Emma Ångström

I'm disappointed! Emma Ångström debut book was great, but this one started off promising, but as the story progressed did I find myself more and more dissatisfied with the way the story took.

Thankfully did I listen to the audiobook and it was a short book so it didn't take much time (double the speed and the hours flew by)! I spoil the book a bit now, so don't read the rest of the review if you don't want to have an inkling about the ending!

First, nothing really happened for the first half the book and then the last part of the book was really bad. It felt like reading a YA book, and the author throws in a lot of paranormal history since the main characters are teenagers and didn't have so much beforehand knowledge. But, for the reader (for me at least) was the way author had incorporated all this history plain boring to listen to. Perhaps, it would have worked better if I had cared more for the characters. Then, we have the last part, IDIOTS! I mean the last 1/3 of the book made me seriously irritated and I mentally just wanted the kids to sit down and watch the movie flatliners and see how bad it is to wonder what happens after death.

Also, there is a side story with a kidnapped woman (obviously in present time) and that part was even worst to listen to and the conclusion of that story, the connection this had to the Dante and Freja's story in the past was neither surprising nor especially interesting.

IDIOTS!… (plus d'informations)

Swedish Review

Alva och hennes mamma och två systrar flyttar in i ett hyreshus på Tegnérgatan. Kort efter det så försvinner en kvinna från en av lägenheterna för att hittas två veckor senare mördad i sitt hem. Mordet är förbryllande då ingen vet var kvinnan har varit under två veckor, hon bara försvann spårlöst från lägenheten utan att spår och lägenheten var låst när hennes man kom hem. Andra underliga saker sker i hyreshuset, mat och andra saker försvinner och när Alva leker Anden i glaset så knakar det plötsligt i väggarna...

Mannen i väggen är en superb bok, inte direkt otäck, men å så spännande att läsa. Jag är verkligen imponerad över hur Emma Ångström har lyckats få till en handlingen som är spännande rakt igen som aldrig blir seg eller tråkig. I början så visste jag inte om det var något paranormalt över handlingen eller inte. Speciallt inte då det hände saker som verkade oförklarliga...

En sak som jag verkligen gillade med boken var att lära känna de som bor i huset, inte bara Alva och hennes familj, utan även de som har bott där längre. Jag kände aldrig att det blev rörigt med alla namn, tvärtom, det känns som om jag verkligen lärde känna de som bodde i huset. Alva, ar en intressant karaktär, väldigt introvert och sluten till sättet och till skillnad från sina systrar som anpassar sig snabbt till det nya livet så saknar hon sin pappa som inte flyttade med. Det är något som inte stämmer med deras situation och det går ett tag innan man får reda på varför pappan inte flyttade med dem.

Själva mysteriet med huset är väldigt intressant, jag vill inte skriva för mycket om det för det är så mycket bättre att läsa boken utan för mycket vetskap. Jag hade lite problem med en scen som handlade om en liten hund och jag var lite orolig över en katt. Svårt att vara djurälskare ibland när man läser böcker.

Slutet var mycket bra, jag hade ingen aning om hur allting skulle sluta och jag blev verkligen överraskad över slutet. Jag önskar bara att boken hade fortsätt så man fått reda på lite mer.

Tack Piratförlaget för recensionsexemplaret!

English Review

Alva, her mother, and two sisters move into an apartment house on Tegnérgatan. A little while later a woman disappears from on of the apartments only to be found dead two weeks later in her apartment. it's a very weird murder since no one knows where she has been for two weeks since she disappeared without a trace and the apartment was locked when her husband came home. Other strange things happen in the house, food and other stuff disappear and Alava hears knockings when she plays Spirit in the Glass

Mannen mellan väggarna (The Man Between the Walls) is a superb book, not really that frightening but very thrilling to read. I'm really impressed how Emma Ångström has managed to write a book that is exciting straight through without any boring parts. I wasn't sure in the beginning if the story was paranormal or not. Especially since things happened that seemed unexplainable...

One thing with the book that I really liked was getting to know the people in the house, not just Alva and her family, but the ones that have lived there for some time. I never felt confused about the names, on the contrary, I felt that I have got to know the people that lived there. Alva is a very interesting character, introvert and not at all like her sisters that without many problems moved in and moved on with their lives without their father. Alva, however, missed him. There is something odd with him not moving with them to the apartment and it will take some time before you get clues to why.

The mystery of the house is really interesting, but I don't want to write too much about since I feel that too much knowledge will ruin the experience. I had some problems with a scene involving a dog and I was a bit worried about the welfare of a cat. It's hard being an animal lover sometimes when you read books. The ending was really good, I had no idea how it all would end and I was really surprised about it. I just wish the book had been a bit longer because I wanted to know more about what will happen next.

Thanks Piratförlaget for the review copy!

4.5 stars… (plus d'informations)

It literally took weeks for me to go through a little less than three-hundred pages of this immensely thrilling and outstanding novel that actually had me turn around once or twice when I was alone in my kitchen in the middle of the night, getting out of bed in the middle of the night, and turning on the lights in the dark every one in a while just because I have heard strange sounds that in my mind sounded like footsteps. This novel is as crazy and as disturbing as many countless people who have read it and reviewed it with complete and brutal honesty, say it is, for it's got all the elements of a horror novel and all the elements of a truly insane psychological thriller within it. And the best part of all is that you are the one who gets to choose the genre of this novel, name it either a horror novel or a psychological thriller in your mind. I honestly thought that absolutely nothing could top Chris Carter's Robert Hunter series of truly insane and horrific novels which have pretty much blown and shattered my mind into thousands of little pieces, because Chris Carter is just so good when he writes about adventures from Robert Hunter's life. But this author, previously unknown to me, has convinced me to think otherwise, She has convinced me that there are many other absolutely amazing, brilliant, and fantastic authors and writers out there that are as equally brilliant and as equally good, and can as well write a truly insane masterpiece that can make people wonder, guess, and contemplate what's really going on within from its beginning to its truly crazy and truly twisted, be that satisfying or unsatisfying end.… (plus d'informations)