Ein Tropfen vom Glück

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Der Zufall führt den Immobilienmakler Hubert, den amerikanischen Touristen Bob, den Bartender Julien und die Restauratorin Magalie an einem Septemberabend im Jahr 2017 in Paris zusammen. Gemeinsam genießen sie einen alten Wein des Jahres 1954, nicht ahnend, dass sie damit eine Zeitreise in ebendieses antreten werden. Die Stadt der Lichter ist zwar gar nicht so anders als heute, aber die Menschen leben das Paris, das man nur noch aus Filmen und Legenden kennt. Legenden sind es auch, denen sie begegnen: Piaf, Dalí, Truffaut, Prévert, Gabin. So schön das alles ist, wie kommen sie zurück in die Zukunft?

Wenn man Bücher von Antoine Laurain kennt, weiß man schon vorab, worauf man sich freuen darf: eine zuckersüße Geschichte, der jedoch jede Form von Kitsch fremd ist; eine Story, die man nicht ganz ernstnehmen darf und auf deren fantastische Reise man sich einfach einlassen sollte. Für mich ist es immer ein wenig wie in „Die fabelhafte Welt der Amélie“ einzutauchen - eine bezaubernde Hintergrundmusik und wunderschöne Bilder, so sind Laurains Bücher und genau so ist auch „Ein Tropfen vom Glück“.

Viel mehr muss man eigentlich auch gar nicht mehr sagen. Mir hat das Paris des Jahres 1954 gefallen, vor allem die Szene in Les Halles konnte man bildlich vor sich sehen. Ich nehme an, dass der Autor auch einen Heidenspaß dabei hatte, all die Künstler und großen Namen mit in die Geschichte einzubauen, völlig unaufdringlich und zum Schmunzeln. Seine Figuren wie sind immer außergewöhnliche Individuen, aber dann doch nicht so sonderbar, dass sie nicht real existieren könnten, liebenswert sind sie auf jeden Fall.

Ein klassisches Wohlfühlbuch, in das man eintaucht und aus dem völlig glücklich und beschwingt wieder heraussteigt.

Lazarus / Kommissar Linna Bd.7

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Joona Linna ist aus dem Gefängnis entlassen und soll seinen Dienst wieder antreten als man in Oslo eine grausame Entdeckung macht: in Haus eines Mordopfers finden sich zahlreiche Leichenteile, darunter auch der Kopf von Joonas Frau, offenbar aus ihrem Grab geraubt. Für ihn kann das nur eins bedeuten: Jurek Walter hat überlebt und nimmt so Kontakt zu ihm auf. Plötzlich werden aus ganz Europa seltsame Morde gemeldet, die alle die gleiche Handschrift zeigen und sich eindeutig an ihn richten. Sein Team mag das nicht ganz glauben, Saga weiß genau, dass sie den Serienmörder erschossen hat und die Leiche hatte man ja auch identifiziert. Joona hingegen ist sich sicher, dass sie alle in größter Gefahr sind, allen voran seine Tochter. Während er den Notfallplan aktiviert und untertaucht, geht man in Schweden der Sache nur langsam nach. Eine Entscheidung mit schwerwiegenden Folgen.

Band 7 der Serie um Hauptkommissar Linna der Stockholmer Polizei trägt die Altersempfehlung ab 16, die ich nur sehr unterstreichen kann. Der Krimi ist sowohl in physischer Hinsicht wie auch psychologisch extrem herausfordernd und das Autorenduo hinter dem Pseudonym Lars Kepler erspart dem Leser nichts. Das resultiert in Hochspannung, die tatsächlich kaum auszuhalten ist und bei zartbesaiteten Gemütern nicht ohne Alptraum-Gefahr sein dürfte.

Nach nur kurzem Vorspann beginnt die todbringende Verfolgungsjagd von Jurek Walter und Joona Linna. Die Kapitel enden meist mit geschickt platzierten Cliffhangern, die es einem quasi unmöglich machen, einfach das Buch beiseite zu legen. Es ist nicht nur das hohe Tempo der Handlung, das einem fordert, sondern auch die brutale Rücksichtslosigkeit des Mörders, die vor gar keiner noch so grausamen tat haltmacht und dieses Mal auch wirklich keine der Figuren schont. Das geht beim Lesen durchaus an die Substanz, weil man sich doch immer wieder wünscht, dass wenigsten der eine oder andere davonkommt – aber der Plan sieht anders aus.

Die Handlung ist in sich völlig stimmig und glaubwürdig, auch die Erklärung für Jureks Überleben kann man nachvollziehen, wenn ich dies auch etwas herausfordernder an die Phantasie fand. Besonders überzeugend war für mich die Figur Sagas, die unmittelbar und ganz persönlich getroffen wird von den Taten und dieses Mal ihre Grenzen überschreiten muss. Alles in allem, ausgesprochen brutal, aber kaum zu übertreffende Spannung.

She Lies in Wait

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Thirty years have passed since 14-year-old Aurora Jackson vanished when camping with a group teenagers. But now, her body has been discovered by coincidence. She has been dead all the time, buried in the woods and her killer running free. What happened that night, when Aurora‘s sister and her friends had invited her in the woods? Obviously a lot of booze and drugs, but how come that one of them could have been murdered and the others remain silent for over three decades? DCI Jonah Sheens and his team have to face a group of friends who stand in line even after all the time. They must have to hide quite a lot...

