Review | Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson

The mutilated body of a renowned jewelry designer is found in Falkenberg, then another body with similar wounds is found in London, this time of a young boy. A profiler from Scotland Yard, Emily Roy, teams up with true crime writer, Alexis Castells, to investigate the serial killings. They will have to travel between England and Sweden, and ultimately trace the case all the way back to 1944 at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The link between the case in the present and the horrors of the past will be nothing like they have ever known.

The man from the train had been right. It was indeed hell that was greeting them at the end of their journey. But a thoroughly well-organised hell.

I thought the premise of Block 46 is super compelling. This story takes place in the present and in the past. I found myself drawn to the past story more. The scenes taking place at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp are appropriately horrific. I really rooted for Erich Hebner and wanted him to survive the atrocity of war. The conclusion of his story took me by surprise. It speaks to the tragedy and devastation of World War II. How the Holocaust stole innocent lives in so many different ways.

I was excited that the present story features two women as the lead characters. We don’t often get a pair of female investigators in crime fiction books. But a large part of my problem with the book is the writing, I just couldn’t warm up to it. It might be due to the translation but the dialogue is awkward and some scenes don’t land as well as they should.

I also felt distant from the characters, watching them interact without understanding how they really feel. The focus keeps moving to other characters that I really didn’t connect with. The characters were thin, and felt like sketches rather than real people – the cold, awkward profiler; the rude, sexist policeman; the hapless boss. While I don’t mind the idea of a civilian tagging along with the police, I thought the investigation could have been more interesting. The conclusion of this story ends with a violence that comes out of nowhere, and kind of put me off. I also wish we had gotten more of the relationship between Emily and Alexis.

I give kudos to the author for writing a story based on real life horrors with such care, and those are the best parts of the book. While the modern investigation fell short for me, I think many fans of Nordic noir would still enjoy Block 46. This is the first book in a series and I’m hoping the next one will be a better fit for me!

Note: contains scenes of graphic violence

About the author: Johana Gustawsson

Photo by Karen Stahlros