L'ombra del Potere by Viveca Sten

 I love every book written by Viveca Sten and this latest one, L'Ombra

del Potere is another wonderful one.

The impression is that the island of Sandhamn is not a boring place at all. 

Nora is back to the island with his family, Jonas and her daughter Julia, for the summer vacation. She is happy because she received recently a promotion and life was great. She is of course, pretty soon informed that in the place there is a newcomer: someone from London, mr Carsten Jonsson. He is a business man and decided to buy a big, immense and incredibly rich property that he is restorating for him and his family. The character of Carsten is complex, his business are pretty diversified like also the people with which he interacts with. Tensions with the people of the island are constantly increasing; dead animals are found close to their house as an admonition, but also other unpleasant things happen always more often. For trying to resolve this story, in an island always more exclusivist, Carsten decides to organize a party. The party in itself is a success but at the end someone will burn the depandance and someone is found dead. Considering that the man died carbonized at first it is impossible to recognize the sex of the person. Maybe a man because of some early indications, but...At first investigators thought that the man could be Carsten... Carsten is not living at all a financial moment pretty happy, let's use this euphemism, but was found alive. There are other problems in his existence and the failure is the cause, for this man of an escalation of violent acts started into his family. Celia is horrified, because her husband has never been violent. She would want to go away but she doesn't know how to do that.

Indagating and investigating appear clear something: that Carsten hasn't been grown in an environment (we speak of work) ethical; all the opposite.

Celia of course, after the violent altercation with the husband, because of their kid, is not fine at all; Maria, her babysitter is also leaving because Carsten has been too clear with her as well. She had seen what happened the day before between them.

Alone, isolated, with a violent man.

But Carsten in this moment doesn't have any pale idea of continuing the altercation with the wife. He knows that someone is cheating him and he must speak with him, trying to change the contract that, apparently he should sign...

Celia is found in miserable state, while Carstem will reach a new enemy...

At the end the story will be completely different from the one imagined by the investigators; maybe more sad, and more important, the gesture of someone changed the existences of most people in the island.

Another intense book by Viveca Sten that you won't put down till the end.

Highly recommended.

I thank Marsilio for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori