The #Bookvent Calendar 2020 – Day 18

#Bookvent – Celebrating my top reads of 2020

My day eighteen #bookvent selection was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. When I hear that the book was being published I was excited and when it came to reading it, I was not disappointed. I’m not going to lie – I have not read many books written by writing partnerships and I was very intrigued to see how this one worked. Two writers – both experts in their own fields – using that knowledge to develop two characters as contrasting as you could get but with in a story that was packed with tension, mystery and pulse pumping thrills. I absolutely loved it. I was hooked from the start and gutten when it ended. My eighteenth pick is …

Death Deserved by. Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger

Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always Number One. When celebrity blogger Emma Ramm visits Nordstrøm’s home later that day, she finds the door unlocked and signs of a struggle inside. A bib with the number one has been pinned to the TV.

Police officer Alexander Blix is appointed to head up the missing-persons investigation, but he still bears the emotional scars of a hostage situation nineteen years earlier, when he killed the father of a five-year-old girl. Traces of Nordstrøm soon show up at different locations, but the appearance of the clues appear to be carefully calculated evidence of a bigger picture that he’s just not seeing

Blix and Ramm soon join forces, determined to find and stop a merciless killer with a flare for the dramatic, and thirst for attention.

Trouble is, he’s just got his first taste of it

This book. Absolutely everything I want in a crime mystery and more. A ruthless killer, chilling murders and a truly explosive ending. On top of that add in brilliant scene setting and two of the most intriguing characters you could ever wish to read about and you have a book that kept me completely rapt from first page to last. Alexander Blix is a cop with a troubled past, one which has haunted him through his career. Emma Ramm is a journalist who has more than her share of secrets. When the two come face to face over the disappearance of a high profile athlete whose upcoming tell all autobiography is set to ruffle more than the odd feather, i just knew that this was going to be a pairing I couldn’t wait to go on the journey with. With the age and career gap between them, you wouldn’t expect this team to work and yet they absolutely do, for reasons that. become clear, at least to Blix and readers, very early on. There is a clear chemistry between them, a camaraderie, that just gels and makes the story much richer for it. And with the authors using all their years of experience to add that layer of authenticity to the characters, I took to them both straight away. This story is jam packed, full of action, the method of … execution(?) employed by the killer both original and increasingly disturbing, and as I powered through the story I just couldn’t wait to find out why and how the victims were all linked and chosen. From the tragic and tense opener to the shocking ending, it was impossible to reconcile that this book had been written by two people not one. With book two out in ebook today, what better time to pick yourself up a book or two and get reading?

To read my full review of Death Deserved, head over here.

Happy #bookvent reading all

Jen