Flame Tree Press Blog Tour - Human Resources

 

TITLE: Human Resources (Anders Nordvelt #2)

AUTHOR: Robin Triggs

PUBLISHER: Flame Tree Press

PUBLISHING DATE: November 2020

FROM GOODREADS:

The sequel to Night Shift, praised by Crime Review and Cemetery Dance. 

Antarctica. A city on the edge of nowhere. 

Anders Nordvelt is chief of security in this frozen land, so, when a prominent member of a dissident group is murdered, it is his job to find the killer. Unsatisfied with the obvious explanation, Anders keeps pushing until the body of a colleague turns up in his apartment. 

Could Anders really be the killer? Why does he half-remember wielding the knife? And why are the whispers of a fabled Human Resources black-ops team getting ever louder? As for Anders, he’s about to enter a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a ruthless killer.  

MY THOUGHTS: I absolutely adored Night Shift and even rated it 5/5.  I wanted to love this sequel just as much and I almost did.  However, the first one had the whole trapped-in-the-snow-and-might-die vibe which happens to be one of my favorite tropes and it wouldn't make sense for this to be exactly the same thing right?

Anders is now Chief of Security and in fact, all the survivors of the last novel show up in some fashion, which I enjoyed because the reader gets to see bits of what happened after Night Shift ended.  Anyway, a group of individuals have been sent to help build the new community and some aren't so happy.  In fact, a group of them advise they really had no choice and don't want to be there.  Little things start happening in the colony and someone is found dead.  Anders is in charge of figuring out the mystery, but when another body shows up in his apartment, he's left to wonder what role he played in the deaths.  

I really enjoyed watching the mystery unravel and while I won't go as far as saying the book was action-packed, it did have a pretty energetic pacing.  I'm not sure I really like Anders but I also don't feel my uncertainty made me like the book any less.  The only thing I'm sure of is that I would never hire Anders for anything because death and disaster sure have a way of following him around.  I also have to admit that the author did a good job of stumping me on the culprit because as soon as I had a suspect in my sights, my theory would get blown and I would have to develop another one.

I don't know if this is a planned series but if so, I'll definitely be picking up the other.   Definitely a solid choice for anyone who like me, loves snowy mysteries.

RATING: 4 PAWS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robin was raised in a Bradford library but now lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and freshly-minted small person. Trained as an archaeologist, he now works as a proofreader when not wrangling tourists at the Bodleian Library.