Blackwater

Rating:
Summary: Deep and forboding .... definitely worth a read!
Review: A fascinating novel, in a league with "Smilla's Sense of Snow," is well-written and a real page-turner. I visited Sweden last summer ... several "natives" strongly recommended this book. I agree

Rating:
Summary: Macabre Look Into the Human Psyche
Review: A young man and woman are brutally stabbed to death in their tent while camping in beautiful surroundings beside a river in the mountains of Sweden. Though a number of people were in the area at the time, no one has apparently seen or knows anything and the crime remains unsolved for years.

Bleak, slow moving who-done-it style mystery sent in a remote area of Sweden, this book is a compelling read because of its characters. As well as being a complex crime novel, an intricate puzzle with clues to be picked up along the way, this is also a psychological thriller exploring the depths of human depression. The theme of this story is loneliness & being the outsider - Johan is an outsider in his own family, the Starhill community is apart from the regular country people, Annie is outside the school community she teaches in, the Lapps are outside mainstream Swedish society, and Birger is the ultimate symbol of aloneness.

This was my 2nd reading of this novel and was most helpful, the novel is so disjointed with several plot lines that this time I noticed so many more clues along the way. Events take place over years, eventually the different threads come together. I really enjoyed this book but more because of the all too realistic characters & the vivid detailed descriptions of the landscape than the actual crime plot.

Rating:
Summary: Scandinavian Thriller
Review: Another book by Kerstin Ekman, in the same tradition as "Under the Snow". Time? The sixties with their own weirdness, hippies' communes and woman sharing. Snip: (...)

Rating:
Summary: Deeply sensual and dramatically moving murder mystery.
Review: During a holiday in 1994 visiting Oslo and Bergen I was given a gift of "Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow" (F. David Translation). I finished it on my flight back to San Francisco and felt the utter void experienced after reading a book that one feels shall not have any peer. Fortunately, I was wrong. It took only two years to find "Blackwater" and Kerstin Ekman. Blackwater is a novel of vast human perception blending fatalistic destiny and paganism along with basic Sherlock Holmes sleuthing all set against a sometimes desolate, but beautiful and lonely landscape that conceals a constant undercurrent of emotional arousal. An aura of mystery and suspense surrounds each and every highly descriptive locale within the novel from the initial murder site in the woods to a secret mountain hideaway along the Norwegian border to an apartment in Stockholm and many others along the way. This has to be one of the finest novels that I have ever read regardless of genre.

Rating:
Summary: Deeply sensual and dramatically moving murder mystery.
Review: During a holiday in 1994 visiting Oslo and Bergen I was given a gift of "Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow" (F. David Translation). I finished it on my flight back to San Francisco and felt the utter void experienced after reading a book that one feels shall not have any peer. Fortunately, I was wrong. It took only two years to find "Blackwater" and Kerstin Ekman. Blackwater is a novel of vast human perception blending fatalistic destiny and paganism along with basic Sherlock Holmes sleuthing all set against a sometimes desolate, but beautiful and lonely landscape that conceals a constant undercurrent of emotional arousal. An aura of mystery and suspense surrounds each and every highly descriptive locale within the novel from the initial murder site in the woods to a secret mountain hideaway along the Norwegian border to an apartment in Stockholm and many others along the way. This has to be one of the finest novels that I have ever read regardless of genre.

Rating:
Summary: Dark read for a dark and stormy night.
Review: I have read and re-read this book about 5 times. Everytime I have re-read it, I find the characters more entangled and complex. It's a dark mystery, full of northern atmosphere, pine forests, cold water and cold weather. Once you start reading, its hard to put down until the last word.

Rating:
Summary: A challenging read
Review: I read this after Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (which I enjoyed) but couldn't ever quite get to grips with the story. Why would people want to live in such a challenging and hostile environment? No wonder they all seemed a bit disturbed. If you're into crystals then you'll prob. enjoy this boo

Rating:
Summary: Deep and rich characterizations and landscapes
Review: I was really enthralled by this book. The rich development of characters plus the beautiful description of the scandinavian landscape. It does require your full attention.The smells, the sights, and the sounds were very vivid and I know I will undoubtedly reread it at some future time. I rather compare it slightly with Smilla's Sense of Snow which had the same sense of ethereal mystery. I do believe, however that the feeling that one has for the cold and unforgiving climate is a factor in the fascination of these two novels.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious and boring
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I ordered because it was highly recommended but my interest kept flagging throughout the whole book. By the time the true murderer was uncovered, I was wishing she could have done in the bookseller who recommended it.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious
Review: In 1974, Annie Raft takes her daughter Mia to small-town Blackwater in northern Sweden, to meet her lover Dan at a commune. When Annie searches for Dan, she instead finds two dead bodies, and spots a man leaving the scene - the same man connected with Mia years later. I read it all, but found it a bit tedious. (C+)