The Writing in the Water by John Ajvide Lindqvist

“He didn’t particularly like being himself, but he didn’t want to be anyone else either.”

Julia Malmros is a successful mystery novelist with a whole career ahead of her. When she’s asked to ghostwrite for the Millennium series she reaches out to Kim Ribbing, a mysterious hacker, to help her prepare for the task. Olof Helander is throwing a Midsummer’s Eve party when armed assassins unleash a rain of bullets. Julia and Kim find themselves drawn into the violent murder when they discover the brutal aftermath.

This author is on my auto-buy list. Doesn’t matter what it is, if he wrote it, I’ll give it a try. Up until now, I’ve only known him as a horror writer. I was deeply intrigued when I saw this newest translated novel was a mystery.

The characters are interesting to say the least. Julia is a retired cop, turned crime-writer investigating the murder of a childhood friend. Kim, a hacker, lives his life under the oppressive weight of childhood trauma as revealed in flashbacks throughout this novel. While both characters are portrayed as being independent and resourceful, they’re both lonely and find themselves drawn to each other. But wait- 

This isn’t a romance. Thank God. I probably couldn’t have tolerated the story if JAL had cheapened the mystery with a romantic subplot. Julia and Kim, who barely know each other, are just having intercourse with no real romantic intentions. And don’t worry; if smut isn’t your thing, you won’t find it here. We’re told something steamy happens, but it isn’t described or anything like that. I felt like it was less about smut and more about two people choosing to be with each other because they have no one else.

All the police procedures and computer sciences seemed like they were all really well researched. To be honest, it was hard for me to tell because it wasn’t me who did the research. Most of what I know about detective work comes from watching re-runs of Law & Order, and I know even less about hacking. But ‘watching’ the police work on the mystery while Julia and Kim investigate on their own terms all seemed complicated enough that most of it was probably true or close enough.

This novel also touches a subject rarely explored: female on male sexual assault. It is in fact possible for women to commit sex crimes and it is under-reported. It's a topic so important I almost wish JAL had spent more time exploring it. But in the end, it really had nothing to do with the mystery at hand and so the story moved on.

The pace of the novel was okay. It wasn’t too slow or too drawn out, which is a good thing. I think it moved right along. Nor did I find it to be a super-fast read which could be good or bad depending on what you prefer.

I was also surprised by the sheer volume of clues to be collected. With that many details to keep track of it seemed impossible to have a satisfactory ending. Boy, was I wrong. The ending was great.

The ending had everything. Action, suspense, plot twists. And most importantly, a conclusion. While the ending was written so you don’t need to read book 2, it simultaneously sets up for the second book with a shocking last two pages.

If book 2 gets translated from Swedish to English, I’m definitely going to read it.