This post first published June 10, 2012.
Author: Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis
First Published: January 2010 (English: 11.2011)
Publisher: Soho Press
320 pages (ebook)
This is the June book of the bookclub my friends and I participate
in. It was published into English not too long ago, and seeing how it
was quite popular in its own country (I think it was originally a Danish
book?) I wanted to give it a go. The only other Scandinavian crime
thriller novel I’ve read is, of course, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I love, so I wanted to read more books like it.
The story is about — you guessed it — a boy in a suitcase. Nina is a
bit OCD when it comes to people needing help — and her good friend Karin
from when they were back in nursing school together, needs her help.
Karin’s boss has asked Karin to pick up a suitcase from the train
station, but Karin has enlisted the help of Nina instead. Nina goes to
pick it up, only to find a naked, drugged, but alive, 3 year old boy
inside! Believing her friend must have had a reason for not already
calling the police, Nina decides to take the boy to Karin. However,
Karin’s dead and Nina’s afraid the killer is going to come after her
next. In the meantime, we also have the boy’s mother, Sigita,
frantically trying to find out who has taken her little boy, and why
anybody would want to kidnap him in the first place.
Right from the get-go, this book was an amazing, addictive read. I
had no troubles at all staying engrossed in the plot, and I stayed up
way too late trying to finish it (I think it was 4AM when I did!) It’s
definitely a bit of a mystery novel, although you are not trying to find
out who did what. As the reader, you are already quite aware of who’s
who, and even the bit about Karin dying, well, they make it quite plain
as to who committed that crime. The mystery element of it is not who the
boy is either — that’s very obvious too. No, the mystery part is why one
of the characters wants to kidnap that specific boy, and in finding
that out, you have to piece together how everyone is related to one
another. It’s a bit like solving a puzzle when you already have all the
pieces; you want to find out what the big picture is. And it is quite a
believable story! I mean, the chances of it actually happening might be a
bit rare, but it could happen. I love that realism aspect to it.
I thought the characters were very brilliantly well done, especially
Nina. You have to give a reason as to why any sensible person would not call
the police when they find a drugged, naked boy in a suitcase, and would
actually continue the favor they set out to do even when the friend
dies! Nina can’t say no when someone needs help, so much that it’s
actually almost like a psychological disorder and it completely cripples
her family. I thought that was a good kind of “twist” to her character.
She wants to be a hero, she gets ideas in her head of people praising
her and telling her how appreciative and in her debt they are to her, so
she grits her teeth and continues what she’s doing even if it may lead
to a very dangerous, life-threatening situation. To do what she did, you
need a character who’s not sensible, and Nina and her problem was perfect for it.
The writing was really great too, it was very easy to read. There was
never too much of anything, like descriptions or characters mulling in
their thoughts, which can be quite tedious to read if over done, but I
thought this book did a great job balancing what needs to be said.
Reading this book was like watching a movie in my head, and I loved
every moment. Definitely recommend this book!
My Rating: 5/5
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