Only One Life
Sara Blaedel, trans. from the Danish by Erik J. Macki and Tara F. Chace. Pegasus (Norton, dist.), $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-60598-350-9
In Blaedel’s earnest second police procedural to be published in the U.S. (after 2011’s Call Me Princess), Copenhagen cop Louise Rick looks into the death of 15-year-old Samra al-Abd, a member of the city’s close-knit community of Jordanian immigrants, found in shallow water of a nearby fjord weighed down with concrete. Is this an unfortunate but mundane murder, or an honor killing, a family turning on one of its own? The subsequent fatal bludgeoning of Samra’s best friend, Dicta Møller, confuses the issue. Hostile, judgmental Danish media spotlight Samra’s violent family history as Rick and her colleagues struggle to find the truth behind the two girls’ murders. The novel presents a nuanced and compassionate view of modern Copenhagen’s immigrants, eschewing a simple-minded demonization of outsiders or of the Danes themselves, but the workmanlike prose and flat depiction of the investigation make the story less engaging than it should be. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/02/2012
Genre: Fiction
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-1-4450-2783-8
Compact Disc - 978-0-7927-8935-2
Compact Disc - 978-1-4450-2784-5
MP3 CD - 978-1-4450-2785-2
Other - 352 pages - 978-1-4532-4932-1
Paperback - 338 pages - 978-1-60598-452-0
Portable Document Format (PDF) - 352 pages - 978-1-4804-1634-5
