Deep as Death

Ivar’s disappointing sequel to 2019’s Evil Things opens with a prologue set in 1935 in which a man causes a woman to slip into a frozen lake and drown by breaking the ice in front of her. When a prostitute’s body is found floating in icy Helsinki Harbor in 1953, the police tell the madam of the victim’s upscale brothel that it was likely an accident. Unsatisfied with this answer, the madam seeks help from private investigator Hella Mauzer, the first female homicide detective on the Helsinki police until her abrupt dismissal for disobeying direct orders. An attempt to drown a second prostitute suggests the first prostitute was murdered. Told from multiple viewpoints, the complex narrative fails to build much momentum. Hella’s complicated personal life, in particular her married boyfriend dumping her, distracts. A provocative denouement and some evocative prose (“this was a city of softened greys and sunless mornings, of blurry shadows and damp drizzle”) compensate only in part. Fans of Evil Things will hope for a return to form in the trilogy’s conclusion. Agent: Marilia Savvides, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop (U.K.). (June)