I was drawn in by the cover for this read and was curious about a Denmark mystery crime. The characters in this story were what I call realistic fiction writing. Their lives were messy and uncomfortable and real. The writer did a good job laying out the mystery and it wasn’t predictable but I had trouble with the MC. The closure of this case still made me uneasy and I guess I just wanted some pleasantness. Over all well done.
Thanks Muswell Press via NetGalley.

This is a great Scandi Noir book. I loved the main character. He is so quirky. The plot is so twisty. This book covers some hard hitting topics and the author handles. This sensitively. A great book.

This is a real page turner. It had me hooked right from the first page. I literally couldn’t put it down. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It was exciting fast paced great plot that played out well

My Name is Jensen is a fantastic read that is Scandi Noir at its very best. We meet the enigmatic Jensen, a fascinating character who I couldn’t help but warm to from the very first page. Then there’s DI Henrik Jungerson who finds himself pitted against Jensen and fighting a strong attraction to the reporter he is desperate to deny.

I loved this book. A fast paced thriller that keeps you on your toes throughout, this is a book I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end.

It took me a while to get to My Name is Jensen, but when I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of the next book in the series The Girl in the Photo, I knew it was finally the time to bump it up my list. And I’m so glad I read this first book in the series before reading the second one as it really did make for a much richer reading experience, giving all the background detail I could possibly need.

But it is also a brilliant thriller in its own right and gave a wonderful introduction to the character of Jensen. Scandi Noir at its very best, My Name is Jensen is a book I would highly recommend.

Compelling Scandi-Noir…
Compelling Scandi-Noir and the first of a series featuring reporter/journalist Viggo Jensen. Packed with atmospherics, well rounded and well crafted characters and a swiftly moving and intriguing plot. Exciting contemporary crime.

This was a great opening in a new Scandi noir series that left me looking forward to getting to know these characters a lot better. Jensen is a journalist living in Copenhagen after spending several years in London as the British correspondent for a Danish newspaper. She still hasn’t quite found her feet in the city, and knows that she’s very lucky to still have a job considering the job cuts at work. Her editor Margrethe has faith in her ability to sniff out a story and one morning, while cycling to work. Jensen stumbles across the body of a young man with a large placard saying guilty on his chest. His eyes are covered with new fallen snow and it’s clear that he has several stab wounds to the abdomen. He’s also homeless, Jensen calls her ex-lover Detective Henrik Jungerson to report the murder, even though she’s been trying to avoid him since her return. Jensen doesn’t want to exploit such a sad death for newspaper headlines. Nor will she sensationalise it, However as more bodies are found it’s clear a serial killer is on the loose. Why would someone choose the homeless as their victims? Jensen has to investigate further.

I really enjoyed Jensen’s character. She’s rather mysterious and I think the author was clever to drop.clues and hints about her in this first book of the series. It left me wanting to discover more and delve into her past, not least her relationship with Henrik. It certainly isn’t over. She’s determined and dogged once the story has piqued her journalistic interest and it’s probably true to use the word ‘obsessed’ when describing how she investigates. She feels very real because of the way she’s written - it’s like slowly getting to know a new acquaintance rather than having a fully formed person. She’s also a bit prickly and is very used to navigating a rather male dominated workplace. Her tension with Henrik leaps off the page and I’m very interested to see where their relationship goes next, as well as unearthing a bit more about their past.

The fact that Jensen focuses on finding out about the killer’s victim rather than the killer suggests a lot of empathy and a keen sense of social justice underneath the spikiness. She leaves Henrik to look for the killer and he’s soon connecting it to a previous suspicious death. They are a good team in this way, each with their own methods, but sharing information along the way. I think the book touches on a lot of current problems in our society, particularly how the world’s economic structure is creating horrendous poverty. Issues such as mental health, drug abuse and of course, homelessness are featured in the book and I thought the author wrote about this with understanding borne out of real life experience and conviction. The story was fast paced and very compulsive reading, There are twists and turns along the way in the investigation and moments where Jensen feels inundated with information, but none of it is making any sense. The tension builds towards the conclusion and these are the really addictive parts that I found myself reading in the car, the hospital waiting room and till 2am while on holiday! This was a fantastic opener to, what is now, a much anticipated series.

