The Glass Man, by Anders De la Motte.
Scandie Noir is flourishing as a genre in the hugely
capable hands of De la Motte and his excellent translator Alex Fleming. This is the second book in a series with
Leonore Asker, brilliant but flawed (aren’t they all?) police detective as the
main protagonist, along with her long-time friend University professor Martin
Hill, a tried and true companion on some truly life and death adventures and –
if Leo were to be honest with herself, a future significant other, not least because
they trust each other completely. They
will always come to the rescue of each other, if they can.
In the meantime, Martin has been offered his dream job writing
a book about the history of one of Sweden’s most successful international
medical companies, founded and still administered by the original family, the
Irvings: could his luck be any
better? Of course not – he’s ecstatic,
especially when the Irving estate and manor house will be at his disposal along
with all (he hopes) its records.
By unhappy contrast, Leo is still hidden and labouring away
sight unseen in the depths of the Police basement in charge of various officers
who have talents not really required by their colleagues, or hoping soon for
retirement: such is her punishment for
being too good at her job – she made the Stockholm Hotshot who took over her
position look silly more than once, with the result that when a body is
discovered close to her father’s farm, she is not allowed any information
connected to it. It’s ‘none of her
business’, even though her father – whom she loathes – becomes the main
suspect. While she knows her father is
capable of anything, she is also sure that this murder is definitely NOT his
Modus Operandi. Something Stinks in the
State of Denmark.
And life is not going as well as first thought for
Martin: he does not have the open and
free access that he expected on the Irving Estate[J1] , in fact he seems to be watched by an awful lot of
people – even by Drones when he walks outside, but the worst thing – the very
WORST THING - -was being persued by a huge man-like creature through the
gardens when he was returning to his accommodation. He’s never been so scared in his life – Leo,
where are you???
From a very convoluted plot De la Motte unravels the
Irving family’s real reason for their interest in Martin, revealing a Trump-like narcissism in their belief that he will marvel at their
mastery of Cryogenics – or become their
next victim. What some people will do to
advance the cause of science – or live forever.
FIVE STARS
No comments:
Post a Comment