A gripping crime fiction set in Århus, Denmark

• Book: The Preacher
• Location: Aarhus
• Author: Sander Jakobsen

Review Author: aditi3991

“Take responsibility for your own happiness, do not expect people or things to bring you happiness, or you could be disappointed.”

—-Rodolfo Costa, author of self-help books

Sander Jakobsen, the pseudonym for Danish school teachers Dagmar Winther and Kenneth Degnbol, debuts as an author with their book, The Preacher , which is a Danish crime thriller set in Århus, in Denmark that centers around the double murder of two middle-aged women with no ties or connection between each other.

Synopsis:

Thorkild Christensen stares down at his murdered wife, Karen, and realizes he knows almost nothing about her. How did she fill her days? Where did she really go every Thursday? Detective Thea Krogh is determined to find out as she immerses herself in town life. Yet Karen’s secrets elude her at every turn.

And then a second woman is shot dead.

There appears to be nothing to link the two dead women. But there is something, they just can’t see it. Someone who knows all the pieces. Someone who is carefully knocking each piece into place, one by one. Someone who holds them all in the palm of his hand…

Thorkild is the vicar whose wife is found murdered in the lake near their home. Thea is the lead detective in this case who along with her sub-ordinates try to solve the identity and the motive behind this murder. Soon, another murder follows in the nearest city who is almost the same age of that of vicar’s wife. Surprisingly, these two women have no connection between them, and have never met in their lifetime. The other woman’s brother, Frank tries to figure out how a quiet and introvert woman like his sister can get murdered. As the story gets deeper, the connection between these two women gets mysterious, yet there is something which gives a feeling that they have a connection between them and certainly there is someone who will not allow the connection to be known at any cost!

For the first time author duo of Dagmar Winther and Kenneth Degnbol, they have skillfully crafted the whole plot from scratches. This is quite a long book, but it was necessary for them to lay out the whole plot and the characters intricately. The writing is fantastic and that makes the book one hell of an engrossing read. The pace is moderate since the author have portrayed quite a lot amount of back-story of almost all the characters. One thing that I pointed out while reading this book was that the authors are very keen to details, thus because of which I was able to visualize the scenes very vividly on my mind.

Sweden was just like Thea. Beautiful without being showy, natural without being foot-shaped. Neither flat like Denmark or steep like Norway.

They have used quite a lot of metaphors too.. which are really very beautiful to read!

The story is set in the second-largest city of Denmark- Århus. And since I’ve never been to that country, it was very enlightening and exciting for me to read about this city. From the city’s grey skyline to the frost in the weather to the muddy-smell near the construction site to the cuisines and the delicacies eaten during the lunch hour to the demeanor of the Danish city-folks to the religious as well as the cultural back-ground of the towns-folks, everything has been captured and portrayed strikingly and vividly with intricacy. Thus in no-time, I was transported to this fascinating destination and felt the whole story unfolding in front of my eyes.

The characters were not the strongest aspect in this book, I felt the characters to be bit twisted and complicated in their own lives and minds, which was a tad bit uninteresting since there was no way, I felt connected to the characters. Although a lot of back-story is provided to support their complicated demeanor, still it was quite boring to read about them. Especially the vicar, Thorkild, his wife, Karen, who I’m still so clueless about her identity, Frank and his sister Sanne, in fact the detective, Theo too.

The mystery is brilliantly molded with a large number of twists and turns that compelled me to keep on reading the book. The modus-operandi of Danish police department is saliently depicted in the plot which sheds a lot of light into the background of a crime-solving. In short, the book will keep you on your edges with all those adrenaline rushing moments and with all those unexpected twists in the plot. I’m definitely looking forward in reading more from these authors.

Verdict: Don;t miss out this thoroughly gripping crime fiction which will keep you turning the pages of the book till the very end.

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