It takes a while to warm up (literally!) to this mystery, but who doesn’t love a nordic thriller? Heidi Amsinck’s background as a journalist also helps inform more of her lead character. Definitely one to add to your TBR pile if you love crime.

This is a great read that ,once it began to grip me,I thoroughly enjoyed. there are some great characters and the pacing was good.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sorry, but mine is an outlier opinion. This book left me feeling so meh that I'm not even in the mood to write a proper review.

Story:
Jensen, the star reporter of a top newspaper in Copenhagen, discovers a corpse on her way to work. It turns out to be the body of a homeless guy stabbed to death a few hours earlier. When Jensen gets in touch with her ex-lover, DI Henrik Jungerson, she finds out that there was another killing in a similar pattern a few weeks earlier. Is there a serial killer at large in one of the safest cities in the world?


What I liked about the book:
• Some of the secondary characters such as Gustav (Jensen's assistant), Liron the Coffee guy and Aziz the driver are really well-sketched.
• It integrates the bleak, cold Scandinavian landscape very well into the story.
• I couldn’t guess the killer. (This might also be because I was too bored to use my sleuthing skills.)
• It does fair justice to the noir genre. There are no clear rights and wrongs, and no delineated good or bad characters. The whole structure and the lead characters are as gray as the locale the story is set in.
• The cover is fantastic. 👀 (I’m trying really hard to think of positives!)

What I didn't like about the book:
• It's too slow and goes all over the place. There are too many crimes and hardly any investigators, one of whom is a journalist! It appears that one of the crimes sets the base for the next book in the series, and that is even more irritating, considering how much times is spent on the details of that crime within this book itself.
• Though the book is supposed to be a crime noir, there's hardly any thrill involved except for the finale. The focus is more on the noir and less on the crime.
• The lead characters aren't likeable for most of the plot duration. Jensen turns out to be a journalist who's more interested in solving the murders than in handling whatever work she was supposed to do. We keep hearing that she's a fabulous reporter but most of the story depicts her sleuthing skills than her journalistic prowess. Henrik Jungersen is a selfish, judgemental, adulterous jerk who is a good policeman and bad at everything else. I am okay with unlikeable characters if they are depicted in a more multi-faceted way or with some look at their back story to know why they are how they are. Both are missing in this book.
• The book bites off more than it can chew. Within the guise of a murder investigation, there are political comments on the refugee crisis, the homeless and the ruling government. Add to this drug abuse and mental health issues and you have a virtual cornucopia of unrelated themes shoved together. While the political issues might resonate with Danish citizens, this stretched amalgamation killed the focus and pace of the narrative even more than is typical within noirs.


Overall, if you are looking for a slow-burn Scandinavian crime noir from Denmark, do give this a go. As most other readers still seemed to have liked this book, it might just be I who picked it up at the wrong time and was let down by my expectations.


Thank you to Muswell Press and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I have listened to and enjoyed all Amsinck's radio short stories and but this is the first book. An easy unfussy read. A bit different with an investigating journalist as the main character, instead of the usual police/detective etc. I don't know if this is/will be part of a series but happy to read more involvingJensen. Thanks to Netgalley.

