Long time no Orenda Books reviews, but they have been definitely very busy publishing a bunch of new titles. Some of them I will probably review soon on my blog in the next week. One of my latest read comes from a geographical area with a high concentration of talented writers of mystery and psychological thriller: Norway. Like in the case of Iceland, it seems that no matter how much authors from this country I am reading, there is always another ´bestseller´ writer I never heard about.
This time, I got to know Helga Flatland, whose Toxic was translated into English by Matt Bagguley. Flatland seems to be a well received writer, both in the country and abroad and I am glad to have been discovered her and share my opinions about her book with my readers. Toxic was sold in more than 180,000 copies and translated in several languages.
Once a teacher in Oslo, Mathilde got involved with a student, therefore had to leave her job and city, trying to find herself in the middle of the countryside. At the farm, she joins a nice family, Johs and Andres, deeply immersed in the life outside the urban areas, including through their passion for folktales. But as we expect in a psychological thriller, there is more to this welcoming family than daffodils and pure air, and once we are getting to know more about the characters, their history and their environments, big wounds appear.
The timeline of the book is taking place on the onset of Corona pandemic, which adds more strains of mystery to the story.
The novel enfolds through the shared viewpoints of Mathilde and Johs, which builds up the tension step by step, leading the reader farer than ever expected.
I may confess that people chosing to live in remote areas are always a rich source of inspiration for psychological mystery. In the case of Toxic, both the ambiance and the characters do contribute to the building of the chain of events. I observed Mathilde with curiosity, as she is a mystery for me, of the kind that you really don´t understand what and why is she doing. She reacts obsessively sometimes - especially in the relationship with the young student, Jakub -and is unpredictable. I´ve found very hard to like her, but still interested in her story.
Toxic offers a very engaging reading experience, and I refused to abandon the book until the end. The ambiance is sometimes claustrophobic and haunting, but it´s what we expect from a psychological novel, isn´t it?
Rating: 4.5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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