Book Review: Only One Life by Sara Blaedel

Only One Life by Sara Blaedel is a Danish procedural.

 



It was clearly no ordinary drowning. Inspector Louise Rick is
immediately called out to Holbraek Fjord when a young immigrant girl is
found in the watery depths, a piece of concrete tied around her waist
and two mysterious circular patches on the back of her neck.



Her name was Samra, and Louise soon learns that her short life was a
sad story. Her father had already been charged once with assaulting her
and her mother, Sada, who makes it clear that her husband would indeed
be capable of killing Samra if she brought dishonor to the family. But
she maintains that Samra hadn’t done anything dishonorable. Then why was
she supposed to be sent back to Jordan? Samra’s best friend Dicta
thinks it was an honor killing. A few days later though Dicta is
discovered, bludgeoned to death, and Samra’s younger sister has gone
missing.





Only One Life by Danish author Sara Blaedel
is not so much a whodunit. I wouldn’t even say it’s a whydunit; it is,
to put it gently, a “what the heck happened?” kind of book.



Well, the synopsis above more or less summarizes what happened, but to know the story is not to understand the story. Only One Life
is one of those novels that has many layers. The first layer is made of
facts, the second of hidden truths, the third is composed primarily of
lies, the fourth talks about the social background and so forth.



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