Mord
under Tjörn Runt
(which
is about a murder that takes place during the annual sailing race
around Tjörn
in
Sweden) is a criminal thriller, and I fully agree with the person who
wrote on the back cover: a thriller should not be transparent. On the
other hand, it should not be as convoluted and as messy as Mord
under Tjörn Runt.
I can understand that
Ramona Fransson wanted to create an atmosphere of suspense; however,
she has done this by throwing out a lot of unnecessary leads that
really have nothing to do with the main story; she also tends to
concentrate very much on characters who, it turns out, are only
secondary or even tertiary to the main plot. The twists and turns in
the plot happen with very little connection to what has gone before,
and though, when when one looks back at the story as a whole, it is
possible to see some kind of a vague thread joining up the main points in
the plot, this is not obvious while reading the book. Normally, this
would be part of a thriller's strength, but in this case, it simply
underlines the book's confusion.
It
is a hotchpotch of ideas, almost as if the book had to touch on
everything: murder, incest, bondage, paedophilia, disability,
unfaithfulness, greed, suicide, death of police while on duty... The
list could go on an on. It was actually a relief to reach the last
page. As
far as I know, the book has not yet been translated into English.