This
was a beautifully written murder mystery set in a dying fishing village in the
north of Iceland. The narrator, Kalmann, is an intriguing character. He is a
shark fisherman who stumbles across a body in the snow.
At times he is variously
funny, frustrating, sad, and untrustworthy. He hints at past mysteries without
fully revealing what they are, or the part he played in them. I read a lot of
murder mysteries, and this is the one that has stuck in my mind throughout the
year.
He is the self-appointed sheriff of Raufarho fn, a sleepy town in northern Iceland, and has everything under control. There's no need to worry. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays shark bait in the sea - to process the fish into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, ha karl. But inside Kalmann's head, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of human blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But with his naive wisdom and pure-hearted courage, he makes…
This
is a Korean thriller about a killer who never meets his victims. Instead, he
devises elegant solutions for what he regards as ‘restructuring’ on behalf of
The Company.
He creates deaths which are untimely, but never suspicious. I
found the premise intriguing, and it is written with a cold logic that almost
makes killing seem acceptable.
But then it all starts to go wrong for the
consultant when he is told to kill someone he knows. It is darkly funny, but
also a telling commentary on capitalism.
Despite being about a serial killer, this is one of
the funniest books I have read all year.
The protagonist, Claire, has a
wicked sense of humour, which makes the reader sympathise with her decisions to
kill people— sometimes for the flimsiest of reasons. She is delightfully
amoral, but there is a certain logic to her actions.
It moves fast and is
written with a light touch that works perfectly.
'An absolute roller-coaster of a read' - DAILY MAIL 'The most fun you're ever likely to have with a hammer-wielding maniac' - DAILY EXPRESS 'Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny' - CLARE MACKINTOSH
I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I'm the one killing them.
The night after her father's funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn't know it, but it's not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before…
The Earth's spiralling population has finally been controlled. Lifespans are limited to eighty years, except for those who make an extreme choice: to become a commune. Five minds sharing one body, each living for four hours at a time with a combined lifespan of nearly 150 years.
Alex, Kate, Mike, Sierra, and Ben have already spent twenty-five years together, their frequent personality clashes leading to endless bickering and getting themselves stranded on a Russian Arctic freighter. Wanting to buy upgrades for their next host body, they decide to travel to a Death Park. But one of them disappears when Kate accepts a dangerous offer.
Someone is trying to kill off members of the commune. Is one of them responsible? Or is an outsider playing a deadly game?
