Review: Summer Death by Mons Kallentoft

Summer Death is the second in the Malin Fors series by Mons Kallentoft. Sadly, I haven't read the first in this series and I hope to change to that some day because I really enjoyed this book. Malin Fors is called in to investigate a crime scene once a young, teenage girl is found naked in Horticultural Society Park after being attacked. The biggest problem is that she doesn't remember anything about the attack and there is a complete lack of evidence. Not long after, another young teenage girl who was reported missing is found dead on the beach. Her wounds are similar to the one who escaped but... she wasn't so fortunate. The only piece of evidence that links these summer angels is what I won't give away because it is pretty interesting.

At first there is nothing happening in the Swedish burg Linkoping to all of a sudden everything is happening. The summer is brutal and everyone's feeling the affects of the 100+ degrees.  The case is just as hot and is a source of constant tension for Malin Fors. She can see her young teenage daughter Tove in each girl. Malin is a strong character but she completely turns to mush when it comes to her daughter. I love that Kallentoft does this for her. It makes Fors much more real and authentic instead of being the caricature that comes to be for female cops in noir novels.

Summer Death is also a very captivating read. For me, I was stuck as soon as I opened to page one. It's gritty, descriptive, thrilling, and suspenseful. All the things necessary to be a winner in my book. I love how the voice changed to the killer's so we could really get inside their head. The killer almost speaks poetically at times which seems like it should have no place in a noir, but completely works in this title.

Overall, I'm happy to have been given the opportunity to read Summer Death. I will defintely be going back to read its predecessor. Hopefully it's as engrossing as this one has been.****