We were initially introduced to Chief Inspector Erik Winter in “SUN AND SHADOW” a turn of the century mystery. Those who have an affinity toward police procedurals and soft suspense should enjoy this one.
This sequel brings us a few years later in Erik’s life; he is now a father to a daughter and living with his partner in a cramped apartment and is desperately looking for better accommodations to ease the growing family tension. The temperature is not helping; Gothenburg Sweden is sweltering under an unusually hot summer.
On his professional side, Erik never loses focus on his responsibilities; fighting crime is his passion and he has developed a reputation to go with it. When an unusual number of rapes and murders cast a disturbing shadow on the city, Erik teams up with his investigators to gather the scant and the grisly details. Immediately he sees some similarities to a five year old cold case that is continually burning in the back of his mind. Up until now Erik’s instincts have lead him to a multitude of dead ends to a point he started to doubt himself…..New events trigger a whole new approach to the ongoing mysteries…..
As the investigators aggressively hunt for new leads and rehash the old information the plotting has a tendency to bog down a little, I am sure this is reality for every good investigator but if overdone in print it can be a deterrent to the readers’ enthusiasm. Buried in the chapters are clues to who has actually committed the crimes but at one point with all the red herrings confusion set in and I am still wondering whether I arrived at the right conclusion or am I being set up for a sequel? The lethargic sensation one suffers during a heat wave was expertly conveyed through the slow pacing and the characterization, no wonder Erik traded in his donuts for ice cream all the time, I felt the same way…:)
“Never End” is a gritty and stylish crime novel I enjoyed, I have the sequel on my list to read, however it is not one of my all-time favourites.
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