Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Favourite Euro Crime Reads of 2014 - Karen

Individual members of the Euro Crime review team will be revealing their favourite European/translated reads over the next few days which will then be followed by a post revealing the overall Euro Crime favourite authors, titles and translators of 2014.

I'll start the ball rolling with my favourites. I have read fewer books in 2014 than in 2013 and I also made an effort to read some of my Star Trek books :). Nonetheless I have flagged a significant number of my crime reads as 4 stars on Good Reads - though no 5 stars this year. I have whittled it down to my favourite 5 and it's an all female list. In alphabetical order:

Sarah Hilary - Someone Else's Skin
A powerful debut. (Read the review on Euro Crime by Michelle.)

Camilla Lackberg - Buried Angels tr. Tiina Nunnally
Past and present storylines revolve around a small island where a family was slaughtered with the exception of a young girl, who returns to the island as an adult after another tragedy. The case is very personal for one of the police team.

K T Medina - White Crocodile
Another excellent debut, set in Cambodia. It's a claustrophobic read with the author using her knowledge of land-mine clearance to pull the reader into the plight of this country.

Kristina Ohlsson - The Disappeared tr. Marlaine Delargy
If you like Lackberg then try Ohlsson. The personal lives of the police team play a part in the story and the cold case they have to solve impacts on them all.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Day is Dark tr. Philip Roughton
If you liked the X-Files episodes where they are stranded in a frozen part of the world then you'll like this. A very spooky tale set in Greenland with strange noises, human bones and unfriendly local residents. (Read the Review on Euro Crime by Maxine).

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