“Crime stories are our version of sitting round a camp fire
and telling tales. We enjoy being scared under safe circumstances,” remarks the
popular Swedish crime author Camilla Lackberg, curtly addressing readers’
heightened curiosity over how Scandinavian writers ably cook up these darkly
fascinating procedural. Over the years, I have become totally enraptured by
the idea of reading or watching Nordic Noirs – moody and morally complex crime
fiction set in the Nordic nations (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and
Finland). Often after reading any difficult, epic, transgressive and digressive
novels (ranging between old Russian fiction and contemporary Latin American
fiction), I find myself moving towards Nordic crime tales – heavy on
atmosphere and low on metaphors – that’s packaged with very involving
characters and chilling mysteries. Of course, despite the very simple language,
the Nordic Noir doesn’t have a chirpy or felicitous tone. Yet it’s thrilling to
plunge into the shadowy world of frigid small towns (where in reality, murders
are as rare as a solar eclipse).
Camilla Lackberg is one among my favorite authors of Nordic
Noir establishment, alongside Per Wahloo-Maj Sjowall, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo,
ArnaldurIndridasson, Stieg Larsson, Jussi Adler-Olsen, etc. Camilla’s novels
boast all the grittiest signature elements of Nordic Noir, although I find her
tone more endearing and romantic compared to other brilliant storytellers of
this genre. Camilla Lackberg was a graduate of Economics (Gothenburg
University), but a creative writing course bestowed her enough confidence (she
has been weaving stories from very young age) to leave the marketing job and
write a crime tale. She published her first novel The Ice Princess in 2003 (at the age of
29), which sold 4.5 million copies at home (a colossal number for Sweden) and
after the English translation in 2008 (by Steven Murray) the book sold 10
million copies in more than 50 countries. Hailed as the ‘Swedish Agatha
Christie’, Camilla’s Patrik Hedstrom-Erica Falck series provided us with
interesting sleuth characters, similar to Harry Hole, Martin Beck or Erlendur.
Camilla Lackberg’s procedural series is set in Fjallbacka, a
small and sedate Swedish fishing village. The protagonists are Erica, an
intrepid writer & amateur sleuth, and her smart, inquisitive cop-husband
Patrik. Similar to Asa Larsson’s novels, Camilla’s works focuses more on
characters and the central criminal incident mostly sets the canvas to deeply
explore the diverse range of characters. In Ice Princess, Erica Falck has
returned home from Stockholm to finish the sad and punishing task of sorting
out her parents’ things, both of whom died recently in a road accident. She is
trying to finish her much-delayed biography book and worries over her
increasingly frayed relationship with beloved younger sister Anna. Aged 35, Erica
has managed to stay single and doesn’t have much hope for fresh romantic
developments.Amidst all this fuss, she encounters a distressed local man in the
streets, who asks her to go look into a house; a house which belongs to her best
childhood friend Alexandra Wijkner. As pointed by the shocked man, Erica looks
into the cold bathroom to find Alexandra dead in the bath tub, wrists slashed and
body covered with icicles.
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| Camilla Lackberg |
Initially ruled out as suicide, Alex Wijkner’s parents
request Erica to write a commemorative article for the city newspaper. Erica
had once been so close to Alex. She was more like a sister to her. But for some
unknown reasons, Alex became estranged and later after her move to the big city (Goteborg),
their friendship came to an end. That loss still hurts Erica, and through this
small task she wonders whether she can find why Alex drifted away. Meanwhile,
Alex’s case is being investigated by an obnoxious and light-headed police chief
Mellberg. The autopsy report, to every one’s dismay, confirms Alex’s death as
murder. Mellberg relies on his promising subordinate Patrik Hedstrom to get deep
into the case. Erica and Patrik’s paths cross during the investigation. They
have known each other since childhood, and Patrik always had a huge crush on
Erica. On one hand, they contemplate the possibility of initiating a romantic
relationship (both had their share of broken affairs), while on the other hand
they dig up lot of long-hidden secrets of the small town, within which naturally the motive
for the cold-blooded killing lies.
Camilla’s mysteries aren’t actually epic, in terms of scope,
but the strength of her writing is found in the dynamic and gratifying
interactions among the well-grounded characters. The author’s simple yet
pitch-perfect description of the ebb and flow of small-town life – with all its
class conflict, secret affairs, etc --
provides a very immersive experience. She also finds fine balance in mixing
the mundanity of small-town alongside its extraordinary darker sides. What’s
more interesting of Camilla’s approach is the way she gracefully moves between
endearing romantic episodes (Erica-Patrik) and gloomy detective work. Ice
Princess doesn’t have a very hurried pace, unlike many Nordic Noirs. But, Camila
imparts string of exceptional emotional moments (alternately sad and uplifting)
that it never turns boring. Furthermore, like all Nordic crime fiction, the
perpetrator’s identity and motive adds a layer of sadness than relief. The sins
of parents and domestic abuse might seem to be very familiar and time-worn
themes in crime fiction, but under Camilla Lackberg’s effortlessly compelling
writing, it brings forth a wholly engrossing reading experience.
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