By: Bernhard Aichner
Series: Blum Trilogy #1
ISBN: 9781476775616
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: 8/25/2015
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars
The riveting #1 bestseller from Austria: the story of an undertaker—a “vengeance goddess” with a dark past—who makes a vow to hunt down her husband’s murderers.
Blum is a mortician—an outspoken woman in a male dominated profession. She is also the loving mother of two young children, adored by those around her for her kind heart, her strength, and her sharp wit. Blum rides a motorcycle, and likes to spend time with friends and her husband, Mark, a policeman. She has been happily married to Mark for eight years, a perfect union. Blum has a good life—a life that masks the terrible secrets of her childhood.
Then, in one devastating moment, Mark is killed before Blum’s eyes. A hit-and-run. The most important thing in her life, her support and happiness, is taken from her. Blum grieves, but she refuses to accept her fate. She soon discovers that there is more to Mark’s death than meets the eye. This was no accident. A shadowy group of people wanted Mark dead. But why? Blum is determined to find out—and to have her revenge.
Woman of the Dead, the first book in a trilogy, is an unforgettable thriller about the lengths one passionate woman will go to for vengeance, and about the tug of war between good and evil in all of us. Writing with breakneck narration and rapid-fire dialogue, Bernhard Aichner is poised to follow in the steps of Jo Nesbo, Camilla Läckberg, and Jussi Adler-Olsen to become Europe’s new breakout star in crime fiction.
About the Author
BERNHARD AICHNER was born in 1972 and lives in Innsbruck, Austria, where he works as an author and photographer. He writes novels, audio plays and stage plays and has been awarded several literature prizes and scholarships for his works.
His thriller Woman of the Dead has been a long-time bestseller in Austria and Germany. Up to now the novel was sold in sixteen countries including the USA and the UK. A film version is currently in pre-production. House of the Dead, the second novel in the Blum trilogy, continues the successful series.
Aichner spent half a year working for an undertaker to do research for Woman of the Dead. Website Twitter Interview With the Author
Photo Credit: copyright by "fotowerk aichner"
My Review
WOMAN OF THE DEAD by Berhnard Aichner is one edgy, wacky, evil, tense, wicked, suspenseful, and thoroughly creepy mystery crime psycho-thriller. "Female Vigilante Justice, at its finest!" Meet Brünhilde Blum, a 24-year-old undertaker in Innsbruck. A beautiful mortician married to the love of her life, a cop, Mark. They met on boat out at sea, while her creepy adopted parents drowned. With a dark past, she never thought she could be so happy, with two beautiful girls and a loving husband. Mark’s elderly dad, a former cop, moves in with them, and completes their happy home at the Villa. Blum’s idyllic life is destroyed when her husband is run down and murdered by a hit-and-run driver in front of their house. Being a cop, Mark is always involved in danger, and loves the thrill of his fast motorcycle. Blum is devastated, and everything she loves has been taken away. How can she go on? She vows she will find his killer, even though the cops do not have any leads---She will find the killer and the man who ran her husband down. She wants justice. She has to remain strong for her children. After his death she comes across some conversations on his phone; a ring of sadistic evil, slavery, torture, abuse; immigrants, a woman, victims--and her husband Mark was trying to help, gathering information and got too close. There are five powerful men and she will track them down and kill them one by one. She will do it for her children, her husband, and the victims. Fearless, Blum will use her business, (she is unafraid of the dead), her loyal employee (Reza, with a past), and all her resources as a mortician to take out this ring of evil and abuse. With a ready coffin and a hearse at her fingertips, she is a scary power house! Driven by a dark past, and a powerful need for retaliation, love, and grief –however, who can she trust? How far will she go? A labyrinth of creepy twists and grotesque turns--assured to offer readers graphic nightmares and sleepless nights; an undertaker, a hearse, crematorium, coffins, bloody corpses, dismemberment, saws, body parts; masked men--a clown, a priest, a cook, a photographer, and an strong obsession for REVENGE. This taut, heart-pounding fast-paced page-turner thriller, will leave you breathless—anxiously awaiting the next installment with this terrifying new trilogy. Engrossing and explicit, --- one of those books you cannot put down, as you peak around the corner; not for the faint-hearted! In the theme of Jennifer Hillier (The Butcher), Paul Cleave, Karin Slaughter, Mark Edwards, Lisa Gardner, Gillian Flynn, Laura Lippman and Stephen King --sexy hot Austrian Aichner will wow you with danger and violence, with his intriguing female protagonist who will stop at nothing for retaliation. Can’t wait to see what comes next! For those who enjoy vigilante movies such as Gran Torino, Dexter, Death Wish, The Equalizer, Falling Down, and Death Sentence, will devour. WOMAN OF THE DEAD is the first book of a crime trilogy by award-winning Austrian author Bernhard Aichner, as well as his first novel to be translated into English. Welcome to the US!
"Woman of the Dead is both a thriller and a love story. Blum, like Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter, is a serial killer, a character who does terrible things, but the novel wouldn’t work if you didn’t sympathize with her and feel her pain."
Enjoyed reading the inspiration behind the book from the author: Yes, indeed it works-great research. Read More
A special thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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