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This was a bit too much of a slow burn whodunit for me. I tend to like mystery/thrillers to prioritize thriller over the mystery. I'm not so big on detective noirs, so this just wasn't for me.
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People dissapearing with only a note left behind featuring one of the 10 Commandments from the bible.
Detectives Stark, Dea and Nassrin start investigating this case which turns out to be a classic, solid and super-dark noir crime novel!
In the beginning the story was a bit slow for me but it soon took up speed and kept me listening on!
In my opinion Lila Newman really gets the right tone for this audiobook!
Thank you #NetGalley #Dreamscape Media for this audiobook
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Naseran I thought was going to play a bigger part in this book. A lot of things happed in a lot of point of views. Noss I feel would have played and grew though out the book to get a better position at her job other than just sitting at a desk. The getting kidnapped. Her boss Liem seemed to have a soft spot for her but it never grew to help her out. If anything maybe admit he has a crush on her. And I really disliked Dea. She was a real bitch to Noss. Other than that the crime/suspense was a good telling through the book. I would have never guessed that it was the old pastor to the church that was kidnapping all the people and tossing them into the slurry tank to die. I never would have guessed you could die being submerged in water for to long. The end of the book did surprise me when the grandfather of the criminal helped getting the people out. I thought he was a cranky old resist man that didn’t help anyone but his own kind.
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Entertaining and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and fiction are popular.
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Dissolved by Sara Bladel and Mads Peder Nordbo was a fascinating case! It started off slow, with the investigators not believing that a woman had gone missing, and then quickly ramped up as members of the community go missing every day. Set in Denmark, this mystery discuses issues of race, religion, and politics as the detectives race against the clock to find the missing people before it's too late. This was a dark and gritty mystery, definitely not for the faint of heart. The narrator could at times be robotic, and almost sounded like multiple people, but the story was so compelling that it didn't matter too much.
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I'm a fan of Nordic Noir and I enjoyed this crime whodunnit mystery thriller. Although it was a bit slower paced than what I'm used to, it kept me intrigued and engaged throughout. The storyline was good and it had me guessing until the end.
I was a little disappointed in the narrator however, as I felt there was not much life given to the characters.
This is my first book by these authors and I'd be interested to try another, but will read it rather.
Thank you to NetGalley and DreamScape Media for an eARC of Dissolved. It is out now.
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When a teacher goes missing right after leaving the gym Detective Liam and Dya don’t take her husband seriously but the teacher will just be the first of mini. I really liked this book the chapters are broken up and titled with the days from day one today 10 unfortunately I listen to the audiobook and although the narrator has a pleasant voice she almost made the men in the story sound cartoonish and intern made it hard to take the book seriously I even went to Amazon to see about buying the Kindle book and should’ve done that either way I did finish the book and found it so interesting just wish I would’ve read the Kindle book instead. Still a great mystery. With a serious game of cat and mouse with notes left to the future kidnap victims a truly interesting read. I want to think dreamscape select and net galley for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
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This novel is written by two of Denmarks best crime novelist, and takes place in a provincial town in Fyn, Denmark. I listened to the English translation, and being Danish myself I probably shouldn't have. I spent way too much energy on trying to decipher what the actual names and places would be. The narrator obviously did not know anything about the danish language and proper pronunciation.
I tried to overlook the butchering of the Danish names and words, but I was still a bit underwhelmed by the story. People with obvious connections to each other start disappearing without a trace. At first the police and the three main detectives refuse to take the disappearances seriously, and later on it took them way to long to figure out what the common tread among the victims were.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.
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Thank you for netgalley and Dreamscape media for the audio ARC of Dissolved by Sara Blaedel.
I really enjoyed this thriller set in Tommerup, a town in Denmark. It's the first time Ive listened to a Nordic book. ( seen a few thriller Tv series ) and really liked the feel to this book.. I liked listening to Lila Newman who narrated this book but I did feel that sometimes her narration got a bit robotic. So I did speed the narration up to 1.5 x although this is a personal preference.
The 2 superintendent's Liam Stark and Dea Toto who are investigating the disappearance of a women who doesn't show up to collect her children from school Take on a case that gets darker with the kidnapper leaving quotes from the Quran which corresponds to the 10 commandments. There are multiple points of view with the narrative, which helped build the characters quite nice. Although I do feel that the pace of the book was a little off as it seemed to speed up and slow down in places. I understand that this book was translated so it could have been that. I did enjoy the payoff and the ending of the book but do feel it was a little rushed.
Still an enjoyable read and 3.25 star rating
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In a small town in Denmark, people begin to disappear. There are notes left behind in the places each person was taken. They are thought to be verses from the Quran but also relate to the Ten Commandments. Each person that was abducted was believed to have broken one of the Commandments. Detectives race to figure it all out before they are left with ten bodies instead of rescues.
I love Scandinavian Noir and this book definitely has a good premise. However, I’m assuming there are some aspects that were lost in the translation to English and the story doesn’t flow as well as I would have liked. I also feel that the ending was very abrupt and could have used a little more explanation to tie some things up a bit better.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. Overall I liked the story. The book revolves around a team of detectives (lead by Liam Stark and Dea Torp) in Denmark and their quest to find the perpetrator(s) of 6 abductions. At first these abductions don't seem to have anything in common and they can't find a link. Eventually they determine that the person(s) responsible for these abductions is sending a message using quotes from the Quran (and linked to biblical commandments). The race is on to find the missing before they turn up dead and before another abduction happens. The tension building is good and it becomes a sort of "cat and mouse" game. Kept me interested until the end.
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listened to this dark Danish thriller taking me to small town Denmark on the outskirts of Odense with a missing person's case that it is quite rapidly deteriorating into something far bigger driving the local police Liam with his demoted partner Dea and their younger colleague Nassrin to the brink. Before the have even the first inkling of a lead they realize they have a serial abducter if not murderer on their hands but why? What connects these seemingly random victims, a young mother between gym and work, an elderly shopkeeper on his dog walk ... the only connection between the victims seem to be religious verses left behind. One of the possible connections was the local waterpolo club since several victims had connections to coaches, former coaches or players this connection was fun for me since waterpolo was my sport through high school and college. I was a goalie and loved it !
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When a woman doesn’t show up to collect her children from school, her distraught husband is adamant that something is wrong. It soon becomes clear that she is missing, but the police don’t seem to be taking it seriously. Eventually Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Toro begin to investigate the case and find some suspicious evidence linking a number of disappearances in the town. A junior investigative officer Nazreen tries to offer up her insight, but is also brushed aside.
Detective Dea comes across as generally an asshole and to be frank, not a very good detective as she often jumps to conclusions with tunnel vision, as well as coming across as unprofessional in her manner when dealing with victims of crime/suspects. I couldn’t really find any characters that I particularly liked, but I feel like the flow of the book was odd due to a combination of the translation and narration. This book has potential, but whilst I really enjoyed the premise of this book, I really didn’t get on with the audio version. I think as others have mentioned there were some odd translations that need to be looked at to improve the reader/listener experience.
The narrator was also a very odd pick for this book. They had very slow way of speaking, which really didn’t lend itself to the story or the characters and I ended up listening at x1.5 speed. At one point I actually wondered if there had been some issue and it had been output at the wrong speed?)
I would suggest if you want to try this book, the ebook would be a better choice. 2.5 due to overall experience.
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Honestly, from the description of the book, I was hoping that this would have been a lot more enjoyable. There multiple points of view, due to the fact that there are multiple scenes of crime in this, and sometimes it was difficult to keep every person's name with whichever crime. This had some great vibes, the writing was not too bad, the story fairly unique... at least to me.
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The title, Dissolved, gives readers a hint at what might happen in this masterful book by Sara Blaedel and Mads Peder Nordbo. I had been disappointed in several of Blaedel's recent books, but she redeems herself artfully with Dissolved. The premise of the novel is not complicated: people on a Danish island disappear, one at a time, one each day. Correspondingly, a slip of paper is found at each abduction scene, each bearing a passage from the Koran that corresponds to each of the Ten Commandments found in the Old Testament. Much is made of three missing copies of the Koran that contain verses said to have been written by Mohammad himself urging his followers to find bridges to people of other religions, which is a nice touch in today's divisive world. The authors build suspense effectively until the climax, revealing the perpetrator in a way that surprised me, even though a few relevant hints are dropped during the course of the book. The last third of the novel is not for the faint of heart, or perhaps I should say not for the weak of stomach. I listened to this novel and the awkward parts of the translation were jarring; this is the only reason I've given the book 4 rather than 5 stars. I hope this is the first in a series that features Liam, Dea and Nasrim, for there are loose ends that, if picked up, could set the stage for another example of Scandinavian noir at its best.
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'Dissolved' by Sara Blaedel and Mads Peder Nordsbo is a perfect example of a gritty Nordic Noir police procedural. It started out kind of slow and it was a bit difficult to keep track of all the characters in the small town. There were a lot of victims and it was important to remember who is who.
However, the premise and the actual reason for the name 'Dissolved' is completely outrageous and twisted. If you like to read about crazy twisted things, this one is for you.
I think the translation was not the best. People don't talk like that in real life; the word choices felt off and overly complicated. Another thing I didn't enjoy was how the Muslim character was treated. Do they really allow that in Denmark? One call to HR in the United States would have taken care of all the bullying.
But honestly, with all the things I did not like, I was completely horrified with the actual 'crime'. And both the crime and the way it was delivered was actually smart. So I definitely recommend this book to everyone that enjoys Nordic Noir but maybe not the audiobook as the narrator is not a good match and it's easier to keep track of the characters while reading vs listening. I really hope another edit of the translation can be made, also.
Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this audiobook.
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Dissolved was so twisted.
A distraught husband asks for the police’s help to find his wife. His wife has been gone for a few hours and that’s uncommon for her. The police wave off his concerns and assure him he’ll see his wife soon. But he doesn’t see his wife again….or does he? The police get a call not long after that another person has disappeared. Then another, and another. What’s also strange is that everyone that has disappeared are all connected. The three detectives assigned to the case have to find the victims and figure out why they’re being taken. But that’s difficult because two of the three detectives communicate very poorly.
This storyline is addictive. There were some things I didn’t care for. However, this was a completely original mystery. My goodness the detectives had their work cut out for them. These authors are so skillful with their detailing. I’ve never read a story like this that was so deeply intertwined. Why the victims were taken, where they were hidden, and the state they were hidden in was incredibly well thought out.
There was a lot going on in this book. I found it hard to keep up with the switching storylines. I don’t mind reading different POVs of the victim’s family. But since there were multiple victims, I found myself getting confused with who was who and which victim belonged to which family. Also, the victims were also all linked which added an extra level of confusion. I enjoyed the read but I kept having to rewind and I listen a bit closer to what was going on.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC. I appreciate the opportunity to read such a deeply woven crime.
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A young mother vanishes into thin air one day, and the police are skeptical that any foul play has befallen her. Until other Danish citizens start disappearing, leaving behind cryptic religious notes that all seem to be connected. Can investigators Dea and Liam get ahead of the mysterious abductor and save the missing persons? Or will it be too late when they finally locate where he's been holding them all?
I generally enjoy the slower pace of Scandinavian crime thrillers, but this one was just a touch too slow for my personal liking. It's a solid plot with nicely fleshed-out characters, it just didn't grip me like I wanted it to. I'm not sure the religious component(s) were successful for me either, but overall this was an interesting police procedural that I would recommend if you enjoy this genre and don't mind a slower pace.
Thank you to Sara Blædel, Mads Peder Nordbo, Crooked Lane Books, and Dreamscape Media for my advance audio copy.
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People, seemingly unconnected, start disappearing from Tommerup, Denmark, and it’s up to investigators to try and stop the abductions before more people go missing.
Ok, this is a strange case for me. The story, the setting- all great. The narrator of the audiobook is HORRIBLE. She sounded like one of those new AI narrators some publishers are trying out and honestly? I almost gave up. Really thought, the producers are at also fault for not giving better direction and letting it get published as it was. So yeah. Maybe read this one with your eyes.
I received a free audiobook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
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This is a really interesting crime novel/thriller. It takes place in Denmark and I am always interested in the different ways different cultures investigate crime. I listened to the audiobook and I didn’t think the narrator did a good job really bringing the characters to life. There were some voice differences to help me know who was talking, but the affect on all of them felt off or flat and made it harder to like the main characters who were all difficult to like from the beginning. I’m not sure if it was due to translation or cultural differences, but I felt like the story dragged quite a bit. The ending was very interesting and thrilling even but it ended abruptly and I had wanted just a little more. The mystery itself was interesting. My initial guess was correct (with a wrong why though) but I did almost get swayed by the red herring so that was fun. Police aren’t really concerned when Charlotte goes missing, she is a grown up and allowed to take off. Her husband is certain something is wrong as she would never miss work or abandon their kids, but the police wait 24 hours. Quickly they realize it wasn’t an isolated incident as people continue to go missing daily and it’s clear they have been taken. The book switches perspectives and shows some of the characters from the small town and the investigating police team. I liked that we got to see things from multiple perspectives. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars rounded up for being a pretty unique and interesting story.