‘Femicide by Pascal Engman

Published by Legend Press,
15 September 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-9150-5443-2 (PB)

Emilie has been threatened by her violent ex-partner. When she’s found murdered in her Stockholm apartment a week after he’s released from prison, it looks like an open and shut case for Detective Inspector Vanessa Frank – until a similar case arrives on her desk. Is it a coincidence, or is something more sinister going on?

This fast-moving Scandi moves quickly between a variety of characters. DI Vanessa Frank is successful, beautiful and well-off, but the young Syrian girl she’d been looking after has returned to her family, she’s still hankering after her previous lover, Svante, and thinking about the connection she felt with her friend Nicholas, who helped her in a previous case. Jasmina Kovac is a young reporter from the sticks who’s just got a job on national paper Kvällspressen. She’s doing fine – until she’s kidnapped and raped by a man who drugs her in a bar. Nicholas is also thinking of Vanessa, and of his future – he’s a former soldier, and a friend thinks he might have a job in security for him, but in London, meaning he’d leave both Vanessa and his vulnerable teenage neighbour, Celine, behind. Finally there’s a rather touching homeless couple, Börje and Eva, who are victimised by the rich TV personality in a nearby summer hut.

Engman is a former journalist, and every character and their background come across as authentic. The novel’s divided into eight sections, each headed by a quotation from an ‘incel’, a man who’s involuntarily celibate and these lead chillingly into the wider background of the novel: men who actively hate women, and have decided to “weaponise” the gender war. Tom, another key character, is one of them and through him we gradually learn more about the movement and its heroes, like Eliott Rodger, who killed six people in California in 2014, giving ‘hatred of women’ as his motive. The chapters are very short, flicking from person to person, and the story moves swiftly towards the final climactic attack.

A Scandi roller-coaster with clever plotting, interesting characters drawn from a wide spectrum of modern life, and well-drawn backgrounds.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Pascal Engman published his first book The Patriots, in 2017. Since then he as become the best-selling Swedish crime novelist of his generation. He has been acclaimed by Camilla Läckberg, David Lagercrantz, The Swedish Crime Writers' Academy and others as a rising star of Swedish crime fiction. Engman, who resides in his native Stockholm, was born to a Swedish mother and a Chilean father. Engman was a journalist at Swedish evening newspaper Expressen.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
A Shetland Winter Mystery

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk