The Girl in the Fog

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of The Girl in the Fog, a stand alone police procedural set in the mountains of Northern Italy.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl in the Fog which is a mesmerising read with some incredible twists at the end. As this is my first novel by Mr Carrisi I can't judge his approach but I found it unusual and highly effective. The novel begins 62 days after 16 year old Anna Lou Kastner's disappearance when Vogel is arrested after a car crash with blood on clothes. As he is physically unharmed but disorientated he is interviewed by psychiatrist Dr Flores and the story of his investigation into Anna Lou's disappearance follows.

Most of the novel hinges on Vogel's unorthodox investigative techniques. From the start he is convinced that Anna Lou has been kidnapped and is probably dead so he uses the media to drum up interest which, in turn, gets him the resources he needs. He is an ambiguous character with no morals or scruples and Mr Carrisi exploits this fully - I was never totally sure what his involvement in Anna Lou's disappearance was. He is an inspired creation.

The novel also backtracks to see the investigation from the point of view of one of the prime suspects which further demonstrates Vogel's dodgy investigative methods and allows the author to cast further doubt on his personality through the views of others. It is also a telling indictment of how the press and public react to a named suspect.

The contrast between the two stories is gripping. Fortunately they mostly run consecutively rather than concurrently so each narrative is complete, allowing the reader to concentrate on each without distraction.

Mr Carrisi makes the point on more than one occasion that no one remembers the victims, only the killers and Anna Lou is a case in point. She is an innocuous, innocent child who loves cats and goes to church. She is incidental to Vogel's hunt for a potential killer and almost less than that to the killer. It is cleverly done.

The Girl in the Fog is a character driven novel but the plot is also well done. The slow build up of events and discoveries is fascinating. I never knew where it was going and the twists at the end are amazing, clever and a real surprise. This may be my first novel by Mr Carrisi but it won't be the last.

Lastly I would like to say that I think Howard Curtis's translation is very good. There is no awkwardness in it and it reads well.

The Girl in the Fog is a clever, compulsive read, probably one of my books of the year which I have no hesitation in recommending.