Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen (translated by Megan Turney)

I am delighted to share my review of Thirty Days of Darkness, written by Jenny Lund Madsen and translated into English by Megan Turney, for my stop on the blog tour to  celebrate the paperback release of the book this month. But thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my gorgeous review copy (complete with spredges, what a treat!). 

 

The Blurb

A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then a body appears … an atmospheric, darkly funny, twisty debut thriller, first in an addictive new series.

Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer's block, Hannah has the feeling that she's doing something wrong.

When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjöður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration.

But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman's young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah…

The paperback edition of Thirty Days of Darkness comes out this Thursday, 9th May 2024, and is available here and will also be stocked by Sainsburys supermarkets in the UK.

My Review

Hannah Krause-Bendix writes literary fiction. She is confident her novels are brilliant, she just needs people to read them. Although she seems to have no time for readers. She is contemptuous of crime fiction and its authors, although I sense she would have no time for any genre that actually sold books which appeal to large numbers of people. So to not accept a challenge to write such a novel, something that is obviously so easy to do, in a month, would be to risk humiliation. However, she doesn't factor in being in a different country, a host who doesn't speak Danish or English, or a complicated relationship. Oh, and a murder and significant personal risk.... And she still has a book to write! 

When we first meet Hannah, she is not likeable. At all, really. Her only real friend is Bastian, her editor. She thinks pretty much everything and everyone is beneath her but is very much the tortured writer, agonising over her words whilst consuming alcohol and cigarettes in excess. She does acknowledge, at least though, that she really needs to start selling some books. But her frustrations at this and contempt for a popular Danish crime author who does sell books, and lots of them, lead her to the small Icelandic fishing village of Húsafjöður for a month - fishing boats, snow and not a lot of daylight. 

There are certainly many colourful characters for her to be inspired by. Stand outs for me were Ella, Hannah's host for the month. Welcoming and accepting, she doesn't bad an eyelid at her guest's odd and often rude behaviour. She is a model for how Hannah could be. I loved her part Danish, part English notes. Another character I liked was the barman at the village's only bar whose name we never learn but who proves to be a handy man to have around. And I can't forget about lovely Jørn.  The interesting thing about seeing these folk through Hannah's eyes is that she views them all as inferior to her in some way. Also, she doesn't really get relationships, possibly because she's not very successful at her own. The Icelandic landscape and the weather also play important roles here, but despite the cold, we do see Hannah beginning to thaw just a little. 

But this is a novel about writing a crime novel. And what more inspiration could Hannah want than a murder? But she is unprepared for the impact the crime has on her, the people around her and the book she is trying to write. Inspiration comes thick and fast, but she discovers she wants a satisfactory conclusion for more than the story. Even if her crime investigation skills leave much to be desired.

I haven't really conveyed how clever this book is. As someone whose first love is crime fiction I know how it's a genre that tends to be looked down on by some of the wider fiction community, not classed as 'real' literature. Nonsense, if course, but I love how this book plays with that whole idea. It's self aware, a bit meta, humorous,  but tense in all the right places, and the tension just ramps up as the book progresses. Thirty Days of Darkness is a crime novel about writing a crime novel whilst investigating a crime. It's totally entertaining and absorbing - I read it in one sitting - and a very assured fiction debut. Highly recommended. And a big shout out, as always, for an excellent translation, this time provided by Megan Turney.

The Author

Jenny Lund Madsen is one of one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.