Marked for Life – Emelie Schepp

Sometime last month I picked up Emelie Scheep’s book Marked for Revenge. On the cover it said that she was “2016  Swedish Crime Writer of the Year”. I am a fan of Nordic crime writing. That meant there was no way this book was not gong home with me. When I got it home though I discovered that the book was the second book in a trilogy. I decided that there was no sense in reading book two first and then book one so I checked out the first book of the trilogy Marked For Life. I read it first. When I finished it I agreed that the Crime Writer of the Year award was justly deserved.

Quickly, I moved onto the already checked out Marked for Revenge.  I finished that about two weeks later in th middle of June. I just checked and it seems that I will have to wait until June of 2018 for the release of Marked for Death the final book in the trilogy!!

About Marked for Life

Jana Berzelius is a young and brilliant but cold, Public Prosecutor in Norrköping Sweden. She is the adopted daughter of the former Prosecutor General Karl Berzelius. Jana knows very little about her past. Most of what she does know she has learned from her dreams. She does know, however, that the name KER is carved into the back of her neck. KER “Goddess of Death”. It’s the one thing that her father told her she could never tell anyone about. Everything thing is going well in her life…

But then a high-ranking official of the Migration Board is founded murdered in his home. The only clue revealed during the police investigation are the fingerprints of a child. The puzzling thing is that the victim and his wife are childless.Jana steps in to lead the police investigation.

Several days after the murder, the police find the dead body of their young prime suspect. The police discover the name Hades carved on the back of his neck. Jana’s world is suddenly turned upside down. The name Hades who is the God of Death is very similar to KER, the name carved on the back of her neck. Images from Jana’s dark past-life soon come racing back to her. Now, in order to both uncover and protect her hidden past Jana must find the real suspect behind these two murders before police, she is leading, unravel the crime. To do that she needs to explore her past in all its gory detail!

Thoughts About Marked for Life

In addition to  the terrific story, and the great character of Jana Berzelius, there are a couple of aspects of Marked for Life that I really liked.

First, Emelie Schepp tells the story of Jana’s past life brilliantly through a series of flashbacks.  Emelie reveals Jana’s past bit by bit. That slow revealing of her past helped keep me turning the pages with increasing rapidity!! . I do appreciate that rather than just distinguish the flashbacks from current time through the title page of the chapter, the flashbacks are in  italics. By presenting  the flashbacks like this the reader is never confused about whether or not he or she is reading about the past or the present!!

Secondly,  Jana is obviously the main character of the book. However,  Emelie has also created a cast of characters, any of which could be the lead in a future novel. First there’s Gunnar Öhrn head of the CID and his on and off again partner Anneli Lindgren, Then there’s DCI Henrik Levin, and his partner Mia Bolander.  I could see a book with any of them as the lead character!!

Bottom Line: 

Marked for Life is a sure-fire five-star book for me. Obviously, those who bestowed the Crime Writer of the Year Award on her thought so , too!.The two comments on the back cover of the book sum up my thoughts perfectly……

“A fast-paced thriller with a good blend of police procedural, the draw of a ninja-strong female lead, and enough adrenaline to make a good night’s sleep a near impossibility” – Booklist

” A stellar first in a crime trilogy… Schepp couples an insightful look at the personal and professional lives of her characters with an unflinching multi-layered plot loaded with surprises – Publishers Weekly , starred review

Yes this is one book you don’t want to miss. I’m glad I didn’t!! I just discovered that you can buy the Kindle Edition of Marked for Life at Amazon now for only $1.99 what a buy!! Get it here

Book 25 of 2017

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