Until Thy Wrath Be Past by Asa Larsson
First published in Swedish in Sweden as Till dess din vrede upphor by Albert Bonniers Forlag in 2008. English translation by Laurie Thompson published by MacLehose Press in 2011.
One of my WorldReads from Sweden
I registered my copy of this book on BookCrossing
Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
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How I got this book:
Bought from a charity shop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"In the first thaw of spring the body of a young woman surfaces in the River Torne in the far north of Sweden. Rebecka Martinsson is working as a prosecutor in nearby Kiruna, her sleep troubled by visions of a shadowy, accusing figure. Could the body belong to the girl in her dream? Joining forces with Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella, Martinsson will need all her courage to face a killer who will kill again to keep the past buried under half a century of silent ice and snow."
I couldn't put this book down and stayed glued to it almost from start to finish, reading the entire novel in a single afternoon and evening! I loved Larsson's prose which brings her settings and characters vividly to life - yes, even the dead ones! - while still maintaining a gripping pace. I don't think there was a dull moment throughout the book. Larsson set Until Thy Wrath Be Past in a small town to the North of Sweden so we get a very different view of the country and people to the more usual Stockholm-based Scandi-Crime fare. The very first person we meet is a murder victim, several months after the crime took place, so she is a ghost, but this was presented in such a matter of fact way that, for me, the device worked surprisingly well without ever becoming whimsical. Both our lead detective and our prosecutor are women and neither are burnt-out alcoholics which makes a refreshing change. They do, of course, have Issues and, as this is not the first in the Rebecka Martinsson series, there were moments where my lack of back-story knowledge affected understanding of these, but the crime narrative is completely self-contained so I didn't feel that I missed anything from that. I admit I wasn't completely convinced by the feasibility of the ending, but the journey to get there was excellent and both my partner and I enjoyed the book very much. So much so in his case that he has already bought another novel in the series. Praise indeed!
Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Asa Larsson / Crime Fiction / Books from Sweden
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