Book Summary and Reviews of The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

The Tenant

by Katrine Engberg

  • Published:
  • Jan 2020, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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 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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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Engberg's fast-paced narrative is bolstered by an interesting and quirky cast as well as an intriguing setting ... a lot of fun." ―Kirkus Reviews

"Everyone has secrets, and some secrets are lies. Engberg's debut novel, a sleeper hit in her native Denmark, is sure to attract comparisons to other Scandinavian thrillers… layered, character-driven suspense from authors including Erin Kelly and Ruth Ware may prove to be more apt read-alike suggestions." ―Booklist

"Fast-moving ... Engberg's sparkling cast and palpable evocation of a society U.S. readers will find similar yet foreign keep the pages turning pleasurably." ―Publishers Weekly

"Engberg's debut features dark family secrets—and a smorgasbord of surprises." ―People

"The careful plotting ensures that the mystery unfolds deliberately, with surprises constantly woven into the narrative ... Engberg's English language debut promises a gritty, unflinching procedural series, and will leave readers craving the translation of Kørner and Werner's next adventure." ―BookPage

This information about The Tenant was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

A former dancer and choreographer with a background in television and theater, Katrine Engberg launched a groundbreaking career as a novelist with the publication of her fiction debut, The Tenant. She is now one of the most widely read and beloved crime authors in Denmark, and her work has been sold in over twenty-five countries. She lives with her family in Copenhagen.

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