World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge – Denmark
Translated from Danish
3.8/5 In 2023, I aimed to read books by “new to me writers” alongside the Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC). Since some of my heritage and much of the “Starry Night Elf” persona derives from Denmark, this seemed extra challenging as I previously sought out Danish writers. Of course, I read Hans Christian Andersen. I also read mysteries by Jussi Adler-Olsen and Sara Blædel. At the start, I wanted a book other than something “Nordic Noir” but, just the title alone of The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis compelled me to read the book.
Learn more about these 2023 SRC by clicking here.
Click here to discover more about 2024 SRC.
Trigger Warnings (TW): Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Trafficking
“Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can’t say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive… Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy’s are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.”
The Boy in the Suitcase made for a quick, fast-paced read. Kaaberbøl and Friis pulled me in with a stunning amount of ferocity. Nina Borg and the three-year old child of the title gained my sympathy in an instant; I finished this book because I wanted to see the kid through to a safe and prosperous end. I must also mention that a quarter of the action, possibly a third, took place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius which added a language barrier to the already dire situation on Borg’s hands. In the end, though, I deducted stars from The Boy in the Suitcase for some of the major ick factor (i.e. – who drugs a child and stuffs him in a suitcase?) and that the book seemed written for a Danish audience. Regarding the latter, the book assumed I knew more about Copenhagen than I do. Still, the book riveted me to it and I might try others in the Nina Borg series.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Starry Night Elf 