Customer Reviews

The Blood Spilt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Curiosity about its northern Swedish setting might drive the American mystery-fan to follow this woman-centered crime series. If there is a North American analog to the setting such might be Canada, where folk from a difficult rural north have tended to migrate away to the few more sophisticated southern cities. The lead characters: Rebecka, Stockholm lawyer returned-for-a-while to her northern birthplace, and a local woman-man police team. Though the story is female-centered, the action is plenty brutal. The environment is as rough as you like. The book's weakness is too much focus on returnee Rebecka's re-awakened conflicts around having deserted her roots. It's really the local police pair who identify and seize the murderer. Your decision to continue or not reading this series might depend on how long its off-beat environment still intrigues you.

This novel takes place Kiruna, in northern Sweden. A woman priest is found murdered, and it seems as though she had few friends. An attorney winds up involved in the case along, with a female inspector. The story makes some dark flashbacks as we see that the spirit of despair lurks in more than one character's life. Infighting among the town residents, church politics, and the puzzle of who could be the criminal, all compel the reader through this tautly paced book. Although it has some weak spots, overall I enjoyed it. (This review is based on the audio book.)

The reviews aren't really doing this book justice--although as an ex-lawyer my connection to the main character's mixed feelings about her job and colleagues might have swayed me a bit. Larsson deserves enthusiastic praise for the naturalness of the writing, plenty of detail about the characters' thoughts and dilemmas, and the well-described settings. She also is very skilled at making almost every character appealing in some way, despite major flaws, bad judgment, or mental disorder--all that, and still nothing seemed overdone, sentimentalized, or "romancey". The limited amount of police procedure and forensic chops is really not a problem--the book is still engrossing and entertaining. Can't wait for the next...where is it?

Oh, and the wolf Yellow Legs--hope she appears again, too! A neat element of the story brought to life.

In this story, a traumatized attorney named Rebecka Martinsson returns to the area of her birth and finds herself caught up in another murder investigation. (Another, since it was a murder which caused the trauma in the first case-- apparently this happened in the first book in the series). A polarizing female priest has been killed in a small Swedish town, and the police are unable to make headway in the case.

As with all good mysteries, Blood Spilt is as much an investigation of northern Swedish life as it is about the murder itself. What Larsson does really well is play with the ambivalence that Rebecka feels about the town and her roots, digging at the layers that separate her from the past. I was less impressed with the thread about the wolf. I found it too distracting, even though well executed.

I did not read the first book featuring Martinsson before reading Blood Spilt, and I didn't feel that I needed to read it to enjoy the novel. Larsson does a good enough job filling in the backstory that this stands on its own.

Looking forward to reading more by Larsson in the future.

So far I've read two of the books in this series with others on order to come. But the author's treatment of animals in both books is appalling. Useless violence, in my opinion. Also, the main character, Rebecka, undergoes so much brutality in both novels so far, that I wonder how on earth she can sustain her sanity. According to the excerpt from the next novel in the series, she does end up in a psychiatric hospital. It's just all a bit overwhelming to me. These brutalities aside, however, I still want to read the other books in the series. There's an unknown element that keeps me coming back. I just have to skip lightly over the bad parts. But to read in detail how the animals are treated just causes tears in my eyes. I can't stand it!!

This series MUST be read in sequence! Yes, as some have observed, the plotting of this book is a let-down after "Sun Storm." But you'll get through it because you know it will bring you to the third book, "The Black Path."

I also think I should have read Sun Storm before tackling this book.
I was impressed with her prose and that is very important to me.
The sideline of Yellow Legs I found fascinating enough to read a bit
more about wolf behavior. It was so poignant. But I don't see why
it was in the book, although maybe I should think about it a bit more.
The Swedish names make the reading confusing for me. Some of the names
are similar and I do have trouble keeping the characters straight, but
that's my problem. The issue of the Hunt Club went way over my head.
Why lisa killed her dogs is repugnant and bewildering to me. I thought
she would have killed herself at the same time when the vet went out
of the room. I don't know why Rebecka was beat up at the end
of the book. I'm exited by Asa Larsson, but I think this book should
have been edited more carefully before publication. I wish some authors
would in the front of the book, list the characters by name with a
sentence about who they are in the book. And at least Yellow Legs had
a happy ending.

Book 2 in this series set in Sweden is no less savage than the first book. The lead character, Rebecka Martinsson was brutally harmed in SUNSTORM and, not fully recovered, returns to her home to work with Policewoman Mella in an attempt to solve yet another murder involving a member of the clergy. The story involves murder, dark secrets, and relationships built on lies, all set in the beautifully described stark winter landscape of northern Sweden. More of policewoman Mella is revealed and we continue to learn more about what makes Rebecka tick. Another good thriller with evolving characters.

Seems like Asa Larsson has decided Rebecka Martinsson was so traumatized by her experience in Sun Storm that she has become incapable of playing any role in this sequel beyond suffering through an unsuccessful recovery and, in the end, being victimized again by a brutal man. She is unessential to any "mystery" and boring in her reflections.

For animal lovers, the cruelty to animals may be offset by a series of rambling descriptions of the migration of a female wolf, which I assume are meant to illustrate something about the book's characters. This trick fails to add any luster to this heartless novel.

I have Larsson's third effort sitting on a shelf. I was looking forward to it until i read this one. To make matters worse, the preview in the paperback issue of this one indicates that Rebecka is an even bigger basket case. Not a promising thought.

The Blood Spilt is a follow up to Sun Storm which is a very good Mystery; on the contrary this novel is just awful. One of the main characters: Rebecka, is so depressed from the ending on the previous novel that she doesn't do much, I thought she would somehow move on from her trauma and actually do something but that never happens.
There's also ramblings about a She-Wolf that are a pain to read, animals with a voice and feelings are probably better in fantasy novels.
Don't want to give any spoilers so I'll stop here, this is a painful read, I don't think I'll keep reading the series either.