Blind Goddess (Thorndike Thrillers) - Anne Holt

The good things about "Blind Goddess":

  1. The story is told using some cleverly intersecting timelines in a way that makes the story less linear, increases tension and sustains some useful ambiguity
  2. The action scene - there's only one - not much else really happens, despite there being multiple killings - is well-done.
  3. It's set in Norway so there's snow and lots of polite aggression.

 

Things that made *Blind Goddess" a 2.5 star read:

  1. I didn't care about any of the characters - even when they were the good guys and in mortal danger. The writing was too arms-length - too dependent on an omniscient authorial voice. I felt like I was reading a screenplay.
  2. There was so little tension that, even though the plot is quite clever, I was tempted to give up about halfway through and read something that provoked more than mild curiosity.
  3. What little tension there was depended on unlikely events, like a car failing for no reason or a man being so worried by a vague threat that he suicides.
  4. The relationship between the main police officer and the prosecutor was central to the story and yet, after reading the whole thing, I still didn't know what that relationship was.

My advice: unless you're a true scandi crime fan, wait for the TV adaptation to come out.