"Sun and Shadow", by Ake Edwardson

3rd book in the Erik Winter series and 1st translated into English

This detective fiction brings us to Gothenburg Sweden at the turn of the millennium. Erik Winter, a soon to be father, is highly talented and the youngest chief inspector in the country.

In its first chapter, a gruesome double homicide has police investigating the shadier side of Sweden. The underground world, black metal music and unconventional sex quickly surfaces in their investigation. The murderer has left a riddle of clues at the crime scene and Erik realises the importance his leadership can play in finding this killer. All this is soon confirmed when another murder occurs and new clues appear to link the killer to the force. This adds more pressure in the race to close the case before the killer strikes again.

This proves to be an extremely stressful and challenging time in Erik Winter‘s life. On his personal side he has been jetting back and forth to the Costa de Sol Spain to be at his father’s death bed.

The author describes in depth the psyche and motivation of his many characters. They are an engaging and entertaining bunch but over characterization tends to distract from the main plot. The story flows at a steady but leisurely pace, just the right amount of suspense to keep the reader’s attention. It is quite captivating, although I found the ending a little abrupt and quite predictable.

All that said and done I am looking forward to reading its sequel

"Three Day Road", by Joseph Boyden

This story is of Xavier Bird and Elijah Weesageechak also known as Whiskeyjack, two James Bay Cree, who signed up together and became famous snipers in the Canadian Army during the First World War. The novel is a poignant tale of brutality and survival.

It opens with Xavier returning home, missing a leg and addicted to morphine, his days are also numbered. His aunt Niska greets him at the train station and together they begin a three day canoe journey home. On their travel, Niska recounts stories of their youth and in return Xavier graphically recounts the horrors he and his friend Elijah faced.

Boyden's detailed and colourful writing immerses his reader into two contrasting worlds. Niska's is rich in native culture and harmony with nature, the other, Xavier plunges the reader into the atrocities of war. Both are driven by the will to survive.

In addition to the central characters the story is stocked with many other memorable and wonderful secondary players. Xavier and Elijah's characters and some of their exploits are modeled after the real life experiences of Francis Pegahmagabow (known as Peggy) an Ojibway Indian, an honoured sniper of WW1.

The pace of the story is steady and holds ones attention firmly, it is highly captivating and a page turner one hard to put down. I highly recommend it.

"Turbulence", by Giles Foden

"Turbulence' is an ambitious and original topic that fictionalises the debates between weather forecasters and strategists that preceded the D-Day Invasion.

The slow moving plot starts in the 1980's on an ice ship destined for the Middle East. The melancholic Henry Meadows reminisces and recounts his time spent during the war effort.

The story is narrated in the first person by Henry, a young Cambridge academic who was entrusted to develop a method that would allow the military commanders to choose the ultimate timing for the invasion. Sent to Scotland to establish an observation station, his first mission was to befriend and extract information from Wallace Ryman the author of a mathematical formula for calculating turbulence and eventually determine the best dates for the D-day landings. Meadow soon learned that instability and unpredictability are not limited to weather events.......

This novel is cleverly written, full of tension, emotions and melancholy throughout. The scientific and mathematical areas are handled with brilliance, it is not an easy feat keeping fiction readers captivated and interested on a subject that is profoundly science based. The degree of accuracy is irrelevant after all it is a fiction. This is also a character driven-plot where friction between intriguing and strong personalities plays an important part and is very well narrated. The story ends with a panorama of the D-Day landings and Henry in the middle of the action....surely an unexpected development for a civilian mathematician...

I enjoyed reading this different perspective of a very important time in history