| Title | : | Summer Death (Malin Fors #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1451642547 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781451642544 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 464 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2008 |
In the midst of the hottest summer anyone can recall, a sweltering heat wave and raging forest fires plague the small Swedish burg of Linköping. Things get especially hot for police superintendent Malin Fors when a teenage girl is found naked and bleeding in a city park, incapable of recollecting how she came to such a state. Then, the corpse of a teenage girl turns up on a lakeside beach. For Malin, the divorced, thirty-four-year-old mother of a teenage daughter, the case is more than an explosive nightmare in a season of fire—it’s personal.
Dark and brooding, with a protagonist that has earned Kallentoft’s novels a global readership, Summer Death is crime fiction at the cutting edge.
Summer Death (Malin Fors #2) Reviews
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Custa-me bastante classificar um livro como mau. Bem,mais,na verdade,que o que custou lê-lo.
Mas não consigo melhorar a opinião que tenho deste. Seja qual for a perspectiva com que o olhe.
Não aderi há tanto tempo quanto isso aos prazeres dos livros policiais. Foi género que de uma forma sobranceira eu ignorei durante a maior parte da minha vida de leitor. Depois,um dia,percebi que estava enganado. E gosto de me entregar a um desses,de vez em quando.
O problema,neste caso,não é de género. O problema é extenso.
O tom é excessivo e de uma aproximação poética que me soa descabida e patética. O ritmo entrecortado com que se busca uma originalidade á custa de uma constante fuga de ideias. A pobreza temática. A inconsistência das personagens. A inverosimilhanca de algumas situações,que pontuam a tremenda banalidade de todo o enredo. A permanente mudança de narrador. A frequência do recurso à terceira pessoa.
Custa me bastante entender que existam 2 mil páginas disto. E custa me particularmente que eu as tenha todas nas minhas estantes.
Pior,este é o segundo volume. Faltam três. E eu sei que daqui a uns anos vou voltar a tentar. Porque sou teimoso e odeio a ideia de deixar obras a meio.
E a ideia de ouvir as consciências/vozes pós mortem?! Pensei que era bizarria do primeiro volume,mas afinal não.
Há muita gente a gostar de kalentoft. Se calhar não é para mim.
Já só me faltam mil e poucas páginas... -
Nowhere near as annoying as most other books I've given two stars. But between approx pp.150-400 the description that mostly sprang to mind was 'fundamentally unconvincing'. And as for the following denouement and revelations about the killer, that was of the order 'I'm reading the sort of sensationalist trash I've only heard about second hand', and also completely fucking ridiculous. I've sometimes heard people say they weren't fazed or disgusted by a violent fictional scene because it was too absurdly baroque and over the top; can't remember if or when I'd experienced that before, but I did here. It was all the easier to be detached from it because of being unconvinced by that character committing those crimes in that way for the stated reasons. It didn't seem remotely real. I did ask myself
The writing is better than might be expected for this tacky plot, although its literary reflectiveness can get overwrought and repetitive, and made me a little less warm to detective Malin Fors this time round (though I've read plenty less likeable investigators). The prose style sat oddly with crime fiction cliches such as that case that reminds the detective of their kid, and then, you guessed it...
As in the previous book in the series, the politics lean a little more rightwards than in other Nordic thrillers I've read, and the theme of characters unable to escape damaged upbringings became, cumulatively, heavy handed; Kallentoft also seems less condemnatory of police brutality than some Scandi authors.
A more unusual motif repeats itself in the sex crimes in both books; this led to half an eyebrow raise, until I recalled another series where the first and second books are also similar, for different reasons - Asa Larsson's Rebecka Martinsson novels featuring two religious-themed murders.
And before things became increasingly silly towards the end of the book, there were quite a few observations about human nature I disagreed with, not enough to want to argue with - just recognition of being on a different wavelength.
There was also rather a glaring mistake in an item around which the whole case was constructed.
The book did attempt to explore an interesting situation without using typical jargon: ingroup trying to deal tactfully with outgroups and not being very good at it. (It laid it on a bit thick with the unlikely variety of minorities here; at one stage, suspects included men of Arab descent, an isolated butch lesbian who was abused as a child, and a woman who'd been in a Bosnian prison camp) but ultimately this didn't really go anywhere except illustrating clumsiness and faux pas by police officers who meant well but were clueless.
I'd still quite like to find out the conclusion of one of the cases from the first book, which apparently appears in book five - but after this one, I'm less enthusiastic about the series as a whole. -
I've said it before and I'm going to say it again - Mons Kallentoft is a true artist with words and he really makes an impact on you.
