Mari Jungstedt’s début is the first in a series of crime stories set on the Swedish island of Gotland. A serial killer is on the loose, brutally murdering young women. While the police struggle to find the killer, the media swarm. It’s an unfussy thriller with a whodunnit plot which keeps the reader guessing, but it’s hampered by fundamental problems. The narrative unfolds formulaically, as a series of characters who may or may not be the killer come and go, and the solemn tone is disrupted by unintentionally funny lines. (At the first crime scene, a detective is shocked by the discovery of a dead dog: ‘Karin Jacobsson shuddered. She was a big animal lover.’)
It’s a brief affair, too, in spite of a romantic subplot that feels suspiciously like padding. Inspector Knutas, who heads up the investigation, smokes a pipe, but this isn’t enough to distinguish him. If subsequent Gotland novels are to feature Knutas, Jungstedt must find more successful ways of bringing him to life.
‘Unseen’ is the literary equivalent of ‘Midsomer Murders’. It will keep you occupied for a couple of hours, but don’t expect it to leave any lasting impression.
