Back From The Dead by Heidi Amsinck (A Jensen Thriller #3)
A Missing person … a headless corpse … Jensen is on the case.
June, and as Copenhagen swelters under record temperatures, a headless corpse surfaces in the murky harbour, landing a new case on the desk of DI Henrik Jungersen, just as his holiday is about to start.
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Elsewhere in the city, Syrian refugee Aziz Almasi, driver to Esben Nørregaard MP has vanished. Fearing a link to shady contacts from his past, Nørregaard appeals to crime reporter Jensen to investigate.
Could the body in the harbour be Aziz? Jensen turns to former lover Henrik for help. As events spiral dangerously out of control, they are thrown together once more in the pursuit of evil, in a case more twisted and, more dangerous than they could ever have imagined.
My Review
This is my third Jensen novel and it’s just as good as the first two. In my review of My Name Is Jensen, I said I wasn’t that keen on her. I quite like her now, she’s grown on me, though her choice of men is still debatable. Her ex-lover DI Henrik Jungersen who I described as “…uncouth, uneducated, untidy, rough and bald. What’s not to like? Ha! What is to like? Not a lot it would appear,” I haven’t changed my mind one bit.
Jensen’s current boyfriend is Kristoffer Bro. Tall, muscled, handsome and very rich, he sounds far more attractive, but while with Henrik, what you see is what you get (probably his best or worst feature, depending how you look at it), with Bro you get a secretive man with a lot to hide. He won’t talk about his childhood or his family, which Jensen doesn’t question, but Henrik has a lot to say about it. But then he would, wouldn’t he.
The book opens with a headless corpse that has been fished out of the harbour. Henrik is called to investigate, just as he is about to go on holiday with his wife and family, with whom he has now been reunited. It’s not a good time, but he needs to be at work. Without a head or fingerprints (I won’t say why), it’s impossible to identify the body.
In the meantime, MP Esben Nørregaard’s driver, Syrian refugee Aziz Almasi has gone missing. Has he been kidnapped? Is it something to do with his escape from Syria? Esben and Jensen have been friends since the beginning, but while she wants to call the police, Esben is adamant he doesn’t want anyone else to know and asks Jensen to investigate.
Of course, we immediately think the headless body must be that of Aziz. There are many similar characteristics. So Jensen must turn to Henrik for help, and that inevitably throws them back working together. But Jensen has a boyfriend now, whom Henrik is not enamoured with, and let’s face it, if he appears too good to be true, he probably is.
It’s a great third instalment and we still have most of the characters from the first two books – Jensen’s boss at Dagbladet, editor-in-chief Margrethe Skov, her teenage nephew and Jensen’s apprentice Gustav, coffee kiosk owner Liron, hacker Fie, and elderly features writer Henning, amongst others. It’s once again set in Copenhagen, it’s June, and the temperature is stifling. It all adds to the menace and feelings of claustrophobia.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Heidi Amsinck won the Danish Criminal Academy’s Debut Award for My Name is Jensen (2021), the first book in a new series featuring Copenhagen reporter sleuth Jensen and her motley crew of helpers. She published her second Jensen novel, The Girl in The Photo, in July 2022, with the third due out in February 2024. A journalist by background, Heidi spent many years covering Britain for the Danish press, including a spell as London Correspondent for the broadsheet daily Jyllands-Posten. She has written numerous short stories for BBC Radio 4, such as the three-story sets Danish Noir, Copenhagen Confidential and Copenhagen Curios, all produced by Sweet Talk and featuring in her collection Last Train to Helsingør (2018). Heidi’s work has been translated from the original English into Danish, German and Czech.
