by Jenny Lund Madsen (Translated by: Megan E. Turney)
SYNOPSIS
Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer’s block, Hannah has the feeling that she’s doing something wrong.
When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjöður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration.
But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman’s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah…
REVIEW
What is so amazing about Thirty Days of Darkness is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously but what it does do is make a valid point about the way some people view genre fiction. It’s no secret that I mainly read crime and thriller novels and the crime fiction community on social media is fantastic, but there is a very generalised opinion from some people that crime fiction isn’t good quality or a high standard of writing. Some believe that these types of books are just easy reads, airport purchases, or as Hannah herself says in the book ‘easily digestible’ by ‘talentless authors’.
But what this book does is take that opinion, uses it as the basis of the storyline and then proves itself SO COMPLETELY WRONG! The story is gripping, it’s beautifully written (and then translated of course) and it’s as good as any book I’ve read regardless of the genre.
As Hannah works on her crime novel, we are given a complete breakdown of the writing process, and as the reader we get to see (through the guise of a murder investigation) how that writing process is exactly the same as if she was writing any other piece in terms of structure, plot, literary devices etc. It’s layer upon layer of deconstructing and analysing crime fiction which, as a crime fiction fan, is the best gift you could ask for.
Hannah as a character is cutting and funny and dark. Honest to a fault. A character you will love to hate and then suddenly realise that you are desperately rooting for her to firstly survive the murderous situation she has found herself in, and secondly for her to succeed in writing a successful crime novel that she so obviously didn't want to write when we first meet her in the story.
I am just obsessed with this book. There are some lovely little moments where meta fiction blends the story seamlessly into real life, breaking the story’s spell and each time makes you think about crime fiction or the writing process or the world of publishing in general which is such an interesting take on a more typical Nordic Noir.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Jenny Lund Madsen - @JennyLundMadsen and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review
Fiction: Thriller / Nordic Noir / Crime
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1914585616
Pages: 300pp
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