~ VERY ENJOYABLE SWEDISH MYSTERY - WONDERFUL CHARACTERS AND AN INTERESTING PLOT WITH GREAT TWISTS AND TURNS (4 stars) ~
I read my first Åke Edwardson book, Death Angels, a couple of weeks ago, and while I loved the characters and thought the plot was well-done, the delivery of it all and conclusion/explanation definitely fell short for me. That book is in the first in Edwardson's Inspector Erik Winter series, and since there were so many things I liked about it, I decided to try the second one before making my mind up about the author.
Verdict: I'm so glad that I did! THE SHADOW WOMAN had all the positives of DEATH ANGELS - great mystery and wonderful characters - while missing the negatives - feeling completely out of the loop and an abrupt ending. Winter is wonderful and I loved him just as much as I did before; his team appears again in this book and is just as well-written. I am predicting a romance between two of the characters and keeping my fingers crossed that it happens, because it would definitely be an "opposites attract" situation.
Best of all, of course, is that the mystery is actually a good one! One of my Goodreads updates halfway through was: "This book might have an amazing and mind-bending plot ... I'm still too confused to be sure." Having now finished the book, I can happily tell you that it did indeed have some terrific twists and turns - some that I started to guess towards the end and others that caught me *completely* off guard! Edwardson makes the reader just confused enough to make it interesting and keep you guessing, while leaving enough hints to make you eager to read on and see if what you're piecing together might be right. As with DEATH ANGELS we're given different POVs throughout the book, though Winter's is the main one. This includes the victim(s)' and perpetrator(s)', though these are obviously quite obscure and don't always make sense when you read them, gaining new meaning as you get further in the story.
I do have to say that I am still not completely sure I understand why the female victim did what she did when she did it (I'm referring to the actions that precipitate her death), but I have a feeling that may be something in terms of detail that was lost in translation. It is laid out for us, but I was nonetheless left with a few questions.
Having developed a little reader's crush on Winter and not being completely in love with his girlfriend, the only thing that's keeping me from wanting to read the other books is that I know from summaries that their relationship gets increasingly serious. When we start the series, Winter is dating Angela, yet still getting postcards from other girlfriends and considering sleeping with other women. We rarely see her and when we do, it almost always involves them having sex and sometimes includes a minor conversation, so I think it's no wonder that I don't really feel a connection with her. She's somewhat of a flat character and slightly boring.
Winter's sister and parents have roughly the same on-page time as Angela, however they all come off as three-dimensional characters. There's a tension between Winter and his father that is as-yet unexplained, though we're getting more info with each successive book.
On to the next in the series!
CHIEF INSPECTOR ERIK WINTER SERIES:
(As of May 2011, only books 1-5 have been translated into English)
Book 1 - Death Angels
Book 2 - The Shadow Woman
Book 3 - Sun and Shadow
Book 4 - Never End
Book 5 - Frozen Tracks
Book 6 - Segel aus Stein
Book 7 - Zimmer Nr. 10
Book 8 - Vänaste land
Book 9 - Nästan död man
Book 10 - Den sista vintern
NOTE: I do think this is one of those series that doesn't have to be read in order, but is more enjoyable if you do.
I read my first Åke Edwardson book, Death Angels, a couple of weeks ago, and while I loved the characters and thought the plot was well-done, the delivery of it all and conclusion/explanation definitely fell short for me. That book is in the first in Edwardson's Inspector Erik Winter series, and since there were so many things I liked about it, I decided to try the second one before making my mind up about the author.
Verdict: I'm so glad that I did! THE SHADOW WOMAN had all the positives of DEATH ANGELS - great mystery and wonderful characters - while missing the negatives - feeling completely out of the loop and an abrupt ending. Winter is wonderful and I loved him just as much as I did before; his team appears again in this book and is just as well-written. I am predicting a romance between two of the characters and keeping my fingers crossed that it happens, because it would definitely be an "opposites attract" situation.
Best of all, of course, is that the mystery is actually a good one! One of my Goodreads updates halfway through was: "This book might have an amazing and mind-bending plot ... I'm still too confused to be sure." Having now finished the book, I can happily tell you that it did indeed have some terrific twists and turns - some that I started to guess towards the end and others that caught me *completely* off guard! Edwardson makes the reader just confused enough to make it interesting and keep you guessing, while leaving enough hints to make you eager to read on and see if what you're piecing together might be right. As with DEATH ANGELS we're given different POVs throughout the book, though Winter's is the main one. This includes the victim(s)' and perpetrator(s)', though these are obviously quite obscure and don't always make sense when you read them, gaining new meaning as you get further in the story.
I do have to say that I am still not completely sure I understand why the female victim did what she did when she did it (I'm referring to the actions that precipitate her death), but I have a feeling that may be something in terms of detail that was lost in translation. It is laid out for us, but I was nonetheless left with a few questions.
Having developed a little reader's crush on Winter and not being completely in love with his girlfriend, the only thing that's keeping me from wanting to read the other books is that I know from summaries that their relationship gets increasingly serious. When we start the series, Winter is dating Angela, yet still getting postcards from other girlfriends and considering sleeping with other women. We rarely see her and when we do, it almost always involves them having sex and sometimes includes a minor conversation, so I think it's no wonder that I don't really feel a connection with her. She's somewhat of a flat character and slightly boring.
Winter's sister and parents have roughly the same on-page time as Angela, however they all come off as three-dimensional characters. There's a tension between Winter and his father that is as-yet unexplained, though we're getting more info with each successive book.
On to the next in the series!
CHIEF INSPECTOR ERIK WINTER SERIES:
(As of May 2011, only books 1-5 have been translated into English)
Book 1 - Death Angels
Book 2 - The Shadow Woman
Book 3 - Sun and Shadow
Book 4 - Never End
Book 5 - Frozen Tracks
Book 6 - Segel aus Stein
Book 7 - Zimmer Nr. 10
Book 8 - Vänaste land
Book 9 - Nästan död man
Book 10 - Den sista vintern
NOTE: I do think this is one of those series that doesn't have to be read in order, but is more enjoyable if you do.
