The Swedish writer himself Henning Mankell, largely maker of the great vitola of Nordic noir, would be surprised by the proliferation of new literary children that assail the black genre in waves. With special prominence for narrators such as Camilla Lackberg o Mari jungstedt.
In the case of Lina bengtsdotter, its recent irruption achieves that effect of freshness that every new author brings to the noir genre. And his proposal stands out for a scenography of incomparable intensity around a small town of Gullpang on the shores of lakes Vanern and Skagen. One of those few places that still preserve atavistic aromas today. A space that awakens sensations of essential fusion between the human and the most natural environment without the artifice of large cities.
In a place like Gullpang it is where the popular imagination launches itself to build, as in civilizations of yesteryear, legends to try to address the inexplicable.
And nothing is stranger than the end of a young life, plunged in the mists raised from the giant Lake Vanern as if by evil forces capable of taking a life to its depths.
The police character Charlie Lager is very reminiscent of Amaia Salazar from Dolores Redondo, with similar tribulations and analogous suffocating ties to childhood memories. Thus, the plot can be approached by mimicking Elizondo with Gullpang, until this new plot launches us towards new assumptions around death, disappearance and some kind of evil influence capable of marking destinies for the most sinister of plans.
With the background of Lina's first novel arriving in Spain, «Annabelle«We begin to read with that prickling of the skin, knowing that when something goes wrong, it can get worse.
Paul Bergman, an old youth suicide case with overtones of doubt, even more as a result of the imminent disappearance of another young woman, Francesca Mild. It all happened more than three decades ago.
The problem is that this case also connects with Charlie herself, whoever she was, where her fears were sown. Perhaps no one better than her, a native of Gullpang, to move knowingly between lonely streets and infinite landscapes. Probably also no one better than Charlie Lager to awaken the ghosts of yesterday because only they know the truth and its price.
You can now buy the novel The earth hides your secret, Lina Bengtsdotter's new book, here: