Over my two weeks in Thailand, I read four books. You may notice a slight trend in that 3/4 involved some kind of serial killer. Also, full disclosure, the company I work with publishes 2/3 of the serial killer related novels and my friend works on the marketing for the 3rd, so I am a bit biased.

The first book I read was The Snowman. The MASSIVE sticker on the front seems to have worked wonders for Jo Nesbo, who only a small number of people had heard of before this book. Now, if you liked Stieg Larsson and you go into a book shop asking for something like Stieg Larsson, how easy is it for a book seller to just reach over, grab the book that says “The new Stieg Larsson”, quoted from an independent source (The Independent, as it happens) and there you go, job’s done. Obvious, but brilliant.

Anyway, to the book. Every time the first snow arrives in Oslo, someone is going to die. The women killed are always married, with children, and although they initially seem to have nothing else in common, our hero, detective Harry Hole, eventually unravels the plot. I say eventually because there are many red herrings for poor old Harry. I could have told you who the murderer was from a very early chapter but not because of anything he said or did, just because (spoiler alert): if someone has a really weird physical deformity in a book, chances are close to 100% that he/she is the killer. Just saying.

Next I read my advance proof of You Are Next. The book starts out with our hero, ex-detective Karin Schaeffer, willing the domino killer (who she investigated when he was leaving dominoes as clues to his next victim, who she caught, who escaped and then killed her entire family and has now escaped from prison for the second time) to break into her home and kill her. At the last minute, she realises she doesn’t have much to live for, but she doesn’t want to give in quite yet, and manages to get away. Then, they catch the killer but, as she finally starts to settle into life without her husband and child and make peace with what happened, her niece is kidnapped and dominoes are found where she was snatched from. Does the killer have a partner?

Then I read A Change in Altitude, the only non-serial killer book of the trip. Quite a sad, poignant book about a couple’s new life in Kenya. They make friends with a couple who convince them to climb Mount Kenya. Patrick, the husband, is up for the hike, but Margaret, his wife, who is the person we follow for most of the book, is less prepared. But she goes along, wanting to please Patrick and wanting to make friends. Then something happens on the trip which changes everything forever. Really interesting book, this one, although a bit of an abrupt ending!

Finally I read The Burning. Another serial killer crime thriller, but this time the twist is that while there is an investigation going on looking for the serial killer, a murder crops up that is similar, but not quite right. Our hero, detective Maeve Kerrigan, starts to investigate what increasingly looks like a copy-cat killing. Chapters by Maeve are alternated with chapters by the victim’s best friend, and through their eyes we meet a whole host of dubious characters, each one more likely than the next!

Of the three serial killer books, I think The Burning was my favourite. The Snowman was very Stieg Larsson-ish in that it was a big slow to begin with, but I was completely hooked by the end. Everything was so cold and grey and Scandinavian. And You Are Next was also thoroughly enjoyable and gripping. But I thought the Burning was a great twist on a serial killer novel and I really liked all of the characters. Like all 3 books (all serial killer novels ever?), there were a few unlikely leaps in the plot, but really fun and unputdownable - I read it in about a day and a half!

Anyway, great holiday reading, biased or not.

Now I am reading Tai-Pan, a book about the founding of Hong Kong, which my friends Emily and Seiji both said was their favourite book ever. I have to say I’m enjoying it so far, but finding some of the accents a bit difficult to keep up in my head. A Scottish man speaking in pidgin English to his Chinese mistress is a hard accent to imagine…