Unhinged (Volume 3) (Blix and Ramm) by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger
| Unhinged (Volume 3) (Blix and Ramm) by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Ruth Ng
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| Summary: This story storms along, whirling you up in all the action and keeping you gripped right to the very last page! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 276 | Date: February 2022 |
| Publisher: Orenda Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781914585005 | |
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This is the third book in a series of stories featuring Alexander Blix, a police officer, and Emma Ramm, a crime journalist. In this book we find that when one of Blix's colleagues, Kovic, uncovers a connection between several Oslo cases, she tries to contact her superior, Blix. Before she can reach him, however, she is murdered, and Blix's daughter Iselin who shares the same apartment, narrowly escapes being murdered too. We then find ourselves a few days later with Blix and Ramm who are being interviewed by the National Criminal Investigation Service because Blix has shot and killed someone, and Ramm saw it all happen. What had Kovic discovered? And what did Blix and Ramm uncover that led to Blix killing someone?
I raced through this book at quite a pace. It is very, very readable, and very more-ish. I haven't read the previous two books (something which I really must remedy!) but it didn't hamper my enjoyment as I soon found myself caught up in the tale, engrossed by what was unfolding in front of me. I think knowing the characters would have made everything even more loaded and might have added an extra level of enjoyment, so if you have the time then maybe start at the beginning of the series. But otherwise, this is a great read in itself.
It's a dark story and because of the personal relationships involved it feels like an emotional read too. It's only in recent years that I have stumbled upon the pleasures of Scandi crime and this one felt very accessible, engaging and had a brilliant pace to it. I liked the back and forth nature of seeing them being interviewed intertwined with seeing what had actually happened.
Sometimes time-shifts in stories don't work well, but this one did. Blix and Ramm are both very human, flawed, making mistakes and feeling crippled by guilt whilst we watch them still desperately trying to uncover the truth of what on earth is going on. Blix definitely plays the bigger role in this story, so I'd be interested to see how Ramm features in the earlier books. What I found really remarkable is that I didn't feel any split between where one of the author starts and another takes over. I don't know whether having just one translator smooths that over somewhat, but honestly once I'd started reading I didn't even think about two people having written the story! The translation is really well done too, nothing stilted about it and you forget that this wasn't the original language for the story.
It's a complex plot, with red herrings thrown about, and you need to pay attention to what's happening. I spent most of the book feeling it was a five star read, but then it just stumbled a tiny bit at the end for me. There's a 'wait…what?!' moment (no spoilers!) and after such a masterful story all the way through, I just found that as I went back over what I knew, and what had happened, that I felt a little let down somehow. Don't let this put you off though, it's still a brilliant read!
For more Scandi stories we can also recommend Stieg Larson's books and you might enjoy the Harry Hole stories by Jo Nesbo
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