Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Review: Some Kind of Peace by Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff


Title:Some Kind of Peace
Author:Camilla Grebe & Asa Traff
Translator:Paul Norlen
Publisher:Simon & Schuster
Imprint:
Free Press
Pub. Date:7/10/2012
ISBN:1451654596 (ISBN13: 9781451654592)
Pages:352




"It seems so idyllic. But something is out of place. In the neatly raked gravel parking area is a dazzlingly clean black Jeep. The paint of the Jeep reflects a clematis with large pure white blossoms climbing up a knotted old apple tree. Someone is lying under the low trunk and crooked branches of the tree. A young woman, a girl. . . ."Siri Bergman is a thirty-four-year-old psychologist who works in central Stockholm and lives alone in an isolated cottage out of the city. She has a troublesome secret in her past and has been trying to move on with her life. Terrified of the dark, she leaves all the lights on when she goes to bed--having a few glasses of wine each night to calm her nerves--but she can't shake the feeling that someone is watching her through the blackened windows at night.

When the lifeless body of Sara Matteus--a young patient of Siri's with a history of drug addiction and sexual abuse--is found floating in the water near the cottage, Siri can no longer deny that someone is out there, watching her and waiting. When her beloved cat goes missing and she receives a photo of herself from a stalker, it becomes clear that Siri is next. Luckily, she can rely on Markus, the young policeman investigating Sara's death; Vijay, an old friend and psychology professor; and Aina, her best friend. Together, they set about profiling Siri's aspiring murderer, hoping to catch him before he kills again.

But as their investigation unfolds, Siri's past and present start to merge and disintegrate so that virtually everyone in her inner circle becomes a potential suspect. With the suspense building toward a dramatic conclusion as surprising as it is horrifying, Siri is forced to relive and reexamine her anguished past, and finally to achieve some kind of peace.


(Summary and cover via Goodreads)
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Siri Bergman is a psychologist who is trying to deal with her own tragic past. The death of her husband several years ago has left her scared and scarred, leaving her unable to be alone in the dark of her remote country home. When the body of one of her patients is found near her home, Siri finds herself involved in something even more frightening then she had imagined. Someone is after Siri, and they are using her patients to get to her. They have an intimate knowledge of her life and practice, and Siri cannot think of why someone would do this. With the help of her colleagues and friends, Siri must use all the knowledge she has to try and figure out who is after her before it is too late.

I found this book very intriguing. I could tell reading it that the authors knew a lot about psychology, and I thought this made for a more thrilling book. This book was quite scary for me. I think that I feel for Siri living alone out in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to just pack her up somewhere with more people. Not knowing what would happen next was frightening. Luckily it wasn't too scary. I probably wouldn't read it at night alone, but the mystery of trying to figure out who was doing it and why did distract me from the terror a bit. I will admit to some quickened heartbeats though. I don't do well with creepy stuff though.

For me, the payoff was truly in the end. It was just so frightening yet real to me that this could happen. There were some random things dropped to throw you off the trail of the real killer though that were never explained. This kind of left me hanging. I wanted to know why the characters acted the way they did, but I never got that. That was kind of a let down. Overall though, this was a psychological thriller at its best. If you like mysteries and creepy psychological thrillers, you will definitely enjoy this book.

Book provided for review.

1 comment:

DMS said...

This book sounds scary, but intriguing. It may be one that I need to read with the lights on. It sounds like it was well crafted. The cover is great!
~Jess