Review of "Reptile Memoirs: A Novel of Suspense" by Silje Ulstein

Most of the story skips back and forth between two times - 2005 and 2017; and two places - Ålesund, Norway and Kristiansund, Norway.

Map showing Ålesund and Kristiansund, Norway


In 2005, nursing student Liv is a damaged young woman, having grown up with a neglectful mother and an abusive brother.



Liv refers to the woman who gave birth to her as 'the woman who calls herself my mother' and gets nauseous if she happens to glimpse her brother Patrick in the street. Thus Liv shuns her family and shares a basement apartment in Ålesund with two young men, Egil and Ingvar, who like bands, beer and parties.



One evening when Liv, Egil, and Ingvar are tipsy they decide to adopt a snake, and get a baby tiger python named Nero.



Liv keeps Nero in her room and becomes obsessed with the snake.



She allows Nero to sleep in her bed and hears him speak to her in his hissing language. Lest you think Liv is delusional, Nero narrates his own chapters, and says he hissed the words 'hunt' and 'food' to 'the warm woman' when he tired of eating carcasses. Liv proceeds to use sneaky means to obtain live food for Nero, such as 'adopting' a kitten for 'her grandmother.'



Egil and Ingvar's parties attract all sorts, and Liv meets a drug dealer named David - who wants to get it on with Liv;



and an artist named Anita - who wants to paint Liv.



We see the outcome of all these relationships as the story unfolds.

*****

In 2017, Kristiansund resident Mariam Lind - who owns the healthcare company OptiHealth - takes her 11-year-old daughter Iben to the Storkaia shopping center mall to buy clothes for school.



When Mariam refuses to purchase a zombie comic book for Iben, the girl runs out in a snit, and Mariam - assuming Iben ran home - goes for a long drive to calm her nerves. When Mariam finally gets home, her husband - politician Tor Lind - says Iben hasn't returned, and the police are called.



A politician's missing daughter is big news, splashed across television and the internet, and the case is assigned to Detective Roe Olsvik - who's especially sensitive because he lost his own daughter Kiddo. Roe, a recent transfer to the Kristiansund Police Department, is a reclusive man. He shuns company and is suffering through a surprise 60th birthday party thrown by his colleagues when he gets word of Iben's abduction.





Roe is immediately suspicious of Iben's parents, and - despite the misgivings of other detectives - seems reluctant to look elsewhere. Roe gets even more doubtful when Mariam takes off to do her own investigation, certain she knows who kidnapped her daughter.

Many secrets are revealed as the story unfolds, and I enjoyed the book, though it lost credibility (for me) toward the end. On the upside, this is an intriguing tale with a good cast of characters, and I especially like the Kristiansund detectives Ronja, Birte, and August, who help solve the case.



I'd recommend the book to thriller fans looking for something a bit different.

The audiobook is narrated by Julie Maisey, who does a fine job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Silje O. Ulstein, and Grove Atlantic Press for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars