Review by Booklist Review
When 11-year-old Iben Lind disappears from a Kristiansund, Norway, shopping center after a fight with her mother, Chief Inspector Roe Olsvik is certain that the child's mother, Mariam, is responsible. Instead of confirming that Iben had just stormed off toward home, Mariam ignored her husband's frantic calls and took a meandering drive for hours. Also, there is the matter of Mariam's hidden past, tied closely to the tragic death of Roe's own daughter. He's been watching Mariam, knowing that she can only hide her dark impulses for so long, and when she disappears during the investigation, his certainty that she's a killer seems confirmed. Woven into the search for Iben is a story hidden for 15 years: a troubled young woman, Liv, finds connection with Nero, a pet python that makes increasingly darker demands of her. When Liv finally breaks Nero's hold, he exacts a deadly price that leads to Iben's disappearance. Everyone seems guilty in this well-written, pitch-black psychological thriller, whose tense, lost-child theme conjures twisted fairytale tropes.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ulstein's choppy debut charts the nightmarish connections among two women, an unhinged cop on the verge of retirement, and a tiger python. In 2003, nursing student Liv and her two hard-partying roommates buy the snake and name it Nero, though Liv quickly claims the snake for herself, locking it in her room and growing sexually aroused when feeding it. In 2017, Mariam refuses to buy her 11-year-old daughter, Iben, a comic book, and the girl runs away. Chief Inspector Roe Olsvik, 60, is assigned to the case of Iben's disappearance. He suspects Mariam of foul play, and his investigation soon crosses several ethical boundaries. The trauma of abuse is central to both Liv's and Mariam's stories, with Liv having been assaulted by her older brother growing up, and Iben being the result of a rape that occurred before Mariam was married. Chapters narrated by Nero, who reflects on his snake siblings and at one point does a very bad thing, add an awkwardly fey perspective ("I saw her face. Something was dripping from it--salty drops from her eyes," he recounts of Liv), and psychological intrigue abounds as the parallel narratives gradually coalesce, revealing Olsvik's motivations for stalking Mariam. There are some surprises, as not every character turns out to be who they seem, but the twists largely feel contrived and the result of fortuitous discoveries. Still, the depiction of the characters' pain adds depth to this literary thriller. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Set in Norway from 2005 to 2017, Ulstein's twisty debut commands attention. The many unusual characters (including a python) and shifting times and viewpoints are compelling. Narrator Julie Maisey excels in her depiction of Mariam Linn, who becomes outraged with her 11-year-old daughter and leaves her to make her way home alone. Seven hours later, Mariam returns home to find that her daughter has not returned, which horrifies her husband and ignites an intense police investigation. Mariam conducts her own search, and her bizarre past emerges, revealing a connection to Liv, a young woman in 2003 who behaved unpredictably, buying a snake and forming an unhealthy attachment to him. This is a riveting but painful story, emotively presented by Maisey, who imbues the story with an ongoing sense of foreboding. The police procedural is intriguing, and while few characters are appealing, they are well drawn. In particular, detective Roe Olsvik is wonderfully rendered as both patient and introspective. VERDICT The persistent listener will be rewarded with an extraordinary story and a satisfying audiobook experience.--Susan G. Baird
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this debut novel from Norway, an 11-year-old girl goes missing more than a decade after connected events involving a troubled young woman who sleeps with her pet python. The little girl, Iben, disappears from a supermarket in 2017 after her mother, Mariam, refuses to buy her a zombie comic book. Mariam, who is married to a politician, responds strangely to the disappearance, which is investigated, along with Mariam's behavior, by an aging cop with a checkered past. Back in 2003, Liv, who was abused by her older brother when they were kids (she was then known as Sara--not her last name change), finds solace--and sexual gratification--in the scaly company of her demanding python, Nero, who must be fed with ever larger living things. Her human friend Anita, a new mother beaten by her husband, turns to Liv for help. Mariam later becomes part of this vicious cycle when she is raped, resulting in the birth of her daughter. Ulstein's provocative treatment of brutal male behavior, including an approving reference to female spiders devouring their male partners, can be powerful. But populated by many unpleasant characters doing unpleasant things, the novel loses focus at critical times. It's not enough that the increasingly large and hungry Nero commits an unmentionable nasty incident that upstages everything. Ulstein also feels compelled to include periodic first-person commentary from the python, who ironically but not inaccurately calls Liz "the cold woman." An original but flawed thriller that never rises to the level of chilly. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
