Hewson’s reworkings of “The Killing” and “The Killing II” were successful translations of the TV stories into the novel form. He already had rich material to work with and gave it further depth and characterisation.
The combination of political intrigue and sleuthing – always already present in his own works – seems to have been heightened by his work on these two novelisations.
In “The House of Dolls” he continues this approach with a new set of characters and a new locale – this time Amsterdam and the intriguing new detective Pieter Vos. I don’t know Amsterdam so have no idea how well he represents it but it feels authentic. Hewson is known for his ability to bring his locations to life (which is one reason he was chosen for the adaptations of the TV series)
Vos is getting by in his retirement, which we find was caused by his mental and marital breakdown after his own daughter was kidnapped, a crime which remains unsolved. He’s brought back from retirement by another kidnapping of senior politician’s daughter, in what seems to be a taunt and a challenge to him personally. He reluctantly agrees to help his ex-colleagues and gets drawn back into his nightmare.
As with The Killing series, it’s the politics and intrigue on both sides of the law which drive this story, as well as the idiosyncratic characters. But hasn’t this all been done before by now? Is there a danger that Scandi-Noir has become formulaic?
In the end I was drawn along by Hewson’s storytelling, especially in later chapters. He throws in some nice cliffhangers and twists that are resolved with panache.
