At first glance, this book checked a lot of boxes for me. (Which is why I picked it up to begin with.) The top has a quote from Jo Nesbo saying that the author is "the godmother of modern Norwegian crime fiction." Not only do I really enjoy Nesbo's books, but I also like modern Norwegian crime fiction. The front cover also says under the title that it is a Hanne Wilhelmsen novel. This is appealing to me because it means that if I like it, I can read others in the series and reasonably expect to like them too. (The top of the front jacket says it's the 9th book in the series, so that's a pretty deep catalog to mine.
Based on these characteristics, I added it to my stack of library check-outs and I was on my way.
Getting started with the book I was really disappointed. I just couldn't seem to get interested in it and it took me a really long time to get into it. In fact, I had to renew all the books I had checked out at the library before I was even half way through this one!
I can't put my finger on the real reason I couldn't get into it either. One possible reason is that there were very few section breaks in the beginning. Or at least there seemed to be. That was an issue because my main reading time is on the train home from work. It's only a short block of time and I always seemed to get to my stop and find myself in the middle of a long section. That meant that when I started the next day I was jumping right back into a conversation or description and I'd take me some time to get back into the flow of that section. Admittedly it wasn't much time, but my time was limited to begin with.
Another issue might have been the fact that I started with the 9th book in the series. I wonder if my experience would have been the same if I started with the first and had a well developed sense of the characters (at least the main ones) by the time I got to this one.
Anyway, all that changed about midway through the book. All of a sudden the pieces strewn about in the first part started to come together and I found myself really drawn in. I'm glad I stuck with it because I was close to moving on to the next book in my stack.
I wasn't so much interested in the "main" character (Hanne) which might not bode well for me in the rest of the series. However she seemed to be passing the torch of "Oslo's greatest detective" (my title) to a protege. And I really liked the protege character. A man of odd looks, with OCD and possible autism, and a decent ability to draw hypothesis from random facts. For the looks, the character mentioned that as an advantage because no one was ever scared of him if he showed up randomly at their door. The OCD and possible autism were the obvious conclusions a reader might draw, although the character mentioned that he had never received an official diagnosis from a doctor. The looks and quirks are part of the basic recipe for brilliant detective.
Overall, I'm glad I preserved through the first part and I will definitely be adding other books in the series to my reading list.
(I know that I didn't talk at all about the plot, but with the title that part shouldn't be hard to figure out.)
Friday, January 12, 2018
Friday, January 5, 2018
Archive 17 (novel)
I did not like this book. Although it literally says on the cover that this is "a novel of suspense" it was just plain not suspenseful. And what's with the weirdness of that phrasing? "A novel of suspense." Was there some reason the publisher didn't go with plain ol' "suspense novel?"
For transparency's sake, I read this a while ago and I'm just now getting around to publishing this review. I had a couple notes, but don't remember much of it so this will be brief.
One of the secondary characters is Stalin. Literally Stalin. And he's made out as some kind of horrible boss rather than a dictator who officially executed nearly 800,000 people and unofficially probably killed several million more. (I had to look up those stats...) In the novel though, Stalin plays practical jokes on his secretary by sawing the legs off of his desk and is constantly bellowing about stuff. Now, the practical joke thing may be a real thing that Stalin did, but I just don't picture him bellowing. Yelling yes. But bellowing? To me that choice of word evokes an image of some farcical character, rather than a real person. I don't know if I have ever witnessed someone doing something that I would describe as bellowing.
And then the writing was just bad in a lot of places. Here's an example of one paragraph from the book:
"In the center of the compound, a guard was kneeling on the ground, a rifle, with bayonet attached, propped against his shoulder." "But then he noticed that the rifle wasn't resting against Platov's shoulder as he had first imagined. In fact, Platov had been stabbed through the throat with the bayonet, which now protruded from the back of his neck. Platov was dead, propped up by the rifle, which had prevented him from falling."
I've tried to picture this scene a dozen times and I just cannot imagine how someone could think someone was holding a rifle only to notice "oh wait, that bayonet is actually through him. Silly me."
Honestly, it just now hit me after re-reading this with fresh eyes that "propped against his shoulder" meant resting, like rifles are carried when marching.
Up until this point, I was picturing someone holding a weapon like they were going to shoot.
So you can understand my confusion about how someone with a bayonet through the neck could be confused with someone holding a rifle like in the second picture. So I guess it wasn't as bad as I originally thought. But I still didn't like this book.
For transparency's sake, I read this a while ago and I'm just now getting around to publishing this review. I had a couple notes, but don't remember much of it so this will be brief.
One of the secondary characters is Stalin. Literally Stalin. And he's made out as some kind of horrible boss rather than a dictator who officially executed nearly 800,000 people and unofficially probably killed several million more. (I had to look up those stats...) In the novel though, Stalin plays practical jokes on his secretary by sawing the legs off of his desk and is constantly bellowing about stuff. Now, the practical joke thing may be a real thing that Stalin did, but I just don't picture him bellowing. Yelling yes. But bellowing? To me that choice of word evokes an image of some farcical character, rather than a real person. I don't know if I have ever witnessed someone doing something that I would describe as bellowing.
And then the writing was just bad in a lot of places. Here's an example of one paragraph from the book:
"In the center of the compound, a guard was kneeling on the ground, a rifle, with bayonet attached, propped against his shoulder." "But then he noticed that the rifle wasn't resting against Platov's shoulder as he had first imagined. In fact, Platov had been stabbed through the throat with the bayonet, which now protruded from the back of his neck. Platov was dead, propped up by the rifle, which had prevented him from falling."
I've tried to picture this scene a dozen times and I just cannot imagine how someone could think someone was holding a rifle only to notice "oh wait, that bayonet is actually through him. Silly me."
Honestly, it just now hit me after re-reading this with fresh eyes that "propped against his shoulder" meant resting, like rifles are carried when marching.
Up until this point, I was picturing someone holding a weapon like they were going to shoot.
So you can understand my confusion about how someone with a bayonet through the neck could be confused with someone holding a rifle like in the second picture. So I guess it wasn't as bad as I originally thought. But I still didn't like this book.
Travelers (205 and 206) : Jenny and U235
The last sentence I wrote for my post on episode 204 was "We will see if Travelers can continue to keep me hooked."
After these two episodes, I'd say that's a pretty resounding "hell yes." With the previously mentioned caveat that I don't really remember the first season, I'm declaring that these were the two best episodes of the series so far.
I'm writing about them together because (1) it's kind of one long episode anyway and (2) we watched both in one night. Which is somewhat unusual per our normal viewing habits and reflective of (1) how good the first episode was and (2) the kids going to bed early.
Long story short, there is a mutated flu virus that the team is trying to stop. The twist is that it was actually caused by the travelers in the first place!! The gist is that at the end of last season it turned out that there was this kind of civil war happening in the future, with a group called the Faction trying to wrest control from the Director. Well it turns out they did and since then all new travelers have been members of the Faction and not true "good guy" travelers sent by the Director. Which explains why there haven't been any real missions and the team doesn't seem like they're really doing anything.
These two episodes really made me appreciate the first part of this season more, as it made me rethink everything that the team had done.
Also, it was pretty thrilling from a "wow it seems like a lot of people are actually going to die" point of view.
My favorite piece of dialog was from David (who, along with Trevor is probably my favorite character). After a long day working in a homeless shelter helping out his clients he was taking a break and talking to another worker. The other guy mentioned that it was getting bad and that people had started looting. David says something like "I don't understand that. 'Oh, I'm really sick and everyone's dying so I'm going to go steal this t.v.' I mean, t.v.'s don't even really cost that much anymore. I don't get it."
It was a perfectly rational response delivered in a time of a global pandemic in a world where time travelers exist and his kind-of/once girlfriend "recovered" from down syndrome.
After these two episodes, I'd say that's a pretty resounding "hell yes." With the previously mentioned caveat that I don't really remember the first season, I'm declaring that these were the two best episodes of the series so far.
I'm writing about them together because (1) it's kind of one long episode anyway and (2) we watched both in one night. Which is somewhat unusual per our normal viewing habits and reflective of (1) how good the first episode was and (2) the kids going to bed early.
Long story short, there is a mutated flu virus that the team is trying to stop. The twist is that it was actually caused by the travelers in the first place!! The gist is that at the end of last season it turned out that there was this kind of civil war happening in the future, with a group called the Faction trying to wrest control from the Director. Well it turns out they did and since then all new travelers have been members of the Faction and not true "good guy" travelers sent by the Director. Which explains why there haven't been any real missions and the team doesn't seem like they're really doing anything.
These two episodes really made me appreciate the first part of this season more, as it made me rethink everything that the team had done.
Also, it was pretty thrilling from a "wow it seems like a lot of people are actually going to die" point of view.
My favorite piece of dialog was from David (who, along with Trevor is probably my favorite character). After a long day working in a homeless shelter helping out his clients he was taking a break and talking to another worker. The other guy mentioned that it was getting bad and that people had started looting. David says something like "I don't understand that. 'Oh, I'm really sick and everyone's dying so I'm going to go steal this t.v.' I mean, t.v.'s don't even really cost that much anymore. I don't get it."
It was a perfectly rational response delivered in a time of a global pandemic in a world where time travelers exist and his kind-of/once girlfriend "recovered" from down syndrome.
Travelers (204) - 11:27
We're four episodes into this season and I'm a little lost. I can't really remember what happened last season. Something about a virus? They lost their memory? Or only Marcy did? I don't know.
I remember pieces of the season, although mostly that's because they've talked about it in the first few episodes of this season. There was a major mission related to an asteroid. They were kidnapped but got away somehow. Marcy shot a guy (through the ventilation system) who was holding David hostage. The guy Carly has a baby with (boyfriend, husband?) was abusive. (I guess technically he's the guy who had a baby with the women whose consciousness Carly replaced.) That's about it. Oh, and something about Trevor kidnapping his guidance counselor and getting her replaced with an old person from their time? Man, writing it all out like that makes this show seem confusing.
This episode was okay. One thing that seems to be missing from this season is the thread of an overall mission. It seemed that in season 1, all of the missions the team tackled each episode were to further their overall progress on their main mission. They needed some piece to make a machine they needed later. So far though, this season they seem to just be going day to day. Maybe that's the effect of their mission failing last season?
At one point (I can't remember if it was this episode or the last one) they even made a comment about not having a mission for a while. This was the first one where they had a goal that they were trying to accomplish though. Actually, it was two. They were blowing up the headquarters of an agriculture company who was about to release a genetically modified seed and timing it to cover an assassination of a politician. A politician who was also a traveler and someone the series introduced last season in a plane crash. (That was another thing I totally forgot about until they mentioned it in this episode.)
Something I really liked from this episode were the scenes between Trevor and Abby. I didn't see their little romance blooming and I thought it was really cute. Especially since Trevor's the only one that hasn't really had a relationship. Grant has Carly (and also his wife), Carly has "her" son and Jeff (sort of kind of), Marcy has David, and Phillip has heroin (also he started hooking up with this other traveler named Jenny this season). Well I guess Trevor had/has a girlfriend, but she hasn't been around at all this season except for a brief scene with him in the hospital in an early episode. And she seemed to be there more for uncomfortable humor since she wasn't really compatible with the "new" Trevor. But Abby seemed to be.
Which is why it kind of crushed me when she died. Or technically was killed. That may have been the point when I got re-hooked onto this series. We will see if Travelers can continue to keep me hooked.
I remember pieces of the season, although mostly that's because they've talked about it in the first few episodes of this season. There was a major mission related to an asteroid. They were kidnapped but got away somehow. Marcy shot a guy (through the ventilation system) who was holding David hostage. The guy Carly has a baby with (boyfriend, husband?) was abusive. (I guess technically he's the guy who had a baby with the women whose consciousness Carly replaced.) That's about it. Oh, and something about Trevor kidnapping his guidance counselor and getting her replaced with an old person from their time? Man, writing it all out like that makes this show seem confusing.
This episode was okay. One thing that seems to be missing from this season is the thread of an overall mission. It seemed that in season 1, all of the missions the team tackled each episode were to further their overall progress on their main mission. They needed some piece to make a machine they needed later. So far though, this season they seem to just be going day to day. Maybe that's the effect of their mission failing last season?
At one point (I can't remember if it was this episode or the last one) they even made a comment about not having a mission for a while. This was the first one where they had a goal that they were trying to accomplish though. Actually, it was two. They were blowing up the headquarters of an agriculture company who was about to release a genetically modified seed and timing it to cover an assassination of a politician. A politician who was also a traveler and someone the series introduced last season in a plane crash. (That was another thing I totally forgot about until they mentioned it in this episode.)
Something I really liked from this episode were the scenes between Trevor and Abby. I didn't see their little romance blooming and I thought it was really cute. Especially since Trevor's the only one that hasn't really had a relationship. Grant has Carly (and also his wife), Carly has "her" son and Jeff (sort of kind of), Marcy has David, and Phillip has heroin (also he started hooking up with this other traveler named Jenny this season). Well I guess Trevor had/has a girlfriend, but she hasn't been around at all this season except for a brief scene with him in the hospital in an early episode. And she seemed to be there more for uncomfortable humor since she wasn't really compatible with the "new" Trevor. But Abby seemed to be.
Which is why it kind of crushed me when she died. Or technically was killed. That may have been the point when I got re-hooked onto this series. We will see if Travelers can continue to keep me hooked.
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