Unseen

Eurocrime is all the rage these days. And I’m not just referring to Karen Meek’s excellent website and blog of that name. Not so long ago, crime fiction by authors from the Continent was hard to find in the shops; now, it’s everywhere, and a good thing too.

I’ve just finished Unseen, by the Swedish writer Mari Jungstedt, which first appeared in the UK (in a translation with a distinctly American flavour) a couple of years ago. It’s a serial killer novel which benefits from an excellent setting – the island of Gotland. The story is extremely readable and the depiction of a woman torn between her family commitments and an exciting new lover is very well done. I was less convinced by the detective work of the investigating team, whose failure to pick up crucial clues stuck me as bordering on the negligent. Even so, I liked the story, and I’ll keep an eye out for Jungstedt’s next book, Unspoken.