Book Review: Death Sentence by Mikkel Birkegaard

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars..... I think.

Synopsis
A murder committed on paper, safely within the confines of a novel, is one thing. To see that one crime in the real world, is something else entirely...
Frank Fons is a successful crime writer. His novels, famed for their visceral description of violent death, have made him a household name. but now someone is copying his crimes. For Frank what once served a clever, intriguing plot twist has suddenly become a terrifying, blood splattered reality.

Frank unwittingly swaps a role of writer for detective. He must find out who is using his fiction to destroy his life, and why. What had once been a game is now a matter of life and death.

In fiction the bad guy always get caught, but in real life there is no such guarantee. And as frank knows, no one is promising him a happy ending...

My Review.
This book was given to me from Transworld Books. 

This is an incredibly hard book to review and I have been sat at my computer wondering what I want to say and how I can truly convey what I am thinking right now. 

You know the phrase 'It does exactly what it says on the Tin (Blurb)'? Well this book doesn't. By that I don't mean that it doesn't have a serial killer. It does. I don't mean that there aren't some truly grisly tails of murder, torture and death. There are. What I mean is that the story layout and it's main stance on this type of genre is totally different to what I expected and I am still unsure whether or not I liked it. I would say however that I devoured the book in a rate like I had never experienced a crime book before. I found that I was totally involved in all the emotions that Frank felt and all the experiences and problems that he put himself in. I felt hatred and repulsion for the man and then at other times I kind of empathised with him, and for that I would like to applaud Birkegaard. Unlike other people I found the book to be fast passed with short chapters. This like other books I have read lately, including another Transworld Book; Crippen, they had two narratives. One where you saw the life of Frank; From the beginning of his love of reading and writing, to falling in love, being a dad, to finding the demons that fame, fortune and power can bring and how those demons can change you and bring the life that you once had down.  I found this storyline good, the characters were well executed and all rather memorable. 
The other part of this was the storyline that you expected after reading the blurb. Frank who now lives alone gets a telephone call to say that a murder has been committed and that it looks like something out of one one his books. Frank goes to investigate and soon becomes aware that the murder is closer to home than what he first thought.  This then starts what becomes a race against time for Frank to find the killer... This part of the book let it down for me. I had read other reviews that said that this book was incredibly gory and just too much. I hadn't found this to be true until the last 20 pages. I have read a lot of crime novels and those pages will forever be etched in my mind. Maybe I have a high tolerance to scenes that were described in the book but it didn't put me off at all. What did put me off was the way I felt the author rushed through the later part of the book. I felt that many loose ends were not dealt with and that the last 50 pages were just wrote to finish the book quickly. The ending was an utter disappointment and I wish so much I could explain why I thought this way but because of the risk of a spoiler I cannot say more, but it was a major let down. I can understand why the ending was the way it was but for me as a crime reader I read crime for a reason, and the ending was an utter anti climax! I would love to hear from other people who have read this book and see what they thought.

This is why my review is quite a strange one and part of me still doesn't know what to give the book star wise, as I utterly love some elements but despised others.

Would I read another book by the author? Yes, yes I think I would.

Do I think that he is the cream of the crop when it comes to Scandinavian authors? No, I do not understand why some reviews have said that he is like Larsson (The Girl with the dragon tattoo) There are no similarities between the two. If he is is to be compared by any other author from Scandinavia I would say that it would be more like a Camilla Lackberg. I haven't got round to reading my Jo Nesbo book to compare that yet.

Book Review: Crippen by John Boyne

Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
July 1910, the grisly remains of Cora Crippen, music hall singer and wife of Dr Hawley Crippen are discovered in the cellar of 39 Hilldrop Cresent Camden. But the doctor and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve have vanished., much to the frustration of Scotland Yard and the outrage of a horrified London.

Across the channel in Antwerp, the SS Montrose sets sail on it's two week voyage to Canada. Amongst it's passengers are the overbearing Antonia Drake and her daughter Victoria, who is hell-bent on romance, the enigmatic Zela and the modest Martha Hayes. Also on board are the unassuming Mr John Robinson and his seventeen year old son Edmund. But all is not as it seems...

My review:
This review is for the Transworld book group reading challenge. 

First off I would like to say that if you are in an airport and decide to get an easy read for the plane or for when you are on the beach this would be a fantastic choice! I don't think I have read a book this easy to read in a long long time.  

But... I am kinda in a dilemma writing this review. On one hand like I said it was easy to read. I was able to put the book down to work and be a Mum and then be able to pick it straight back up and get back into the story without a problem. However stereotypical the characters on the SS Montrose were I found them to have faces, shadows and become part of my image of the story... The characters came alive. 
The layout of the book reminds me of a book called 'A Brutal Art' by Jesse Kellerman. Where you would go back and forth in time to show the story of a character. I had no trouble with this in Crippen and found that this was a great idea. Unlike other people who have read the book I found no issue with the focus of Crippen's early years. I just found this part of the build up.

Now my issue. There are quite a few things, details are are just historically wrong which really put me off giving this book any higher a rating. 

In a nutshell, if you want a light read and are not bothered with whether a book has more fact than fiction then this well could be the book for you. If you are bothered with factual content then I think that the historical bloopers in this book will put you off.