Read as part of CBR14Bingo: series. This is the first in what’s referred to Stateside as the “Hanne Lagerlind-Schon” series. It’s also part of a series of popular “Nordic Noir” and/or “Scandinavian Noir” tales that have made it to the United States.
I don’t really know what to make of Camilla Grebe’s interesting, sometimes frustrating, always compelling The Ice Beneath Her, except to say that I enjoyed it.
It’s twisty to be sure but I always felt like the twists were grounded in the pathos of the characters. In other words, nothing felt gratuitous. It’s bloody, which is usually not my thing but it works here with the bleak tone of most nordic noir tales. The three POV characters were all interesting in their own regard. For a while, I was preferring Emma chapters but as the book went along, I appreciated how Grebe developed them, leading to the jarring (if, sadly, predictable) conclusion.
I’m not thrilled with how this book handled mental health. I can’t give away more without spoiling it. I didn’t hate how it did it necessarily but that’s also perhaps because it was a good book. Mel Brooks once said the most offensive thing comedy can do is not be funny and I feel like a similar rule applies here where I might be giving more grace than I should. If poorly handled mental health angles in stories bother you, you may want to skip this one.
I’m kind of disappointed that this is a continuing series. I felt like it would be the perfect conclusion for all the respective arcs present. But I may have to check it out again. Grebe is an interesting writer.
