The Tenant
by Katrine Engberg
An electrifying work of literary suspense from international bestselling author Katrine Engberg, this stunning debut introduces two police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge.
When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.
But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.
Hailed as “inconceivably thrilling” (Fyens Stiftstidende, Denmark), The Tenant is a work of stunning originality that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
Momma Says: 2.5 stars⭐⭐⭐
When a blurb uses words like electrifying, stunning, and inconceivably thrilling, I expect big things. The beginning of The Tenant seems to be heading in that direction, and it does have its moments, but they are fewer and fewer as the story progresses. I really expected a more intense read given the nature of the murder that opens this story, but instead, the pacing is quite slow. I don't know if it's the translation or just the way the story is written, but it felt kind of dry. The best way I can think of to explain it is it felt a bit like listening to someone speaking in a monotone. I actually fell asleep several times while trying to push through to the end. I think the author had a good idea here, but the delivery was missing something for me. Overall, this one isn't a bad read, but it's not a particularly good one either.
❃❃ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press
When a blurb uses words like electrifying, stunning, and inconceivably thrilling, I expect big things. The beginning of The Tenant seems to be heading in that direction, and it does have its moments, but they are fewer and fewer as the story progresses. I really expected a more intense read given the nature of the murder that opens this story, but instead, the pacing is quite slow. I don't know if it's the translation or just the way the story is written, but it felt kind of dry. The best way I can think of to explain it is it felt a bit like listening to someone speaking in a monotone. I actually fell asleep several times while trying to push through to the end. I think the author had a good idea here, but the delivery was missing something for me. Overall, this one isn't a bad read, but it's not a particularly good one either.
❃❃ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press
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