Gytha Lodge‘s debut is a thrilling crime novel from the first to the last page. The plot offers many different side lines that could lead to the solution and the combination of having the story advance in the present and the flashbacks of the day in 1983 keep suspense high.

What I found most interesting was the dynamics between the friends. On the one hand, the group of six as teenagers where the cool ones lead and have their say, but also later as adults where they all found their place in life and in their small group. They made some wrong decisions out of fears that are understandable for teenagers, but they never corrected them as adults even though they had the chance.

Many twists and turns keep you guessing about what happened that night and in the end, it all is solved convincingly. For me, a perfect crime novel and a very entertaining read.

Almost Love

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Things are not going too well between Sarah and her partner. Is it just because her job as a teacher exhausts and frustrates her? She is an artist, but has never been good enough to really succeed with her paintings, not like her mother-in-law to be or her best friend. When she flees their home one afternoon, she by coincidence meets Matthew and all comes up again. The man she loved like never before, the man she would have given up everything for – the man she has given up everything for and destroyed so much. But he is still Matthew and there is something in her that makes the old feeling, she thought she had overcome, show up again.

After reading the blurb, I expected a story with an unhealthy love addiction and intense feelings on the part of the female protagonist. I was quite sure to feel compassion for her obsessive love and what it makes with her, yet, I mainly hated Sarah, even more than Matthew, which made it a bit difficult to really enjoy the novel.

So, why didn’t I feel pity for her? First of all, she is incredibly arrogant. When still young, her best friend from university gets the big chance of an exhibition, but instead of being happy for him, she envies him and is convinced that it should have been her. Second, her father obviously is quite lonely in their remote village and he always tries not to put her under pressure and to tolerate her awful behaviour, but she treats him like an old imbecile. Yes, he might not have been the perfect dad when her mother died – yet, he also lost his beloved wife and needed time for himself and his grief. Her school friends are just places she can dump her personal dramas, she doesn’t care about their problems and feelings and even doesn’t realise when she spoils her former best friend’s wedding. The current relationship is marked by her evil behaviour towards her boyfriend. No, he cannot do anything right, she only snaps at him and looks down on him. All of this is not necessarily linked to her obsessive love, not, she is just a very mean person.

When it comes to her flashbacks and memories of the time with Matthew, well, it is the classic constellation: a successful man in the middle of his life meets the naive girl who falls for him and somehow she succumbs to the illusion that he might also fall in love with her. Her whole behaviour – bombarding him with text messages, dropping everything when he calls, accepting all his wishes in their shabby hotel room, being subservient in any imaginable way – well, that’s something that might happen, but over months without understanding what is going on? That she is never at his side in public, but hidden in a hotel room where he doesn’t even have the time for a proper conversation with her? At least, she can serve as a cautionary tale.

I am not sure if I find Sarah’s character authentic and thus could really believe the story. Nevertheless, it captivated me somehow and I almost read it in just one sitting which definitely speaks for Louise O’Neill.

Literary Places

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Why do you read book? To enjoy yourself, be entertained by a good story and – at least for me – to travel via the novel to another place and learn something about culture, habits and life in general there. Due to lack of time and money, I cannot visit all the places I would like to see with my own eyes, thus, the fictional world set in real places is often the only alternative available. Especially when it comes to time travel which, of course, will just remain a dream.

Sarah Baxter’s traveller’s guide leads you to 25 famous places of novels, among them Paris, London, St Petersburg, New York and Berlin. She briefly describes the setting of the novel and then compares the presentation as we get it in the book with what to find there today. Some places are almost identical and what you see through the eyes of the protagonist is what you can see yourself when travelling there. Others have changed a lot and the place now only exists between the covers of the book.

The text is accompanied by illustrations by Amy Grimes and even though they are mostly abstract, they wonderfully transport the atmosphere evoked in the novels. When reading make sure you either got a hard copy of the book or an electronic version in colour. I’d be a pity to have them just in black and white.

A beautiful collection which reminded me of novels I read a long time ago and which I definitely want to look at again now.

The Birds That Stay

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In a small place north of Montreal, an old lady is found dead, strangled and frozen outside. Who would ever do such a thing to a woman of more than eighty years? Not far from the scene of crime Marie cares about her mother Claire who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s time to move her to a home where better care can be taken of her. When her mother sees the report of the murder in the newspaper, she refers to old Mrs Newman as Mrs Kovak and is convinced that the victim is her former neighbour. Just the talk of a demented woman or a memory that will reveal a lot about the case and the motive of the murderer?

Ann Lambert’s novel takes quite an interesting turn that I didn’t expect at all. To a murder case she adds a bit of Canadian history that is not often heard of, one of those things people prefer to forget about because it is embarrassing. What I appreciated most was how the author managed in her debut to intertwine different plot lines that at first seem to be totally independent without any connection.

It is mainly two aspects that made me ponder while reading the novel. First of all, I had never heard of the Canadian position towards European refugees after WW II and most certainly didn’t I ever connect the country with the idea of being a refuge for Nazi collaborators. Second, the novel provides an interesting study of human nature, Tomas/Ennis is seemingly lacking any kind of compassion and willing to do everything to get what he deserves in his opinion. Both of them linked inevitably lead to the question if there is something “running in the blood” – the father part of the most atrocious crimes of the 20th century and the son likewise ruthless? Apart from the plot, I liked Lambert’s style of writing a lot and I am looking forward to reading more from her.