Kerry Hammond is here today with her report from the
Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. This month they are reading EmelieSchepp’s Marked For Life.
The head of immigration is found dead in his home and when
the police dust for fingerprints they find those of a child at the scene,
specifically on a windowsill. The problem with this is that there were no kids
in the household. Public prosecutor Jana Berzelius leads the investigation into
the suspicious death. She is very capable but emotionally removed and hard to
get close to. The next body the police find is that of a young boy, and
alongside his body is the weapon that was used to murder the immigration official.
The most mysterious aspect is that they find a word carved into the back of the
child’s neck, something that makes the police believe that child trafficking is
involved. When Jana puts her hand to her own neck, she is able to trace a
similar word carved and scarred over, from a childhood she has no memory of.
Our club has read several Swedish authors, including Jo
Nesbo and Stieg Larsson. This book, along with all of the Nesbo books we’ve
read, was dark and disturbing. In addition, in Marked For Life, many of the
characters were simply despicable. All of these things made for a great book
club read because they gave us a lot to talk about, which is the main point of
a book club. Many of the members really liked the book and all of its dark
grittiness. The plot was quite chilling, but definitely not for the faint of
heart. The main character was complicated and the line between good and evil, as
well as between the lawmakers and law breakers, is sometimes not that easy to
draw.
For anyone who wants to continue to the other books in the
series, Marked for Revenge is already out and Marked for Death is due out in
the US at the end of the year.
Next month we’re reading The English Spy by Daniel Silva.
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