The Frozen North – 2: Camilla Läckberg from Sweden

Welcome to part 2 of The Frozen North, my discovery of thriller writers from Scandinavia. After the cold and calculated thriller Headhunters by Jo Nesbo from Norway, I’m now moving on to Sweden.

Camilla Läckberg is a bestselling writer of contemporary psychological thrillers. Her series about detective Patrik Hedström and crime writer Erica Falck have been a worldwide success, and rightfully so. To get a taste of her writing, I read The Drowning which was originally published in Swedish in 2008 and was made available in English in 2012.

Contrary to Jo Nesbo, Camilla Läckberg’s work is anything but cold and calculated. The stories are gruesome, breathtaking and horrible, but she tells them with so much feeling and compassion for her characters that you cannot stop yourself from feeling for them. The story grabs you from the very first page and sucks you into a web of intrigue.

The main difference with Jo Nesbo, besides Läckberg’s emphatic style, is the fact that we get to see the story from different points of view. We are not running away from something or trying to find a killer. Instead, we are next to the characters as they discover the details of the plot. A few times, they discover something that they are not sharing with the readers, which is very frustrating, but it keeps you glued to the pages for longer than you would like, cutting into precious sleeping time because you simply cannot get yourself to put the book down.

The story and the style remind me of the work of British writing duo Nicci French and American bestseller Karin Slaughter. I’ve enjoyed their thrillers very much and I passed just as many thrilling moments with Camilla Läckberg’s gripping story. I’m absolutely planning to read more of her work and if this type of thriller is your cup of tea, I suggest that you do the same!

Camilla Läckberg
Picture courtesy of www.aftonbladet.se

The Drowning tells the story of Christian Thydell, an aspiring writer whose debut novel has just been published to raving reviews, making him a bestselling author and a celebrity overnight. Crime writer Erica Falck, who can be credited for discovering Christian’s talent and encouraging him to write, discovers that he had been receiving anonymous threats. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she starts digging into Christian’s obscure past to find out who would want to harm him.

At the same time, Erica’s husband Patrik is still investigating the disappearance of one of Christian’s closest friends. Is his investigation in some way linked to the threats that Christian is receiving? Why does everyone involved seem so very reluctant to speak to the police? And who else is in danger?

Find out more about Camilla, her hair-raising thrillers and her childhood hometown Fjällbacka in Sweden where all of her murder stories take place, by visiting www.camillalackberg.com. On the site, don’t forget to visit Crime School, Camilla’s very own pages filled with tips and exercises for people who want to write murder thrillers – very inspiring!
So, which thriller writer from The Frozen North should I read next?

The Frozen North Part 1: Jo Nesbo from Norway

“For someone who spoke several different languages she said very little. Translator, I had thought. She preferred other people’s stories to her own.”

Have you read the Millennium trilogy? Stieg Larsson's books became an unprecedented success in Europe and the US. And they opened the door for other writers from “The Frozen North” to conquer Europe by storm. Which they have, and rightly so. In this series, I will talk about Scandinavian thriller writers… to see what all the fuss is about!

“For that is what the player with the most cold-blooded hatred does when he has been on the point of winning and his opponent has unexpectedly hit him in the face, struck somewhere it hurts, found his terror. He doesn’t lose his overview of the board but puts his terror aside and keeps to his plan. Breathes in, reconstructs, continues the game, walks away with the victory. Leaves the scene without any triumphant gestures.”

A Finnish colleague had suggested this thriller, Headhunters by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, to a colleague from the UK who did not like it at all – “too gruesome”, he said. That got my attention. I love a juicy, bloody thriller that keeps me on the edge of my seat. So, I was next to read it. And although it’s very different from the other thrillers I’ve recently read (I’m a Mo Hayder fan!), where description and language work together to strike an emotional chord and draw you ever closer into the web of intrigue, despair and a sense of loss that overwhelms the victims of some cruel act, leaving you feeling just as bereft as they do, I enjoyed it very much. Headhunters is anything but emotional, and that is its greatest strength.

“It is said that a fly’s perception of time, the reason it experiences the palm of a hand zooming towards it as yawningly slow, is due to the fact that the information it receives through its facet eyes contains such a large amount of data that nature has had to equip itwith an extra-fast processor so as to be able to deal with everything in real time.
… Everything  about how we humans had been able to conquer the earth, rule over the elements, kill creatures that are greater than ourselves in speed and strength. Processor capacity.”

