Selected as a Most Anticipated title by People, Parade, Bustle, CrimeReads, She Reads, and more! An electrifying work of literary suspense from internationally bestselling author Katrine Engberg, The Tenant–heralded as a “stunning debut” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs–follows two Copenhagen police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer … detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge.
When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist–and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.
But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings.
Evocative and original, The Tenant promises “dark family secrets–and a smorgasbord of surprises” (People).
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This is a Danish book set in Copenhagen. The characters include the landlady Esther, the tenant Julie, and the detectives Jeppe and Anette, with many minor characters who play a part in the darkness of the book. Esther likes to drink and party and is also writing a murder mystery, with Julie cast as the victim. When Julie indeed turns up dead, the detectives try to follow Esther’s novel as well as the twisted clues. They know that there is a person behind the curtain pulling the strings, but the path to find that person is very convoluted and confusing to the detectives as well as to me as the reader. The action was slow-paced, with a lot of attention given to the thoughts of the detectives and those of Esther. I cannot say that I enjoyed this book much because it was hard for me to follow at times and I found myself going back some pages to see if I had missed something. The characters and the plot were too complex for me, but fans of Nordic mysteries would enjoy this one, I think. This is the debut novel by this author, and my hope is that as she pursues her craft, she will get better at drawing the reader into the story rather than leaving us as distant and not so clued-in spectators.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
After having read some not so good police procedurals lately, I was hoping to find one that would blow me away. I really enjoyed the premise of an inspiring author’s, Esther, work in progress encouraging a killer to start on their spree. At first it’s not really apparent to anyone this is what is happening, but when that part of the story kicked in, it got more interesting.
There were lots of suspects and red herrings, and although I knew certain people were playing parts in the murders, Engberg leaves some very easy to spot clues as to this, at first I was thinking it would go in a completely different direction. The way that the wrap up went was also pretty easy to see after about halfway through the book, but Engberg still had me guessing a bit and I didn’t see how all the pieces fit together until the conclusion. Because of that, The Tenant kept me turning the page because I wanted to find out the actual reason for the murders. But at the same time I felt it was a slow read because of the characters.
I didn’t particularly enjoy the two Detectives, Korner and Werner. Korner was depressed for about the first half of the book, and that I can totally see with his situation and having to deal with the scum of the earth, but then he does a complete 360 and is a sex crazed man who starts to turn into a stalker. It was such a harsh difference and I didn’t feel as if it added anything to the story. If the women that he was obsessing over had turned out to be the killer I could have looked past it, but not the way it stands in the book.
As for Det. Werner, she was just extremely passive aggressive and whiney. Neither are traits that I enjoy in a person, but definitely not in what should be one of the strong female leads in a book. And almost the entire detective team seemed to hate each other or were just angry people, which really doesn’t make for an enjoyable read. It is so hard to empathize with characters if they have no redeeming traits or if you don’t see yourself in them, and unfortunately that was the case with The Tenant. If I don’t care about most of the characters, it’s hard for me to care about a book.
2.5 stars
When a blurb uses words like electrifying, stunning, and inconceivably thrilling, I expect big things. The beginning of The Tenant seems to be heading in that direction, and it does have its moments, but they are fewer and fewer as the story progresses. I really expected a more intense read given the nature of the murder that opens this story, but instead, the pacing is quite slow. I don’t know if it’s the translation or just the way the story is written, but it felt kind of dry. The best way I can think of to explain it is it felt a bit like listening to someone speaking in a monotone. I actually fell asleep several times while trying to push through to the end. I think the author had a good idea here, but the delivery was missing something for me. Overall, this one isn’t a bad read, but it’s not a particularly good one either.
The Tenant is Katrine Engberg’s US debut Danish murder mystery/thriller. The story is based in Copenhagen, I absolutely love reading books based outside the US. Ms. Engberg does an excellent job of infusing all things Scandinavian into this novel. As the reader, you get to enjoy the richness of the Danish culture and landscape that Ms. Engberg delivers beautifully.
Katrine Engberg writes a well thought out book with good dialogue. The story is told over seven days, and the narrative is shared between multiple characters. The two main characters, both detectives and partners, are Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner. I felt that Korner’s character was thoroughly developed, and I felt a real connection with him. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that way about the Werner character, for me, she was not as well developed, and I wanted to know more about her and what made her tick. What I did like about these two characters and what made these two characters work; at times, they didn’t seem to like each other but still did their job well, and this added a bit of conflict to the story.
The Tenant starts off with the murder of a young woman, Julie Stender, who rents the downstairs apartment from her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who lives in the upstairs apartment. The premise for this book was a good one- fiction taking on real life. Esther, a retired university professor, is writing a murder mystery, and she has made her fictional murder victim Julie Stender. The perpetrator has mimicked the murder scene precisely as it was written in Esther’s novel. The murder scene is told to the reader in the prologue and is described in such graphic detail that it gave me chills, and it gives you the sense you are standing there in the room when the body is discovered. This scene grabbed me from the very beginning.
Later in the book, Ms. Engberg gives us a bit more of Danish culture, and I did find these little gems enjoyable.
“It appears our perpetrator has carved us a little goekkebrev.”
“The pattern cut into the face resembled the traditional paper cuttings that Danish children make for Easter.”
However, towards the middle of the book, I felt that the story dragged a bit and took me longer than usual to finish. It was predictable, and there was only one twist that I didn’t see coming. I just felt that the author was going in too many directions at once. I truly wanted to love this book; unfortunately, it was just an okay read for me. However, I will assume this is the first in a series of crime novels, and I did like the two main characters enough to read the next book in this series.
** Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published**
*** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. ***
A brutal murder in a building owned by an author who is writing a book with a similar story line causes her to be the main suspect.
Julie and her roommate Caroline live in a building owned by Esther de Laurenti, the author. Julie is murdered, and the murder has the entire police force baffled.
Nothing like this has ever happened in her building, and Esther can’t understand it.
The clues all seem to point to Esther, though, and especially since the murder scene and situation are similar to her book, but is it really Esther? There are a number of possible suspects.
The victim and her family had a few secrets of their own, but would someone murder for those secrets? And what all-around, complicated secrets they turned out to be.
The detectives, Anette and Jeppe, are on the case and seem to be relentless in their efforts to solve this crime. This detective team is very likeable and definitely add to the story line.
Many other things happen that will keep you reading every chance you get, and you will be thinking about the characters and the situations even when you aren’t reading.
Ms. Engberg’s writing flows nicely and keeps the story line moving and the interest high with all of the what if’s and possibilities.
Be aware that there are some upsetting situations and graphic descriptions.
THE TENANT is a book for those who enjoy being kept on the edge-of-your seat.
I hope to see more of this detective team and Ms. Engberg’s books.
Are you a good enough detective to solve this crime? 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Tenant by Katrine Engberg is her first American book although she is widely read in her native Denmark. This is a fairly dark mystery/police procedural. It gets very complicated with lots of subplots and seemingly minute details that turn out to be foreshadowing. This was an excellent novel and I look forward to more. An elderly man (Gregers) lives on the second floor of three. He is slowly making his way to the first floor to dispose of a full garbage bag when he notices the back door of the first floor apartment is ajar. He is concerned so he opened the door and started to enter when he discovered he wasn’t strong enough to keep upright so he fell into the apartment. As he tries to right himself he senses he is lying on a shoe. As he tries to move it he realizes it is attached to a leg. He is in a panic; he believed he was going to die. He does indeed have a heart attack as he lies there. Fortunately the young men from the business on the ground floor discover all of this and call the police. It was a gruesome crime scene that Detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner enter after being called upon by the first responders: blood everywhere and gruesome carvings in the body of the victim. So many, they couldn’t tell what she looked like. Shortly after they arrived at the third floor apartment of Esther de Laurenti, a retired college professor and aspiring mystery writer. Also a burgeoning alcoholic, which is why they had had to awaken her to give her the news of the murder.
This is truly an amazing book. Filled with misdirection and personal angst, it is a page-turner. As we come to the end and one item falls into place, the others follow for the reader a quickly as for the police. The major characters are well-written and well-rounded and the minor characters are filled out to an amazing degree. The Tenant deserves to be a best seller. It is a book to be reader and savored. I highly recommend it.