3.3 Stars

Jensen is back home in Copenhagen and working as a journalist for Dagbladet. Her day starts with discovering a dead body that leads to more murders. She calls Henrik, the DI and her (ex) lover, to the crime scene.
The case is nowhere easy to solve, nor is Jensen’s sinking career and messed up life. Can she unravel the mystery and solve the mystery with or without Henrik’s help?
Will it save Jensen’s career? Is that what she wants? What makes the crime different from others? Is it a serial killer on a spree or someone with a motive?
*Unpopular Opinion*
The blurb and the cover were so good, I grabbed the book as soon as I saw a friend add it to her TBR. Since the book was less than 230 pages, I was confident about finishing it in a couple of days. There started my trouble. It took four days to finish the book. Yeah, that too when I’ve been on a reading high. I’ll keep my review brief and to the point.
What I like about the book:
• The structuring of the plotline. The elements are revealed in stages. There’s no information dump anywhere.
• Jensen is not an easy character to like, but she gets better in the second half. It’s not her prickly nature that was a problem, but her way of drifting through.
• Almost every character is flawed. I wished even Aziz had some kind of flaw. Maybe in the next book.
• No unexpected twists or pull the rug moments to shock the readers.
• A female sleuth in noir who isn’t simply a rehashed version of the traditional male detective.
What I wish could have been better:
• A little more about Jensen to understand her better. I realized that this is the first book in the series (and another case is left unsolved for the next book), but it’s hard to root for someone who doesn’t seem fully into her own story (the lead character).
• Too slow for a thriller or even suspense. Though there’s some sort of information or update in most scenes, the overall narrative dragged. I’m wondering if the page count is probably off by 100 pages or so.
• Infidelity is something I don't really like. When the lead characters are part of it, it’s hard to empathize with their pain or conflict. I still admire Jensen for being so honest about it. And yeah, Henrik’s a jerk.
• I don’t prefer sweeping political statements in fiction unless they are very much necessary. Neither do I want to spend time researching the political scenario around the world nor wonder about the author’s inclinations.
• Jensen pretty much not bothering about the case allotted to her because she’s solving this one. And a causal statement about a death at the end. It looked like not all deaths are equal (which is, of course, very true in this world).
To sum up, My Name is Jensen is perfect for readers who like slow-burn suspense that sets the stage for a series or at least a sequel (I wasn’t aware of it).
Thank you, NetGalley and Muswell Press, for the ARC.

As a fan dark Scandi dramas on the tv I loved this book which has all the elements of this genre .without having to read the subtitles ! The freezing cold snowy landscape adds to the drama and character of the book which gains a lot from its setting in Copenhagen and the surrounding countryside
The characters are as unforgiving and brooding as the genre encourages think Girl with the dragon tattoo meets The Bridge .The relationship between the main female journalist character and the policeman is complicated and I can see this developing on subsequent books.I enjoyed the minor characters more the coffee seller for example was beautifully described and believable as was the body guard
I suppose my only criticism would be that we have seen all these main characters before in tv dramas and because of this it might be said that the book is a little predictable ,having said that I did find it an enjoyable fast paced exciting read
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk

My Name is Jensen is the debut thriller from Heidi Amsinck ,and it's very impressive for a first book.

Jensen is a world-weary reporter struggling to reclaim her former star status at Copenhagen newspaper Dagbladet after returning to Denmark from a stint as their correspondent in London. On her way to work one morning she comes across the body of what appears to a homeless man and calls the police.
More specifically she calls D.I. Henrik Jungersen , just one of the men she has a somewhat complicated relationship with. From there the hunt for what appears to be a serial killer targeting the homeless begins......but things become a whole lot more complex than that.

It took me a little while to warm to Jensen, she's hardly a sympathetic personality ,but as the book goes on a very complex and interesting,if not always likeable,character emerges. She's a lady with a history,mostly of attracting the wrong kind of male attention, she's stubborn and deeply annoying while somehow having a stream of male admirers who hold her in deep affection.

This is a great read that ,once it began to grip me,I thoroughly enjoyed. there are some great characters and while it initially appears to be a "run of the mill" Scandi-noir thriller there is a lot more to the story than first meets the eye.
There's a second story-line running through the tale and things are set up for another book .Perhaps a bit optimistic for a new author but in this case I can see this being the first of several "Jensen" books.

A great read that is entertaining,quite dark and introduces plenty of fascinating characters for what I'm sure will turn out to be a very popular series.

