Well this one certainly built up steam and came to a pulse-pounding finale!
I have to admit however, up until this point, with little more than 50 pages left, I felt like it was just an okay read. Not bad, but nothing to run right out and grab a hold of a copy NOW type read.
Synopsis:
Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can’t say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.
Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy’s are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.
What I thought: Firstly, this description I don’t think really captures the story well enough or does it justice. It’s so much more than being about Nina. Secondly, I note that this states it’s “Nina Borg #1” obviously meaning this is a series. I can’t say that Nina Borg was the character that brought me back to the pages in this one. I felt her to be a hapless, silly heroine that mmmm, kind of came across as a tad whiny to me, or unfocused and her “need to help” was really more of a selfish side of her that doesn’t cope well with family obligation…The one character that I really thought was the shining star was the boy in the suitcases mother, Sigita. Now there was someone you could easily identify with and get behind in her hunt to find her son.
We also waited until the story was about 80% complete before we found out the reason for Mika being stashed in to a suitcase and that was a great twist. It’s definitely not what you’re thinking, but you had to sit and wait a bit for it.
Overall, not bad, but I think I have to go back to my earlier impression before the pulse-pounding, highly dramatic, tense ending which was that I was slightly confused at times, and not really clicking with Nina as the one to save the day. 3 stars for me.
I’ve heard so much buzz about this one, but I might pass on it based on your description…my TBR pile is so huge, it would take a 5 star review to make me add anything else to the pile.
Hello Miss Anderson! :-) Yes, I saw this and was very intrigued. I was the first to crack it open from the library – it’s interesting and ends very well, but overall, I just don’t think it was, as I said ‘You must run right out right now and grab this one!” It will be interesting to see what the “next” Nina Borg book is about, because I just don’t think she’s a character that would draw me back for more. Thanks for your comment! (and our To Be Read pile is soooo huge, it makes us anxious! So much to read!)
[…] “Overall, not bad, but I think I have to go back to my earlier impression before the pulse-pounding, highly dramatic, tense ending which was that I was slightly confused at times, and not really clicking with Nina as the one to save the day.” Literary Hoarders […]