That being said, I was kind of disappointed with this one.
First of all, Malin Fors totally steals the show.
Her inner struggle with herself, her thoughts, feelings, hopes and fears hook you in such a way that there is no space for anything else.
That can be a good thing, but it also sucks.
This is a thriller/mystery, after all, and you're supposed to be invested in who was killed, who is the killer, how, why and so on. That didn't happened with me. Usually, when I got to the parts about the investigation, I would get a bit bored.
Also, I found some of the events who happened in the book ridiculous.
How do you have teenage girls being raped by someone with a dildo and then killed and you immediately jump to the conclusion that the perp is a dildo-wielding, crazed lesbian?
Let me guess the logic - victims raped with a sex toy, lesbians like women, women don't have penises, so they have to find other ways to play, therefore the killer must be a lesbian with a penchant for kinky toys.
This is making me laugh now, but when I read it I was offended in the name of all lesbian women. Statements like these don't do the world any good. -
Que confusão!
Páginas de monólogos que se arrastam e que em nada contribuem para a construção das personagens, parecendo a voz de uma tia velhota, amarga e preconceituosa.
Erros que poderiam ser evitados na revisão de texto, nomeadamente entre os capítulos 17 e 21 em que a acção ora decorre em junho ora em julho.
O enredo não tem absolutamente nada de interessante e as motivações do assassino são fracas e não convencem.
O volume anterior não era nenhuma obra de arte, mas lia-se bem. Este foi só tortura. Mas talvez seja uma nova literatura policial: torturar os leitores até à morte. -
Missing the half stars used on other pages: it would be 3.5. Thanks to Ancestral's opinion I changed my view of this book. At the beginning, the switching from Ich- to Er-Erzählung was really bothering me as I didn't grasp who was speaking at certain moments. Once you get used to it, you'll (probably) enjoy the book. The plot is well constructed (although nothing new, but on the other hand, what is new in fiction/this world?). The author's style is quite specific: short elliptical sentences that may remind a reader of stream of consciousness (but this may be an overstatement for some critics). The end not too sentimental. But I don't agree with The Guardian that Malin is "one of the best-realised female heroines I've ever read by a male writer" as I had a constant feeling Malin is a man or at least she thinks and acts like one.
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The second in this series. I do object to publishers trying to claim that a writer is better than another as they all have their strengths. Kallentoft has more in common with Henning Mankell than others cited on the cover.
Again there is a touch of magical realism as the 'voice' of the murdered girl does give her perspective.
The weather is also a character in its own right. 'Midwinter Sacrifice' highlighted the cold, here it is a freak summer heatwave that has the characters' brains melting as they struggle to solve the case.
As UK has been having a heatwave I found this at times difficult to read as even if the weather has cooled some reading the story reminded me of it.
Terrific mystery and now all four of the series are in English I hope to read them all. -
Recension:
ZellysBokhylla -
Didn't enjoy this as much as the first in the series, will still perservere with the rest, but hope there isn't the annoying victim/'s voice trying to communicate with Malin, irritating in the first book, more so in this. Also don't really understand why a flaking blue painted d**** had to feature so much, do painted ones actually exist?? Unnecessary Mons!!
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Typical crime fiction and generally no better or worse than the average detective novel, but I found the writing really irritating. Characterisation is flat and makes it difficult to care about anyone involved, including the final victim. Will not be reading any more in this series.
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3.5⭐️
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He's an impressive writer, but I think I liked books 1 and 4 of the Malin Fors series better (this one's 2). I appreciate the suspense, the strong characterizations, the insight that child abuse may cause some children to grow up into truly whacko criminals if they don't off themselves first. But how much child abuse can one stand to read about? And although the author's descriptive powers are great, I did get tired of hearing how hot it was the summer the murders occurred -- every few sentences, a new way of saying it's bloody hot.
What is distinctive about this typically gruesome Scandinavian author is that the endings reliably hold something positive. One way he accomplishes that is through the unusual conversations of the deceased (sometimes not yet deceased, just in grave danger), as our intuitive detective tries to get a sense of what the victims are telling her. It's not that she really hears them, but we do, and their words seem to nudge her in a subliminal way. Then, when the mysteries are solved, the voices of the dead express comfort and peace. So this tamps down the effects of the gruesomeness a bit, but why Scandinavian mystery writers need the gruesomeness in the first place is beyond me. And I think I will take a break before wallowing in book 3. -
As much as I enjoy Nordic Noir/Scandinavian crime fiction, I am not enjoying Mons Kallentoft's take on it. I did not find anything really "thrilling" about this thriller.
His main character, Malin Fors, seems to always have her head screwed on a little sideways, and half the time she can't seem to keep herself together much less have the brains to solve a crime. This can work if the author can make you care about the protagonist and understand why s/he crawls into a bottle, has demons, etc. But, I didn't really get the sense that Malin has that much dark matter in her life.
She spends way too much time mooning over her ex-husband and thinking about how to deal with her teenage daughter than she really spends thinking about the case at hand.
The little trope of having the victims "speak" to the reader was done a little better in this translation than the first book in the series, but I still found it rather annoying...especially when multiple bodies chimes in.
The most interesting thing about this book was the weather, and setting it during a heat wave was a nice twist, since most of the Scandinavian crime series take place mainly in winter. -
This book attracted me because the author, Mons Kallentoft, is a young Swedish writer in the crime/thriller genre, and one reviewer compared him to Stieg Larsson. The action takes place in a small town in Sweden during an unusual heat wave. In a short span of days, a young girl turns up nearly dead, then two more girls are found dead, and the evidence points to a potential serial killer. The main detective, Malin Fors, gets the case. For one thing, I did not know that it could get that hot in Sweden in the summer, but after some research, found that it can, usually in the interior. I also liked that it gives you a look at modern life in the provinces, rather than Stockholm. While I didn't find his writing on a level with Larsson, I will read the other novels in this series. Kallentoft is edgy and blunt, and will keep you turning those pages.
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Reiteramos o que anteriormente dissemos relativamente à escrita do autor. Continuamos a não ser fãs.
Embora neste segundo volume se denote algumas melhorias, ainda não são as suficientes para nos fazerem suspirar e adorar o autor.
Confirmámos a sensação que tínhamos sobre a protagonista, Malin Fors, é fraca. Não transmite segurança, profissionalismo ou brilhantismos. Parece mais uma que anda ali, sem grande destaque, acabamos por simpatizar muito mais com o seu parceiro Zeke ( e o seu destaque nem é muito relevante). Fors perde ainda por ter um carácter pouco definido, sempre preso ao passado e com pensamentos inseguros e imaturos face às suas relações mais íntimas e familiares.
Continuação e classificação em:
http://livrosdevidro.wixsite.com/livr... -
Apenas após 200 páginas o livro começou a ter algum interesse. Até lá, muita introspeção por parte da personagem principal, mas de uma forma não particularmente cativante.
Além disso, algo que já aconteceu no 1º livro desta série e que ficava particularmente agradecida se não acontecesse nos dois que ainda me faltam ler, irritam-me os pensamentos dos mortos. Estão sempre presentes, ao longo de toda a história, o que, na minha opinião, nos faz sentido nenhum.
Um policial que, durante metade do livro, esteve completamente apagado. Espero bem que os dois volumes seguintes sejam bastante superiores a este. -
This was one of those dark, Swedish mysteries, and I enjoyed it up to a point. The author’s recounting of the repetitive, often tedious nature of a homicide detective’s job was interesting and probably realistic. The story, however, took place in a summer that was brutally hot and dry; on every page (or so it seemed), the author had to comment on the weather in some way, I.e.: the car was an oven, the heat was shimmering over the road, her shirt stuck to her, etc. and etc. Too much. The plot, while interesting in the beginning, took a predictable turn toward the end, and I didn’t finish the book.
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I had the same problem with this book as I had with the previous one, I liked the story, but the writing style was deeply annoying and distracting. I assume some of it is translation but the constant shifts in narrative voice, particularly the invasive, existential voice of the victim really distracts from what, at its heart, is a pretty straightforward police procedural. I'd like to know what happened to Malin to make her the way she is, and I will continue with the series, but it's definitely not my favorite in the genre.
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I love Mons Kallentoft, OK this is only the second book but for me he's a very good author. His characters are believable and the storyline in this and the first book are excellent. It all comes together and in between we're given some peeks into Malin Fors life. I have to admit I thought when I read the first book Mons was a woman, because of the excellent characterisation. The book can be a little difficult to read with the 'dead voices', but you soon get used to it. I enjoyed it so much I read it in three days and I'm looking forward to the next book!
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Enredo: ok. Escrita: chata, densa, mal conseguida. Percebo a ideia: que se leia isto como se víssemos um filme. Mas o autor está a anos-luz de uma escrita cinematográfica. Arrastou a história durante 400 páginas e atou as pontas em 22. O resultado é forçado e artificial.
Já tinha lido o primeiro livro desta série (são quatro). Não vou ler os dois que faltam. A vida é demasiado curta para ler maus livros!! -
felt this one was slower to start off with the previous malin fors book but once the story got going was a page turner and using the same dead person dialect in the look, looking forward to number 3 in english now
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Às páginas tantas perdi o fio à meada e já não o consegui desenredar…
As frases telegráficas cansaram-me.
Os sonhos, pensamentos e visões de Malin aborreceram-me.
Ainda fui espreitar para o final a ver se me animava, mas nada.
Fiquei pela página cento e cinquenta e fico por aqui com Mons… -
Yeah, ok. Very dark, great oppressive atmosphere... Seems to drag on a bit.
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O carte slabă. Nu mi-au plăcut acțiunea, personajele și limbajul. Și nu am găsit nimic care să mă impresioneze în mod deosebit.
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Nja, redan i förra boken retade jag upp mig på hur Malins sexliv beskrivs, och inte blev det bättre i den här. Att det sen är en mördare med dildo, och därigenom en "sexuellt frustrerad" människa, kastrerad man eller lesbisk kvinna som de fokuserar polisarbetet på gör inte att jag känner så där superstort förtroende för den (påhittade) Linköpingska poliskåren.
Ger serien en bok till, men om det även i trean är lika stort fokus på kvinnor och deras sexliv lägger jag ner. Jag gillar helt enkelt inte män som beskriver kvinnors sexuella upplevelser, eller snarare de önskemål de har om hur kvinnor upplever sex. -
I found this one a little bit offensive... The main character makes me upset from time to time and the whole investigation in this book is weird. Not a fan.
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Mons Kallentoft writes disturbing thrillers. For example, in this one, two young girls are discovered murdered with their bodies washed in bleach and, in one case, their wounds cleaned up with a scalpel. The other victim is cleaned up but not as painstakingly. Inspector Malin Fors and her partner, Zeke, head the investigation into the girls’ deaths while Malin’s daughter, Tove, goes off with Malin’s ex, Janne, to Bali for a vacation. Upon her return, not surprisingly, Tove, who fits the profile of the murdered girls, is pursued and eventually cornered by the insane one who is perpetrating all these crimes. Janne and Malin, meanwhile, are torching up their failed relationship and it looks like they may get back together if Janne can survive fighting the forest fires that curse Linköping. Nothing much ever happens in Linköping but it is a brutally hot summer so nobody much notices the murders! (Linköping is the location of the main plant of Saab, the auto and airplane manufacturer.) As is the custom in so many Nordic Noir novels, the crime story is secondary to the personal stories of the people in town and the cops. Many marriages are on the rocks and unfortunate histories are abundant in the lives of the city. Kallentoft writes humidly of the heat and its effects on the mental states of all residents and participants in the action. It is a bit odd to read of the oppressive heat of Stockholm while most of the Nordic Noir genre emphasizes the cold! Another odd but interesting technique for story-telling is the use of an unheard Greek chorus of murder victims, talking to Malin and eventually to Tove, giving them warnings and yet inviting them to join the masses of the dead that are piling up in town. This is the second Kallentoft novel I’ve read and the previous one used this technique as well. It’s a strange but effective tool. Kallentoft is a sensitive author, open to the particular experiences and feelings of women. That makes him an effective spokesman for the brutalized and damaged that he writes about.
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Mons Kallentoft, author of this interesting Swedish police procedural and thriller, has a very existential bent. His characters are self-aware and the protagonist seems to be searching for her center, her true north star.
Malin Fors is a 34 year old police inspector working in Linkoping, Sweden, the city where she grew up. She has a 14 year old daughter named Tove who is her heart's love. She also remains attached to her ex, Janne, though they separated over ten years previously. She wonders often why their love was not enough to sustain their relationship and she still has strong feelings for him.
This is the hottest summer on record for Linkoping and people are so hot that they are lying prostrate from the heat. Some have even died as air conditioning is not common. In this hot city, a killer is loose, taking teen-aged girls and killing them. The bodies are cut and mutilated and once dead, the bodies are washed with bleach. So far, there are two bodies and one survivor. The survivor, Josefin Davidsson, remembers nothing of her experience so she is of no help to the police.
What are the connections between the kidnapped girls? What is the profile of the killer? Is it a woman or a man? These questions haunt Malin and her team as they spend their heat filled days searching for a killer who is likely a past victim of abuse himself. The investigation takes a strange turn when the lesbian community is investigated and becomes quite defensive.
While I enjoyed this thriller quite a bit, I felt that it moved too slowly for me. There is too much introspection and existential angst to make this a real page-turner. However, that is what makes this book stand out in its genre. It is a lot more than the usual Swedish noir.
