(I received a free copy of this book as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I’d probably give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. The book was short and didn’t take me long to read, but I can’t say it was an easy book to read.
Tobias and Sara were both interesting characters. As the book progressed, I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for both of the characters, even though I didn’t much like either of them by the end of the book.
I thought it was good that the story was very self-contained, at least to a certain extent. However, it did mean that I didn’t get to know most of the characters. For instance, I would have liked to learn more about Johan. I was interested in how he interacted with both Sara and Tobias, but I found it hard to understand his motivations and how he saw both of the suspects.
I didn’t like Joakim very much, even though there were some intriguing aspects about him. I would have liked some more details about his relationship with Tobias and why things changed so much between them, considering that Tobias seemed to look up to Joakim as a child. I thought that their relationship changed very abruptly… and I would have liked to see more of the tension in their relationship later on.
I was very confused about what both Tobias and Sara were trying to achieve. Tobias clearly showed a darker side to himself, but I felt that the three main characters all did that… and I was disappointed, since I couldn’t get behind any of them.
I would have liked to see the book expanded upon a bit and more details about the area they lived. I didn’t think much of Joakim’s and Tobias’ mother. She didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities to her and I felt she treated her sons very unequally, even though she seemed to be making an effort in the very first scene.
I did think the book ended quite abruptly. I felt that there was more to the story and the characters’ fates that could have been expanded upon. I’m not sure I’d read a sequel to this book, though. I was expecting it to be dark… but I didn’t much like the characters, despite feeling empathy towards them.
Ink of Blood 