Jo Nesbo seems to posess the incredible talent to freeze his heart and write his stories using only his mind. In this thriller, he is a master at sounding cold and calculated, even though his protagonists are faced with the most difficult or most baffling experiences of their lifetimes. His style is short, descriptive, factual and distant. That almost cynical but always correct style, made me feel uneasy from beginning to end and, combined with a very clever story  managed to send definite shivers down my spine at certain turns in the plot. 

“Ove had once told me that the first thing that goes when you are nervous is motor coordination. He had read it in a book about one-on-one combat, how the ability to load a weapon fails when you are faced with another gun.… I fumbled more than I usually do; perhaps Ove had been right about motor coordination skills after all.”

Headhunters tells the story of Roger Brown, the most egotistical, male chauvinist you will ever meet. His extremely ambitious views of the world would shock every single one of us, but he’s a fascinating specimen of a man, for the simple reason that he’s probably very real. He’s intelligent, rich and the very best at what he does: finding the right candidate for the right job – or changing mediocre candidates in such a way that they become exactly what the client needs, even though they may not know exactly what they need when they come to Roger. He’s the master of his universe.

“Before that we had been talking all evening – or, to be more precise, I had been talking. Describing and explaining life the way I see it. I’m good at that, in a Paulo Coelho kind of way, that is, a way which fascinates the intellectually amenable of us and irritates the more demanding listener.”

To make sure his life never gets boring, he’s set up a clever little business on the side: art theft. He steals the most precious pieces of art and sells them on for huge profits. During an interview, a candidate reveals that he possesses one of the most valuable paintings in the world, and Roger cannot resist: this could be his ticket to wealth beyond his wildest dreams.

But, of course, things are never as straight-forward or easy as they seem and Roger soon finds that it’s his own head that is being hunted. How far will he go to preserve his place as king of the heap?

Jo Nesbo - Photograph by Häkon Eikesdal
Source: http://jonesbo.com/

Jo Nesbo is an interesting man, someone I would love to ‘talk literature’ with. He was born in Oslo in 1960. He started writing ghost stories as a child, and when his father read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies to him when he was seven, he thought he could have made the story more interesting himself.

A bad knee injury kept him from making his initial dream a reality: becoming a professional football player in the English Premier league. Instead, he studied economics, worked as a broker and started writing when everyday life was too boring to keep him interested. He plays the guitar and writes songs for his band Di Derre (they are very popular in Norway) and he has even written his very own musical. And he creates exciting, well-written thrillers. The first one was published in 1997 and because the reviews were positive, he decided to do it again, and again, and again! Check him out!

Beam me up to New Zealand, Scotty!

I've always believed that I was so very lucky to have been born right here. I'm in the centre of Europe, in a country that offers it residence so much security and so many opportunities. We have warm summers (when we're lucky) and snowy winters (more snow every year, which I absolutely love, unless it's getting in the way of my travel plans). We are not plagued by any natural disasters and the financial crisis has not hit us as badly as it could have. So, I'm usually very grateful that I ended up exactly where I am. Usually... Today, not so much. Today, I would have wanted to be in New Zealand, the NZ Opera House to be exact. Why, you ask? Because that's where this man was and there are pictures to prove it!



A big THANK YOU to Catherine, who shared her pictures on tumblrhttp://cathoiskool.tumblr.com/post/25712812234/tonight-i-went-to-see-sir-ian-mckellen-host-a


Richard Armitage and many other members of the cast of The Hobbit attended Sir Ian McKellen's one-man show to raise money for charity, to help re-build the Christchurch area which has recently been hit by a series of devastating earthquakes.

Could this be the end of Richard's period of hibernation? Is he slowly shedding the skin of Thorin Oakeshield and coming back to real life? OK, the look is still very much Thorin: the athletic body of the dwarven king is still in shape, the (now apparently slightly longer) hair probably makes it easier to add the long dwarven mane and I'm extremely happy to see that my beloved man is still rocking that beloved beard. If he's not stepping into a new role right after filming on The Hobbit wraps in July, I may even be lucky enough to see more pictures of him before he has to shave it off. Although I like my men silky smooth, there's no denying that, on the right man, a beard can look incredibly beautiful - and this one simply makes me want to reach out and touch his face!

