“It’s better to stop than to drive the car gently over a cliff, isn’t it?”

86. Black Ice – Carin Gerhardsen

The events of Black Ice are all centered around one day when a car crash was caused by some drunk driving that some dude did right after he raped a young woman he gave a ride home, and yet he comes out okay in the end, which is interesting. I almost put this down because it wasn’t particularly intriguing, mostly sad, and just didn’t have as much of a draw for me as many other Sweden-set crime or mystery novels have. There are several perspectives, all sad ones or making excuses for their terrible behavior, and for me it was just sort of there. I wasn’t all that into the mystery of who took pictures of someone dying in their car instead of calling the authorities, which is the main mystery really. If it hadn’t read quickly, I wouldn’t have finished it.

Pammy never learned to drive on winter roads, so she doesn’t get the car crash references.