#BiteSizeSaturday goes #20booksofsummer20: #Orentober sneak preview

Hi and welcome to #BiteSizeSaturday!

As you might recall I put a few Orenda books on my summer reading list in preparation of #Orentober. I was planning on sitting on those reviews until October, but I’ve decided to abide by the rules like a good little blogger and I’m therefore sharing some Orenda review snippets here and now, an #Orentober sneak preview if you will.

For those of you who have never heard of #Orentober: it’s a month-long celebration of Orenda Books in October. Orenda Books is one of my favourite publishers out there, housing some of my favourite authors and some of my all-time favourite books.

We Were the Salt of the Sea by Roxanne Bouchard is a mesmerizing novel that made me want to hop into the car and drive to the coast to sit and gaze at the sea. If you’re looking for a run-of-the-mill police procedural, an off-the-peg murder mystery, move along, you won’t find it here. But what you will find is a beautiful, lyrical love story, not so much between people (although there is some of that), but between humans and the sea, a devastating love, a terrible love.

Epiphany Jones by Michael Grothaus is a masterpiece that rendered me quite speechless. Violent and brutal but purposefully so, and somehow very realistic, that’s Epiphany Jones, and that’s what made it hard to read sometimes. I was glad for the pitch-black humour and the sarcasm, the twists and the suspense that allowed me to believe for a little while at least that it was mere entertainment.
Epiphany Jones made me grin, it made me cry, it made me cringe, it made me angry, it made me physically recoil, it had me captivated throughout, and I still haven’t recovered. A phenomenal read and definitely one of my books of the year, if not decade.

Faithless by Kjell Ola Dahl is is the seventh Oslo Detectives novel and the first one published by Orenda Books. The chapters are short and snappy, just the way I like it, always tempting me to read just one more but ending up reading five chapters more and as such, I flew through it. The investigations point to a cold case, a stalker and multiple suspects, and I gobbled it all up. A rather short read that I’d happily recommend to readers who enjoy Nordic Noir detective stories!

The Seven Doors by Agnes Ravatn crept up on me, crawling under my skin until I realised I was unable to walk away and I ended up reading most of it in one sitting. It is not one to race through though. I’m usually a fast reader but I had to slow down for this one. It is too subtle for any kind of speed-reading, I needed to slow down to catch its subtleties, its intricacies, but also to let it work its magic. I loved the slow burn, the feeling of impending doom while being unsure which corner the blow would come from. I adored the folkloric elements, the fairy tales, the tale of Bluebeard’s Castle, the Freudian references, and the manner in which all these threads are woven together in one coherent piece when one would expect a patchwork quilt. I loved it, and if Nordic Noir is your bag, I think you will too!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you read any of these, or are they on your TBR, let me know below!