As I struggled with a reading slump most of the year I felt the need to switch up my reading some weeks ago. Reading books for Nebula and Lambda really brought back the reading joy, and I decided to continue that by selecting the Swedish book award Årets Bok (Book of the year) as my choice of award for my reading challenge Literary Fifteen. Årets Bok is voted for by the readers after the award selects 12 longlisters. The longlist typically has a wide range of stories – historical, literary, contemporary, noir, mystery, horror. What they have in common is that they are all giving reading joy in one way or another.
Ingen du älskar kan dö follows three main characters – switching between them for each chapter.
Lena is moving to Mallorca to live her dream after a failed marriage. Once she arrives at her newly bought house all her plans are thrown aside as a dead man is found during the on-going renovations.
After returning to his father in Sligo, Ireland, Shane learns that his father isn’t his biological father and starts trying to figure out who that is.
In Stockholm Bianca starts a relationship with her boss but while struggling with the grief from the disappearance of her brother 4 years ago.
It is a fast paced and entertaining read. Each storyline could have been its own book. Bianca makes me want to scream with frustration. I want the best for Shane as we follow his journey towards understanding his past more. And Lena provides a much more settled vibe as she explores Mallorca. I felt Platt managed to write them differently, make each character distinct and their storylines important in their own way. When Platt starts to unravel what has been built up I was amazed several times. There are some nice storytelling moves in this one.
There were some character choices and aspects that didn’t make sense to me. But it doesn’t matter – just relax and enjoy the flow of the story. We all deserve reading joy and this book brings it! For those of us that enjoy darker beach reads I can definitely recommend this!
Emilie's Bookish Thoughts 