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Genres
Description
"In February 1986, the Halland police receive a call from a man who claims to have raped a woman. I'm going to do it again, he says. Then the call cuts off. By the time policeman Sven Jörgensson reaches the victim, she's taking her last breath. For Sven and his son Vidar, this will prove a decisive moment. On the same night, Sweden plunges into a state of shock after the murder of the prime minister. Could there possibly be a connection? Two more women fall victim to the local serial killer without Sven being able to stop him. Over time Sven becomes obsessed with the case, while Vidar, longing to be closer to his father, joins the police. For years Sven remains haunted by the murders he cannot solve and paralyzed by fear that the killer might strike again. Eventually Sven retires in defeat from the police. Having failed to catch the murderer, he passes his obsession to his son. Many years later, the case unexpectedly resurfaces when a novelist returns home to Halland after a failed marriage and sputtering career. The writer befriends a retired police officer, a former colleague of Sven's, who helps the novelist--our narrator--unspool the many strands of this engrossing tale about a community confronting its collective guilt"--… (more)
Publication
Hogarth (2023), 448 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member Anniik
TW/CW: Sexual assault, murder, terminal illness, death of a parent, death of a child, automobile accident
RATING: 3.5/5
REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.
Blaze Me The Sun is the story of a Swedish writer who returns to his hometown
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the actual murder mystery was interesting. I figured it out ahead of time, but that’s okay, it happens.
My problems start with the writing. The writing itself was grammatically fine. But I found myself, as the book progressed, becoming entirely bored by the tedious tangents that this book continuously went off on. It was very, very wordy and overly flowery, and that weighed down the book a lot for me and made it feel very, very slow. I honestly thing that taking a hundred pages out of this book in tangents and ‘philosophizing’ would have made this a much better read. It was clear that the book was trying to be ‘deep’ into things such as good and evil, but really it just seemed kind of silly. I really wish that Carlsson had just stuck to the story – it had good bones and could have been a lot better than it turned out to be.
RATING: 3.5/5
REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.
Blaze Me The Sun is the story of a Swedish writer who returns to his hometown
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and starts investigating a series of murders that happened thirty years before. Most of the book is a story within a story – telling of the murders that the writer is investigating.I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the actual murder mystery was interesting. I figured it out ahead of time, but that’s okay, it happens.
My problems start with the writing. The writing itself was grammatically fine. But I found myself, as the book progressed, becoming entirely bored by the tedious tangents that this book continuously went off on. It was very, very wordy and overly flowery, and that weighed down the book a lot for me and made it feel very, very slow. I honestly thing that taking a hundred pages out of this book in tangents and ‘philosophizing’ would have made this a much better read. It was clear that the book was trying to be ‘deep’ into things such as good and evil, but really it just seemed kind of silly. I really wish that Carlsson had just stuck to the story – it had good bones and could have been a lot better than it turned out to be.
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LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
On the same February night that Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme is assassinated in Stockholm in 1986, a woman is raped in the small town of Halland. Police receive an ominous phone call in which the anonymous perpetrator says, “I’m going to do it again,” and, indeed, he does…twice. His
In a parallel present day story line, a recently divorced writer whom the book refers to only by his nickname, “Moth,” has moved back to Halland, his childhood home. Somewhat at loose ends and having not published in years, he decides to interview some of the people who were central to the unsolved crime and possibly reanimate his muse in the process.
The story is told in parallel timelines of Moth, Sven and Vidal. Blaze Me a Sun is part police procedural, part modern inquiry into a very cold case and part sociological study of the evolution of Swedish society in the post-Palme years, discussing the impact of getting away with assassinating a high ranking politician. It is a haunting tale of a man who, despite all his efforts, cannot solve a heinous crime, and who has a hard time living with that failure. The bleak countryside, the bleak weather and the bleak future for Halland residents all combine to make Blaze Me a Sun a solid entry into the Scandinavian noir genre.
