Review: The Princess of Burundi

An award-winning Swedish writer, Kjell Eriksson makes his US debut with this snowbound, atmospheric novel featuring the Uppsala police squad, a team that doesn’t see many murders.

The murder of John Jonsson is particularly disturbing since the man had been tortured – slashes, severed fingers, burn marks – before being dumped in the snow. Jonsson is known to some members of the squad – he had been in trouble as a youth, but then settled down with a wife and son and a steady job.

But then he’d lost the job and his wife, Berit, fears he’d fallen sway to the pernicious influence of his hard-drinking petty criminal brother Lennart. His brother, though, is as bewildered as anyone and determined to hunt the murderer himself. It’s John’s teenage son, Justus, who’s the keeper of his father’s secrets. Justus guards his father’s legacy, caring for his aquarium (the title comes from the name of a fish) and biding his time.

Meanwhile a psychopath taking revenge on all those who slighted him in high school discovers the pleasures – and risks – of violence, and detective Ann Lindell, a single mother on maternity leave, finds the lure of the job – and one colleague in particular - irresistible.

Point of view shifts among myriad characters, including the murdered man’s family and friends and each member of the police team. Troubled marriages, cultural and class frictions, the changing face of Sweden, all merge seamlessly into the procedural action as the characters bring their personal preoccupations and biases into the hunt for a killer.

The backdrop for all this – winter a few days before Christmas – is as strong a presence as any of the characters. Beautiful, breathtaking (literally and figuratively), and unforgiving, winter is inescapable.

Eriksson empathizes with his characters, but maintains enough distance to reserve judgment. A portrait of the place emerges through the people and the plot arises from their characters. Suspense defers to atmosphere and insight. There are flaws – the characters can sometimes be too enigmatic and the ending, while appropriate, feels tacked on, but readers of psychological fiction will hope to see more of Eriksson soon.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Book Review: The Princess of Burundi