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A review by keeperofpages
Marked for Life by Emelie Schepp
4.0
Marked for Life is the first book in the noir trilogy featuring public prosecutor Jana Berzelius – a trilogy I look forward to continuing.
Jana is such a complex and interesting character. I love that Schepp didn’t create your typical main protagonist – Jana is not likeable, in fact, one could argue she’s the opposite, cold, distance, rude and I loved every part of her character. While she wasn’t likeable, her complex character and her will to do whatever she felt was necessary to survive made this novel a layered and interesting read. Schepp not only gives us an insight into the life of the main protagonist but also of her colleagues too, I really like this as it made them come across as real people struggling with the same issues you and me could be struggling with (eg. marriage and money). Schepp has clearly put a lot of thought into her character development and I hope these characters feature alongside Jana in book two. Especially Henrik, his backstory (bar Jana’s) was my favourite, his wife was so controlling – he couldn’t even join the gym without her permission, not even go out jogging without her say so – I mean, what is that all about!
Marked for Life certainly has the cold climate Nordic Noir is so well known for, it doesn’t, however, have the moody atmosphere, that beautiful darkness and I attribute that to Jana being so standoffish, her “programmed” way of life prevented that connection. Don’t miss understand me, the plot is dark, extremely dark, and features disturbing content of rape, violence and child trafficking but it just didn’t have that ‘x-factor’ I yearn for in Noir. However, Schepp did go some way to make up for this in the complexity of the case, it started off as your expected police procedural and then focused more on the rouge actions of Jana conducting her own investigation, making the latter half read like a thriller. Child trafficking cases are common in crime fiction so I appreciate Schepp changing the tempo of this one to keep the reader engaged.
While some elements of the plot were predictable, I didn’t mind because Jana is such a fascinating character due to her cold-hearted nature, and I can’t wait to explore her character further in book two.
*My thanks to the publisher (HQ) for granting me access to a digital copy of this book via Netgalley*
Jana is such a complex and interesting character. I love that Schepp didn’t create your typical main protagonist – Jana is not likeable, in fact, one could argue she’s the opposite, cold, distance, rude and I loved every part of her character. While she wasn’t likeable, her complex character and her will to do whatever she felt was necessary to survive made this novel a layered and interesting read. Schepp not only gives us an insight into the life of the main protagonist but also of her colleagues too, I really like this as it made them come across as real people struggling with the same issues you and me could be struggling with (eg. marriage and money). Schepp has clearly put a lot of thought into her character development and I hope these characters feature alongside Jana in book two. Especially Henrik, his backstory (bar Jana’s) was my favourite, his wife was so controlling – he couldn’t even join the gym without her permission, not even go out jogging without her say so – I mean, what is that all about!
Marked for Life certainly has the cold climate Nordic Noir is so well known for, it doesn’t, however, have the moody atmosphere, that beautiful darkness and I attribute that to Jana being so standoffish, her “programmed” way of life prevented that connection. Don’t miss understand me, the plot is dark, extremely dark, and features disturbing content of rape, violence and child trafficking but it just didn’t have that ‘x-factor’ I yearn for in Noir. However, Schepp did go some way to make up for this in the complexity of the case, it started off as your expected police procedural and then focused more on the rouge actions of Jana conducting her own investigation, making the latter half read like a thriller. Child trafficking cases are common in crime fiction so I appreciate Schepp changing the tempo of this one to keep the reader engaged.
While some elements of the plot were predictable, I didn’t mind because Jana is such a fascinating character due to her cold-hearted nature, and I can’t wait to explore her character further in book two.
*My thanks to the publisher (HQ) for granting me access to a digital copy of this book via Netgalley*