The Cold Song by Linn Ullmann

It is always dangerous for an author to populate a novel with unlikeable characters. While Ullmann does a fantastic job in constructing the world of this novel, its echoes of dead children, damaged and grieving parents, broken marriages and disintegrating lives weigh heavy on the reader.

Part multi-generational familial psychodrama, black comedy, and murder mystery, I found this one a collection of parts that never quite coalesced as a whole. Despite everything that happens (and a whole lot happens), there’s a dull miasma that hangs heavy in the air weighing everyone down.

The narrative jumps forward and backwards in time and frequently switches perspective among its many characters. While the experimentation is tolerable, the book did lose momentum for me after a solid buildup.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