Libri di Luca - Mikkel Birkegaard

Title: Libri di Luca
Author: Mikkel Birkegaard
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 447
Date read: June, 2009

Imagine that some people can influence your feelings and thoughts while you read, or if they read aloud to you. That they can seduce you with the most amazing stories, but that they can also manipulate you to think exactly as they want you to.

When Luca Campelli dies a sudden and violent death, his son, the lawyer Jon, inherits the second-hand bookshop Libri di Luca in Copenhagen. Jon hasn't seen his father for 20 years, after the mysterious suicide of Jon's mother.

After Luca's funeral, Jon is let in on the secret of the basement under the shop: before his death, Luca was chairman for the Bibliophilia society and the so-called Lettorer - people with special abilities to influence others through reading.

Luca's death combined with attempted arson at Libri di Luca makes it obvious, that somebody wants to gain power over the Bibliophilia Society. Jon and the dyslexic Katherina have to solve this mystery. But who is the traitor among the Lettors? The mysterious Kortmann? Jon's client, the businessman Remer? Or somebody else entirely?

It's always frustrating to read a really good book in Danish, because I know the chances of it getting translated into English are very slim, and I want to recommend it to others and discuss it with them!

And the first half of this book was "really good". The set-up was interesting, the writing captivating, I got really fond of both Jon and Katherina, and I was completely fascinated by the concept of influencing/manipulating others through reading.

Unfortunately, about half way through the book, a blatant plot-device was used to move the story along. I'd seen it coming a mile off, so it annoyed me that Jon and Katherina hadn't too, and that they were trusting and unsuspecting enough not to see it. The same effect could easily have been achieved in a different way.

The last 100 pages seemed rushed, and not as well thought-out as the rest of the book, leaving me not quite as blown away as I'd expected to be, and with a number of questions left unanswered.

Edit: I stand corrected - it actually has been translated and was published as "The Library on Shadows" on June 9th, 2009
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