Hunger

Hunger: Library Edition by Stefán Máni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This is an audio translation of a book published in Iceland. I rated it 4 because mine is currently the only rating and I want to give anyone seeing this an indication of what I believe is close to the rating it would receive if a large sample of individuals rated it. I think it would fall between 3.6 and 3.8. I looked up the untranslated reference and it was 3.72 so I believe my assessment is correct.

My personal rating is a 1 and very close to a DNF. I was at the 75% mark when I considered stopping it but having gone that far decided to press on to the end.

I almost didn't start on this one. From the cover you can tell it's yet another vampire book. Fortunately the villains name wasn't Edmund nor where there any swooning teenage girls. In this case the 'vampire' is a mentally ill individual whose delusions convinces him he needs to drink blood. He uses a cup, not fangs.

I suspect 60% of readers will absolutely love this and 40% hate it. For me it seems very contrived, as if the author stepped out of a university creative writing course with a checklist of things to include in a novel and checked them off one by one: strong character arc, check, emotional turmoil, check, conflict at work, check, work-related conflict with wife, check, psychological distress, check, physical deterioration, check, obligatory sex scene, double check ... you get the idea.

The plot exists but is pretty thin. A warped killer is on the loose mutilating his victims. The police form a team and work to track him or her down. Much of the plot reads like a police training manual - ask for help from the public, follow fruitless leads, conduct door-to-door interview, follow up with suspicions. go down a number of rabbit holes. Fair enough but rather tedious.

There is a hint of the occult insofar as the protagonist has prophetic dreams, symbolic of course, but foreshadowing the various murders. I'm not sure why the author included them as they contributed nothing to the overall story, merely provided an excuse for describing gory horror. There was nothing wrong with the macabre. The dreams merely seemed inconsistent with the rational police investigation being conducted.

I think it's a bad sign when one finds oneself more sympathetic to the deranged villain than to the emotionally charged hero. At one stage one of the team tells the protagonist to 'get it together' and I could only agree.

I think many readers would sympathize with the protagonist's struggle, emotional anguish, feelings of guilt, and based on the dreams, his tenuous grasp on reality. If you like those sorts of things you'll love this book. On the other hand, if you like a strong plot with plenty of twists, move on. You won't get it here.



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