Superior, contemporary & socially conscious Scandi-noir thriller with a multifaceted plot.
Camilla Grebe’s exceptional second novel to feature beleaguered psychological profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön is as much about the isolated Swedish backwater town of Ormberg where the entire story takes place as its central protagonist. In fact, Ormberg could be just about any depopulated town, devastated by the closure of the factories where the locals are resentful about the lack of government support and the subsequent decision to situate a refugee facility in the midst of the surrounding forests. A review of an investigation into the body of a five-year-old girl originally discovered in 2009 in the local cairn takes Hanne, her partner, Peter Lindgren, and Manfred Olsson of the National Operations Department to the village to take a second look. Locally born Malin Brundin was a teenager when she discovered the partially decomposed remains but as a present day detective eight years later she is part of the team setup to investigate due to her local knowledge.
But just over a week after the case is reopened, Hanne is found wandering in the forest suffering from hypothermia and short-term memory loss due to her early onset dementia, and with no sign of the notebook which serves as her aide-memoire and Peter nowhere to be found, the original cold case explodes into a far more complex affair. When a second barely cold corpse is discovered, Hanne’s life is jeopardised and there is still no sign of Peter, Manfred and Malin are forced to retrace their colleagues footsteps without the aid of Hanne’s precious notebook. Little do they know that troubled fifteen-year-old Jake Birgersson who found the missing notebook holds all the answers but has his own deeply personal reasons for not turning over to the police. As the current investigation ignites suspicion in the village and threatens to strike at the heart of Jake’s already fractured family life after the death from cancer of his mother a year ago, he wrestles with his angst about the locals finding out about his cross-dressing and desire to be a female in a place where anything non-mainstream is given short shrift. As the case casts a fresh web of intrigue over the entire village its inhabitants are forced to look inwards and confront the darkness at the very heart of their community...
The plot takes a significant time to fully establish as it catches up on the first weeks discoveries and reiterates the known facts whilst also searching for Hanne and Peter amid suspicion that they may have followed a potential lead. Despite this slow start Grebe infuses the whole story with a slow-burning suspense that never lets up, as detective Malin relays the police developments whilst also outlining the rationale behind the town’s attitude to the refugees in her part of the narrative. While the pace of the unfolding story might not feel like a searing thriller, taking well over a third of the story to establish the details provided in the synopsis, it skilfully presents the lie of the land in Ormberg and the protagonists concerns, motivations and attitudes. A second narrative, providing notebook finder Jake’s perspective is interspersed by Hanne’s diary excerpts as he works his way through her notebook.
The plot is multifaceted and there are so many aspects that add depth and contribute to the complex investigation with far-reaching implications contained within After She’s Gone. All three narrators and lead protagonists are fully-realised individuals and compel the reader to empathise with them in the case of Hanne and Jake, or in the case of Malin have some degree of sympathy. With each of the narrators experiencing their own turmoil and the narrative taking time to identify the key individuals in the village, in addition each chapter also shifts the point of view meaning readers are quickly taken out of one characters head and dropped into another. Although the author’s ability to capture the individual voices of her protagonists means the constant shifts between perspective are far less jarring than they often can be, some readers may find it a distraction as the narrative moves between self-conscious and sensitive, Jake, who is uncomfortable in his own skin to prickly Malin’s mixed emotions at being home and impending marriage. It was Jake’s voice and my empathy for his journey that I found most compelling and I felt his component was the main driver in the story as he uses his insights from Hanne’s diary to follow a menacing trail.
Ormberg is the original small town where a miasma of hopelessness pervades and the inhabitants frustration is barely concealed below the surface and it isn’t hard to empathise with the townsfolk. Grebe portrays a situation which is more complex than xenophobia and casual racism and more akin to bitterness at their plight and resentment at the generous handouts that the asylum seekers benefit from.
