Jan Wallentin

A frenetic and somewhat silly story of a supernatural object that opens a gateway to the underworld. There are two factions vying for possession. Much like the two in the Da Vinci code book, Don and Eva are chased all over the world. Despite the overtones of the paranormal, a lot of the story is rooted in historical fact - Dandan Oilik is real as are the atrocious "medical" experiments at Ravensbruck, August Strindberg, Sven Hedin, Karl Maria Wiligut, the castle Wewelsberg and what he did there in cooperation with Heinrich Himmler. That takes crazy to an all new level, let me tell you.

Eva is an obvious problem from the start. She arrives too conveniently and enthusiastically participates in Don's flight and subsequent shenanigans. Then there are her own weird physical manifestations. I was waiting to see how her treachery would take shape, but it was a long time coming. Too long. Despite the breakneck pace, the book could use some editing. Long info-dumps and strange dialog could be cut. Ditto with lots of repetitive things like reminding us that Eva was wearing high heels.

The bits with psychic Elena and her creepy keeper Vater were a little more interesting, but I couldn't see where it was going except that she was being set up as a savior (I kept seeing Vader despite the wheelchair). The denouement is opaque and weird and difficult to envision which was strange considering how clear all the action leading up to it was. And it never did explain anything satisfactorily. Like where did the Ahnk come from and what was the underworld supposed to do or give us? Oh sure some modern Inventions and developments are supposedly credited with visions from that place, but not convincingly. I didn't get it or why all these people wanted it. And conversely, why it needed to be hidden for so long. Weird.

Don himself is a fuck up and I couldn't warm to him despite his "charming" self-deprecating personality. Probably it was the self-medicating that did it. I couldn't see how he could continue to be conscious half the time, never mind a puzzle-solving, globe-trotting mover and shaker, although there were long periods where he wasn't popping pills or shooting up, which was also strange. Entertaining, but ultimately empty and it will go to another home soon.… (lisätietoja)