It took me a while to get started on this one. The cover on my copy is
the one with the black marker zebra stripes scoring out the author and
the title on the out-sized cover. It's not a look that begs to be picked
up. Junker turns out to be a bit of a train wreck, suspended from the
force for a police op gone wrong and dragging a small mountain of
emotional baggage around with him. Nordic noir does throw up some really
miserable human beings and Junker seems to be a fine specimen of the
type. Wallander is almost cheery by comparison. A murder occurs close to
home, which Junker bluffs his way into an early look at. He finds an
item on the body that links with a friendship from his youth. While the
official investigation treads water Junker relives his past which reads,
in length, like a coming of age narrative.
Carlsson writes well and
his dialogue seems to survive the translation from the Swedish to
English without having that stilted edge that you sometimes get in
translated work. Themes touch on deal with dysfunctional families,
bullying, responsibility, guilt, spiral violence, friendship, social
invisibility and crime. Plenty to be going on with anyway. More Junker
novels are on the way.
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