Not only does the novel have a deeper underlying message above and beyond the shocking mystery it also delivers a timely message on understanding, both for those battling health conditions in the case of Hanne and issues of identity in the case of both Jake and Malin. Several unexpected twists punctuate the novel throughout with a final jaw-dropping revelation in store as the ultimate pay-off. After She’s Gone is an excellent police procedural novel but it would do it a disservice to label as an “issues novel” despite the weighty topics broached. I appreciated that the novel never veered into sanctimonious or preachy in tone but offered a balanced assessment of a very contentious subject.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
But just over a week after the case is reopened, Hanne is found wandering in the forest suffering from hypothermia and short-term memory loss due to her early onset dementia, and with no sign of the notebook which serves as her aide-memoire and Peter nowhere to be found, the original cold case explodes into a far more complex affair. When a second barely cold corpse is discovered, Hanne’s life is jeopardised and there is still no sign of Peter, Manfred and Malin are forced to retrace their colleagues footsteps without the aid of Hanne’s precious notebook. Little do they know that troubled fifteen-year-old Jake Birgersson who found the missing notebook holds all the answers but has his own deeply personal reasons for not turning over to the police. As the current investigation ignites suspicion in the village and threatens to strike at the heart of Jake’s already fractured family life after the death from cancer of his mother a year ago, he wrestles with his angst about the locals finding out about his cross-dressing and desire to be a female in a place where anything non-mainstream is given short shrift. As the case casts a fresh web of intrigue over the entire village its inhabitants are forced to look inwards and confront the darkness at the very heart of their community...
The plot takes a significant time to fully establish as it catches up on the first weeks discoveries and reiterates the known facts whilst also searching for Hanne and Peter amid suspicion that they may have followed a potential lead. Despite this slow start Grebe infuses the whole story with a slow-burning suspense that never lets up, as detective Malin relays the police developments whilst also outlining the rationale behind the town’s attitude to the refugees in her part of the narrative. While the pace of the unfolding story might not feel like a searing thriller, taking well over a third of the story to establish the details provided in the synopsis, it skilfully presents the lie of the land in Ormberg and the protagonists concerns, motivations and attitudes. A second narrative, providing notebook finder Jake’s perspective is interspersed by Hanne’s diary excerpts as he works his way through her notebook.
The plot is multifaceted and there are so many aspects that add depth and contribute to the complex investigation with far-reaching implications contained within After She’s Gone. All three narrators and lead protagonists are fully-realised individuals and compel the reader to empathise with them in the case of Hanne and Jake, or in the case of Malin have some degree of sympathy. With each of the narrators experiencing their own turmoil and the narrative taking time to identify the key individuals in the village, in addition each chapter also shifts the point of view meaning readers are quickly taken out of one characters head and dropped into another. Although the author’s ability to capture the individual voices of her protagonists means the constant shifts between perspective are far less jarring than they often can be, some readers may find it a distraction as the narrative moves between self-conscious and sensitive, Jake, who is uncomfortable in his own skin to prickly Malin’s mixed emotions at being home and impending marriage. It was Jake’s voice and my empathy for his journey that I found most compelling and I felt his component was the main driver in the story as he uses his insights from Hanne’s diary to follow a menacing trail.
Ormberg is the original small town where a miasma of hopelessness pervades and the inhabitants frustration is barely concealed below the surface and it isn’t hard to empathise with the townsfolk. Grebe portrays a situation which is more complex than xenophobia and casual racism and more akin to bitterness at their plight and resentment at the generous handouts that the asylum seekers benefit from.
Not only does the novel have a deeper underlying message above and beyond the shocking mystery it also delivers a timely message on understanding, both for those battling health conditions in the case of Hanne and issues of identity in the case of both Jake and Malin. Several unexpected twists punctuate the novel throughout with a final jaw-dropping revelation in store as the ultimate pay-off. After She’s Gone is an excellent police procedural novel but it would do it a disservice to label as an “issues novel” despite the weighty topics broached. I appreciated that the novel never veered into sanctimonious or preachy in tone but offered a balanced assessment of a very contentious subject.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.