Marked for Life

In July 2020, the New York Times Book Review had a section on Nordic Noir, which I love. I made a list of the books I wanted to read and have been plugging away at it ever since. Marked for Life by Emilie Schepp was on the list. It is the first book in the Jana Berzelius series.

An interesting thing about the author and the book. Ms. Schepp shopped it to the big name publishers with no takers. So she published it independently, sold 40,000 copies and won the Specsavers Reader’s Choice Award for most popular crime author as voted by readers in 2016, 2017 and 2018 (beating out Camilla Lackberg in 2016). Not bad, huh.

There are five books in the series, three of which have been published in the U.S. Marked for Revenge is the second book in the series.

Detectives Henrik Levin and Mia Bolander are called to a crime scene. Hans Juhlen, head of asylum issues for the Migration Board has been shot to death. He has been found by his wife, who immediately becomes a suspect. The only forensic evidence at the scene is a finger print and palm print belonging to a child on a windowsill and since the Juhlens are childless, it can’t be theirs.

A short time later the body of a young boy is found in a deserted area along with a gun. The boy’s fingerprints match those on the windowsill and the gun could certainly be the murder weapon. Carved on the back of the boy’s neck is the name Thanos which in Greek mythology is the personification of death.

Jana Berzelius is the prosecutor assigned to the case. She is strong, stylish, wealthy and a winner. She also has a hidden past. She can remember nothing prior to her being adopted as a pre-teen. She has been having vivid, disturbing dreams which she has written down in the dozens of journals kept under her bed and…she also has a name carved on the back of her neck, Ker, a female death spirit. Could she somehow be connected to this boy, this murderous child?

There is everything you would want in Marked for Life: action, police procedural, plots with twists, secrets. The police and forensic team members are an interesting group as we learn about their home life and work life. Jana’s character is unique in the many mysteries I’ve read, balancing between upholding the law yet finding out about her past and holding those responsible accountable.

There are different criteria as to what constitutes “Nordic Noir” depending on the reader. To me it is the bleak, dreary, depressing locale and characters (Arnaldur Indridaon’s Detective Erlendur comes to mind). In my mind, Marked for Life does not have these qualities. Although Schepp touches on depressing subjects such as child soldiers, human trafficking and drugs, I didn’t find the locale and characters to be depressing and bleak. Rather the opposite, especially when it comes to the self-confident Jana. As such, it is a perfect intro to Nordic Noir because it doesn’t get that bleak. yet it packs a wallop.

The New York Journal of Books reviewer said, “Marked for Life gives you such a chill that ice forms along your extremities and sends you burrowing under the bed covers seeking not so much warmth, as a hiding place from evil.” I think that’s a good description.

Emelie Schepp and Jana Berzelius are two people I want to keep a watch out for. Marked for Revenge and Slowly We Die (books 2 and 3) are on my must read list. Schepp is not a household name in the states, but I’m betting she will be, so get in on the ground floor and read her books and then recommend them to friends.