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Book Description
"As a professional bodyguard, Hilja Ilveskero rarely loses her cool. But one day, she and a client have an argument in a Moscow fur salon, and Hilja quits on the spot. When the client turns up dead, Hilja quickly discovers that she is a suspect. In an attempt to clear her name and find the killer, she uncovers ever-deeper layers of subterfuge. Amid all the covert treachery and intrigue, Hilja finds herself falling in love with a suspicious yet irresistibly sexy man—but is her heart clouding her judgment? In this tale of political romance populated by Russian oligarchs, Finnish politicians, and undercover cops, no one is what they seem and no one can be trusted. A fast-paced, tightly woven tale of love, murder, betrayal, and high-stakes deal-making, The Bodyguard—the first in a gripping trilogy by internationally acclaimed Nordic crime author Leena Lehtolainen—exposes the delicacy and dark underbelly of international relations on both a human and global scale."
The Bodyguard (The Bodyguard series Book 1) by
Leena Lehtolainen
I am not sure, if it is the translation from Finnish to
English that is making this book so difficult for me to read and enjoy, or if
it just not that well written in the first place. I normally love books that are set (well at
least to me) in exotic places, but this book is not doing it for me.
This book is written
in first person and for a mystery, that is normally a very good thing, but getting
and staying inside of Hilja Ilveskero’s head is a creepy thing for me. She has the personality of a 14-year-old sexual
predator with an obsession for lynx’s. Yes, you heard me correctly – the part
of the first chapter is spent on this; as are many other parts of many other
chapters. As I got to the 75% mark, I
had still not understood what the importance of the lynx was and I am bored
enough at this point to not care.
The mystery aspect is interesting enough and the up to date background
is quite interesting, politically speaking. Unfortunately, most of the book is
not really spent with Hilja trying to solve the murder…it is spent on so many other
things, thoughts, brooding moments and secondary characters.
The author seems obsessed with certain aspects of Hilja’s
life and personality. For example, most an
entire chapter of us has to learn that Hilja had to undergo an internal exam
when she was about six or seven due to a mistake on her teachers’ part. Very detailed description I might add…and
just in case you missed the description the first time, you get to experience
it a second time too! In addition, it came to nothing.
A lot of what is
thrown into this book was repetitive (I wanted to scream if I had to hear about
the New York Bodyguard school she went to, one more time and that is just one
example). Perhaps the repetitiveness will
make further books in this new series make more sense, but I can say that it
makes THIS book to be a difficult read.
The chapters that bring us to the conclusion and explanation
of the crimes, is so unbelievable that I very nearly laughed at what I felt the
absurdity of it all.
Again, all of this might be from the translation: stilted
dialogue, cardboard characters, clichés…but I think not. I think I just don’t get Scandinavian authors
and that is unfortunate because I was so looking forward to something
different.
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