I have found myself getting more and more into Scandinavian Noir, both in books and in TV Series.
I have to say this is one of the best I’ve read so far, and hopefully will make it to the screen because the plot is fantastic.
Matthew Cave is a Danish journalist living in Nuuk, Greenland.
Sent to cover the discovery of a mummified body in the wilds outside the city he finds a body that may be of historical significance. So why, when it is left in-situ, does it disappear overnight; and why is the Police Officer that is left to guard it killed in a grizzly manner that reflects four murders which occurred 4 decades earlier.
Matthew and his photographer, Greenland Native Malik, begin to look into both sets of murders and it soon become obvious to Matthew that there is some connection.
Nuuk may be the capital of Greenland but it’s like a small town, everybody seems to know everybody, there are no roads in or out of the city. Secrets and alliances abound, as do illicit relationships which encourage abuse.
Then there’s Matthews own past, his American Father that disappeared when he was young, and whose presence always seems to be a shadow in the background.
When Matthew forms a partnership with a young woman, who has just been released from prison for Killing her family, when she was only 11, his life comes under more scrutiny from the Police and Politicians.
Is somebody trying to stop him from getting to the bottom of the murders? Or is it just that they don’t like outsiders.
This book has everything I like about Scandinavian Noir; crimes in close communities, introvert characters, fantastic settings, and hideous crimes.
The book had me reaching for the internet on more than one occasion. The City of Nuuk was an unknown to me, the use of a special tool for skinning whales and seals was new to me, the Greenland folk law was new to me.
So as well as being very entertaining this book educated me. What more can you ask from a good read.
Pages: 352
Publisher: Text Publishing
Available now.
nigeladamsbookworm 