Shadow

Gerda Persson had lain dead for three days by the time the home help discovered her body. Her decision that at her death she would reveal to the person who most needed to know a secret she had been burdened with for 35 years sets in train a sequence of events that destroys lives.

Thirty five years before a little boy had been left on the steps of the Skansen amusement park, apparently abandoned by his mother. For 35 years he has searched for his identity, and now he will find out.

The structure of this book is like the orchestral composition where one by one the players are introduced, each playing a slightly different theme, in their own world. And then the players come together, the composition gathers tempo, rising to a heart stopping show more crescendo. I saw none of the resolutions of the various themes in SHADOW coming, and they left me nearly breathless.
And then the final 3 pages, for me reminscent of that final line from T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men, .."not with a bang, but with a whimper".

I'm staggered by the power of this book. show less

Scandinavian crime novelists share a certain dour sensibility with a tendency to create characters who feel isolated from society. Alvtegen does this beautifully and her writing reminds me of Barbara Vine and Minette Walters, with her own Scandinavian take on things.

Shame begins with the story of a four-year-old boy abandoned at an amusement park and continues with the death of a lonely old woman thirty years later, As the story unfolds, it pulls in a Nobel prize winning author, a concentration camp survivor, a well meaning social worker and many other seemingly unrelated threads to weave together a tightly plotted tale asking how far would you go to protect the life you feel you deserve?

Karin Alvtegen's "Shadow" is a dense philosophical study of whether or not "our choices are without meaning" or whether "it is precisely our choices that make all the difference." She presents the difference in these two views of choice with a story told by a character in the novel about a Nazi soldier sent as part of an execution squad who chooses to die with the condemned Jews rather than become one of their killers. Alvtegen continues her illustratration of the question of choice through the various choices and consequences of several characters: Kristopher, a boy abandoned on the steps of an amusement park who, even as an adult keeps hoping his parents will find him again; Marianne Folkesson, the Social Services estate administrator show more charged with finalizing the estates of the clients who died while under state care; Gerda Persson, former housekeeper to Axel Ragnerfeldt, whose estate Folkesson must resolve; Axel Ragnerfeldt, Nobel Prize for Literature winner, and his family; Torgny Wennberg, a forgotten writer and Ragnerfeld's cohort: Halina, Wennberg's former girlfriend, who becomes obsessed with Ragnerfeldt; and Jesper Falk, a writer and best friend of Kristopher, whose book has just been accepted for publication.

The author presents these lives, their choices, and their consequences by examining stretches of past and present where these lives and their choices intersect. In terms of tone and the human condition, James Joyce's "Jude" and Somerset Maughm's "Of Human Bondage" come to mind. At times the introspection of the characters becomes quite tiresome, at other times sharply illuminating. But the author does a dead-on job of revealing how lack of communication between people can destroy the bonds of friendship and family and drive choices and all their unintended consequences.

This is not a novel for anyone who seeks to escape the tedium of everyday life. Rather, it is certainly a cautionary tale of how a momentary choice can "make all the difference." show less

A child of four is found abandoned in an amusement park with little more than some crumbs, an empty juice bottle, a tape recorder, and a Bambi book by his side. There's also a note: "Take care of this child. Forgive me." Thus, one is drawn into this neatly crafted novel, which keeps one rapt as layer upon layer is slowly and deftly revealed.

Some 30 years later, Gerda Persson's body is found three days after she has died at the age of 92, with no clue as to who she is. Astonishingly, her freezer yields a neatly sealed load of books by the Nobel laureate and national treasure, Axel Ragnerfeldt. On closer inspection, each book reveals a personal, handwritten inscription by the celebrated author to Gerda. What is the connection between show more Gerda Persson, Axel Ragnerfeldt, and the foundling?

This novel fits the crime and psychological thriller genre, but has no detective or investigator. The tale unfolds via the voices of Axel (interesting name, as everything revolves around him), his wife, son, housekeeper, and a couple of other key role players, including Kristoffer Sandeblom, a man in his thirties in search of his roots. As we glimpse each character's mindset and life experience, the story builds up gradually and compellingly revealing a picture of secrecy, deceit, crime and murder.

This is a dark book with very little light and many shadows. The biggest is arguably Ragnerfeldt's tour-de-force Shadow, which swayed the Nobel in his favour. The bright glow of this man's prominence casts a heavy shadow on all the people in his life, including his wife, the members of his family, friends, and even fellow-writers.

