Customer Reviews

Sun and Shadow: An Erik Winter Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm rating this book 5 stars just to bring up the abysmal rating given by the only other reviewer so far; it deserves better. I'm an aficionado of Scandinavian detectives (see my manic list elsewhere). Edwardson's books are as enjoyable as any. "Never End" - the sequel to this book - is maybe richer, but "Sun and Shadow" serves as an excellent introduction to the icy world of Winter & company. The plot evolves in several dimensions and casts its own bleak spell. Connoisseurs of crime fiction won't want to miss it.

I am a very big fan of Scandinavian crime novels, being from Norway I guess that is a no-brainer.

While I have thoroughly enjoyed Mankells series, I was looking for something a bit more contemporary and edgier. I found it with Erik Winter. I think he breaths of fresh air into the genre. He's not an aging detective but a rising star in the force. He is smart and very complex, but also has a softer side when it comes to his family/personal life. Don't expect a Henning Mankell type novel. Both 'Erik Winter' books are very much worth reading and I recommend reading them in sequential order. I'm anxiously waiting for the third to come so I can pour me a glass of wine and have an evening with Mr. Winter.

Ake Edwardson's "Sun and Shadow" is a worthy addition to the rapidly growing genre of Scandinavian crime dramas being translated for consumption for the English speaking market. Edwardson, however uses a slightly different formula. He devotes nearly one third of his novel developing both his characters, particularly protagonist, Detective Chief Inspector Erik Winter and his setting, Gothenberg, Sweden. He gives us brief glimpses at the heinous crime that will become Winter's focus.

Gothenberg is at the onset of both Christmas and the celebration of the new millenium when a brutal double murder with obvious sexual overtones is uncovered. Inspector Winter whose life is in flux owing to the anticipation of fatherhood, had recently been jetting back and forth to the Costa del Sol in Spain. His father lying on his deathbed had succumbed to his illnesses. With personal issues cluttering his mind, he now must focus on coordinating the investigation of this killing.

We soon learn through the ongoing inquest that the murder seems in some way related to couples who fulfill their sexual fantasies by wife swapping. Eyewitnesses around the crime scene report that a man in uniform was seen around the time of the murders. Could Winter possibly be searching for one of his own?

Edwardson leads us through his plot at a leisurely pace not revealing too much but concluding is a frenetic fashion as time is of the essence, as the murderer is poised to strike again.

This is not a relaxing read. The world is on the verge of the new millennium, and everybody's nerves are on edge. The cops are out in force, expecting every celebration to turn into a riot.

For his part, Erik Winter, the cool-headed Chief Detective Inspector of Gothenburg, is facing enough major life changes to shake anyone's composure. His father is dying, his pregnant girlfriend Angela is moving in, and he's about to turn forty. What's more, his neighborhood has just become the scene of perhaps the nastiest murder case in Swedish history.

A man and wife are found dead in their apartment, black metal music screeching in the background. Their bodies have been gruesomely desecrated - I won't say how. Even the author is slow to give us the details, as if horrified by his own plot.

The investigation opens up "abysses lurking in the human condition." Even the cops are having anxiety attacks. The vicar who offers counseling to the police is kept exceedingly busy.

The mood of anxiety and alienation that we expect of Scandinavian writers is very much present in Edwardson's style. At the same time, the reader feels somewhat protected from evil by the strength of Winter's character and the forces of good. (Erik "sometimes" believes in God.)

Here and there Edwardson drops a chunk of storyline, leaving too many details to our imagination. I'm not fond of this type of literary vagueness. But all in all, SUN & SHADOW is an absorbing book, and I'll be going on with the series.

Ake Edwardson seems like a different kind of mystery writer than the average. The influx of Scandinavian mysteries, in my opinion, completely revived the genre. Before this great gift, I stopped reading American crime novels. Almost every book I've read was British. The American novels were all about plot and excitement, trying not to tax the reader too much. Like an average predictable Hollywood movie aimed at 13 year old boys.

Well, I need more than the bare minimum. Luckily we got the Scandinavians. They are different sort of people, and so are their crime novels. Quiter, darker in mood and thoughts,and demanding much more from the reader. " Sun and Shadow" is one of those books. Set in last few months of 1999 in Gothenburg, Sweden, brings back the madness of the last year of the second millenium. Mr. Edwardson's characters are real people, somewhat lost in both the time they live in and the bloody murder cases they work on. They rant, brainstorm or just talk plain nonsense. But they are alive and easy to identify with. Another winner from Sweden.

Not the best in this series but a well written and worked plot. The style is disjointed and the narrative tends to hop from one perspective to another with little warning. This one is set at the close of the millenium as Winter awaits the birth of his daughter. The murders are particularly gory sex crimes but the never seem to quite become the centre of the book. A lot is left to the reader to interpret by an author who has a very distintive style. Do not read this hungry, Eric Winter is quite the gourmet cook!

The reviews of this book mistakenly describe it as suspenseful. It isn't. Suspense is not what I call periodic action interspersed with page after page of meandering prose. Perhaps I should be more respectful of Edwardson's descriptive passages on the death of Winter's father or his introspection preceding the birth of his first child, but they are page filling without contribution to the story. And poor Patrik, the young paper boy, who is set up to be a critical factor in the solution of the mystery only to be left completely out of the ending. Speaking of the ending, its hard to see how any of the police procedures described in the book have much to do with the end result. With only pages left, SURPRISE, one suspect simply leads Winter to the culprit.

I'm as much disappointed in the people who gave this book rave reviews as I am i the author.

The plodding murder investigation that makes up the heart of this mystery reads like a low-energy, drawn-out episode of CSI: Sweden. Not even the Scandinavian setting could draw much interest out of the story. I found the main character, a 40-something detective at a cross-roads in life, stock and uninteresting; interweaving his personal life into the investigation into a gruesome double homicide didn't add much other than to the heft of the 400-page novel. Top it all off with a glaringly poor English translation.

The subtitle of Sun and Shadow is "An Erik Winter Novel," implying there are others that follow in a series. I'll pass.

I support other low rankings on this book. It was my second by this author and the first left me in neutral.

The style of the book made it hard to track the story and the characters. It's likely important to note for a review that I'm not a fan of writers favoring the style of writing alternating story segments or having two plots or sub plots; for example: the detective trying to solve a crime with alternating pages dedicated to the criminals' thoughts or actions. Even if I were a fan of this style, this book has about 4 such segments alternating with each other throughout. It's too complex.

The relationship between the main character (Erik Winter) and his just-moved-in-with-him newly pregnant girlfriend is prevalent in many parts of the book and is very odd. The majority of her dialog reads like she's doing him a favor to be with him. The majority of his dialogue involving her reads like a subservient guy grateful for her company. It's too much to accept. And, there's page filler ... he's described in some detail more than once as he prepares evening meals. In one place, that covers a full page, describing what exactly he's doing to prepare the meal to the level of detail of how many pea pods he's cutting and how he's cutting them. This relates to nothing in the story. Why is this in there?

The ending is predictable and ends as a "whimper" leaving this reader very "non-plused".

There is a statement in the story by Erik Winter: "...it became tedious after awhile, worn like flaking wallpaper" .. I'd use that exact phrase to describe this book.

This is the first book I have read by Ake Edwardson, and it certainly will be my last. I love to read Henning Mankell thrillers and wanted to try another mystery by a Swedish author. Near the end, I thought it was going to get interesting, but it never did. Sorry I couldn't say something nice about it! Maybe it just didn't translate well into English!

The jacket of the book said Edwardson is "one of Scandinavia's most successful crime writers." I don't think he can hold a candle to Mankell!