"Helle and Death" by Oskar Jensen is a compelling read that delves into the complex dynamics of friendship and the secrets that lie beneath the surface. I really enjoyed how Jensen portrays the group of friends who have grown apart over the years. The author does an excellent job of showing how they never really knew each other to begin with, despite their shared history.

The characters are well-developed, twisted, and their interactions are both realistic and thought-provoking. The tension and unresolved issues among them add a layer of depth to the story that kept me hooked. Jensen's writing style is engaging and makes it easy to get lost in the narrative.

Overall, "Helle and Death" is a fascinating exploration of human relationships and the things we hide even from those we consider closest. The twisted plot adds a gripping element that keeps you guessing. It's definitely worth a read if you're into character-driven stories with a bit of mystery and introspection.

I like a locked room mystery, and this was an enjoyable one, with a good narrator. Good characters with some fun twists and turns.

A brilliant book if you have never read Agatha Christie, or any other 'Who Done It'.
But if you have and you are over the age of 10 and if you have a basic understanding of modern day forensics then this is at best a tedious drab story and at worst is.... you guessed it, a tedious drab story.
At the halfway point in this book I honestly thought that this was some elaborate joke and this story had been written by CHATGPT or any other AI inspired drone that has been fed the whole of Agatha Christie's works and had been asked to regurgitate a who done it. It failed.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The narrator’s voice is engaging and easy to listen to. I story moved a little too slowly for me and the characters didn’t make a lasting impression. This is more of a why-dunnit rather than a who-dunnit which was unexpected. I was left a little disappointed but not entirely unsurprised with the ending, though it was resolved.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook, I liked all of the characters and particularly liked Torben and his comic touches such as we saw at the outset of the book. It did become much more serious as the story developed however, and I was left wondering who the protagonist was. I didn't fall for the obvious red herrings that were dangled, but was convinced (almost hoped) that it was someone else who, again, turned out to be innocent. My only point of irritation was some of the accents, which had a habit of changing whilst still sounding very Northern, no matter where the person was from. This aside, it was a very entertaining listen, and I look forward to the release of the sequel.

This book is a lockdown mystery. I’m not sure how many books I have now read where a storm causes the cast to be shut up in a house for a duration. No way in or out, phones cut, no mobile signal and sometimes a tree across the road too! After the introduction of a journey and settling in for the first evening, this is basically the scenario here. Oh and of course there is a murder which at first looks like suicide.
To be frank, not a lot happens, not much action to speak of so what makes the book, you ask? It is the building up and discovery of the characters. Told mainly from the viewpoint of one guy, Torben who is the Scandinavian friend. You will change your mind again and again about the others, who by the way, all met at university and are now having a reunion. Of course, I am not going to reveal more here, you will want to find out for yourself. I listened to the audio of this book which was an enjoyable way to pass the time whilst doing mundane tasks and also well read. I’m not sure that I would have stuck with the printed version in the same way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery. I loved the mansion setting which was a great place to set this cosy mystery. Definitely one for Agatha Christie fans

An enjoyable whodunnit. The story is a classic locked room mystery.

Bunch of people in their 30s, who were friends a decade ago, brought together in an old mansion, and get snowed in. Then the host is murdered. Yes - it's an Agatha Christie revival, this time with a Danish guest-turned-sleuth.

Nobody loves a classic British mystery more than I do, and I'm all for reviving the classic formula. But Helle and Death is a 3-star read for me because it felt rather formulaic. And I mean formulaic, rather than 'homage'. It's clever, well structured and intriguing, so it probably deserves a better review than this, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. This is parotting the classic form while bringing nothing new. Nothing stood out for me apart from the narration: the audio version is a pleasure to listen to.

This was an engaging story to listen to. I didn't especially like the characters and the final twist felt a little far-fetched but I think that goes with the territory in both cases. It certainly kept me entertained on my walks.

A reunion of old university friends turns into a locked in snowbound mystery.
This is a very claustrophobic suicide/murder mystery. Torben a Danish ex pat and Ruth an off-duty police inspector takes it upon themselves to investigate.
The pace of the investigation and checking into recollections of the past slows down the story.
The narrator gives you each character very clearly, but you find the cast difficult to connect with.
There is a very clever twist and reveal to the story which is worth waiting for.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

An author I hadn’t read before, but the description of a murder mystery style whodunnit hooked me in. Sadly, the book was all bait and no story.

A group of old university friends are invited to a reunion weekend at one of the friends requests to his mansion in North East England. They arrive in the winter just as a horrific snow storm is about to hit.

The host is found dead in his bed after the first night. They are cut off from the outside world due to the snow storm, so the murderer has to be one of them!

Some of them then take it on themselves to solve who the murderer is. From then on, it is slow and forever repetitive. From what could have been a good story just bombed for me.

For a relatively short novel, this felt like an eternity. The thrill from the this thriller was stolen, which is possibly the only crime!

The characters, as university pals, didn’t really seem to like each other all that much, well apart from the two who ended up being lesbian lovers.

It just massively undelivered and I am probably being generous giving it 1.5/5, and rounding up to 2, but that is more for the undelivered potential of the storyline. I will not rush back for another Jensen bool.

Actual rating 3.5.

Another great read which is out today, this felt like a bit of a bookish version of Cluedo, minus the candlestick!

This was a fun whodunnit with an interesting cast of characters and suspects, although I have to admit to guessing the culprit fairly early on. That didn’t stop my enjoyment though as I just found the dynamic between this group of old friends quite interesting, and loved the way moments from their past were slowly revealed. Plus I’m always a fan of a posh mansion location!

The only thing I would say, (and maybe I was being especially sensitive at the time?!), is that it did feel like a book written with a male gaze - I occasionally found Torben a bit pervy, and didn’t love the idea that a woman getting fat would instantly ruin her beauty etc etc. It just didn’t feel necessary to the story, and distracted me a bit! But that was a very small part and overall it was a really smart mystery with lots of misdirection to throw the reader and keep them guessing!

When a group of university friends reunite at a secluded manor in Northumberland, none of them expect to find one of their own dead the next morning. But with the lines between suicide and murder blurry, and a severe snow storm trapping them in the house with no phone lines, it’s up to them to determine which of their friends pulled the trigger.

Heavily influenced by Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, this book tries to live up to its locked room predecessors. With no phones allowed in the house and the landline down, you could almost believe it was set many years prior. Unfortunately, I think this book is trying too hard to rival the classics and doesn’t quite live up to that of the greats, when it could instead be trying to be its own thing.

In terms of characters, I think there are two or three too many for each of them to be properly fleshed out, and I found I didn’t really care for any of them. Their motives were all a bit too similar and superficial to warrant murder, and the whole interrogation felt exaggerated and dramatic. I also found it getting more and more predictable as the book went on and the big ‘reveals’ were very much not surprising at all.

I did enjoy the Northumberland setting and that of the secluded Manor House, with the snowed in aspect adding drama and suspense, but overall I found this an okay read.

A clever, twisty mystery. Golden age crime vibes in a super modern setting. If you love Agatha Christie, you’ll love this. Great narrator, too! Another stunner from Viper.

A cozy mystery set in a kind of escape room setting of a high tec millionaire rmansion .
The narrator is spot on. I love the pauses used for dramatic effect. The audio is of a high quality standard. The story is straightforward and easy to follow. Its a whodunit with a couple of extra twists. I loved the final act when the mystery was revealed. It felt like a homage to agatha Christie. I enjoyed every minute it didnt feel too long It was careful written and narrated. A real homage to ll the great mysterys with characters arc and history reveal at critical points. Highly recommended.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author and narrator for his 5 star read

Having really enjoyed Vagabonds, I was very excited to read Jensen’s murder mystery (although I was surprised it was a contemporary story and not Victorian).

Taking inspiration from Agatha Christie, Helle & Death starts off really well, with all of the ingredients we’ve come to expect from cosy crime. A group of old friends summoned to a dinner party in a big old house. During a snowstorm. No mobile phones allowed… oh and there’s a dead body.

Jensen is a good writer and the description is very atmospheric, with a fantastic sense of place and plenty of characters. However, because they are all Oxonians, there is limited variety to their attitudes; I actually struggled to remember who was who and even forgot about two of them, so would have liked a little more characterisation and differentiation.

After a strong beginning, the rest of the book’s pace is extremely slow. I listened to this on double speed (rare for me) and it still dragged a little bit. There are a lot of linguistic explanations, which are interesting at first but gradually become irritating. Torben is a very pretentious character and his grasp of English is clearly better than most native speakers, so his grasping for the right phrase did not work for me and added nothing to the story.

In fact the plot is quite predictable and lacks the red herrings and surprise reveals I love in murder mysteries. A few plot twists feel shoehorned in, particularly a secret relationship between two characters, which is entirely unbelievable and could have been handled better.

That said, it’s a decent – albeit long – story, but not one to rival the queen of crime.

Really enjoyed this audio book, Gunnar Cauthery was a fabulour narrator.

You know you've hit the nail on the head when all you want to do is sit infront of a logfire, close your eyes (every now and then opening them to reach for your hot chocolate) and listen to an audio book. I loved it.

Stuck in a remote mansion due to snow, you know the only outcome is murder! So many fantastic characters, I loved Torben and Layla and always enjoyed their moments. A cosy thriller that lets you relax and just listen, allowing your mind to wander and try to make sense of it all. Great job.

A modern crime thriller with classic murder mystery stylings. When old university friends gather together on Anthony’s invitation to his old Manor House, he informs them of some terrible news. The group take to drinking to drown their sorrows. But the next morning things soon take a strange turn when the host turns up dead in his own bed. At first believe to be a suicide, it soon becomes clear that there is more to this than meet the eye. Snowed in and with no phoneline, Art historian Torben Helle and Police Officer Ruth are tasked with investigating as best they can to try and narrow down the list of suspects from the guest list of Torben, Ruth, Leila, Sara, Francis, Wilson and Tom. One of their friends must have murdered Antony.

I enjoyed the tongue in cheek jokes and there is a good balance characters, some loveable, some loathsome. Tom is truly awful and definitely reminiscent of an awful slice of British society. The book is overall an entertaining read, but I didn’t think the epiphany was particularly clever, I had wondered why they didn’t do this at the very start, especially when they has already been looking at similar things in their investigation. Although perhaps I have read too many of these types of books!

The narrator was good and on point with emphasis and humour.

A country house in a blizzard, full of old Oxford University friends brought back together, makes a good setting for solving a murder. The characters are charming but annoyingly over privileged, the twists and turns have a few red herrings and it’s quite old fashioned whilst being set in current times. It’s really quite difficult to know what to make of it but I wanted to hear how it finished.
The narrator of the audiobook was suitably impressive with a wide repertoire of accents. His Scottish accent makes you think it’s being read by David Tennant.
Thanks to Netgalley for this book in exchange for a review.

This was a fabulous cosy crime novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie or Richard Osman.
A light hearted locked room mystery that I would definitely recommend.