Weißer Tod

Well-written, initially slow burning, thriller about a violent kidnapping in Kenya/Somalia and how that is experienced by the journalist partner of the kidnapped man. I read this to learn about the trade-craft, not because I was so much interested in the story, though I like the plot. Marklund is another crime writer from Scandinavia who has hit the bestseller’s charts (this is one out of eight crime novels she wrote, featuring her usual heroine Annika, who is a crime journalist at a popular newspaper in Stockholm). Marklund also wrote a joint thriller with James Patterson.

Annika’s cheating partner Thomas is on a Frontex mission in Kenya, trying to seal the border with Somalia, hoping to stem the flow of refugees into the EU (how very topical!). He and some seven other delegates get kidnapped at gun point close to the border with Somalia by a flipped Rwandan Tutsi cum sadistic terrorist with a cause (the cause is dubious – he fights for open borders and free trade with the EU – bit unlikely). The man is supposedly extremely traumatised, hence cruel and sadistic (again, pretty flat character, exactly the way the popular press likes to paint them). Meanwhile Annika is chasing a story around a recently killed young mom who has been found dead in the snow (stabbed) behind a kindergarten. As soon as the news about her husband trickles through, Annika’s bedroom becomes Hostage Control, when Jimmy, Thomas’ boss at the Ministry (under-secretary), takes over as the chief negotiator. The story then unfolds following Annika and her boss the newspaper editor, Anders Schymann, in one narrative in the third person, and Thomas in the first person in a parallel narrative (in short bursts). The latter narrative stops when the horror really starts, creating another source of suspense (making us guess whether Thomas actually participated in the forced gang rape of the British Embassy hostage who was the original reason for Thomas to fly out to Kenya; and also making us guess initially whether the severed hand with wedding ring belonged to him at all).

The main narrative skilfully describes how Annika feels as the crisis deepens (it also reveals to what extent you are on your own, with governments like that of Sweden, officially refusing to negotiate for a ransom and you having to rally the money). And of course the ‘reverse of the Stockholm syndrome’ occurs – the chief negotiator and Annika slowly gel and ultimately consume their mutual attraction. Or is it desperation? Meanwhile Anders the editor in chief strikes and mines two important news veins that help his newspaper become top of the charts in Sweden – (1) a completely fabricated supposition of a serial killer responsible for killing five young moms in wider Stockholm grows on the Police investigation and one confessing suspect, becoming real (despite Annika’s misgivings about this stupid, sensational rumour); (2) Annika signs an exclusive deal for her story in exchange for part of the ransom she has to pay for Thomas. Towards the end the reader is drawn in, irrevocably. The trip to Kenya once more displays Marklund’s rather superficial understanding of the Aid scene and urban Africa, projecting popular perceptions onto the Nairobi cityscape (but perhaps that is firmly in line with what Western readers expect and hence quite effective). Another key character is introduced – Frida, a posh Nigerian tough cookie who works for the UNHCR, and drives the two around Nairobi following the haphazard instructions of the kidnappers on where to drop the ransom money. They spend the night in a former residence of Karen Blixen (another thing putting me off – the supreme romantic projection of the West on Africa – AARGHHH will it never stop?). Yet one wants to know how it will all end, and that’s where Marklund’s skills lie, as a writer.

Journalist Annika Bengtzon’s husband, Thomas, is an EU delegate to Kenya to advise on strengthening the borders but also, Annika suspects, to continue an affair with one of the female delegates. Annika was in the process of investigating a recent murder of a young woman when her world is turned upside down by the news that the delegation has been kidnapped near the Somali border. While Thomas’ boss, Jimmy Halenius, assists with the ransom negotiations, Annika struggles to put together the money while explaining what has happened to her children. Unfortunately, neither her family nor her best friend are willing to help and she must seek aid from other unlikely sources.

Along with a realistic depiction of the ransom negotiations, the narrative switches between Thomas in Kenya giving a raw and brutal description of the treatment of the captors and Stockholm where it looks like that first murder may just be one of several which has led the police and the media to suspect a serial killer although Annika is convinced they are all the result of domestic violence.

Borderline by Liza Markland and translated by Neil Smith is an intense and, at times, terrifying thriller perhaps because so much especially about the treatment of the captors is so believable. Markland’s strong descriptions make the reader feel viscerally Thomas’ sense of fear and Annika’ sense of helplessness giving the narrative a real sense of immediacy and tension. More, she makes the reader feel invested in the outcome for the captors as well as for Annika. Borderline is a truly addicting tale and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end.