My Name is Jensen is a compelling slow-burning Scandinavian noir and the first instalment in a new crime thriller series featuring Viggo Jensen. Meet Jensen, a thirty-something female journalist who has recently returned to her native Copenhagen after her job working as a foreign correspondent in London for the last 15 years for newspaper Dagbladet has been cut, although she hasn't been let go from the company altogether due to editor Margrethe Skov trusting her eye for a good story. After the years spent in England, though, she is feeling a little like a fish out of water now that she is back in her hometown and her enthusiasm for writing seems to have waned. Whilst cycling through a snowy Copenhagen on her ride to work bright and early on a frigid Tuesday morning, she stumbles across the body of a young street beggar and homeless man near Magstræde with the word Guilty written on a cardboard sign on his chest. His head is turned towards the sky and his eye sockets filled with snow. Perhaps in his mid-twenties, but definitely younger than Jensen, it's clear he has been stabbed multiple times in the stomach.

She decides to call DI Henrik Jungerson, her married ex-lover who she has been avoiding since she got home, to report the body, and although the deaths of the homeless generally make newspaper headlines in the capital city of the country described as the happiest in the world, Jensen has no desire to report on or sensationalise it much to the chagrin of Margrethe. That said, she is interested in finding out who the young man was, what his story was, why he was living on the streets and why he was murdered in such a brutal and violent manner. Police begin to wonder, during their investigation, whether a killer is targeting homeless individuals as they connect it to another murder two weeks prior. As Jensen becomes almost obsessed with covertly investigating the case, the more she discovers the less sense it all makes to her. Then when a third murder occurs, the police realise they really do have a serial killer in their midst. This is a gripping and compulsively readable police procedural crime thriller set in the heart of Scandinavia, and I was almost instantaneously pulled into the story.

It is a beautifully constructed, propulsive read, rich with character, loaded with atmosphere and utterly entertaining. An absorbing start to what promises to be a stellar new crime series. With a complex plot ripe with clever twists, dizzying misdirection and slow-burning suspense, there is a captivating mystery at its heart and in many ways, protagonist Jensen is a fascinating, idiosyncratic yet enigmatic character who I can't wait to learn more about. Gritty, authentically portrayed noir laden with unexpected turns and the relationship and dynamic between her and Hendrik appears fraught with tension. I loved Jensen's real and raw nature, and although she comes off as a spiky cornucopia of contradictions very much inhabiting a male-dominated work sphere, many of the others characters are warm and more straightforwardly likeable. An exciting and engrossing novel that encompasses some important topical themes - mental health, drug abuse, homelessness and capitalism-induced poverty - and juggles several possible suspects as well as perfectly depicting time and place. Highly recommended.

This story of a young boy’s murder on the snowy streets of Copenhagen is compelling and well written. I loved the character of the flawed heroine Jensen and her sidekick Gustav and the book left me wanting to know more about both Gustav’s and her back history. Unusually in a detective story, the author paid as much attention to her characters as to the plot and the reader ends up really caring about the outcome and what happens next to them. The novel is set up perfectly for a sequel and I, for one, can’t wait.

Thank you for sharing this book with me, and for introducing me to Heidi Amsinck. I loved this book, detailed characters, cynical humour, good plot with lots of twists, both for Jensen and the murders. I found the style similar to that of Simone Buchholz, who I also enjoy. Highly recommended.

Jensen stumbled across a homeless guy's corpse one day and her already confusing life just became a lot more confusing. She had to contact and confront the one relationship she tried her best to avoid ever since she returned from London to Denmark, with the policeman, Helnik.

Jensen is a good reporter, but her reporting skills are in the backseat in this novel, and she is at a point in her life where her curiosity and the knack of finding the truth has overtaken her need to tell the world the story. So she is as persuasive as a character could get, which makes her a good character.

The one deterring factor in this book was infidelity for me since I am anything but a fan of it, but my relation with the book was pretty much like Jensen's relation with Helnik, I couldn't part with it for long intervals.

All the characters were intriguing, Liron, Gustav and Aziz, being my favorite, everyone of them lend something to the story. The mystery was good, more like hiding in the plain site that I liked about it. And the fact that it ended on an open note, signifies another book can be there which I'd love to read.

If you're into Nordic Noir, or just mysteries with flawed characters based in an almost real premise, then you should go for this.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher to provide me an ARC in return of an honest review.

