THE ICE
BENEATH HER
BENEATH HER
by Camilla Grebe
Published 8th September 2016 / Hardback
£12.99 / E-book Available
Having drawn
comparisons with Jo Nesbo and The Bridge, international anticipation is building for the publication of The
Ice Beneath Her, a spellbinding
and deeply disturbing story
about love, betrayal and obsession.
What does love do to us, and what can love make us do?
Meet Emma Bohman, a timid sales assistant at
Clothes & More, whose life is turned upside down by a chance encounter that
leads to a love affair with the charismatic and controversial CEO, Jesper Orre.
But almost as quickly as the passionate affair ignited,
it was over when Orre inexplicably disappears. Then one frightening thing after
another begins happening to Emma, leaving her certain that her runaway lover is
to blame. Her confusion and heartbreak quickly transforms into anger.
Fast forward two months and a young woman is found beheaded in an upmarket suburban home, a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved murder ten years earlier. But this time there is a suspect: Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found.
Fast forward two months and a young woman is found beheaded in an upmarket suburban home, a brutal crime made all the more disturbing by its uncanny resemblance to an unsolved murder ten years earlier. But this time there is a suspect: Jesper Orre, who owns the home but is nowhere to be found.
|
|
In search of the suspect and a motive, homicide detectives
Peter Lindgren and Manfred Olsson turn to brilliant criminal profiler Hanne
Lagerlind-Schon. Once a valued police asset but now dealing with early onset
dementia, marooned in unhappy retirement and a crumbling marriage, she’s eager
to offer Lindgren and Olsson a window into the secret soul of Jesper Orre.
|
Now, pursuing the same mysterious
man for different reasons, Emma and the police are destined to cross paths in a
chilling dance of obsession, vengeance, madness, and love gone hellishly wrong.
Camilla
Grebe was born near Stockholm. She co-founded audiobook publisher
Storyside. She has written four celebrated crime novels with her sister, Åsa
Träff, about psychologist Siri Bergman, the first two of which were nominated
for Swedish Crime Novel of the Year by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy.
Camilla has also written the popular Moscow Noir trilogy with Paul
Leander-Engström. The Ice Beneath Her is Camilla's debut novel as a solo
author and announces hers as a fresh new voice in suspense writing.
Reviews from the
Danish publication of The Ice Beneath Her:
‘A captivating, thrilling, and
frightening crime novel about failure, infidelity, and the ugliest of
feelings.’
‘I’m still clapping my little
hands with delight after having read this book. Camilla Grebe is spot on, and
as a reader you’re quickly drawn into a story that might as well have taken
place right before your eyes. You wouldn’t suspect any danger before it was too
late. […] There’s something off, a bad feeling in your gut, you guess and guess
and try to find clues in the book to work out the plot. I did not succeed, and
I’m still not convinced everything was quite as it seemed in the end. […] I’m
sure The Ice Beneath Her will delight many crime readers. It has everything it
takes to stand out, and it's just not yet another crime novel in your bookcase.’
‘The stories of the three main
characters melt together during the course of the novel. This structure is
well-known, but I don't think I’ve ever before guessed so wrong as I did while
reading The Ice Beneath Her. The book
is so hard to figure out, which is why this is one of those crime novels that
has kept me awake at night, thinking I might as well squeeze in an extra
chapter in the hopes of bringing clarity to what on earth has happened.’
Reviews from
Swedish publication of The Ice Beneath
Her:
‘The Ice
Beneath Her is a book that holds a lot between its pages. Apart from a
few mysterious disappearances and extremely brutal murders, it’s about the
power and betrayal of men. […] This is a story that holds the shadow-side of
life. The protagonists are at a crossroads. Something simply must happen,
otherwise they’re at risk of breaking apart. Perhaps they’ll break anyway, but
before then they’ll want to fight for some kind of justice.’
‘You plow
through this book at high speed; at times the suspense is unbearable! […] Very
thrilling entertainment.’
‘I devoured it
in one sitting.’
My Review
There is something about Scandinavian thrillers that pierces the soul; perhaps it's the darkness of the winter months that give them a blackness, snow and shorter days physically reflecting the psyche of the protagonists. Whatever it is, Camilla Grebe's 'The ice beneath her' does all that and more. it's a psychological thriller that doesn't need to go into graphic gruesome detail of murder to make its point. Nor is there a sudden twist that makes you think I never saw that coming! Instead we have a psychological analysis of several characters, each with their own demons. The book gathers pace as we red on, leaving us with a satisfying ending that is totally believable. Well-written, well-planned and well-executed, this book will hopefully be the forerunner of more to come. Thoroughly enjoyable if somewhat uncomfortable to read!
5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment