Frozen Assets

The ethereal post-rock music of Sigur Ros accompanied me while I was reading this Scandinavian mystery.  It is also thanks the above-mentioned band that I have a great idea of how Iceland looks, the land, the people and even the food. I watched a documentary Heimas the band made about a home tour they did which was free and open to everyone to come and listen.  It made me realise that Iceland got all of the good parts… it is so incredibly beautiful!  I wanted to plan my next overseas trip there just so (even though I would probably freeze my butt off and starve) I could experience for myself this awe-inspiring country.  With all of the countries that I have visited this year in my Scandinavian mystery challenge, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, I have had no idea what each country has looked like, so it was really nice to know for a change.

There is a setback, however.  An Englishman wrote the story, and I noticed some English mannerisms and slang (maybe they have been adopted?).  So it’s not the complete Icelandic experience. Good story though.  Lots of suspense, and I loved the Icelandic names. I learned a thing or two and shuddered a time or two (“would you like some fat on that? prawn sandwich anyone? “… a vegan nightmare). 

Dregs

Situated in Norway, this Scandinavian mystery was not as grisly as some of the others I have read this year.  What it did do instead wass keep me guessing, almost until the end, which was great.  Horst managed to surpise me twice by his twists and the final conclusion as well as also making it seem that the police detective protagonist was older than he actually was.    I will be looking for more from this author and hopefully more of this storyline.

Lucifer's Tears

My last Scandinavian mystery for a while phew! (though I have learnt that Finland does not consider itself Scandinavian but Nordic).  This last story was really gory and brutal.  There were quite a few times that I said to myself  "Now was that really necessary?".    A few chapters in I was seriously considering putting the book down and never looking at it again, but it grew on me, and after a while I came to like the protagonist Inspector Vaara. 
Unlike my last Scandinavian mystery this one was full of information the country had lots of history and I learnt a little about Finland, though I will have to verify if it was true or not.  I probably won't read any more by this author because the kind of detail he has included really turns my stomach, but if you can get past that, this story is really interesting and the others in the series will probably be really good too. 
It is pretty safe to say that I would not survive in Finland either, because I do not drink alcohol, I would freeze, and I would surely starve (though I would freeze sooner than I would starve that's for sure). 

The Boy in the Suitcase

A cleverly written, suspenseful story.  I'm visiting a new Scandinavian country this time, Denmark.  I don't know a lot about this country, except what I learnt from a quilting penpal, and of course from reading Beowulf (though I'm pretty sure that isn't relevant).  I didn't learn very much about Denmark in this book.

We are introduced to all of the principal characters, given some background, and then pitched right in to the story.  I enjoyed the journey.  It was an intricate plot, with immediate and satisfactory results.  I love it when there are strong female protagonists.  I will keep an eye out for more from this author. 

Frozen Moment

I haven't spent a lot of time with this genre because for the most part I prefer the cozy mystery, or something from another era that makes the story removed from life today.  I guess this is why I have had some problems so far like when I was reading the Millenium trilogy by Steig Larrson.  When it is so recent it is more real, and therefore more shocking.   Naturally it has occured to me that when Conan Doyle wrote his Sherlock Holmes, Christie her Poirot and Allingham her Campion that those books would have been as shocking to the people of the day. 
This is another Swedish author, and this is her first novel.  I liked it quite a bit, and look forward to reading her next novel.  Chief Inspector Tell is already one of my favorite cops.  I liked how the story flickered about from present day to ten or so years in the past, the two stories seemingly unrelated, and I liked how both storylines merged so smoothly close to the end. I liked that I could care for these characters. 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

 Whew!  I am relieved on so many levels that this story is finished.  There was so much of it to get through (and not a jot of it was unnecessary).  This last installment of the Millenium Trilogy was just as fast paced as the second book, and even more satisfying in it's conclusions.  There was a lot to the story, so many strands woven together to make this collossal whole and Steig did not miss a single one in this third book... all strands/stories were tied off and completed.  Impressive.
It was still a very stressful story, and had its quota of awful, but this time the tables were turned, and when they (the good guys) finally started to make some progress, it came to fruition in a spectacular way, showing that there are indeed lots of good people out there.
It's nice that after reading through all of the bad stuff, the hopelessness and futility, that I can come away from the experience with some hope because, when we really get down to it, there are a lot of  people out there who do really horrible things, and it can get really hard sometimes to live with that.  Despite that though, is the feeling that some how, and some way, there is enough good in each other to balance out the bad, which is a comfort. 
So maybe there is a merit to such fiction and perhaps I won't be so hesitant to pick up some more in the future.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

 Scandinavian Mystery came up again in my reading roster so I picked up the next in the Millenium Series with some slight trepidation.  I was quickly drawn in however.  I really like Mikhael Blomkvist and I adore Lisbeth Salander.  The first time around I was just getting to know these two, and trying to familiarize myself with Sweden so I could get a better picture in my mind.  It was exciting to have new experiences.  While the picture of Sweden is still too vague for my liking (the book I picked up from the library was not very good), I can easily get the food references which is neat (and I have adopted the soup on Thursdays...especially the pea). 
I am rooting for them both, and in this book I got a better picture of Lisbeth's life and why she is the way she is.  Naturally I don't expect them to get together in some great romance at the end... I just want them to get what makes them happy, peace for Lisbeth and justice for Mikhael (he really is a good, caring guy).  Lisbeth has been alone for so long and it is extremely exhausting to have to fight all of the time for peace and quiet.  She has never been given what most people just take for granted, which has hooked me in to her story because I just want to see her get what she really deserves.
It is such a big fat book full of so much action, it really was satisfying in an odd way.  Last time I needed some space before plunging in to the next book, this time I can't wait.  Because of the way it was concluded, I have now jumped ahead to read the next one in line instead of following my planned reading schedule.
The jury is still out on if I will see the movies, I have become very disenchanted with how the movie and television industry has re-written some of today's popular books.   These days I am not too keen on seeing any new shows before I know if there is a book of it or not, because ten times out of ten the book will always be better.  As a result I have not been watching much television and have been devouring my books instead (which really isn't a bad thing).

Scandinavian Mystery

 This is a category in this year's reading challenge.  I have wanted to have a look at  Steig Larrson's Millenium Trilogy for quite a while, but as usual I like to wait until the furor is down and after all the books in the series have been published.  I have to say right now I am not so sure I want to continue.  I can state with absolute certainty that I will not see the movie.  The book was graphic enough. 
First impressions were not good.  After about thirty pages I was thinking about ditching the book as my eyes glazed over from the financialese, but then it got interesting and I didn't want to put the book down (no matter how awful the subject material). 
It did inspire a need to have more information about Sweden since my knowledge is limited to a little music, some mythology,  IKEA  and Kaffe Fassets Quilts in Sweden (which I will be writing about later on this year).  It was amusing for me, after reading an article about Swedish food, that when I went back to the book and Larsson would write about what the main protagonist was eating  I could clearly picture it in my head.  I also listened to Adrian Lux and Peter, Bjorn & John while reading the e-book version of this story.  Lux in particular resonated with the reading experience. 
Which in a way explains why I don't want to see the movie.  I have a pretty good picture in my mind already and I really don't want to have what Hollywood has done to sully that impression in my mind (though the paperback version I own has the two actors on the cover, it just slightly influences my image). 
Will I read the next two?  I actually care about the female protagonist and I'm curious to see what will happen next, and it is interesting to see what will happen with the male protagonist too... but I won't be doing it anytime soon.