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first victim dies from her wounds and the body of the second was never found. The third survived only because the perpetrator was interrupted. The investigation goes largely unnoticed by the media, as the attention of the nation is on the Palme assassination. For the rest of his career, and indeed for the rest of his life, police officer Sven Jörgensson is plagued by his failure to solve the crimes, as is his son, Vidal, who becomes a policeman and continues the investigation. In a parallel present day story line, a recently divorced writer whom the book refers to only by his nickname, “Moth,” has moved back to Halland, his childhood home. Somewhat at loose ends and having not published in years, he decides to interview some of the people who were central to the unsolved crime and possibly reanimate his muse in the process.
The story is told in parallel timelines of Moth, Sven and Vidal. Blaze Me a Sun is part police procedural, part modern inquiry into a very cold case and part sociological study of the evolution of Swedish society in the post-Palme years, discussing the impact of getting away with assassinating a high ranking politician. It is a haunting tale of a man who, despite all his efforts, cannot solve a heinous crime, and who has a hard time living with that failure. The bleak countryside, the bleak weather and the bleak future for Halland residents all combine to make Blaze Me a Sun a solid entry into the Scandinavian noir genre.
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LibraryThing member ccayne
A page turner about how the past haunts the present told through the eyes of an author who returns to his childhood and becomes obsessed with an old crime. Atmospheric, great character development and plotting.
LibraryThing member cathyskye
When Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was released, Scandinavian mysteries were "flavor of the month" for a while but their popularity finally waned. After reading Christoffer Carlsson's Blaze Me a Sun, I think a renaissance may be in order.
Although readers do learn what's going on
In Carlsson's Blaze Me a Sun, he says, "Everything could be uncovered. Everything could be brought to light. As long as you were stubborn enough and didn't give up." These three men are more than stubborn enough, and they do uncover everything... but are they correctly interpreting everything as they bring the facts to light? Can obsession warp a person's judgment? Carlsson not only knows how to write a compelling mystery, but he can also give readers plenty of food for thought. I'll be looking for more of his books.
Although readers do learn what's going on
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from the novelist as he becomes fixated on the unsolved mysteries, they also see how Sven Jörgensson and his son Vidar become obsessed with finding the killer over a period of decades. As residents and witnesses are spoken to once again, Sven is seen to ignore his own health in favor of finding a killer. It is incomprehensible to him how something like this could happen in this quiet part of Sweden. His son Vidar finds himself examining his own father with the eyes of an inquisitor. Why was Sven charged with manslaughter by negligence? Did Sven actually know the identity of the killer? And while I was trying to unravel this mystery along with Sven, Vidar, and the writer, I was also learning a few things about Sweden as well, which is always the mark of a good book. In Carlsson's Blaze Me a Sun, he says, "Everything could be uncovered. Everything could be brought to light. As long as you were stubborn enough and didn't give up." These three men are more than stubborn enough, and they do uncover everything... but are they correctly interpreting everything as they bring the facts to light? Can obsession warp a person's judgment? Carlsson not only knows how to write a compelling mystery, but he can also give readers plenty of food for thought. I'll be looking for more of his books.
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LibraryThing member kimkimkim
“The pursuit of truth could go on forever, or until all the survivors forgot there was any truth to be found. The truth was a fantasy. The truth never ended.” That is the long and short of Blaze Me A Sun. This is a story about a serial killer, his murders, those trying to piece it together,
Thank you Hogarth, Random House and NetGalley for a copy
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those who believe they have the answers and those who question the conclusions. It is a journey to find the truth about a Swedish crime drama examined from many angles and perspectives. Too many angles and perspectives and too many pages but a good story, expose, narration, obsession and a few other simulations. With some serious editing it could have been a great story. Thank you Hogarth, Random House and NetGalley for a copy
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LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
Impressive! Long, dark, brooding, tragic... everything you'd want in a high-quality Scandi noir. Can be slow-moving, and sometimes confusing as events jump back and forth across years, but patience is rewarded. More than just a police procedural, it explores depths of love, fear, loyalty, tragic
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and irredeemable error, fathers and sons, violence, and the burdens of all these things as carried by well-meaning people. And the sins and toxicity of the writer's life and metier. I look forward to his next one when they translate it. My one beef is that the bird on the eye-catching cover does NOT look like a white wagtail (which features in the story as an omen or harbinger of things to come). Not sure, but I *think* it's a Madagascan wagtail... ?! Show Less
LibraryThing member marquis784
This is a complex murder mystery which captivates and keeps you guessing.
