rufus is more assertive and worldly owing to the fact he has had to be independent from an early age.  However they also have things in common like finding themselves without family. (Mateo’s father, although alive, is in a coma.)

Starting the day as strangers, the pair gradually become friends and eventually close companions as they share a series of experiences akin to a bucket list but one produced in the moment rather than prepared in advance. I liked the way the book distinguished between manufactured ‘fake’ experiences designed for those who’ve received the Death-Cast call and more meaningful real experiences. In the course of the day, the pair begin to take on some of the characteristics of the other;  Rufus encouraging Mateo to be more adventurous but in turn absorbing some of Mateo’s natural generosity.

A book where both characters die at the end sounds like it’s going to be sad to read – and it is really sad at some points – but there’s also humour as well such as some of the responses Mateo receives on the Last Friends app.  I especially enjoyed the Travellers Game Mateo and Rufus play while riding the subway.

If I had to sum up the message of the book it would be carpe diem (seize the day) because you never know if it might be your last.  ‘We never act’, Mateo says. ‘Only react once we realise the clock is ticking.’

In three words: Clever, witty, tender

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Adam SilveraAbout the Author

Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End and More Happy Than Not and History Is All You Left Me and Infinity Son and Infinity Reaper and with Becky Albertalli, What If It’s Us and Here’s to Us. His next book The First to Die at the End releases October 4th, 2022, with the final Infinity Cycle book to follow soon after. He was born in New York and now lives in Los Angeles where he writes full-time. He is tall for no reason. (Bio/photo: Goodreads author page)

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