Customer Reviews

Under The Snow

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

 

 

Having read Blackwater, I bought this book eagerly. I enjoyed it, but the fact that this is an early work shines through. Some of the plot structure seemed clumsy, although it was not clear to me whether this was the fault of the translation. I was not keen on Torsson's side-kick - he was a very immature character and deserved a good slap at times!!!

However, the north of Sweden and the land of the Arctic Circle is a fascinating location for a crime novel. The story is engrossing and different and I doubt any reader will be overly disappointed. If you are a fan of the author, you will find the development of her skills quite fascinating - nearly 30 years separates this novel and Blackwater. I for one am intrigued and want to read more of this author - let us hope she is translated more often.

Ekman, a resident of Lappland, sets her story in a small Sami (Lapp) village. A murder occurs and a police team is despatched in the dead of winter; the Polar Night. The mystery develops as the murdered artist's friend starts asking questions of a deeply secretive community. Ekman transports the reader to the north of Sweden and hauntingly creates a scene of dark winter and a closed society. The mystery has unexpected twists and wonderful characters that enspire humour, sympathy and contempt; often together! The site of the tale is unusual and evocative. Reading this book in winter will draw shivers; in summer you can smell the birches. i read the book in the far north of Sweden during my first winter there and I can promise you I welcomed the lights of my home and the warmth of the heating during the winter passages. Ekman has created a tale more accessible than Blackwater was and one which I think evokes Lappland better. As a Swede she has also managed to convey the relationship between Swedes and Sami in a realistic manner- no mean feat.

Having previously enjoyed Kerstin Ekman's mystery Blackwater I was delighted when her most recent effort, Under the Snow, appeared on the shelves of our local library. Like her earlier book, Ekland (who writes in Sweedish) sets her story in the harsh world of the artic circle, and makes the climate and landscape central to her plot. This novel tells the mysterious death of a man named Matti, apparently killed in a brawl at a mah-jongg party turned sour. Initial police investigation revealed nothing, and it is only the arrival of Matti's inquisitive friend David the following summer which re-opens the case. I will not spoil the surprises -- and they are many -- by describing the plot. I will say that with this book, unlike many mysteries which seem (at least to me) to have all the writerly craft of a vacuum cleaner owner's manual, Ekman carries the reader along as much with her sly prose as with the plot. A particularly effective devise is writing the penultimate chapter in the first person of the villian, when the rest of the book is in the third person, generally from the viewpoint of David and the somewhat ineffective policeman, Torsson. The reader does have to pay close attention, though, or a key turn of events or clue will quietly slip by. Before Blackwater was translated to English, Ekman had written seventeen novels in Swedish. I, for one, hope that her publisher makes available to us these earlier works.

This is one of the few books I've ever read where when I finished the last page I turned right back to the first and started over. Lots of plot and character crammed into a slim volume. It's a thriller that's worth rereading even after you know the plot, to see what you missed along the way. Like "Blackwater," the other of Ekman's books that I've read, it's enormously evocative of the Swedish north country and a great read for that alone. Despite the uniquely Scandinavian milieu, thecharacters are universal, even if not particularly sympathetic.

Kerstin Ekman draws a line through swedish litteratur whith her precise and sensible writing, spanning over almost a century and always on the edge between poetics and storytelling. In "under the snow" she catches the tragic and magic of everydaysweden in the late nineties. Read this book and expand your mind.

A man is dead and the police are called in to investigate a small isolated Lapland community. The police have to use all their wits to sift through the information they are given from the local people and come to their conclusion. All the locals have something or someone to hide.

It is a very atmospheric novel, with the scent of the birches as glaring as the crunch of snow underfoot. Great to read snuggled up somewhere warm!

There is no doubt that Ekman is adept at creating a simple-but-intricate story, but much of the strength of the novel harbours within the exoticism of its characters and Sweden. Her style epitomizes the "more is less" saying, infusing degrees of complexity in seemingly simple prose that warrants a second read. The novel is richly atmospheric, invoking Sweden and its coldness in relation to the characters; however, the characters are not as well developed as to make the reader care too much about the dead young man, Matti, nor any of the other characters (perhaps with the exception of David, the artist, whose witty lines are some of the highlights of the novel). Not a flawless read, but probably worth a read when the weather's cold and you're snuggling under some blankets.

Beware, because all Ekman's stories are situated in Swedish social environment, which is very different from any other. Her books are as cold and harsh as the climate in Scandinavia. I must go there sometime. Snip: (...)

Contrary to the other reviews I browsed, I did not find this book particularly exciting. And I found the ending somewhat anti-climatic.

I bought it with the hope it would be better. I told my husband not to waste his time reading it.