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On the floor of a church in northern Sweden, the body of a man lies mutilated and defiled-and in the night sky, the aurora borealis dances as the snow begins to fall . . . So begins �sa Larsson's spellbinding thriller, winner of Sweden's Best First Crime Novel Award and an international literary sensation. Rebecka Martinsson is heading home to Kiruna, the town she'd left in disgrace years before. A Stockholm attorney, Rebecka has a good reason to return: her friend Sanna, whose brother has been horrifically murdered in the revivalist church his charisma helped create. Beautiful and fragile, Sanna needs someone like Rebecka to remove the shadow of guilt that is engulfing her, to forestall an ambitious prosecutor and a dogged policewoman. But to help her friend, and to find the real killer of a man she once adored and is now not sure she ever knew, Rebecka must relive the darkness she left behind in Kiruna, delve into a sordid conspiracy of deceit, and confront a killer whose motives are dark, wrenching, and impossible to guess.… (more)
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The ambience of the story--northern Sweden in winter--is very well done, but that’s about the extent of what I found good about the book. The plot--involving fundamentalist fanatics, is adequate but the resolution is hardly believable. The writing does not help, consisting as it does of flat, declarative statements for the most part. The characters are stick figures and basically uninteresting. And to top it all of, there is a gratuitous animal killing that does nothing for the plot except add to the horror; I am rather tired of authors who seem to know no other way for upping tension besides animal torture and/or murder. The good ones know how to do it without using that device.
This is the first of a series that I intend to avoid.
The detectives investigating Victor's murder are the heavily pregnant Anna-Maria Mella, who is supposed to be on desk duty until the birth of her child, Sven-Erik Stalnacke, her deputy who will be covering for her maternity leave, and their obnoxious, publicity seeking boss, Carl von Post. The empathy of Anna-Maria and Sven-Erik for Rebecka and Sanna allows the truth of Victor's death gradually to be realized, rather than being brushed under the carpet by the church officials and von Post. To find out what really happened, Rebecka has to come to terms with her own past and the hypocrisy of the pastors.
The story shifts between past and present, rural and city values, old times and modern relationships, are are told in a very compelling way. The story that emerges is well told, believable and intriguing throughout. I plan to pick up the next in the series, The Blood Spilt.
Savage Altar features a young tax lawyer, Rebecka Martinsson, who returns to her home town when a man
Larsson has a great eye for descriptive detail which made it easy to sink into the unfamiliar environment, weather and culture. She’s also a dab hand at building a level of suspense with both the present day murder and the story of Rebecka’s past and the reason she left the town years earlier. The book is deliciously unpredictable: I don’t think there’s anyone I didn’t suspect of being the killer at some point or other, and totally un-putdownable which is evidenced by the fact I barely saved it from a dunking as I tried to read while washing the dishes.
Apparently there’s a second book in this series being published this year and I can’t wait for it to be translated into English.
I didn't really like this book very much
As for the police, Sven-Erik supposedly resented Anna-Maria when she got the job he wanted, but now that she is about to go on maternity leave he is ridiculously clingy and reluctant to take charge. Not that the police do much investigating, allowing all and sundry to get away with refusing to be questioned, and they are apparently unsure of the law, asking each other whether it would be possible to get a conviction if they can't find the murder weapon.
I had great hopes for this
The language is understated, and the portrayed characters and their complex relationships very cleanly presented, without any extraneous telling needed.
Rebecka Martinsson is a hardworking tax attorney in Stockholm who
Rebeckas return to Kiruna dredges up old sorrows and conflicts. The reader is shown bits and pieces of them and put together they paint a depressing and accurate picture of the people surrounding the murder and the society it takes place in.
The 'investigation' Rebecka does is more akin to the noir PI style of poking anything that moves and wait for the explosion, than any sophisticated detecting and collection of clues and development of theories.
The language is sparse, yet it soars and is at turns poetic and concise. The writing has a delicate touch, and with a few wellchosen words the people and their relationships spring to life.
The novel reminds me of the movie Frago, with the desolate countryside covered in snow, and the heavily pregnant police officer.
Translated by Marlaine Delargy, 2007, 307 pages
Originally published as SUN STORM in the USA
A body lies on the floor of the Crystal Church in Kiruna in Northern Sweden. The church is the home of the pentecostal cult The Source of All Our Strength, and the handless,
Stockholm tax lawyer Rebecka Martinsson gets a pleading phone call from the victim's sister Sanna, and she hurries home to Kiruna. Rebecka is very familiar with The Source of All Our Strength: she was once a member, and knew Viktor well. Rebecka's boss is not best pleased by her decision to fly to Sanna's help, but she has misunderstood his motives.
The police investigating team consists of the newly appointed Inspector Sven-Erik Stalnacke, the woman he is replacing, the very heavily pregnant, near-term Anna-Maria Mella, and pompous Assistant Chief Prosecutor Carl van Post.
Rebecka Martinnson left Kiruna under a cloud, the reasons for which are gradually revealed as the investigation unfolds. The management of the pentecostal church is not all it should be, and the dynamics that brought it growth and fame are also part of the factors undermining it.
I enjoyed this book immensely. There are many things that I could mention: excellent characterisation, and feeling of place; the human interest element provided by Mella's approaching confinement; a skilful interlacing of back-story and story advancement.
Read an extract and an interview on the Penguin site.
On the final page of the book the author promises that "Rebecka Martinsson will be back, she's not that easy to get rid of. Just give her time." THE SAVAGE ALTAR has been announced as the first of a series of six, featuring Martinsson.
Due out on 1 May 2008 THE BLOOD SPILT.
Probably the best part of Larsson's writing is how descriptive she is with people and places. I especially liked how flawed and broken most of her characters were.