Book Review

By Derryll White

Blaedel, Sara (2012).  Farewell To Freedom.

Bog i Hrvati (God and the Croats) – This motto originates from Ante Starčević‘s speech to the Croatian Parliament(Sabor) on June 26, 1861, in which he stated that the future of Croatia should not be decided in Austria, but by God and the Croats.

Sara Blaedel is a Danish author best known for her crime mystery series featuring Louise Rick and Camilla Lind.  Blaedel grew up in Denmark, the daughter of a journalist and actress.  She has been crowned the “Queen of Crime” in her native country after being voted the country’s “most popular author” four times.  She was brought up in Copenhagen and that city features in most of the Louise Rick novels, although the author does explore the rural countryside as well.

Blaedel worked as a journalist for many years, this experience giving depth to the Camilla Lind character.  Both Louise and Camilla work well together in ‘Farewell to Freedom,’ giving the reader a clear view of Danish life and struggles as single women. In this novel, Blaedel explores the incursion of Eastern European women into Denmark, and their exploitation.  It is not pretty but is very powerful.

She also brings the Croatian War of Independence into focus, looking at the forces underlying the smuggling of young women into Denmark.  Bosko, a vicious and scary Serb, stands for much of the ethnic cleansing that occurred during this war.  The character helps to make the story memorable, but unsettling.

Sara Blaedel develops strong plots and carries them through with a crisp and thoughtful dialogue. Both Louise Rick and Camilla Line stand out as characters of note in the mystery genre.

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Excerpts from the novel:

PROSTITUTION – “Some johns think they can get away with damn near anything just because they shell out 300 kronor for a lay,” Mikkelsen said after they dropped the battered girl off.  “If the man can’t get it up, then it’s the girl’s fault, and she has to be punished for failing to deliver.”

    He shook his head and they began walking back toward Halmtorvet, which was where they’d decided to start searching for witnesses who might have seen the murder victim in the area or noticed anything unusual around Skelbaekgade the previous night.

WAR TOURISM – “When you’re dealing with a person who’s taken war tourists into a besieged city and been well remunerated for bringing them close enough that they could kill people just for the fun and excitement of it, well, that shows you clearly that human life doesn’t mean much to him,” Stig interjected, and Louise was inclined to agree with him.

THE CROATIAN WAR – “Don’t misunderstand me.  It’s not that I subscribe to the idea that some people should be allowed to demand to be left in peace, but I swore to myself that I would never have anything to do with Bosko or his people ever again.  Both of my brothers worked for the police.  They were the ones, along with a couple of other people, who figured out the war tourism thing.  When Bosko learned that they’d detected his smuggling business, he went looking for the four men who’d been working on the case.  He went to their homes and gunned them down in front of their wives and children.”

PROSTITUTION – “There are so many prostitutes who are abused and raped.  No group of people is more vulnerable to violent assaults than they are.  We treat them when they take refuge at The Nest where they are routinely sent to the Center for Victims of Sexual Assault at the hospital.”

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.

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