#scandi noir

[rebeccafergusonfan]

Rebecca Ferguson as Katrine Bratt | The Snowman | 2017

[desdasiwrites]

Grief is love made homeless.

– Søren Sveistrup, The Chestnut Man

[sellingsecrets]

"It's really hard for me to talk about things. That's why I bought you a gun." –Lena "Mother of the Year" Jaakkola

[womeninfictionandirl]

Saga Norén by Willem Klerk

[nevergetoffthebus]

Hinterland on BBC4

Okay, this isn't exactly advance warning, but... Welsh noir detective series Hinterland is being repeated on BBC4 (in English) starting tonight, and will therefore go back onto iPlayer.

If you like Scandi-noir, detectives staring moodily into the far distance, or absolutely awesome scenery, this is the show for you!

I wrote 'Ceredigion' (S2 ep1) and 'Aftermath' (S3 Ep1), so that's five weeks tonight and nine weeks tonight. (I assume they're repeating the whole three seasons...)

I notice that IMDb rates Aftermath higher than Ceredigion, which is interesting, because I always felt Ceredigion is the better of my two...

Ceredigion was also inspired by true events. Sort of. A veteran friend told me that there was a commune of ex-military men with PTSD living out in the hills, sleeping in the woods, doing odd jobs and pooling their cash to survive, which I thought was fascinating.

Then I was on a rural bus, going out hiking, when the bus suddenly pulled off the road, parked in front of an isolated cottage, and a little old lady came out and collected two shopping bags from the driver. Presumably he was just dropping off groceries for his gran... but what, I thought, if they weren't groceries?

Anyway, take a look, and let me know what you think...

(CONTENT WARNING: there's an ongoing theme of institutional child abuse throughout the series, and some episodes deal with other sexual abuse or domestic violence.)

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Sweet Dreams by Anders Roslund

Today I'm sharing my thoughts on Sweet Dreams, book 10 in the Ewert Grens series by Anders Roslund @vintagebooks #books #bookreview #sweetdreams

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on Sweet Dreams by Anders Roslund. I’ve had this book for a while, and really enjoyed its predecessor, Knock Knock, so figured it’s long overdue a read. Here’s what it’s all about: Source: Publisher CopyRelease Date: 15 September 2022 Publisher: VIntage Continue reading Sweet Dreams by Anders Roslund

[mymurderbooks]

Title: Winterkill

Author: Ragnar Jónasson

Rating: ★★★★☆

Series: Dark Iceland

---

This is the first book I've read in Ragnar Jónasson's #DarkIceland series, but is the 6th in the series, and I think it's actually the last. It was reasonably engaging and ultimate okay.

The detective is Ari Thór in a small Icelandic ski town, Siglufjörður, which is a real small Icelandic town (home of The Herring Era Museum, and where one of my favourite Nordic Noir tv series, Ófærð, was filmed). Without any spoilers, the primary death is a possible suicide, there's a redrum moment where a nursing home resident writes "She was murdered" over and over again on his bedroom wall - and reading it has the vibe of an SVU episode, with an SVU-esque ending.

Which is not a bad thing at all. The reveal to the main mystery was just okay for me and it's more or less solved by a witness basically telling him the main clue, but this was tempered by a side mystery solving which made it a little more satisfying. The lead detective Ari Thór isn't annoying, and I don't care for his personal life but it isn't detailed such that it gets in the way of the story.

I was hoping there would be more of a mystery puzzle, this is more of an investigation type mystery than a Poirot. However it's engaging enough, and I think it's a good book to relax with - much like an SVU episode. The story takes place over Easter but I felt it was a good choice for this long Christmas weekend.

spoilers under the cut:

I'm reassured that all the non-perp adult characters viewed the 19 year old victims as children and schoolgirls, and they're positioned as such in the novel's POV. Credit to the author for not sexualising them or assigning equal blame with the perp.

The side murder was slightly more satisfying because:

a) it was based on mysterious scrawlings and I have a preference for that (also letters, conversation snippets, etc.),

b) Ari Thór had to recognise that there was a murder and figure out who was murdered, although that's reasonably straightforward

But there wasn't that much payoff honestly. It's a littl disappointing that the main death was a suicide after the promise of "but surely, there's no other prints and no one else could possibly have been there!" which buoyed me up for more of a locked room mystery.

The ending was a little too SVU-esque. As soon as the vic's mother phoned him up sounding all rattled, I knew it was because she killed the perp. But I guess it provides closure, or something.

Overall, it was okay for me. I would read more from the series.

[sellingsecrets]

In the season 1 finale when Sorjonen was like "Emotions are good. They drive me forward. I can't work without them." ...I wrote that shit down.

[boybasher]

[isalabells]

@all-my-worlds-a-stage tagged me to share the last ten songs I listened to💗 been pretty much the same on repeat since the weekend when I was waltzing home through the snow at -7°C at 1.30am. and y'all thought I was joking when I said I rediscovered Bea huh

[englishmagic]

I’m currently watching a show called The Seed (no YOU have an obsession with the high arctic) (shut up)

And one of the actors looks so much like Mike from Stranger Things. She’s also very very cute. MUCH cuter than Mike from Stranger Things, even though they look very much alike.

Anyway Finn Wolfhard if you’re out there, consider whether you might want to transition because it would look good on you

[emmaysusmuvis]

**** (the quality of the writing in the 3rd and 4th seasons doesn't diminish one bit. And the new Danish counterpart, called Henrik, is quite a bit more likeable)

[onewomancitadel]

Appropos of nothing but Ode to Joy makes me understand the physical need to headbang

[phagodyke]

just found out a scandi noir series I binged a couple years ago now has a new season 😳

[blixeniana]

Recensione La Promessa di Jussi Adler Olsen opinione analisi noir crime ...

[themaresnest-dumblr]

Okay, so which country's Eurovision entry is this one then?

“We feel pain, and fear it. We feel shame, and fear it. We feel loss, and fear it. We hate the Darkness, and fear it… The Dremora have deep thoughts, and must master fear to overcome it.”

–Excerpt from Spirit of the Daedra