Review: The Bleeding, by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner

Blurb

1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead
when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls
are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist
community to find them.

1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French
Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces
her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s
life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her
husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine
Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a
teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.
Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre
discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and
murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point,
who will stop at nothing to protect the ones

My Review

Thanks to Anne for organising this tour and to Orenda for sending me a copy of this book.

Wow, this book was unexpected. Was not expecting the final reveal at all.

So, where do I start? Three women across a century, two witches and a harassed widow. Women on the edge, who commit terrible crimes. But what are the crimes, and who’s done what? Our narrators are unreliable, events are linked by unexpected connections, and the Sûreté du Québec need to find out. They bring in Gina Montminy, who trained Emily Roy (see the author’s Roy and Castells novels), a criminal psychologist, to help. Gina sees more than most. There’s magic, blood and sex, in Paris, Montreal, and the chilly woods of Quebec.

As ever Gustawsson brings unexpected characters to life, weaving historical and modern events into the narrative, and drawing the reader into her imaginative crime novels. I was so immersed in reading this novel I forgot my Sunday phone call to my mum and text my best friend on her 40th birthday until rather late in the evening. I loved the way the threads of the story are drawn together slowly and the truth revealed, while the ending was amazing, really blew me away. It didn’t occur to me at all that…anyway, no spoilers.

This is another brilliant crime novel from Johana Gustawsson and Orenda.

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ABOUT JOHANA GUSTAWSSON

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte,Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 28 countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – number one
bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives on the west coast of Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.