The owls are not what they seem

Author : Samuel Bjork
Title : The Owl Always Hunts at Night
Published : 08/02/2018
Pages : 480
Genre : Crime Thriller
Publisher : Corgi

     When a young woman is found dead, the police are quick to respond. But what they find at the murder site is unexpected. The body is posed, the scene meticulously set. And there is almost no forensic evidence to be found. Detective Mia Krüger is a woman on the edge - she has been signed off work pending psychological assessment. But her boss has less regard for the rules than he should. Desperate to get Mia back in the office, Holger Munch offers her an unofficial deal. But the usually brilliant Mia is struggling and the team are unable to close the case. Until a young hacker uncovers something that forces the team to confront the scope of the murderer’s plans and face the possibility that he may already be on the hunt for a second victim.

     It was with some enthusiasm that I came to be reading this book. I read Bjork's first outing I'm Traveling Alone awhile back And thoroughly enjoyed it. This time out Mia and Munch are on the hunt for a brutal killer who has stage what appears to be some sort of occult ritual for the police to find. With the effects of the previous book still ring in our hero's ears how would this second outing compare to it older sister?

     Bjork's central heroes are a good pairing they work well off each other and have a chemistry that is believable. This is not to say that these two are necessarily good for one another sometimes I felt that there relationship very toxic. As we start the book Mia has withdrawn from the world of the living and seconded herself to a small island in the hopes of being left alone. With munch at a loss, he drags his old partner back to help solve the case. It is an interesting thing to see the author tackle the subject of mental health within the framework of his novel. Mia is clearly not a well woman and what we get to see is a very pure and honest portrayal as she struggles with her demons. In showing Mia's troubles with depression and suicidal episodes it can at times be a difficult read. When you can see her struggling with not being able to solve parts of the crime her anxiety and self-doubt flare up and I was left feeling helpless to do anything for her.  There were times when it came across as Munch being more interested in solving the case than he was in the wellbeing of his friend and partner.

     Munch is as ever driven when it comes to his job and with that being said from my previous statements about him, as I delved deeper into the case his motivations changed as things become all to very personal. This allows his character to come across as less of a complete arss than he otherwise might have. This intern leads to him becoming shall we say more mental unanchored. What you end up with is two protagonists with there minds on fire trying to beat this killer at there own game before all that is left is ash.

     When it comes to the plot of this book whilst I did find it very enjoyable there were certain plot elements that where defiantly seemed to be way out in left field.  Our killer is one truly bizarre monster even within his own species. And the author has defiantly given it his all when it came to his creation. There are parts of this story that are most defiantly within the realms of the real world. Which for me helped to give grounding to some of the elements that felt a little more movie like. But at least for me, the story works and it advances at a good steady pace. By the time I got to the end everything that needs to be explained where taken care of and this is a testament to the author's well-plotted story. Having been through another harrowing set of trails with these two I felt a closer contention to the characters and the world the author has created.

     Overall this was an equal match for the first book and I was left feeling just as happy to have finished it as the last. This is a book full of dark stories and twisted motives. On top of this, The choice to tackle mental health in such a very brutally honest way gives this book every reason you will need to pick it up.