Book Review: I Will Miss You Tomorrow by Heine Bakkeid #BRPreview

I Will Miss You Tomorrow

by

Heine Bakkeid

Translated from Norwegian by  Anne Bruce

Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia 
Imprint: Raven Books 
Publication date: 14th November 2019
Series: Thorkild Aske #1
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Pages: 416
RRP: $29.99
Format read: Uncorrected proof paperback 
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading

The first in a new Norwegian crime series featuring disgraced ex-Chief Inspector Thorkild Aske, a damaged man with a complicated past

Fresh out of prison and a stint in a psychiatric hospital, disgraced ex-policeman Thorkild Aske only wants to lose himself in drugged dreams of his beloved Frei. Wild, unknowable Frei. The woman he loved. The woman he has lost forever.
 
Yet when Frei's young cousin goes missing off the Norwegian coast and Thorkild is called in by the family to help find him, dead or alive, Thorkild cannot refuse. He owes them this.
 
Tormented by his past, Thorkild soon finds himself deep in treacherous waters. He's lost his reputation – will he now lose his life? 

Thorkild Aske, former police interrogator, has recently been released from prison when he is asked by an acquaintance to look into the disappearance of his son. Thorkild is not keen but decides to take the job hoping it will take his mind off his own pain following the death of a young woman he was dating. His search takes him to an abandoned lighthouse where his mind starts to spiral into depression.

Told in the first person by Thorkild the reader is left questioning what is real and what is in his head. It is hard work following Thorkild’s mind as he is sporadic and a little unstable living on a cocktail of drugs. I Will Miss You Tomorrow has a complex plot and with a few red herrings thrown in, the perpetrator and the reason came as a complete surprise.

There are parts of the story where you will need to suspend believe. Thorkild manages to get into, and out of, many life and death situations.

Thorkild was hard to connect with although I did enjoy his dry sense of humour and I am looking forward to the next book in the series hoping that our protagonist has gotten over his drug dependency and his suicidal tendencies.

I Will Miss You Tomorrow is eerie, tense and atmospheric with a little paranormal element. Nordic Noir with a good dose of disquiet. 

                           🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating 3.5 upped to 4/5 because it's a debut and I like to cut debut authors a bit of slack.

 

 Heine Bakkeid grew up in the rugged landscape of northern Norway. I Will Miss You Tomorrow is Bakkeid's first venture into crime fiction, and has earned him in his home country the critics' recognition as a virtuoso of darkly atmospheric suspense.

                               About the translator 

Anne Bruce has degrees in Norwegian and English from Glasgow University. She lives in Scotland.

Book Review: A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson

A Nearly Normal Family

by

M. T. Edvardsson

translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Aus
Publication date: 25th June 2019
Pages: 480
RRP: $29.99AUD
Format read: paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher 

Nineteen-year-old Stella stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

A Nearly Normal Family is a twisty tale of deception and lies. Set in Lund, Sweden it is a gripping legal drama written in the Nordic Noir tradition.

Stella Sandell is accused of murder and as she sits in a cell awaiting trial her parents fumble, lie, take matters into their own hands, quarrel and fall apart. But mostly they question themselves. Did their parenting lead to this day?

The story is told in three parts giving the point of view of the father, a pastor, the mother, a defense attorney and the daughter, Stella.

The father: he will do anything to save his daughter, maybe even lie. Throughout he questions himself. Was he a good father? Did he do enough for Stella? Did he do too much?

I found the father’s narration a bit long and slow. He was so deeply concerned with what people would think and how he’d failed. He was worn down by cares and moral dilemmas.

Stella: Stella’s story is told in alternating present tense, in jail, and past tense, what led up to her arrest. Stella had such a commanding voice in the story and I really became to feel for her and understand her. She had a compulsion for action that she couldn’t control.

The mother: we don’t get much insight into the mother before this and she comes across as bitter and distant. Her part of the story is mainly the court case which is very intense and dramatic.

Edvardsson has used some very clever plotting feeding out small, disjointed pieces of information causing the reader to make their own assumptions by filling in the gaps. This had me changing my opinion again and again. The mystery kept me enthralled and I never guessed the twists upon twists. I was quite shocked by the ending.

Recommended for readers of family dramas and legal dramas.

A special mention to Rachel Willson-Broyles for such a smooth, faultless translation. 

                          🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 My rating    4.5/5

Content: Minimal coarse  language
                 mentions of rape

Photo credit: Goodreads

M. T. Edvardsson is a writer and teacher from Trelleborg, Sweden.

He is the author of three previous novels and two books for young readers. Edvardsson lives with his family in Löddeköpinge, Sweden.