Block 46

By: Johanna Gustawsson

Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez, Mark Meadows

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

An award-winning debut French noir thriller, first in the Roy & Castells series. A true-crime writer and a profiler join forces in the hunt for a serial killer.

Evil remembers....

Falkenberg, Sweden. The mutilated body of talented young jewellery designer, Linnea Blix, is found in a snow-swept marina. Hampstead Heath, London. The body of a young boy is discovered with similar wounds to Linnea's. Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1944. In the midst of the hell of the Holocaust, Erich Hebner will do anything to see himself as a human again. Are the two murders the work of a serial killer, and how are they connected to shocking events at Buchenwald?

Emily Roy, a profiler on loan to Scotland Yard from the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, joins up with Linnea's friend, French true-crime writer Alexis Castells, to investigate the puzzling case. They travel between Sweden and London and then deep into the past as a startling and terrifying connection comes to light. Plumbing the darkness and the horrific evidence of the nature of evil, Block 46 is a multilayered, sweeping and evocative thriller that heralds a stunning new voice in French Noir.

©2017 Johanna Gustawsson (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

A dark serial killer suspense novel with a grippin

Where does Block 46 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Even though I had read this book previously, having the chance to listen to the audio book brought the story to life for me. It may sound cliche, but narrators Patricia Rodriguez and Mark Meadows voices reinvigorated the suspense for me. As the minutes ticked away, I found myself wanting to know what happens next even though I already knew it. Loved it.

What did you like best about this story?

BLOCK 46 is one of those disturbing, menacing thrillers that pulls you in with the crime, but keeps you reading because of the characters. I loved the way that Johanna Gustawsson not only developed the story, but also how set set the stage with a cast that will no doubt become even more intriguing as the series progresses. Their flaws and honest depictions really rounded out the more technical aspects of the police work that is within the story.

Then on top of all of that, Gustawsson taps into the history of the Holocaust and what was happening in Concentration Camps around 1944. There is a moment when I was reading that I thought the author would just be using this to create drama within the book, but the reverence and candid depiction was humbling as well as thought provoking. The author used this element in a way that didn’t exploit such a horrible time in world history.

BLOCK 46 is a perfect start to a series and with a serial killer that is intense, intelligent, and vicious, those who love murder mysteries/thrillers will not be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Boring and a complete waste of my time...

So you have Scandinavian noir, a serial killer, a back story concerning concentration camps and a modern timeline so whats not to like? Instead of an intriguing rapid moving edge of seat thriller I got a slow plodding mixed up boring story which contained one dimensional characters whom I had absolutely no interest in!

It started off okay but then went completely pear shaped with characters popping in and out, rapid changes of story line which completely lost me and way too much unneeded detail.

Any way I DNF read about 60% before i threw the towel in! Going back to Audible.