BOOK: 1222 (2007) - Quick Review

 Disclaimer: Minor spoilers of the book 1222. All of this is just my opinion based on my experiences reading it. I hope you enjoy!

• Author: Anne Holt
• Series: Hanne Wilhelmsen #8
• Publisher: Corvus
• Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense

Summary: 1222 is the story of how a small group of people find themselves stuck in a hotel during an apocalyptic snow storm. Following a dramatic train derailment at Finse, the conflict between the survivors escalates while a furious hurricane threatens the unprotected village. Nobody is there to help, and there is no way out of the inferno for the survivors hiding out. On the first night at the hotel, a man is found shot and murdered. The victim is Cato Hammer, a priest known nation-wide for his ability – and desire – to get in the papers. Hanne Wilhelmsen, retired Inspector at the Oslo Police, is drawn into a race against time, a murderer, and the worst storm in the Norwegian alps on record. She loses the first round. Soon, another one of God’s servants is murdered, when an icicle cuts through his body…

(From Goodreads)

My thoughts 

I've decided to try something different with this book. I've come to the conclusion that if I write a lenghty,in-depth review about every single thing I consume, I won't have time for anything (who would've imagined...). Sometimes I also don't have a lot to say about something, and that's ok too, so I think this will work well.

Then, onto 1222. I'm a big fan of mystery books, having grown up with Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as my favorite authors. So after seeing Anne Holt described as Norway's best crime author and reading the premise for this book, I was very interested. Decidedly, it didn't disappoint me at all, and made for a nice experience overall.

The event of the crime reminded me a lot of Christie's novels (the protagonist even mentions it!), which is something familiar and automatically well received for me, but also has the risk of falling into the overused. I guess after reading almost every book about Poirot, I start to recognize every constant and things start to blend together. 

But if I thought this would be like And Then There Were None the writing style completely changed my mind. While the more classic mystery books normally had extremely smart and confident characters, the protagonist of 1222 is a lot more unstable and unreliable, despite still being an experienced investigator. Hanne is grumpy, has flawed opinions and clearly went through a lot of trauma, which add a fresh perspective to the book.

The plot was just about what I expected, but it still wasn't very easy to guess the murderer. There were a lot of loose threads to connect, and the mentions of norwegian culture and even some famous people didn't help a lot, seeing as I didn't know anything about them. But in the end, it wasn't anything that complex and the logic was kept intact.

The ending was delivered in a truly Poirot-like way, which ended up being a lot more funny and a lot less cool than I thought it was way back in elementary school, but was still enough to be interesting. We didn't get the full explanations for some things, though, and that was a good way to decrease the feeling of "that seems a bit too convoluted" that always remains when I read a mystery. Hanne is human, after all, and there always are bigger forces in play.

If there was one thing that I didn't liked very much in 1222, I think it would be that some information wasn't explained and was difficult to deduce from context. Without getting much into the actual plot, I still don't understand what was the deal with Adrian in the first place, and some of the relationships of the guests of Finse 1222 are still a little bit foggy. 

Nonetheless, while it wasn't the greatest crime book I've ever read, I enjoyed reading 1222. The plot and characters are engaging, Hanne's point of view is very interesting and I had the opportunity to learn more about Norway in general. There were some topics breached regarding politics and real world problems that are always welcome, specially since crimes generally involve some motivations of the sort. Bonus points for a well portrayed lesbian relationship without making a fuss about it. Hanne and Nefis' relationship is so heartwarming! 1222 deserves an 8/10.