2 Book Lovers Reviews

The Girl Without Skin

By Mads Peder Nordbo

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​​​I’m always looking for new-to-me Nordic Noir.  Greenland, hmm…now that’s different, a little bit New World, yet still under the dominion of Denmark.  This could be something with a new twist.  Toss in a mummified Viking corpse – sign me up!

The Girl Without Skin was not what I expected or hoped for.  I was in the mood for a historical/current mystery, you know the kind, that goes back and forth in time.  It was that, just not as historical as I wanted.  I was looking forward to bouncing between Matthew Cave in the here and now and this mysterious Viking from way back when.  Instead the story only went back to the 1970s.

Once the disappointment sets in, it’s hard to get into a story that I wasn’t really in the mood for.  But to be fair, Nordbo did put a lot of hard work into his story.  His skill and attention to detail was evident.

Matthew Cave has what any fan of Nordic Noir would want in their protagonist, he is damaged, but he still goes on.  Once he gets a sniff of the trouble brewing, he is like a dog with a bone and no one is taking that away from him.

I enjoyed the aspects of Greenlandic life as it was portrayed by Nordbo.  I always like to get a glimpse of how things operate in other places.

The Girl Without Skin is an interesting addition to my Nordic Noir repertoire, if only I hadn’t gotten my hopes up for a story that wasn’t there.  Well, you know what happens when you assume that a story is going to go in a certain direction.

*3 Stars