Book Review: Ice Moon

Reviewed By: Cheryl - RAM

Ice Moon     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jan Costin Wagner
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
Harcourt, 2007

'Ice Moon' is more a study of grief than a conventional mystery novel. The readers are introduced to Kimmo Joentaa, a police detective in Turku, Finland, during the death from cancer of his beloved young wife. The harrowing description of Kimmo's agonizing grief will strike a chord with anyone who has lived through the death of someone they love. The text is beautifully-written and haunting.

The mystery begins when Kimmo seeks refuge from his grief in his work. One of his first cases involves the puzzling murder of a nice, ordinary woman found smothered with her pillow. There were no good suspects; no evidence. Then another murder, and yet another one almost but not quite fit the pattern of a quiet, almost non-violent murder and invisible murderer. Are they all due to chance, or is a serial killer responsible for all the deaths?

This book does not fit easily into the mystery genre. There is a puzzle, but the reader learns the solution early, and the detectives find it almost by chance rather than by investigation. Both the detective Kimmo and his supervisor do rather odd things under the impulse of their own personal tragedies - this is not a typical police procedural. The greatest strength of the novel is in the depth of the character development, not in the presentation and solution of the mystery.

I was caught off-balance by the first of the changes in point-of- view, but later became used to it. Aside from the rather abrupt changes in point-of-view, the writing is excellent. This novel, although set in Finland, was written in German, but the English translation reads very well.

However, due to the brilliant recreation of the grief of a loss to death, this is not a book for anyone who is already in a depressed mood!

Cheryl - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM