'Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness'
The Bird of Night by Susan Hill fulfils this category very well. It also ticks a box on my Booker Shortlist Personal Challenge. It is a bleak read and not a long one. Unfortunately the author commented in 2006 "It is a novel of mine that was shortlisted for Booker and won the Whitbread Prize for Fiction. It was a book I have never rated. I don't think it works, though there are a few good things in it. I don't believe in the characters or the story.
Hill is known for her gothic style and penchant for a ghost story several of which she wrote in the 80s and early 90s. Her 21st century novels are, in one way, lighter being thrillers written around her detective character, Simon Serrailler. In terms of writing they are rather lightweight when compared to, for example, The Bird of Night. But she has captured an audience with Simon Serrailler and this sells books and pays bill!
Moving swiftly on therefore I come to three detective novels written by Icelandic authors. Two, by Arnaldur Indridason, are part of a crime fiction series written around the character Inspector Erlendur.
Strange Shores and Hypothermia are full of Icelandic atmosphere. Having recently renewed my acquaintance with Iceland in general and Reykjavik in particular and rekindled my enjoyment of everything the country has to offer,

and given my fondness for a good thriller, these are books to enjoy for their page-turning qualities added to which there is an ongoing story surrounding
Erlendur and his early life, during which he experiences the death of his younger brother, in circumstances the nature of which he has not been able to establish.

No comments:
Post a Comment