Winter thrillers

I am very fond of the ‘Scandinavian thriller’ writers – there is something about the bleakness of the landscape that translates into the writing. Culturally it feels so very different from the ‘Americanised’ voice we are much more used to hearing…

With the winter weather well and truly here, it seems to me this is the perfect time to curl up with a good thriller!

A good strong cup of tea, children tucked up (if you have any to tuck up) and then settle yourself in the warmest, most comfy spot in the house… and away you go!

I am going to start with the two women writers in the pack. Women are not well represented number-wise in this category, but certainly well represented in the quality of their writing stakes.

I am very fond of the ‘Scandinavian thriller’ writers (two of whom are present in this article) – there is something about the bleakness of the landscape that translates into the writing. Culturally it feels so very different from the ‘Americanised’ voice we are much more used to hearing.

Camilla Lackberg’s The Gallows Bird continues to follow the quiet and steady Patrik Hedstrom and his fellow officers as they go about their daily routines. Their home lives spill into their workday in such a way that they are pleasantly rounded, though subtlety flawed (as we all are). This book starts with the solitary death of woman, on an isolated stretch of road. On the surface the death seems straightforward, but Hedstrom feels something isn’t quite right, and with only that as his guide he moves forward into a far reaching and murky investigation.

I read this book in pretty much one sitting, and really loved it – though I worked out the ending a little sooner than I had expected as her previous books kept me hanging right til the end. Maybe I just have a slightly twisted mind – who knows! The Gallows Bird by Camilla Lackberg is published by Harper Collins and retails for $38.99 – available now.

Though I do read most of the books we review, sometimes I am a bit pressed for time. I have a stack of books next to my computer pretty much all the time that need to be read, and sometimes friends look wistfully at the stack. In this case, someone did take a book and on returning it included a written review – which I am very grateful for! So here is the review of Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon written by Erin O’Malley…

When a young woman returns from holiday to find her elderly neighbour dead, she immediately alerts the police. Set in Venice, Commissario Brunetti is the lead detective. It is through the eyes and efforts of Leon’s lead character; the ever-steady Brunetti, that the plot gently winds its way to its unexpected conclusion.

It is Brunetti himself who interested me, as this crime unfolds with his often-pragmatic responses to those surrounding him. Along the way we get to meet the many unusual characters that populate this novel: the disliked Vice Questore Patta, who is the politically motivated Police Chief with questionable ethics, the Assistant Signorina Elettra who manages to remain one step ahead of everyone involved in the case, and Rizzardi, the medical examiner who is tired and cautious.

I enjoyed the place from which Brunetti views his world. It is stable, warm and ever present. Despite the murder and mayhem that surrounds him daily, he carries his ‘world’ – his family – with him. This solidarity in his character makes him an appealing and attractive protagonist. We trust his point of view. His last conversation with the killer only confirms this; that our trust has been well placed. Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon is published by Random House and retails for $37.99. It is available now.

I am a great fan of Michael Connelly. He is the master of the fast-paced murder thriller. I am never sure how he manages to make his protagonists so likeable when they fly so close to the sun in terms of their ethics. They might occasionally get singed, but they never quite crash and burn. His books alternate between the two half brothers: aging police detective Harry Bosch, and the younger, cockier lawyer, Mickey Haller.

The Fifth Witness follows the questionable ethics of Mickey’s journey with his client Lisa Bondurant. She is accused of murdering the CEO of the bank that has been trying to take her house from her with fraudulent practices. For those of us who have read all the books with Mickey as the protagonist, it is not only a great read, but we finally we get to see the conclusion to his own inner battles; with the true shape of justice and what that means to the way he lives his life.

I do think this is the tightest and best written of his Haller books so far. As always it is peppered with a dry humour and at one point Mickey jokes that if a movie were ever made of his life, he would like Matthew McConaughey to play him. Connelly’s first book with Mickey Haller, The Lincoln Lawyer, has been made into a movie – and Matthew McConaughey really IS playing Mickey Haller. The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly is published by Allen & Unwin and retails for $39.99. The book is available now.

Payback by Simon Kernick is a straightforward sort of beast. It is an action thriller written with those of the male persuasion in mind. I am always a little sceptical when the covers of books are peppered with quotes from other authors about how good the book is. Surely if it is a great book it won’t need those extra pushes? The premise of this book – two cops, one city, no mercy – says it all and it simply takes you on a rough and ready journey with its two protagonists Dennis Milne and DI Tina Boyd. They are both in search of the same man – while on ‘different sides of the law’. “Two cops with a past that haunts them – and a present that could see them both dead. They are about to meet.”

For all its straightforwardness in its plot, I couldn’t put it down and read it all in one evening. Sometimes you just need a straightforward read! Payback is by Simon Kernick and is published by Random House. It retails for $39.99 and is available now.

And finally we get to the last book. I decided to save the best for last. At least the best, in my humble opinion. I have read pretty much everything Henning Mankell has written. The books have been written over many years, though there have only been eight from the Wallander series. Over 10 million of these books have been sold and have been translated into 40 languages. It has also been made into a series featuring Kenneth Branagh as Wallander.

The Troubled Man is the final book in the series. The Troubled Man could refer to Wallander’s prospective father in law who disappears after Wallander first meets him, and whom he spends the rest of the book trying to find. But I think The Troubled Man refers to DI Kurt Wallander himself. He is universally flawed yet strangely likeable.

The book has a strange quality of seeming like everything is happening and nothing is happening, at the same time. You get to know the characters slowly through the books but by this last book it is mostly about Wallander’s daughter Linda and his newborn granddaughter. The books move forward quietly like you are wading through knee-deep water. And the end – well, I simply can’t ruin it for you. But if you have read any of his other books, then you will love this one as it is as consistently written as his other books. If you have never read any of them – I encourage you to. They are a rare treat. The Troubled Man is by Henning Mankell is published by Random House and retails for $39.99. It is available now.

By Anya Brighouse, 22 May 2011.