If you’ve been paying attention over the last few years, you will have seen the increase in dark, twisted thrillers by Scandinavian authors. While one might be inclined to think that the influx will only dilute the impact and quality of the material, M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family demonstrates not only the longevity of the trend, but also of its steadfast quality.
In A Nearly Normal Family, the novel is organized in a three part structure, in which each is narrated by a member of the family in question, the Sandell’s. We hear, in order, from the father, Adam, the daughter Stella, and the mother Ulrika. As we soon learn, Adam and Ulrika are suprised to find Stella under arrest for suspicion of murder, and as we hear from each family member, we step further and further from the normality the family might once have been able to project. To give more would only hurt the tight spiral down the rabbit hole that this book so successfully portrays, but suffice it to say, secrets are spilled, boundaries are tested, and what results is a thriller that stands as one of the better the genre has seen over the past few years.
Edvardsson’s style makes for an engaging read, with short chapters buffering and slowly building to what lengths this family has invisibly pulled themselves further and further apart. And rather than invoking the alternating chapters trope that many thrillers nowadays tend to use, his use of the expansive three part structure lets you engage more fully with these characters, allowing room to convey the subtle differences between them. Both well executed and written, Edvardsson has done much to separate himself from a very competitive marketplace and place his novel amongst the best in recent thrillers.
In A Nearly Normal Family, the novel is organized in a three part structure, in which each is narrated by a member of the family in question, the Sandell’s. We hear, in order, from the father, Adam, the daughter Stella, and the mother Ulrika. As we soon learn, Adam and Ulrika are suprised to find Stella under arrest for suspicion of murder, and as we hear from each family member, we step further and further from the normality the family might once have been able to project. To give more would only hurt the tight spiral down the rabbit hole that this book so successfully portrays, but suffice it to say, secrets are spilled, boundaries are tested, and what results is a thriller that stands as one of the better the genre has seen over the past few years.
Edvardsson’s style makes for an engaging read, with short chapters buffering and slowly building to what lengths this family has invisibly pulled themselves further and further apart. And rather than invoking the alternating chapters trope that many thrillers nowadays tend to use, his use of the expansive three part structure lets you engage more fully with these characters, allowing room to convey the subtle differences between them. Both well executed and written, Edvardsson has done much to separate himself from a very competitive marketplace and place his novel amongst the best in recent thrillers.