Marked For Life is the first book in a trilogy featuring public prosecutor Jana Berzelius. The head of the Migration Board has been found dead in his home. With o shortage of suspects, the last thing the investigators expected to find was a child’s fingerprint, especially as the deceased doesn’t have any children.

Berzelius is brought in on the case, and the normally calm and cold prosecutor is left reeling when a young boy is found dead a few days after the first murder. Dredging up memories long forgotten, Berzelius is dragged into an investigation for more dangerous and close to home than she was expecting.

Marked For Life is an interesting start to this trilogy. It introduces the reader to Jana, but it also sets the scene for a much larger story. In Marked For Life, they deal with the horrendous subject of human trafficking, and the repercussions of the investigation are numerous and far-reaching.

I really enjoyed Marked For Life. I do love books that are set in Scandinavian countries. This one has a great storyline, interesting characters and it kept my attention while I was reading. It also leaves the door open for the next book in the series. I am looking forward to seeing where the author goes with it.

Recommended.

Marked for life is book one in a trilogy by Emelie Schepp and introduces us to public prosecutor Jana Berzelius. Jana is called upon after the head of the migration board is found shot and his wife is held as a suspect.
There’s no shortage of suspects in this story and Marked For Life was a really good start to this trilogy.
Jana Berzelius isn’t your average protagonist, I can’t say I particularly liked her but I didn’t dislike her either. She was certainly interesting though, she’s cold and distant and it’s very clear from the beginning that there is something not right, something that she’s hiding and her determination really comes out. I have to say by the end of the book I had a bit more respect for Jana and you realise why she is the way she is.
This was quite a fast paced book with many different threads, quite disturbing in some parts with human trafficking and violence but that added to the intensity of the plot. There were many secrets and plenty twists and turns to keep you guessing. It’s suspenseful and kept me turning the pages and I had it finished in two sittings.
With some interesting characters and a storyline that kept me totally gripped from start to finish I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store next in the trilogy.

My coworker lent me this book as she felt I would like it based on other books I've read. She was right, I loved it! I could not put down this book, I wanted answers. Would Jana be able to keep her secret? Would the past catch up to her? Cannot wait to finish this series.

Her er min omtale av Merket for livet: https://mineboker.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/merket-for-livet-av-emelie-schepp/

Content Warning: Rape, Graphic Violence,

I received a free copy to review on Netgalley.

Premise is interesting and that's all I knew going into Marked for Life.

The Good:
+Solid on paper, I’m sure better in the original Swedish.


The Bad & The Other:
-Do not like how the rapist thread was just dropped. It served its purpose, shocking and disgusting, and the victims received no treatment, justice, or follow up. They were used as tools by both the story and the rapist.

-The cliffhanger ending. Didn't see any mention of sequel until I googled it afterward. Don't think I'll continue.

-I believe translation played a major role in every other issue: stilted characters that sounded the same with repetition.

It started off...okay. It felt a different than other novels in this genre due to translation.

It's stilted and unnatural with repetition. Some of it I think is using proper English instead of the relaxed mish-mash of everyday speech. One example that stood out was Henrik’s “The Boss! Oh yeah!” in the car, which left me wondering who talked/acted like that. They read like robots with better human programming than Jana. Out of context it doesn't sound so bad, but while reading it was cringe worthy.

Location 575: (when water gets into his sock) "Oh great! Really great!"

Location 820: "'My spontaneous reaction...'"

Location 1189: "'That's not the only thing she has lied about. I must get a hold of Henrik right away!'" [Why not lose the last sentence and have him actually rush off?]

Location 1642: "He was becoming increasingly irritated. They were still getting nowhere with the investigation and that was extremely frustrating."

Location 2630: "He was hanging his head as if he had done something wrong and was ashamed."

Location 3474: "...she clenched her teeth and put all her force behind the blow. The muscles in her back tensed, in her shoulders too, and she hit as hard as she could."

**mutters stupid no-page Kindle...**

Also, the conversations were hard to follow for most of the book as characters sounded alike. If Mia wasn't being crude and broke, if Hendrik wasn't a stereotypical whining husband, if The Boss wasn't using exclamation point order, and if Jana wasn’t a being a robot, there’s no difference in their speech. Everyday talk, especially about the case, didn’t warm up (or maybe I adapted to it) until much later in the book.

The split perspectives of the girl and the investigates was done well and I really enjoyed it. The girl’s POV brought the needed emotion and exhilaration. The case has it all but once Jana’s first realization, some parts become predictable.

Marked for Life didn’t start making solid improvements until the last 80% for me. It was hard to feel anything most of the time. Once Jana’s façade started cracking and villain POV’s starting showing up, the story became interesting. Yet every time I put it down, it was easy to leave it there.

Then it ended and I was left wondering, WTF? Turned to Google and found it was a trilogy and originally published in Swedish in 2013.

Bottomline: In dire need of editing. It’s hard to judge because on paper it all sounds good, but the execution with its current version leaves a lot to be desired.

Recommendable: If you can accept/look past the issues with translation. Reading the original Swedish would be the best option though. If it's updated, I'd be willing to read it again and am sure it'd be recommendable for general fans of the genre then.

Note: Around 42-45%, there's a passage about Janna. But afterwards, it immediately repeats that previous passage’s first half. Then it flips to Mia, then it repeats the second half of Jana’s passage.

This was really addicting.

Indrømmet! Jeg havde meget høje forventninger til "Mærket for livet". Heldigvis blev de indfriet... I starten var jeg ellers i tvivl, da jeg synes bogen var længe om rigtigt at komme igang, men ca. 50-60 sider inde i den var jeg solgt. Ligesom i f.eks. Läckbergs krimier, kører der 2 historier. Disse to historier bliver tilsidst flettet sammen, og Emilie Shepp har formået at gøre dette til topkarakter! Jeg har valgt at give "Mærket for livet" 4 stjerner. Grunden til at den ikke får den sidste stjerne med er fordi, jeg mener at der er et par "løse ender", ikke i selve plottet, men omkring personerne i bogen. Man kan selvfølgelig altid håbe på en 2'er. Jeg ville i hvert fald glæde mig til at læse mere om Jana, Henrik og Mia.

The only thing I like about this book is the plot and sadly, it's poorly executed. All the characters are painful to read about and in the end, I wasn't able to connect or relate to any of them.

I have to praise Schepp for creating a badass and successful female character! She's strong, but has her flaws, has a terrible past and isn't all that good. A pretty well-rounded character!
The story itself is pretty grand, with lots of crimes that are somehow tied together - and it's somehow connected to Jana herself. It's a good story, only criticism I have is that there are a little too many characters, which was a little confusing.