The Boy in the Suitcase by Leme Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

This debut mystery by Danish authors Kaaberbol and Friis is an absorbing read. Not only is it a mystery but it delves into the personalities of the characters. The only confusion is what country/countries the action takes place in.

In brief, Sigita’s son Mikas is kidnapped by a woman who has previously offered him chocolate in the schoolyard and playground. Karin, at the behest of her boss Jan, retrieves an extremely heavy suitcase from a baggage check in the local train station. Curious, she opens it to find a young child, unconscious but alive, curled up in the suitcase. What nefarious activities was the boy headed for? Unsure what to do, she calls her long lost friend, Nina Borg, tells her about the suitcase, but not its contents. A long time ‘savior of the world’, she knows Nina will know what to do. The end result (not a spoiler), her boss doesn’t have what he wants and the abductor doesn’t have what he wants leading to two days of tension, terror  and murder.

Recommended by a bookseller from Soho Press at the Brooklyn Book Festival, The Boy in the Suitcase, the initial book in the Nina Borg series, was well worth the read. Towards the end, I was constantly reading because I wanted to know how it ended. The authors did leave some characters unsettled, I guess is the word I would use. I would have liked to find out what happened to some of them…the ones you get attached to.

The Boy in the Suitcase is a welcome addition to the Scandinavian mystery scene.  It has action, tension, mystery. It h as a plausible plot, a few surprises and a surprise ending…or more to the point, it has an end you don’t see coming until…presto, at one point you do see coming. If you’re a Nordic mystery fan, go for it.

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The Child by Fiona Barton

Kate Waters, a reporter, needs a good story. In this online world, this seasoned reporter is relegated to editing other reporters’ stories. The laurels of her previous great story wore off years ago.

Angela Irving wants to know what happened to her newborn daughter. Leaving her in her crib in her hospital room after visiting hours and going off to shower, she returned to find the bassinet empty. That was 1975.

Emma Massingham????? is afraid the police will find out what she did and arrest her.

So, when a newborn baby’s bones are found under an urn on a concrete patio that is being demolished, everyone has an interest. Forensics determines that the bones are around 40 years old but the detritus around the body suggest it was buried 10 years later. Where could it have been for those 10 years?

The Child by Fiona Barton, author of The Widow (like those 2 word titles?) is a good read. It’s got an interesting premise. It’s populated with good, solid characters and it keeps the action flowing. Kate Waters also plays a role in The Widow and she’s a good character to build a series around. She’s the female equivalent of Bruce DeSilva’s Liam Mulligan, a reporter lamenting the fate of the newspaper industry, hard driving and undeterred.

If you want a good mystery that will keep you guessing, The Child is a good place to start.

 

 

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17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

It was on a snowy lane that Lauren first saw the poster about Abby Sinclair’s disappearance tacked to a pine tree. Soon after, she saw the ghost like appearance of Abby in the back seat of her van as she was on the day she disappeared. She was wearing a camp t-shirt, red shorts with white striping, had leaves in her hair and bruises on her knees. Although she lived in New Jersey, she was a counselor in training at a camp Pinecliff, New York. Abby was 17.

The next vision to appear was Fiona Burke. Fiona, nine years older than Lauren, used to babysit for her. She ran away, leaving Lauren in the Burke house by herself, locked in a closet. Fiona was never heard from again, but Lauren sees her and Fiona speaks to her. Fiona was 17 when she disappeared.

There’s Natalie, Shyann, Isabeth and Madison. All 17.

There are so many 17 year olds who disappear, either by running away or by being abducted and they are starting to make themselves visible to Lauren. But she’s not sure what she’s supposed to do about it. Then the dreams start.

I ended my 2013 reading with 17 & Gone, Nova Ren Suma’s latest (and I think best) YA novel, after Imaginary Girls and Dani Noir. It is absorbing. There is tension as Lauren interacts with these visions. There is concern for these poor girls. There is a surreal atmosphere to Lauren’s life, both real and imagined. There is a twist which I didn’t see coming. This will definitely make by 2013 Top 10 List.

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