Jenny Lind, a high schooler, is kidnapped when she is walking home from school. Initially, the public is very helpful with tips to help find her, but everyone eventually loses any hope of her being alive. Around the same time, Pamela and Martin lose their daughter in an accident. Five years later, Jenny is found hanging from a grotesque metal contraption in the jungle gym of a playground, freshly murdered. And the footage shows that Martin was there the entire time. He is immediately arrested as the key suspect. Detective Joona Linna has been warned by his boss to stay off the case, but he has his doubts, and he eventually uncovers evidence that they have the wrong man, and that this is not an isolated murder. They have a potential serial killer on their hands. It is only a matter of time before more girls are kidnapped and meet the same fate.
The book shuttles from Joona's work in the case, to Pamela and Martin's lives and the danger they face as they try to adopt another daughter, to the state of the many girls who have been kidnapped. Initially, we have no idea why they are being held, and what the killer's motive is. The author keeps us in the dark about the bigger picture, but the conditions those girls live in, and the cruel ways the kidnapper punishes them for something as simple as being thirsty, are described in vivid detail. Escape is impossible, they only have to wait until they make a tiny mistake and are killed, or just die there. My stomach was constantly turning as I read the book, and almost all of the books I had previously thought were scary now seem like cute bedtime stories in comparison. I am not new to crime fiction, but it was my first time reading a book which was purely noir. The dark atmosphere created by the writers sucks even the most optimistic readers into the bottomless pits of cynicism and despair. It is easy enough to believe that no one is ever really safe while reading this book.
The story moves at a breakneck pace. The suspense is at the perfect level; as readers, we do not know much, but we know enough to want to read more. As the plot moves forward, the story only becomes more and more macabre and terrifying. At times, I wondered whether I should abandon this book because it would be too disturbing for me, but I found myself reading on against my own will, watching fearfully through my fingers. That is just proof of how flawless the plot and pace are; they are everything anyone could ever ask for from a thriller.
Of course, the plot is the most important element in this genre, and has been superbly executed by the authors (yes, a husband and wife called Alexander and Alexandra wrote these books under the pseudonym Lars Kepler), but they also spend a fair amount of time establishing every character. Sometimes, I felt like the descriptions of the characters disobeyed the rule of show-don't-tell a little too much for my liking. As a result, although I was not entirely apathetic about the characters, I could care a lot more. The detective had a backstory too, one I did not find myself interested in at all. There were way too many gaps in the information and a lot of the sentiment felt unnecessary. However, I looked up this book after I finished reading and realised it was the eighth book in a series of books featuring Joona Linna. Reading the other books would have added more context to help everything make sense. Apart from the part about Joona, this book can easily be read as a standalone novel. My final thoughts about the characters is that while they were not defined enough to care about a lot, the descriptions were still enough to make the story convincing, and to make the readers want the good characters to succeed. That is all that is really needed from a thriller, in my opinion. Anything more is a bonus.
While the motive was completely unexpected, I was disappointed when I was able to correctly guess who the killer was about seventy or eighty percent into the book. This does not really reflect on the predictability or unpredictability of the writing; I strongly suspect that I have read way too many mysteries to not be able to predict the end after a while, and this certainly is not the first time it's happened. This did not deter me from reading on, though; I had a suspicion, and I could be right or wrong. I was hoping to be wrong, because who doesn't love a good surprise? Unfortunately, I was right, but it was interesting to see how the book reached its conclusion anyway.
The story was also much more thought-provoking than I initially expected. Seeing the way the girls who were kidnapped were treated reminded me again and again how fortunate I am to live the life I have, and how lucky I have been to have lived a sheltered and safe life so far. Fiction is not just entertainment or a way to pass time, after all; it forces us to reflect on ourselves and teaches us to be better people.
For readers who are hardcore crime fiction fans, this book is a must-read. For those who get scared or disturbed more easily, maybe this book is best avoided. I will be coming back for more books in this series, but not right away; recently, I have read more horror and gory thriller books than are good for me. I'm always looking over my shoulder and flinching at every little sound these days ;P Maybe it's time to take a break and read some rom-coms.