Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: February 20, 2020 (first published July 2, 2018)
Source: Personal copy
Summary:
Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm join forces to track down a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high-profile murders, in the first episode of a gripping new Nordic Noir series…
Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always Number One. When celebrity blogger Emma Ramm visits Nordstrøm’s home later that day, she finds the door unlocked and signs of a struggle inside. A bib with the number ‘one’ has been pinned to the TV.
Police officer Alexander Blix is appointed to head up the missing-persons investigation, but he still bears the emotional scars of a hostage situation nineteen years earlier, when he killed the father of a five-year-old girl. Traces of Nordstrøm soon show up at different locations, but the appearance of the clues appear to be carefully calculated evidence of a bigger picture that he’s just not seeing…
Blix and Ramm soon join forces, determined to find and stop a merciless killer with a flare for the dramatic, and thirst for attention.
Trouble is, he’s just got his first taste of it…
My thoughts:
This is the first book in this #NordicNoir series by this writing duo and I am all in! And the best part about coming to it late is that I can jump right into the next book as it’s already out! I’m so glad that this was one of the buddy reads that we did last month for #NordicNoirNovember…I had these authors on my tbr for quite some time.
This book was such a great read – it’s a police procedural, which I love, but it also involves a serial killer and the combination of these two just keeps things moving. The pace is brisk and I loved that we have a police detective working with a celebrity blogger. I loved the dynamics between these two characters – they each have their own issues and I look forward to delving into their characters more fully as the series progresses.
There are occasions when we slip into the past. The book opens with a hostage situation that has haunted Police Officer Alexander Bixx and see how that would definitely impact him all these years later. For blogger Emma Ramm, we occasionally get flashbacks to her past that has haunted her as well. But, these flashbacks are few and far between and the main chunk of the story lies in the present. The flashbacks just help to flush out the characters and show that they are flawed and this only makes them that much more relatable.
This is such a gripping, tense storyline – the way the murderer is targeting their prey – it’s the ultimate cat and mouse game and no matter how I tried to work it out, I definitely did not have a clue! This one really kept me on edge all the way through and I loved it! The characters were all so engaging – not only the detective and blogger, but also the secondary characters we meet; the intricately plotted storyline and the pitch-perfect pace all combine to create such an engaging, thrilling read.
I cannot wait to pick up the next installment, especially after some startling revelations are revealed!
Books in the Alexander Blix & Emma Ramm series:
- Death Deserved
- Smoke Screen
- Unhinged
