AFTER SHE'S GONE

This gripping Scandinavian noir makes the most of the audio format, alternating between the voices of young Jake, who has blundered into a serial murder case but can’t help the authorities without revealing his own painful secret, and Detective Malin, recalled to her hometown to provide local knowledge for the investigation. Fiona Hardingham makes Malin so sympathetic and likable that we almost miss seeing how her prejudices cloud her judgment. Then Hanne chimes in. She’s a senior psychological profiler deeply involved in the case but now unable to help for her own once-secret reason. Katharine McEwan gives her a hoarseness that subtly suggests that her health is compromised, which it certainly is. This skillful ensemble performance wonderfully serves Grebe’s original, provocative, and high-tension plot. B.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2019]