Sanne Udsen, Alle Guds børn (2008)

Udsens anden krimi markedsføres som halv chicklit, og hel spænding. Fair nok, bortset fra at jeg nok nærmere ville kalde den hel chicklit og halv spænding.

Hovedpersonen, Sarah Berthelsen, har netop skiftet stilling. Fra at være anklager, er hun nu ansat som forsvarsadvokat hos firmaet Svanekilde Green-Hansen Østergaard. Det kræver noget tilvænning at være hos et prestigefyldt firma, hvor alle medarbejdere forventes at bære jakke, stå til rådighed atten timer i døgnet og i øvrigt skrabe så mange penge ind som muligt.

Sarahs første rigtige sag går ud på at forsvare unge Johnny Nielsen, som er anklaget for at have skåret halsen over på en ældre kvinde under et taskerøveri. Sarah ser den flotte unge mands blå øjne, og er hurtigt overbevist om, at han ikke er nogen mordertype. Stik imod sin chefs ønske blander hun sig i opklaringen, og efter nogen tid finder hun tegn på, at en seks-årig dreng og hans far muligvis er myrdet af samme person (mens Johnny Nielsen sad i varetægtsfængsel).

Udmærket plot som sådan, og Udsen gør meget ud af personerne. Spise- og drikkevaner, tøjstil og sko, samt eksmænd, de mænd Sarah kan få, og de mænd hun gerne ville have haft, fylder en god del i romanen, og desværre er det temmelig nemt at gennemskue, hvem morderen er på et alt for tidligt tidspunkt.

Anbefales for tilhængere af chicklit (feminin femikrimi), men den vil nok ikke appellere til mange hardcore-krimilæsere. Jeg lånte bogen på biblioteket.

Sanne Udsen, All God´s Children.
This Danish novel (a library book) from 2008 has not been translated into English. It is marketed as suspense with a touch of chicklit, but chicklit with a touch of suspense may be more accurate.

The protagonist, Sarah Berthelsen, is a defence lawyer who has just been employed by the law firm ´Svanekilde Green-Hansen Østergaard´. Sarah struggles to get used to the dress code, the long working day and the focus on profit.

In her first case she has to defend young Johnny Nielsen who is accused of slashing an old woman´s throat during a robbery. Sarah looks into his blue eyes and is convinced he is not a murder type. Contrary to the wishes of her employers she interferes in the solution of the case, and she finds evidence that a six-year-old boy and his father may have been killed by the same perpetrator (while Johnny Nielsen was in custody).

Convincing characters whose eating and drinking habits, their style in clothes and shoes and their relations with ex-husbands, the men they want and the men they can get take up quite a lot of the space. The plot is not bad, but it is too easy to guess what has happened far too early.

This novel is clearly a variation of the Scandinavian ´femikrimi; to quote from my article of February 1st:

“…they regard "femikrimi" as a feminine (girlish) story about life down among the women, cluttered with cinnamon buns, baby poo and menstruation blood, garnished with a spot of crime (chicklit with a murder in it).”