Title: Watching You
Expected
publication: 6 July 2017
Synopsis (Goodreads):
Someone is watching.
At each abandoned crime scene there's a hidden clue: a tiny metal cog, almost invisible to the naked eye. Someone is sending Detective Sam Berger a message, someone who knows that only he will understand the cryptic trail.
Someone knows.
When another teenaged girl disappears without trace, Sam must convince his superiors that they’re dealing with a serial killer. As the police continue the hunt to find the latest victim, Sam is forced to unearth long-buried personal demons. He has no choice if he is to understand the killer's darkly personal message before time runs out.
Somebody is killing just for him.
At each abandoned crime scene there's a hidden clue: a tiny metal cog, almost invisible to the naked eye. Someone is sending Detective Sam Berger a message, someone who knows that only he will understand the cryptic trail.
Someone knows.
When another teenaged girl disappears without trace, Sam must convince his superiors that they’re dealing with a serial killer. As the police continue the hunt to find the latest victim, Sam is forced to unearth long-buried personal demons. He has no choice if he is to understand the killer's darkly personal message before time runs out.
Somebody is killing just for him.
My thoughts:
"The aspen leaves are trembling."
And so will you .....
Wow! What a wild emotional rollercoaster ride this book
turned out to be! Whilst some of the opening scenes were somewhat dark and
confronting, I was settling in to read what I thought would be a fairly typical
Scandinavian murder / mystery. And for a while, the story seemed to flow along
a well-trodden path, as detectives Berger and Deer follow a lead to a derelict
farmhouse where they hope to find a missing 15-year-old girl who they fear has fallen
into the hands of a depraved predator. But they are too late. The house is
empty and booby-trapped, with only a blood-splattered wall as evidence that the
girl may have been held – and tortured – there. Worse still, Berger is
convinced that the case is linked to the disappearances of two other teenage
girls, who may have been taken by the same perpetrator. Can he make a
connection between the cases and find them before it is too late?
“Time wasn’t on his side.”
Tic-toc, the clock is ticking! Clocks and time feature
largely in this extremely clever and breath-taking thriller, written by a
master of the genre. It was about there that the novel took a completely
unexpected turn, even though there had been tiny clues like a trail of
breadcrumbs leading up to this point, which I had totally overlooked, too
comfortable in my assumptions. Until the rug was pulled out from under my feet
so completely that it felt like falling headlong into an abyss. WHAT
THE...?!?!?! Suddenly the whole world I had created in my mind came tumbling
down. Who could I trust? What was real and what was merely a figment of my own complacency?
Could I take anything for granted in this novel?
I loved how a large percentage of the action played out in
tense and lively dialogue, which served to draw me deeply into the story almost
immediately and created a movie-like imagery which haunted me even when I was
not actively reading. This is a fast-paced novel, with non-stop action and some
confronting scenes that will follow you into your nightmares. I read that Dahl
was once quoted as saying that he didn’t want to dwell on evil but wanted to
understand its roots in the past. Which is exactly the route Berger takes when
trying to track down this perpetrator, and may be one of the things that sets
this novel apart from your average murder / mystery. Whilst it certainly gets
the adrenaline pumping, it also contains some deep and terribly sad scenes that
challenge your own ideals and beliefs like only an author with a solid
understanding of the human psyche can pull off.
There was nothing to
fault in this masterful novel, one of the best I have read in a long time. How is
it possible that I have not come across this author before now? A must-read for
any lover of the murder / mystery genre, and readers who enjoy Scandinavian
fiction at its finest. Try to let go of all expectations and preconceptions –
this is a writer who has made it his mission to avoid formulaic writing and
prefers endings that leave the reader thinking after closing the book. Which it
certainly did! And since the last paragraph – despite the final shot aimed
straight at the reader’s heart – opens the door for a re-appearance of our
detective duo in future novels, I will definitely be watching this space!
Watching You has previously been released in other
languages, but unfortunately we will have to wait until July to find it on our
shelves. Put it on your wishlist today!
Thank you to
Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of
this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Quotes:
He stepped into the valley of the shadow of death. He
stopped on the hall mat with his whole body dripping. He could feel water
trickling down his face, neck, ears, scurrying downward. It was like his whole
body was weeping.
Intuition is nothing but a concentration of experience.
“I’d sanitised my memories.” “That’s how we survive,” Blom
said.
All light was an illusion, a reassuring veneer of lies that
allows us to live, gives us the strength to become adults.
Carpe motherfucking diem.
If you are multi-lingual, you can access this title now (click on covers for details):
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