This is book 2 of a series and I was unable to obtain an English version of book 1 so I am unsure what background in character development that might have added to this book. I found there was enough information for me to not
This story is narrated by a struggling writer who returns to Halland County in Sweden decades after an unsolved mystery of a man who claiming to a serial killer. He is desperate for distraction to revive his career after his marriage to Sara failed. He had remembered a cold case of a possible serial killer that seemed to occupy many investigators as a call comes in the same night the prime minister is murdered. This would become an obsession for Sven Jorgensson, an investigator who tries to make a connection between the self-proclaimed serial killer and the murder of the prime minister. After he retires, he encourages and assists his son, Vidar, who enters law enforcement as well to bond with his father.
When the writer returns home he finds that not much has changed except Vidar, who he finds disshelved in a bar looking very different than the man he knew 30 years ago. He had always admired him in high school who had called him "book moth" back then. He reflects the past when Vidar's father, Sven was a police officer. As he begins to dig up information from the past he speaks to retired police officer, Evy Carlen, 80 years-old and on her deathbed. She wanted to confide what happened many years ago to Sven and Vidar while investigating the unsolved mystery. What she reveals puts the writer on a path to uncover some hidden secrets and information surrounding the chaotic and rather botched investigation.
"BLAZE ME A SUN a serial killer in a small Swedish town commits his first murder the same night the prime minister is assassinated. This is a haunting, cinematic novel about the legacy of violence and a community's collective guilt by one of Scandinavia's most celebrated young crime writers."
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing access to this book for review consideration. All comments expressed in my review are my honest and unbiased opinion.
This is book 2 of a series and I was unable to obtain an English version of book 1 so I am unsure what background in character development that might have added to this book. I found there was enough information for me to not
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feel like I was too confused.This story is narrated by a struggling writer who returns to Halland County in Sweden decades after an unsolved mystery of a man who claiming to a serial killer. He is desperate for distraction to revive his career after his marriage to Sara failed. He had remembered a cold case of a possible serial killer that seemed to occupy many investigators as a call comes in the same night the prime minister is murdered. This would become an obsession for Sven Jorgensson, an investigator who tries to make a connection between the self-proclaimed serial killer and the murder of the prime minister. After he retires, he encourages and assists his son, Vidar, who enters law enforcement as well to bond with his father.
When the writer returns home he finds that not much has changed except Vidar, who he finds disshelved in a bar looking very different than the man he knew 30 years ago. He had always admired him in high school who had called him "book moth" back then. He reflects the past when Vidar's father, Sven was a police officer. As he begins to dig up information from the past he speaks to retired police officer, Evy Carlen, 80 years-old and on her deathbed. She wanted to confide what happened many years ago to Sven and Vidar while investigating the unsolved mystery. What she reveals puts the writer on a path to uncover some hidden secrets and information surrounding the chaotic and rather botched investigation.
"BLAZE ME A SUN a serial killer in a small Swedish town commits his first murder the same night the prime minister is assassinated. This is a haunting, cinematic novel about the legacy of violence and a community's collective guilt by one of Scandinavia's most celebrated young crime writers."
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing access to this book for review consideration. All comments expressed in my review are my honest and unbiased opinion.
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Awards
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
448 p.; 9.54 inches
ISBN
0593449355 / 9780593449356