Midnight Sun - Jo Nesbø

My review of Jo Nesbø's Midnight Sun first appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers. I am posting it today with their permission. Hope you enjoy.

First line: "How are we to start this story?"

Jo Nesbø's narrator in this standalone thriller is running from The Fisherman, a powerful drug lord with eyes everywhere. He knows it is only a matter of time until he is found, but figures Kåsund, a small village in the far north of Norway, is as good a place to hide as any.

Introducing himself as Ulf, up from Oslo to hunt grouse, the narrator meets Lea and her precocious son, Knut, when they discover him sleeping in the church. Lea loans Ulf her husband's rifle since he has nothing to hunt with and shows him a small cabin in the woods where he can stay. Time alone in the secluded shack affords Ulf the opportunity to reflect on the past he's trying to escape. But he also spends time with the newly widowed Lea and grows fond of young Knut. Those familiar with a Nesbø novel know serenity can only be short lived, and it isn't long before Kåsund's visiting hunter becomes the hunted.

Midnight Sun is short, swift and thoroughly captivating. The author of the Harry Hole series continues his trend of well-crafted, surprising plots populated by complex, haunted characters. Midnight Sun offers several superb plot twists as well as strong symbolism, like the 24-hour sunlight offering no darkness in which to hide, and well-placed humor. The relationship dynamics of Kåsund's colorful citizens adds to the suspense and illustrates Nesbø's skill for rich, dimensional characters, regardless of their role. Ulf is arguably one of Nesbø's finest; his return would certainly be welcome.

Midnight Sun is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780385354202) from Knopf and as an unabridged audiobook (ISBN: 9780553545999), narrated by Kim Gordon from Random House Audio.

  

   

After the Crash - Michel Bussi

My review of After the Crash first appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers. I am posting it today with their permission. Hope you enjoy...I sure did!

First line: "The Airbus 5403, flying from Istanbul to Paris, suddenly plummeted."

Suspense runs high in Michel Bussi's U.S. debut, After the Crash. When a plane goes down in the Swiss Alps on December 23, 1980, one passenger survives, a three-month-old girl. But there were two female infants aboard the plane, and extenuating circumstances leave no reliable witness to identify whether the child is Lyse-Rose of the wealthy de Carville couple or Emilie of the struggling middle class Vitral family.

As the defenseless child waits helplessly in a hospital unit, the two families battle for custody of the baby. The court is charged with determining her identity, and despite all the money the de Carville family pours into experts decrying the girl is theirs, the judge decides she is Emilie Vitral. Unsatisfied with the results, the de Carville family hires Crédule Grand-Duc, a mercenary-turned-private investigator, to find the incontrovertible truth. He has 18 years to do so--until Lyse-Rose's eighteenth birthday. On the eve of that fateful day Grand-Duc is posed to commit suicide. He has failed. And then, gun in hand, he discovers the clue that will confirm the girl's identity beyond any doubt.

Fast-paced and action-packed, this thriller is adrenaline pumping. Bussi offers a smart, complex mystery with plenty of plausible twists and surprises. His choice of timing allows him to employ DNA with a creatively climatic flare. And his characters embody rich, distinct personalities. All of these elements combined with a strong translation from Sam Taylor make for an engrossing story that's almost impossible to put down.

After the Crash is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780316309677) from Hachette and as an unabridged audiobook (ISBN: 9781478910473), narrated by Daniel Philpott from Hachette Audio.

  

   

The Investigation - J.M. Lee

Sorry for the sporadic posts this month. Work has been keeping me extra busy, and this review is past due for me to have it posted. My review of J.M. Lee's The Investigation first appeared as a starred review in Shelf Awareness for Readers. I am posting it here today with their permission. You're very likely to see this one on my end of the year favorites list! Hope you enjoy...

First line: "Life may not have a purpose."

A deeply touching tribute to the power of art marks Korean author J.M. Lee's first publication in the United States. The Investigation, inspired by a true story, centers on the narrator's probe into the murder of a fellow guard at Japan's Fukuoka Prison during World War II.

Sugiyama Dozen, a veteran of the Kwantung Army, patrols Ward Three with an iron fist--and a wooden club--instilling fear in the Korean prisoners housed there. He also serves as the censor. "Sugiyama considered this silent war in his office the most valuable of them all. Books and records marched forward like enemy soldiers, and within them he found the enemy that gnawed through our healthy empire like a swarm of moths."

When Sugiyama is found hanging naked with a steel stake through his heart, young guard Watanabe Yuichi is assigned the investigation as well as Sugiyama's censoring duties. Through a combination of these tasks, Watanabe uncovers a poet, a pianist, a young kite-flyer and a silent hero, each creating hope and beauty in a devastatingly hideous war.

With stunning language--enhanced by an insightful translation, painfully resonating characters and breath-catching suspense, Lee crafts a gripping, complex tale of literature's ability to transform and unite those it touches, even in the darkest of times. His story pays homage to Korean history, but his characters, their experiences and emotions are universal.

Sculpted from grotesque circumstances, The Investigation is a marvelous work of art. This is a book to savor from beginning to end.

The Investigation is available in hardcover from Pegasus Books (9781605988467).