CRIME REVIEW: Death Sentence - Mikkel Birkegaard

Release Date: 15/09/11

SYNOPSIS:

A murder committed on paper, safely within the confines of a novel, is one thing. To see that same crime in the real world, is something else entirely...Frank Fons is a very successful crime writer. His novels, famed for their visceral descriptions of violent death, have made him a household name. But now someone is copying his crimes. For Frank what once seemed a clever, intriguing plot twist, has suddenly become a terrifying, blood-spattered reality. In the novel, a redhead who was scared of water is drowned. In the mirror-image of the real world, she has become an ex-girlfriend chained and left to die at the bottom of the harbour. A corrupt police-officer tortured to death becomes a contact who dies with fear in his eyes. Someone is taking Franks' fiction and using it to destroy his life. The writer must become the detective. In fiction, the bad guy always gets caught, but in real life there is no such guarantee. Fear becomes real. The knife cut hurts like hell. Our narrator may not survive. No-one is promising you a happy ending. For Frank what had once been a game is now a matter of life and death.


REVIEW:

Having enjoyed Mikkel’s Library of Shadow’s I really was looking forward to this, his new crime novel featuring a crime writer as the central character. It’s cleverly constructed, will appeal to fans of TV’s Castle and also demonstrates why the Scandinavians are taking over the crime genre with the sheer volume of authors in recent years.

Add to this a lead character that really keeps you glued, some clever twists as well as imaginative sequences and it’s a title that will make you keep a close eye on events and people around you. Finally add to the mix a solid writing style that identifies the author and it makes Mikkel a serious name to watch. Great.