Paperback blurb: Under the midnight sun murder will be done . . .
Midsummer in Sweden, the sun never sets and the only darkness lies in the recesses of the human mind.
For a priest - Mildred Nilsson - has been brutally killed and lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, who thought she'd done with Kiruna, the little town of her birth, is dragged back there to stop a killing spree.
Yet the shadows that surrounded Matilda - hurt and healing, sin and sexuality, lethal sacrifice - will come to engulf those like Rebecka who seek the truth.
My take: Two landmarks caught my attention in this book and there are Sweden's most beautiful churches - Kiruna Church and Jukkasjarvi Church. As a person who loves to travel, these places are a must-see in the near future. There is a sense of wonderment in looking at the facades of both churches. One can feel the history of the places just by looking at the photos. Undoubtedly, a horde of stories to tell there.
Anyway, back to the book. After a harrowing experience back in her Swedish hometown some eighteen months ago, lawyer Rebecka Martinsson finds herself back in Kiruna where a feminist priestess was brutally killed. The murder is almost an echo of a priest's murder in The Savage Altar (the first book in the series) and leads to Inspector Anna-Maria Mella and the police department to think that there might be a copy-cat killer in the vicinity.
In another part of the story which seems totally disconnected to the main plot is a beautiful story about a she-wolf with long yellow legs dubbed "Yellow Legs". As much as she is a distraction from the story, when you read more about her and her escapades, you will find that the she-wolf and the protagonist, Rebecka Martinsson, have much more in common than you would like to think.
This is a well-written police procedural mystery which is reminiscent of Swedish crime fiction and is sensitively portrayed by both the author and the excellent translator (Marlaine Delargy) in terms of the brutally cold weather, the beautiful landscape, the quirks and passions of the peoples, set in an isolated village in the northern reaches of Sweden. Larsson's writing is more developed in her second book. Not to be missed.
The Blood Split was first published in 2007. The third and fourth books in the series are The Black Path (2008) and Until Thy Wrath Be Past (2011). Another time, another day.
An opposing review.
Rating: 4/5
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