Title: Bad Blood: The Second Intercrime Thriller (Harvill Secker 2013)
Author: Arne Dahl
Tags: #nordicnoir, #scandi, #gothicfiction
Discovered: At the Blenheim Palace Literary Festival (@BlenheimLitFest)
Where read: (In part) On the 280 bus to Oxford
Why read now?: Immerse yourself in this dark and brooding man hunt as the Autumn evenings draw in.
The Word's Shortlist view:
From the title on the dust jacket to the deep crimson red of the front cover spilled blood literally seeps from this novel. Victims with pincer like scars, a psychopathic killer back from the dead travelling by night across time zones - this reads like a macabre slice of modern urban gothic.
Inspector Paul Hjelm and the A-Unit team in Stockholm are pulled into the story following a tip off from the FBI that a serial killer, the presumed dead 'Kentucky Killer', is en route to Arlanda Airport.
Unlike other genre novels set in police departments the team is complex and made up of interesting, slightly odd-ball, characters (particularly Kersten Holm and Jorge Chavez) each with their own unique back stories. Establishing these personalties in the early series is one of the secrets behind the longevity, and devout fan loyalty, of the Intercrime series and TV shows.
The opening chapter, set in Newark Airport, hauls the reader right into the heart of the story. I challenge anyone not to read on after this terrifying prologue in a cleaners closet! Moving on, the pace of the story varies from slow burning plot heavy sections to gory roller coaster sequences with explicit bloodshed.
Nordic crime novels are well know to be equally compelling and chilling but what sets Arne Dahl apart from Larsson, Mankel et al is style and literary accomplishment. With detailed plot points and well crafted characters this is far more than a simple page turner.
Dahl's novels have a implicit cinematic aesthetic that amplifies the fear and anxiety in the writing. This is great story telling in the finest tradition of gothic fiction.
Read Nordic Style's article Pioneer of Nordic Noir: http://www.nordicstylemag.com/2014/10/arne-dahl-pioneer-nordic-noir/
What to read next: The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
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