About:
1794: The City Between the Bridges by Niklas Natt och Dag is the second book of the ”Bellman noir” historical mysteries trilogy featuring Jean Mickel Cardell, the one-armed watchman.
- 466 pages
- Publisher : Baskerville
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1529304628
My rating for 1794: The City Between the Bridges – 5
Buy 1794: The City Between the Bridgesfrom Amazon.com*
More Books by Niklas Natt och Dag*
Thoughts:
I stumbled on this book accidentally, I enjoyed The Wolf and the Watchman and was excited to learn that there’s a trilogy in the making. Much like its predecessor, 1794: The City Between the Bridges by Niklas Natt och Dag (translated by Ebba Segerberg) is dark, grim, and somewhat depressing, yet fascinating with a good plot and narrative.
The story is mostly set in 18th Century Stockholm, and is full of descriptions of life at the time, as well as the people occupying it. The author does not view the past with rose-colored glasses, like many other cities its size around the world, life wasn’t precious, and each day brought its own, sometimes deadly, challenges.
The dark, brutal story is unrelenting but difficult to stop reading which is a testament to the excellent translation. I also enjoyed that the author takes time to introduce the characters, sometimes a large section of the book. The strong character development, not for every character of course, was a strong reason I enjoyed the book.
I wouldn’t classify this book as a “mystery”, per se. The who-done-it aspect is quite clear around the middle of the story, the question is not “who”, but “how”, and “why”. Nevertheless, the book is still engaging with a few twists here and there but mostly the story is coherent and straightforward.
This book has a lot going for it, and the author managed to include many themes in a relatively short space. Class collisions, complicated motives, struggle to survive, buying love and power, and violence for the simple pleasure of violence are all touched upon. The one recurring theme that I found is that sanity and madness are closely related even though they seem different.
The seedy atmosphere is felt on every page. The author isn’t shy from throwing challenges galore at his characters. It felt as if a terrible fate was just waiting for any character at the turn of every page, which, of course, made me want to turn the page.
Synopsis:
Erik Three Roses, a sensitive nobleman in love with Linnea Colling, his childhood friend. Erik’s father opposes the marriage and exiles Erik to Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean Swedish colony. Erik, however, manages to return home and marry the love of his life. On their wedding night, he awakes to find her brutally murdered. Erik, believing he’s the killer hospitalizes himself in an attempt to find a cure.
Linnea’s mother does not believe the official story that her child was mauled by wolves and also doesn’t believe Erik is capable of such brutality. She requests Cardell to investigate the murder which leads him into dark corridors of humanity which no one wants to enter. Emil Winge, Ceclil’s brother, joins Cardell but he might be more of a hindrance than an asset.
Buy 1794: The City Between the Bridgesfrom Amazon.com*
More Books by Niklas Natt och Dag*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer:I got this book for free
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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