Book Review: Evil Water by Inger Wolf Crime Thriller 3 Black Cats
Evil Water by Inger Wolf is a crime thriller about a serial killer who uses leeches to kill his victims and stuffs their bodies into suitcases. I watch a lot of TV shows on crime but I don't read a lot of books in this genre. Actually, this may be the first one I've ever read. I thought it was written well- except for the occasional copy-editing issues - and formatted well for kindle. I enjoyed the foreign setting of Denmark and am glad the translators didn't change it to an American setting. I also liked the methodology of the killer. I found it to be very clever and understandable once you find out why he kills in this manner. The novel is structured well and follows a well structured path that works. I wish more of the novel was from the killer's point of view and the victims point of view. The procedures of the police seemed realistic as well, not that I'm an expert, far from it.There were a few things that bothered me. Much of the novel, especially the beginnings of almost all the chapters, are written in past perfect and past perfect progressive, which gets annoying to read after a while. Here's an example in case you don't know what those tenses are: "In the meantime, she had gone back to her own apartment, which was located only a few minutes' walk from the police station. She had made her family dinner...Then she had read Winnie the Pooh...Now , Jacob had gone to bed. The reader will encounter pages and pages of it. In my opinion, if the info is important and it takes more than a sentence or two to say, write it as the current scene instead of flash-backing on the information. You'll get more emotional impact that way anyway, which brings me to another problem with this novel. There is not a lot of character emotion in this novel. There is plenty of action and dialog, but nothing about how what is happening is emotionally effecting the characters. The novel lacks intimacy which made it hard for me to keep reading, everything came across dry and factual. When I read, I want to feel what the character feels. You won't get that from this novel.
Many of the other reviews say they found the book horrifying. I found it interesting but it didn't horrify me. Perhaps I'm desensitized, but without the emotional element, I just didn't care what happened to anyone in this novel. I developed no attachments to any of the characters.
Should you read this book? If you're looking for an emotional charge, no. If you're looking for a clever plot with a clever serial killer, yes. I would say this book may appeal more to men than women.