The eyes are definitely Richard, not Thorin. He's not channeling the King Under the Mountain here, he's just himself. His beautiful, talented, humble, generous self, to be precise. I see before me, a man who is content, happy to be where he is and prepared for whatever the future holds for him. My crystal ball says the future may be absolute madness once the audiences of the world get acquainted with this talented Brit, but Richard will take things as they come, and he'll be happy to go back to relative obscurity once the world moves on to the next Twilight or Hunger Games. He'll make it through the storm unscathed and with his sanity firmly intact.

Richard Armitage channels Thorin Oakenshield, King Under The Mountain
Image source: www.richardarmitagenet.com

Oh, I almost forgot, there's video too. See what happens when Sir Ian invites the cast of The Hobbit on stage and then gets a whole bunch of audience members to come and play Shakespeare with them!

I can't wait to see this film!! Today is Sunday, 23 June, so that means 173 days until the film finally opens around the globe. [And only 59 days until Armitage Day!!] Now where did I park that time machine again?

For now, New Zealand remains on the bucket list. Some day...

Random Thoughts: The King is back

Real Life seems to be getting in the way my blogging with actual substance, but I'm sure you will enjoy this Random Goodness just as much.

Anyone who knows what I mean when I talk about 'The Drought', knows that fans of Richard Armitage are getting desperate to see more of him. He's spent most of the last 2 years in New Zealand filming The Hobbit, and, unlike many of his co-stars, has not been in the public eye at all during that time. I say that with the greatest respect for his dedication to the job and his modest and humble personality. But The Army has had to go without their CiC for 2 years now - we are eagerly awaiting new orders :-)

On 6 June, Peter Jackson released his 7th The Hobbit production video blog. He takes us on a tour of the Stone Street studios in Wellington, where the 2 films (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again) are being shot back to back.
The average viewer may not even have noticed Richard in this 14minute vlog, but I can assure you it has been food for thought for many fans across the globe already. The main conclusion? He looks even better than we could ever have imagined - The King is back!!

If you've read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, you know that Thorin Oakenshield, the rightful King Under The Mountain, is not the easiest person to deal with. He's a King: He looks, acts and speaks like royalty. And as Thorin is a fictional character of mythical proportions, he is also extremely brave, wise and fearless. Oh, and and breathtakingly beautiful! And we now have even more evidence to the fact that Richard is doing a wonderful job at portraying him.

Here are my favourite screencaps from the video blog, courtesy of http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/:

The barrel scene: An epic moment in the novel. It looks like Richard has managed to overcome his fear of water. Knowing him, he probably used it as a tool to make his performance even more convincing (that's our boy!)

This is the moment in the vlog where I thought he looked positively regal, even next to the wonderful Sir Ian McKellen.



We get a glimpse of the treasures hidden inside The Lonely Mountain. That beautiful blue coat is fit for a king!

 See the complete vlog here (from Youtube), featuring Orlando Bloom as 'The Cameraman' and a promise from PJ that another video blog will be released once filming has wrapped (in only a few weeks, can you believe it!)

Now let me take you back to the very beginning. Remember how Richard's amazing performance at the Powhiri welcoming ceremony filled our hearts with joy and pride for him? The ceremony was part of Peter Jackson's first ever video blog at the start of production. The video was released on 14 April 2011. Here's Richard's moment of glory (from Youtube):

Have fun reminiscing and I'll see you soon!

Random Thoughts: The festival of tailor-made music

I know this is a few days after the facts, but I had to write about it.

Rock Werchter in Belgium has been celebrated as the best festival in the World for several years in a row. Its organisation, security and musical line-up are unparalleled and an example for other festivals. For 4 days in the first weekend of July, the festival welcomes visitors from around the globe to enjoy music from the best bands and the greatest new artists.

www.rockwerchter.be

A few years ago, the organisers of this festival decided that it was time to branch out and give more and different audiences a chance to enjoy their favourite music at Werchter. They came up with 2 new concepts: TW Classic and Werchter Boutique.

TW Classic brings the greatest music of all time to the stage. Bryan Adams, Lenny Kravits, Simple Minds, The Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, Moby, The Police, Elton John and Sting are just a few of the amazing artists that have graced the audience of TW Classic with their greatest hits.

www.twclassic.be

And then there’s Werchter Boutique – the person who came up with this concept is an absolute genius! Werchter Boutique changes every year and the line-up is adapted to suit a specific audience.

