
Alex Dahl
416 pages
Head of Zeus
Published on August 18, 2022
🌟🌟🌟🌟
This is a suspenseful thriller set in Norway and Italy, about the dark underbelly of the world of international modelling, by an author who is new to me.
I’m supposed to be limiting my NetGalley requests, but this had great advance reviews and an enticing cover so in a weak moment I succumbed. Reader, I regret nothing! It features a character from the author’s previous book but reads just fine as a stand-alone.
I’m supposed to be limiting my NetGalley requests, but this had great advance reviews and an enticing cover so in a weak moment I succumbed. Reader, I regret nothing! It features a character from the author’s previous book but reads just fine as a stand-alone.
Liv Carlsen lives a quiet life in Sandefjord, near Oslo, with her nine year old son Adrian, who has autism, until one day someone from her past comes for her. Anastasia is a beautiful young Russian woman, brought to Milan on the promise of a career as a top model, who is soon swept up in the hedonistic life of the super rich. And Selma Eriksen is a successful Norwegian journalist who believes in unmasking the truth no matter the risk. How do these women connect, and how far will they go to save a vulnerable boy?
This was a book of two halves – I very much enjoyed the first, as we get to know the different characters, even though I’ve decided I’m not a fan of POV changes with every chapter, as it disrupts the low of the story too much. This is all told in present tense (boo, hiss) in a mixture of first and third person, but it was Adrian’s perspective that I found the most compelling, as the mostly mute but smart and courageous little boy finds himself separated from the only parent he’s ever known. In the second half, this got a lot darker, with some uncomfortable scenes of physical and sexual violence towards women that merit a trigger warning or two. I can however reassure you that nothing bad happens to Selma’s cat or the cute puppy.
While the plot was somewhat predictable, using a device which has become so common in recent years that I wonder why authors bother: the “twist” here was so obvious as to be unnecessary, and added nothing to the drama, but neither did the foreknowledge spoil it. There’s also a preposterous coincidence linking the different plot strands. However the characters and seamless writing are what elevates this from the rest of this currently very crowded genre. The main villain is suitably despicable and scarily believable, given the revelations about the elite of recent years. I found the ending a bit rushed, but liked how things were wrapped up, and a special mention for that stunning cover image. Thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC.

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