I received a free ARC of the Tenant from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thetenant
When Julie Stender is brutally murdered detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner investigate and soon find that her murder closely resembles the unfinished book by Esther de Laurenti, the elderly woman who owns the building Julie lives in.
This was another magnificent who done it book. The characters were great and the twists were better. Very few books have me thinking about them after I’ve put the book down like this one. I was constantly trying to work through things and figure out how the characters all connect. It wasn’t an easy task and I failed.
Detective Jeppe Korner has many demons and a sad past. He ends up in a relationship that means more to him than to her. She sees it as just a fling. It’s your typical rebound reaction. I’m hoping that he’s not as pathetic in the next book.
This was a really good book! it is the first in a new series .Very well written two detectives trying to solve a murder with a lot of ins and outs with a surprising ending. Kept my attention and was a fast read.
2.5 Stars
“Writing a murder mystery is like trying to braid a spiderweb, thousands of threads stick to your fingers and break if you don’t keep your focus.”
A young woman is found brutally murdered in her apartment with no signs of a forced entry. Clues continue to point in various directions leading Police Detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner struggling to put pieces of a puzzle together to solve a murder…
The Tenant starts off with a bang in the opening pages…a gruesome murder with no apparent motive grips the reader into getting the little grey cells working to discover who could have possible done it. But…the pacing was a little slow and so many stops and starts with different points of view, it made the story a little difficult to follow. For me, Detective Korner was not a likeable character and some of his personal extracurricular antics made me scratch my head as to why it was even included. Perhaps it was the author’s way to develop the characters storyline for future books; I’m unsure. Even with all the misdirection, I was still able to ferret out the killer mid-way through, which made for a disappointing ending.
Mystery novels are difficult to review in that I always worry over giving too much away and spoiling the adventure for other readers. While this was not a fav read for me, it could be for other mystery fans. With that being said, give The Tenant a read if you are a lover of this genre.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **
THE TENANT by Katrine Engberg is a taut psychological novel that begins one morning in Copenhagen, when an old man stumbles into an apartment where a young woman has been brutally murdered. Newly-divorced Police Detective Jeppe Korner and his team interview several suspects but find no answers, even after learning that the murder was described months before it happened in a novel-in-progress written by the woman who owns the apartment house. After one of the suspects is murdered, Jeppe and his crew start to unravel the various relationships and connections of the people who knew the victims. Intriguing!
In an apartment building in Denmark a young girl is brutally murdered. She is found by an older man who also is a tenant in the same building.
Detective Korner of the Copenhagen Police force and his female partner Detective Werner are called in to investigate. When the detectives arrive on the scene they find that the clever killer has left no clues for them to go on, even the murder weapon is gone.
The plot thickens as the detectives work diligently to solve the case. Each interview with possible suspects bring more questions than answers. Each suspect is hiding something. They all have secrets from the past that tie them to the victim. Is the key to finding the murderer the discovery of those secrets? And will the detectives find that key?
A possible suspect is revealed when the detectives discover that the landlord is writing a murder mystery. Even though her book was written before the murder even occurred it describes the murder that took place in her building exactly.
Suddenly more twists and turns in the case begin to evolve. Suspects are being murdered and everyone involved fears for their life.
Who did kill young Julie and why? A surprise ending awaits you.
The author did a wonderful job on the plot and the characters. Each character’s personality was as unique as their personal stories.
I did feel the book was a little too long and drawn out. Even though the author provided an adequate ending to the book it could have been solved a little quicker. I grew impatient awaiting the ending.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book for review. Thank you Netgalley.
Those drawn to Scandinavian novels will lavish in the writing style of Katrine Engberg. She stays true to the Danish undertone by providing a rich story line, descriptive setting, and by enlisting a slow burn, detailed-oriented narrative. Those looking for a shock factor or that intense trepidation that many American novelist utilize will be disappointed. This is a great book for the genre and something a bit different. 4 stars.
Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC which I read and reviewed voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
At first it was a little different due to it being scandinavian so some of the terminology was a little different. So we have someone murdered and mutilated and all these characters. We meet Esther the landlady and an author and she shows the police that this murder is like the book she has been writing and has not finished. and man does take off, all these secrets start coming out, but the questions do as well. Is her story fiction, or is for real the twist and turns it takes will keep you on your toes..
Rcvd and ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions