The something rotten floated up to Sweden.

104. The Torso – Helene Tursten

I’ve liked all of this series that I’ve read so far, but this one struck me in a not so positive way at first. I did not like seeing Detective Inspector Irene Huss saying the gay sex shop was “sick” or the later reveal that one of the murderers liked extreme metal being seen as a possible gateway to him being a murderer. I mean, if you live in Sweden, lots and lots of metal bands are from your country and the two next to it and several are seen as extreme because of their sound even if they might just be screeching about trees and being cold- on the inside, and if you’re not a gay dude, why do you even care what’s in the gay sex shop when you could just not say anything about a lifestyle you’d never be able to practice? I was definitely annoyed by those aspects. It made it seem like her investigation was going to be influenced by her irrelevant opinions. Not cool.

However, just as metal fans are in lots of studies about how well adjusted they are despite the intensity and anger of the music they prefer (or because of it) as opposed to being pushed to violence, the investigation turned a different way. And what’s available in Tom Tanaka’s shop paled in comparison to what was really going on, although it was clear why the torso that washed up and started it all was that of a very, very ridiculously good looking man. It was also clear that Irene’s original super judgy opinions ended up making this case way more of a nightmare to try to put aside while she was home or trying to sleep, which is realistic. As was how much she was pushing to finish it off and stop anyone else from ending up dismembered. Once you accept that your opinions don’t matter as much as finding that severed head in a photography studio, you can move on with the facts and solve the case.

Ozymandias doesn’t want to have to tell you that your opinion about others’ lifestyles is irrelevant, but he will.