Mord under Tjörn Runt by Ramona Fransson, Sweden, 2010
Mord under Tjörn Runt(which is about a murder that takes place during the annual sailing race around Tjörn in Sweden) is a criminal thriller, and I fully agree with the person who wrote on the back cover: a thriller should not be transparent. On the other hand, it should not be as convoluted and as messy as Mord under Tjörn Runt.
I can understand that Ramona Fransson wanted to create an atmosphere of suspense; however, she has done this by throwing out a lot of unnecessary leads that really have nothing to do with the main story; she also tends to concentrate very much on characters who, it turns out, are only secondary or even tertiary to the main plot. The twists and turns in the plot happen with very little connection to what has gone before, and though, when when one looks back at the story as a whole, it is possible to see some kind of a vague thread joining up the main points in the plot, this is not obvious while reading the book. Normally, this would be part of a thriller’s strength, but in this case, it simply underlines the book’s confusion.
It is a hotchpotch of ideas, almost as if the book had to touch on everything: murder, incest, bondage, paedophilia, disability, unfaithfulness, greed, suicide, death of police while on duty… The list could go on an on. It was actually a relief to reach the last page. As far as I know, the book has not yet been translated into English.Information about Ramona Fransson in English
Information om Ramona Fransson på svenska
Photo of Ramona Fransson from sv.wikipedia.org