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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Siri Bergman is terrified of the dark.
She lives alone, an hour outside Stockholm where she practises as a psychotherapist, her nearest neighbour far away. Siri tells her friends that she has moved on since her husband died in a diving accident. But when she goes to bed at night, she leaves all the lights on, unable to shake the feeling that someone is watching her.
With the light gone, the darkness creeps inside.
One night she wakes to find that the house is pitch black, and the torch by her bedside her vanished. Later, the body of one of her young patients is found floating in the water nearby. Thrown headlong into a tense murder investigation, Siri finds herself unable to trust anyone, not even her closest friends. Who can she turn to for answers?
The truth is hidden in the darkness.
Siri Bergman runs a psychotherapist practice in Stockholm with her best friend, Aina Davidsson. Together they treat patients with a wide range of issues, from self-harm to anorexia. But Siri has a secret that she hasn’t shared with her colleagues: ever since her husband died in a diving accident a couple of years earlier, she’s been unable to sleep with her lights off and always keeps a torch near her bed.
When the body of one of Siri’s patients – Sara Matteus (a self harmer) is found in a lake near Siri’s house, the death is presumed to be a suicide but Siri’s not so sure – Sara had talked of having a new boyfriend and Siri’s has a feeling that someone is watching her, while she’s experiencing weird events that no one can explain, events that make her question her own sanity ...
Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff’s psychological thriller (the first in a series) was a Swedish bestseller and has been translated into English by Paul Norlen. Unfortunately I found this to be a dull and limply plotted affair with a passive and reactive main character I couldn’t relate to and a supporting cast of two-dimensional, dull characters who I didn’t care about. This is a pity because the opening chapter is genuinely interesting with the death of a young girl – but it isn’t until the very last chapters that this comes into play again and the circumstances are so ridiculous that by then I simply didn’t care. Siri herself has a flat first person voice (which may be down to the translation rather than the original version) and is incapable of making connections or vocalising what’s going on. In truth, I found her a self-obsessed ninny and I totally didn’t care about her relationship with her dead husband or the cliché relationship that develops with the policeman investigating what’s happening to her. I can’t comment on how authentic the psychotherapy sessions are, but I did find the patients and their backgrounds to be cliché riddled and dull and the revelation of the killer came out of left field (especially their motivation, which I really thought would have rung a bell with Siri a little earlier than it did). Ultimately, this just didn’t hold my interest and while there’s a suggestion it’s going to move into criminal psychology in later books there’s nothing that makes me want to read on.
The Verdict:
Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff’s psychological thriller (the first in a series) was a Swedish bestseller and has been translated into English by Paul Norlen. Unfortunately I found this to be a dull and limply plotted affair with a passive and reactive main character I couldn’t relate to and a supporting cast of two-dimensional, dull characters who I didn’t care about. This is a pity because the opening chapter is genuinely interesting with the death of a young girl – but it isn’t until the very last chapters that this comes into play again and the circumstances are so ridiculous that by then I simply didn’t care. Siri herself has a flat first person voice (which may be down to the translation rather than the original version) and is incapable of making connections or vocalising what’s going on. In truth, I found her a self-obsessed ninny and I totally didn’t care about her relationship with her dead husband or the cliché relationship that develops with the policeman investigating what’s happening to her. I can’t comment on how authentic the psychotherapy sessions are, but I did find the patients and their backgrounds to be cliché riddled and dull and the revelation of the killer came out of left field (especially their motivation, which I really thought would have rung a bell with Siri a little earlier than it did). Ultimately, this just didn’t hold my interest and while there’s a suggestion it’s going to move into criminal psychology in later books there’s nothing that makes me want to read on.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of this book.
She lives alone, an hour outside Stockholm where she practises as a psychotherapist, her nearest neighbour far away. Siri tells her friends that she has moved on since her husband died in a diving accident. But when she goes to bed at night, she leaves all the lights on, unable to shake the feeling that someone is watching her.
One night she wakes to find that the house is pitch black, and the torch by her bedside her vanished. Later, the body of one of her young patients is found floating in the water nearby. Thrown headlong into a tense murder investigation, Siri finds herself unable to trust anyone, not even her closest friends. Who can she turn to for answers?
Siri Bergman runs a psychotherapist practice in Stockholm with her best friend, Aina Davidsson. Together they treat patients with a wide range of issues, from self-harm to anorexia. But Siri has a secret that she hasn’t shared with her colleagues: ever since her husband died in a diving accident a couple of years earlier, she’s been unable to sleep with her lights off and always keeps a torch near her bed.
When the body of one of Siri’s patients – Sara Matteus (a self harmer) is found in a lake near Siri’s house, the death is presumed to be a suicide but Siri’s not so sure – Sara had talked of having a new boyfriend and Siri’s has a feeling that someone is watching her, while she’s experiencing weird events that no one can explain, events that make her question her own sanity ...
Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff’s psychological thriller (the first in a series) was a Swedish bestseller and has been translated into English by Paul Norlen. Unfortunately I found this to be a dull and limply plotted affair with a passive and reactive main character I couldn’t relate to and a supporting cast of two-dimensional, dull characters who I didn’t care about. This is a pity because the opening chapter is genuinely interesting with the death of a young girl – but it isn’t until the very last chapters that this comes into play again and the circumstances are so ridiculous that by then I simply didn’t care. Siri herself has a flat first person voice (which may be down to the translation rather than the original version) and is incapable of making connections or vocalising what’s going on. In truth, I found her a self-obsessed ninny and I totally didn’t care about her relationship with her dead husband or the cliché relationship that develops with the policeman investigating what’s happening to her. I can’t comment on how authentic the psychotherapy sessions are, but I did find the patients and their backgrounds to be cliché riddled and dull and the revelation of the killer came out of left field (especially their motivation, which I really thought would have rung a bell with Siri a little earlier than it did). Ultimately, this just didn’t hold my interest and while there’s a suggestion it’s going to move into criminal psychology in later books there’s nothing that makes me want to read on.
The Verdict:
Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff’s psychological thriller (the first in a series) was a Swedish bestseller and has been translated into English by Paul Norlen. Unfortunately I found this to be a dull and limply plotted affair with a passive and reactive main character I couldn’t relate to and a supporting cast of two-dimensional, dull characters who I didn’t care about. This is a pity because the opening chapter is genuinely interesting with the death of a young girl – but it isn’t until the very last chapters that this comes into play again and the circumstances are so ridiculous that by then I simply didn’t care. Siri herself has a flat first person voice (which may be down to the translation rather than the original version) and is incapable of making connections or vocalising what’s going on. In truth, I found her a self-obsessed ninny and I totally didn’t care about her relationship with her dead husband or the cliché relationship that develops with the policeman investigating what’s happening to her. I can’t comment on how authentic the psychotherapy sessions are, but I did find the patients and their backgrounds to be cliché riddled and dull and the revelation of the killer came out of left field (especially their motivation, which I really thought would have rung a bell with Siri a little earlier than it did). Ultimately, this just didn’t hold my interest and while there’s a suggestion it’s going to move into criminal psychology in later books there’s nothing that makes me want to read on.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of this book.