In 2008, a dream came true for thousands of screaming young teenage girls and their families when Tokio Hotel was the headliner and Santana and Dutch band Doe Maar provided the necessary impulse for parents to want to accompany their sons and daughters to the festival.

In 2009, Madonna brought her Sticky & Sweet tour to the stage at Werchter and in 2010 Prince was the headliner, again bringing completely different audiences to this small town in Belgium.

www.werchterboutique.be

Werchter Boutique then skipped a year, only to return with its greatest stunt to date. This year, Werchter Boutique catered to fans of metal music: the festival headliner was one of the greatest metal bands in the world: Metallica. And I was there.

Let me be extremely clear: I am not a metal fan. The music is too loud, the songs are usually just a blur of guitars and drums and people screaming into a microphone in ways that make me want to chop my ears off. But I have never seen a more amazing live act than Metallica. I must have seen them perform for five or six times by now, and I’m blown away every time.

We bought tickets to this festival months ago, when the only band confirmed to play was Metallica. In the months that followed, the following ‘supporting acts’ were announced: Ghost, Gojira, Channel Zero, Mastodon and Soundgarden. All great bands of the metal genre, but they were clearly no more than that: a way to pass the time before Metallica would take to the stage. I can’t really say very much about them: I didn’t like Ghost (to much like a fancy dress party), Gojira was simply too loud, I appreciate Channel Zero as they are a Belgian band and they used to be really good (used to be, that is, now…not so much), I skipped Mastodon and they were just background music to us while we were having dinner in the back of the festival grounds and I can see why Soundgarden was the second greatest grunge band after Nirvana… 20 years ago. I do still love their song Black Hole Sun, that was the only thing that got me up off the grass with my hands in the air.

At about 21:00, when the sun was setting behind the stage, it was finally time for Metallica to make this day worth the money. And by god did they ever deliver!

Metallica performed their legendary Black Album in its entirety, with The Unforgiven, Enter Sandman and Sad But True as my personal favourites. The band celebrated the 20^th anniversary of this album that meant their worldwide breakthrough and made them the greatest metal band in the world, and they have not lost any of their enigmatic charisma. The lights and fireworks were perfectly in tune with the surprisingly beautiful melodies and clever lyrics of their legendary songs. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, was screaming from beginning to end, trying to keep up with James Hetfield’s powerful vocals and incredible energy. If you’ve never seen this band, you should. I promise that you will not regret it!

I wonder what Werchter Boutique will come up with next year – it will take another stroke of genius to top this year’s overwhelming success!!

Welcome to this strange land...

“Baby I’m not scared of this world when you’re here"

(From ‘Silenced by the night’ by Keane)

Dear friends of RA, today we have exactly 200 days to get through before the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on 14 December 2012. Also, we've got 86 days to prepare for the next Armitage Day on 22 August 2012 when our favourite man celebrates his 41st birthday (or maybe he'll just sleep through it like he did last year!)

To mark this milestone, I have decided to take my blogging efforts to a next level, and I will (hopefully) be blogging much more often than I have over the last couple of weeks.

The 13 dwarves from The Hobbit, with RA as Thorin Oakenshield
Picture kindly borrowed from http://www.theonering.net/

A very long time ago, Richard mentioned in a message to his friends (as of this moment, I refuse to be called a ‘fan’, I’m going to use the word ‘friend’ instead) that he was very much enjoying the music on the album Under the Iron Sea (2006) by English band Keane. He listed ‘Hamburg Song’ as his favourite song on the band’s second studio album and I can certainly see why…

“I don't wanna be adored
Don't wanna be first in line
Or make myself heard
I'd like to bring a little light
To shine a light on your life
To make you feel loved”
(From ‘Hamburg Song’ by Keane)

Keane have been off my radar for a few years, but they have recently released a new album. Their fourth album (not counting EPs and recordings of live performances) entitled Strangeland has catapulted them right back to the centre of my attention. I am captivated by the richness of the music, the simple ad genuine lyrics and the hint of mystery and melancholy that tends to linger in the background of every single song.

“Well it's OK to be scared whenYou're stuck behind a door that won't openThe shadows in your dreams that are chasing youThey're not true”
(From ‘It’s not true’ by Keane)

Tim Rice-Oxley has once again written some incredibly beautiful melodies and I think Tom Chaplin’s voice has finally matured enough for me to be able to thoroughly enjoy every single song on this album. My favourites? The first single ‘Silenced by the night’ takes my breath away although it’s one of those songs that I love to sing myself and it always manages to lift my spirits and put a smile on my face.