Axel Ragnerfeldt has climbed the ladder of success, but at what price? His bid for fame as a writer has left a set of disillusioned, embittered and pained individuals in its wake. Though the world adores him and looks up to him, he heads a deeply unhappy and dysfunctional family. At its core, the novel delves into the ramifications of accomplishment: What lengths are we prepared to go to ensure worldly success? And are all the sacrifices worth it, at the end of the day?

Karin Alvtegen is one of Sweden's popular writers, and Shadow won the Danish Best Crime Novel of the Year award and was shortlisted for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writer's Award. This is a quick, engaging read that abounds with revelations of dark secrets and intrigue, and keeps one spellbound until its inevitable and brilliant denouement.

This review was first published in Issue 7 of Belletrista.com: http://www.belletrista.com/2010/issue7/reviews_2.php show less

Psychological thrillers aren't really my genre, but a new found liking for Inger Frimansson has made me interested in venturing into this field. And so far I generally like what I find, I must say.

This dark and sad novel is a puzzle without a detective. It starts with some names found in an adress book in a deceased woman with no next of kin's flat, something which starts to unravel a whole net of old lies, secrets and crimes. Something is very rotten indeed in the house of Sweden's most acclaimed writer, nobel prize winner Axel Ragnefeldt. His voice, trapped inside his paralysed body after a brain anyerism, fearing for what might be found in the closet in his office, is one of the book's more powerful ones.

But the book is very show more polyphonic, telling from the point of view of many different characters, all of them being subjective, self-righteous, self-loathing or self-pitying. In the end, the only one with all the answers is the reader. It's cleverly and skillfully achieved.

The characters feel mostly solid, humanly trapped in their own petty agendas. I feel I get to know them, and mostly even understand them. A few moment of shocking unlikeliness, hard to overlook, occur though (such as Axel's response to Torgny's ulitmatum which I just don't buy) and brings the book down a notch or two.

This book made me sad a lot of times. The descriptions of stale and loveless relationships are pretty harsh, and there's very litte light throughout. But it's a fine, complex weave, and leaves me wanting to read more of Alvtegen. show less

The book begins in 1975 when a four year old boy is discovered abandoned at an amusement park with a note asking for him to be looked after. Then the narrative jumps forward to the present day where a 92-year-old woman, Gerda Person, dies alone in her flat. She has no living relatives so Social Services administrator Marianne Folkesson is given the task of putting her affairs in order and organising the funeral.

Gerda Persson, turns out to be the former housekeeper of the highly respected Nobel Laureate Axel Ragnerfeldt and his family.

Axel Ragnerfeldt is now an old man and has suffered from a stroke and subsequently is unable to communicate except by moving his finger. Marianne therefore contacts Axel's son, Jan-Erik, who has made a show more living of giving talks and readings from his Father’s books. Marianne asks him to find a photograph of Gerda for the funeral and Jan-Erik begins to search his father’s old house. It is here that he uncovers a series of devastating family secrets that should have stayed hidden.

The author has written a compelling tale of the bleakness of humanity and the lengths that some will go to protect themselves and their reputation at whatever the cost. Alvtegen cunningly weaves layer upon layer of complicated and complex story threads told by the characters themselves. These stories twine and inter twine in a series of flashbacks and past histories that bring the all choices of the characters and the subsequent consequences together.

I really loved about this book is the fact that only the reader can see all the pieces

It is a slow burner but the final thrilling dénouements are relentless and left me feeling exhausted and rather shaken. At this point I remembered Halina’s fable and set to pondering on which one of the characters had committed the worst crime….I thought about it for days

A dark, dark read. show less

Shadow is a very good book, as was Missing also by Alvtegen. Shadow is not "traditional" crime fiction, and it's not really about the crime(s), rather it is about the events leading up to the victims' deaths which are the focus. The reader is a considerable way into the book before the suggestion of an upcoming criminal act is first raised. There is no police inspector to uncover all the details and ensure that justice triumphs. I suppose a case could be made that there are heroes in the story, but they are relatively minor characters. So what are we left with then? Well, deeply flawed individuals driven by fame and money, preaching the rewards of "doing the right thing", but behaving just the opposite when events put them in totally show more unexpected circumstances. (Doesn't sound like crime fiction, does it?) Well, good writing, a book that will stay with you, characters that are well drawn but nobody you would want to have over for dinner. Would I recommend this to others? Perhaps, but certainly not to everybody.... show less