#BookReview-‘Blood Song’ by Johana Gustawsson

About the book…

‘Blood Song’ by Johana Gustawsson is published by Orenda Books and is available in ebook format now and paperback from 19/09/2019

The action swings from London to Sweden, and then back into the past, to Franco’s Spain, as Roy & Castells hunt a monstrous killer … in the lastest instalment of Johana Gustawsson’s award-winning series

Spain, 1938: The country is wracked by civil war, and as Valencia falls to Franco’s brutal dictatorship, Republican Therese witnesses the murders of her family. Captured and sent to the notorious Las Ventas women’s prison, Therese gives birth to a daughter who is forcibly taken from her.

Falkenberg, Sweden, 2016: A wealthy family is found savagely murdered in their luxurious home. Discovering that her parents have been slaughtered, Alienor Lindbergh, a new recruit to the UK’s Scotland Yard, rushes back to Sweden and finds her hometown rocked by the massacre.

Profiler Emily Roy joins forces with Alienor and soon finds herself on the trail of a monstrous and prolific killer. Little does she realise that this killer is about to change the life of her colleague, true-crime writer Alexis Castells. Joining forces once again, Roy and Castells’ investigation takes them from the Swedish fertility clinics of the present day back to the terror of Franco’s rule, and the horrifying events that took place in Spanish orphanages under its rule.

Terrifying, vivid and recounted at breakneck speed, Blood Song is not only a riveting thriller and an examination of corruption in the fertility industry, but a shocking reminder of the atrocities of Spain’s dictatorship, in the latest, stunning installment in the award-winning Roy & Castells series.

In other, less skilled hands, this could be a confusing and almost overloaded tale. However, with surgical precision, Jo Gustawson not only achieves an incredible effect through her deliberate and delicate word choice, the sublime translation by David Warriner adds a whole other layer to experience ‘Blood Song’ through.

There are well defined characters dealing with impossible situations. A narrative which echoes across the  decades, weaving deceipt, betrayal and murder against the backlog of huge cultural shifts, all of which pulls down to the level where all human beings live, the song which is sung from the connection of blood. A song which reverberates and echoes through generation after generation.

I am ashamed to say that I had no idea of the sheer brutality and harm done in the days of Franco’s Italy, a mass extinction of anyone who thought differently from the dictator and his acolytes. More than just describing the evil, wicked things that humans do in the name of being ‘right’, it looks at what drives a person to mutilate, torture and murder men, women and children . What part of your soul must die to be able to make such a decision on which side of the line you stand on?

As if the descriptions of the kidnapped sister of a resistance fighter were not bad enough and gruelling to read, the murders in 2016 Sweden of a married couple who were prominent fertility experts is enought to tear at your soul. However, we as a reader have the luxury of cosing the book and stopping the reading. These people who lived not so long agao, in the so-called civilized West, were responsible for the wholesale extinction of life. And couched within what is essentially a sophisticated murder mystery is the tale of survival against all odds, a nuanced and subtle exploration of what it means to be a parent and how it defines you.

And yet there is always a spark of redemption, not in a neatly tied up ending, but in a true and accuate summation of an investigation by a team who the reader becomes more invested in as the series continues.

She exhorts you to come closer, and closer still to the raw, beating heart of the human condition and whilst turning you inside and out, you remain grateful to her for reaching through your ribcage and bidding you to look at what she pulls out and holds in her hand.

Jo makes you care deeply with her quiet strength of feeling, she pulls no punches -and frankly, why should she?-and lays out the most intricate and rich mystery that I have read in a long time. The cross cultural references and widespread locations across Europe alone are enough to intrigue and draw me in as a fan of Nordic Noir-this my friends, is as dark as them come. And who else but Orenda would have the sheer balls to publish such an uncompromising team of writers?

What is a group of writers called anyhow?

I think there needs to be a new collective term for Orenda authors, something edgy and reflective of their unique nature.

WHAT SAY YOU?

An appalling and horrific time period which I intend to research as a result of reading this incredible tale,’Blood Song‘ is illuminated with dignity and representation-I applaud Jo loudly and with gusto.

Brava!!!

About the author…

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including ,‘Block 46’ ,‘Keeper’ and ‘Blood Song’, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

She now lives in London, England.

Links-http://johanagustawsson.com/category/johana-gustawsson-en/

http://orendabooks.co.uk/

Twitter @JoGustawsson

@OrendaBooks

@givemeawave

@annecater