Keane performs 'Silenced by the Night' live

‘Sovereign Light Café’, ‘Starting line’ and title track 'Strangeland' will also be spending quite some time on my iPod thanks to their complexity in striking contrast with the genuine simplicity and honesty of their lyrics.

“ You drove across the border as the winter rains ran dry
And only fitful birdsong filled the sky
You threw your head back, screaming
As we raced across wet sand
And leapt into the waters of the Strangeland”
(From ‘Strangeland’ by Keane)

I wonder if RA still likes Keane and if he’s enjoying their new music as much as I am?

For more information about Keane, visit their website: http://www.keanemusic.com/

The interview...

Is this RA drought getting on your nerves as well?

Don’t get me wrong: I know RA is having the time of his life in New Zealand and I want him to enjoy every single moment of the production of The Hobbit, for more than one reason.

First of all, this is the experience of a lifetime for him. This story that he loved as a child, that was one of his first experiences as an actor (he played an elf in his school play!) is now bringing him a role (Thorin Oakenshield, no less!) in one of the biggest movie productions of the decade, with a brilliant director and groundbreaking production techniques. I want him to take it all in, to learn and grow and experience it to the fullest. 

Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
(promo pictures for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

Second of all, these films are going to be epic. I want our dearest Richard to enjoy his final months of life in relative anonymity for as long as he possible can. His life is about to change substantially, and he’ll have enough publicity to deal with once Peter Jackson releases ‘An Unexpected Journey’ to The World.  I completely understand that he’s not putting himself in the spotlight for the moment. He’s not joking in front of the camera in PJs production videos, he’s not getting his picture taken at charity events with other members of the cast (maybe he was there to support the charity, but he’s not in the pictures), he’s not releasing interviews left, right and centre and he’s not appearing in chat shows or at red carpet events. I love his style and modesty, this is one of the main reasons why I am so completely in awe of this man.

I admit that it’s also frustrating. I’m craving something new. A picture, an interview, even a small, non-descript piece of random news about whatever, as long as it’s about him.
I have a friend in the military who has been on a few tours of duty for up to four months. For the people who stay behind, month number three is always the most difficult. He’s been away for long enough for everyone to have gotten used to the fact of getting on with their lives after the shock of someone important leaving them, but they now start looking forward to his return. They start counting the days, but there’s still so much time left that it only becomes more difficult.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Absolutely true!

That’s how I feel about RA. The release of The Hobbit is now so close that I can almost taste it, but at the same time it’s so far away that I need something to get me through this long waiting period.

Fortunately, I have enough material to keep me busy.:

- I’m listening to the ‘Lords of the North’ audio book. That voice… I sometimes need to go back to a previous section of the CD, because I’m so entranced by RA’s velvet voice, that I stop paying attention to what he’s actually saying. And I have to actively make myself listen to the story. And Richard is such a great storyteller: the way he gives all the characters in the story a specific voice and a specific personality is amazing. I bow my head to his craftsmanship.

- A Belgian TV station is playing reruns of Spooks again, one episode every weekday. They’ve just reached the end of season 7, so I now have a daily date with Lucas North as well. Did I mention I absolutely adore Lucas North?


Richard Armitage as Lucas North in Spooks

So, don’t worry about me, I’ll manage to bridge the gap between now and December.
On the other hand, I’ve never been much of a follower of the phrase “Good things come to those who wait”, so I’ve decided to try to make something happen instead.
Imagine this: to show appreciation to his ‘Little community’ of fans (not that he owes us anything, but just hypothetically speaking), I manage to persuade Richard to grant us (the fans) an exclusive interview. What would you want to ask him?

I will get a list of questions together that I will send in a letter to Richard in a few weeks time. Want me to include your question(s)? Comment on this post and tell me what your question is, or send me an e-mail: inged3@gmail.com. Please do so before 20 May.

Let me be very clear: I’m not sure RA will ever answer our questions, and I completely understand if he doesn’t, but I just have to give this a try, you never know!  Let’s see what happens! Also, if he feels the urge to invite me to London in a few months for a real interview, who am I to refuse? :-)

The result, if there ever is one, will be posted on this blog. Fingers crossed!!