One of my favourite books of the year.
Set in Copenhagen, Jensen is a journalist. Recently returned from London she is back at Dagbladet as special reporter however she is struggling to write anything for the paper.
She finds a young man dead in the snow, stabbed to death which seems to awaken her spirit/ interest in life and work again.
So begins her quest to find out who the young man was and why he died. This inevitably leads her into contact with her ex married lover - Henrik Jungersen, the detective investigating his murder and that of a previous man found stabbed.
I loved the style of writing, the relationships between the main protagonists, the twists and turns and the descriptions of Copenhagen and Denmark .More murders follow and Jensen and Henrik, in their love/hate relationship try to uncover the truth and the murderer.
4.5 Stars

Thanks to Muswell Press and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The body of a homeless man by journalist Jensen. Convinced that the police investigation has got it wrong Jensen can't help but get involved and takes matters in to her own hands.

Well worth a read and I'll definitely look out for more books by Heidi Amsinck in the future.

I am finding myself increasingly drawn to Scandi noir and so when offered the opportunity to read this new title from Heidi Amsinck I was more than happy. I'll be honest, despite knowing a few people who hail from Denmark, it's not a country I know a lot about or one I've read a lot of literature from so I welcomed the opportunity to try something a little new. What I found with My Name is Jensen is a slow burning novel which piqued my interest from the start and maintained its mystery and misdirection right to the end.

This is the story of journalist, Jensen, who discovers the body of a young man whilst on her daily ride into work. Although as a journalist you'd expect her interest to be triggered by the murder, she is reluctant to report on the story itself, her focus falling more on the victim and the whys and wherefores of how he came to be living, and dying, on the streets in the midst of a snowstorm. The more she learns, the less it all makes sense and the more Jensen, and by default, me as reader, gets drawn into the story. And this is no straightforward story, the author turning the tables on what you might first believe is happening, certainly leaving a very perplexing trail of bodies across the city to keep the local police well and truly baffled.

I won't lie, Jensen is not an easy character to get to know, or like. She's very complex, spiky almost and it took time to settle into my stride reading the book. She has all the determination and stubbornness of a great protagonist, and her instincts are largely proven to be spot on, but she is quite cool, almost aloof, and not someone it is easy to warm to. And yet she seems most popular amongst the male population, perhaps because she is seen as the slightly (or often completely) unattainable woman in their lives. There is a strong chemistry between Jensen and Detective Henrik who is investigating the murders, but nothing in their relationship is straightforward and it adds a kind of conflict to a story which is already keeping readers on edge.

There is a certain amount of tension which is maintained throughout the novel, a sense of threat which bubbles along under the surface of the main story. We are drip fed a number of suspects, all of whom have reason to dislike at least one of the victims, but all of whom seem to have unshakeable alibis. I had guessed part way through the story as to where this was likely to lead, a suspicion which was proven true by the end but I was still intrigued by the story, more so from around the halfway point when we knew a lot more about the first victim and the pool of suspects. A bit like Jensen, the more i read, the more I wanted to know about the first victim, Thomas, knowing that his story, as tragic as it appeared, was likely the key to everything. And the author has done a great job of making him appear a very sympathetic victim, making the reader invested in him, no matter what we learn about him along the way.

From a character perspective, the author has done a great job in surrounding the perhaps less lovable Jensen with people who made me smile. Aziz, although the strong silent type himself, was someone I took to pretty quickly and, in spite of their unhealthy obsession with Jensen, Henrik and Esben kept me invested in their parts of the story. Gustav, as an initial thorn in Jensen's side eventually comes into his own in the way only the youth of today can (how old do I sound?). And I just wish I had a coffee making Liron in my life ...

This is a very traditional feeling thriller with a real mystery at its heart. There is a subplot which never gets resolved and leaves the impression that there is still more to come from Jensen. And I'm glad about that. She may not be the warmest hero in modern fiction, but Jensen has a grit which makes her intriguing and unpredictable to go on a journey, with and lord knows what she'll lead us all into next.