The Seven Doors by Agnes Ravatn

Release: September 17th 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Orenda Books
Source: Random Things Tours
Find it at: Amazon, Kindle,Kobo, Book Depository

When the tenant of a house that university professor Nina owns with her doctor husband goes missing after an uncomfortable visit, Nina starts her own investigation but with deeply disturbing results. The long-awaited new thriller from the bestselling author of The Bird Tribunal.

University professor Nina is at a turning point. Her work seems increasingly irrelevant. Also ,her doctor husband is never at home. Further, she has strained relationship with her difficult daughter . Moreover, their beautiful house will be demolished.

Also, she discovers that she and her husband own a house she thought sold years earlier. Things soon take a turn for the worse. Then, the young woman living there disappears, leaving her son behind, the day after Nina and her daughter pay her a visit.

With few clues, the police inquiry soon grinds to a halt, but Nina has an inexplicable sense of guilt. Unable to rest, she begins her own investigation, but as she pulls on the threads of the case, it seems her discoveries may have very grave consequences for her and her family.

Exquisitely dark and immensely powerful, The Seven Doors is a sophisticated and deeply disturbing psychological thriller from one of Norway’s most distinguished voices.

About the Author:

Agnes Ravatn (b. 1983) is a Norwegian author and columnist. She made her literary début with the novel Week 53 (Veke 53) in 2007. Since then she has written three critically acclaimed and award-winning essay collections. Standing still (Stillstand), 2011, Popular Reading (Folkelesnad), 2011, and Operation self-discipline (Operasjon sjøldisiplin), 2014.

In these works, Ravatn revealed a unique, witty voice and sharp eye for human fallibility. Moreover, her second novel, The Bird Tribunal (Fugletribuanlet), was an international bestseller translated into fifteen languages. It also won an English PEN Award, shortlisting for the Dublin Literary Award, a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick and a BBC Book at Bedtime. Also, It was made into a successful play, which premiered in Oslo in 2015. Agnes lives with her family in the Norwegian countryside.

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The Seven Doors Review:

Reading a psychological thriller like “The Seven Doors” is like tasting fine wine; the effects slowly grab on to you and make you satisfied and long for more.

The author also wrote the characters really well. I really liked Nina in the lead. It is refreshing to see an senior citizen in the main role and the author wrote her perfectly! It was also interesting to see how she balanced the frustrations of her personal life versus trying to find out what happened to Mari. In fact, the author wrote all the characters in a dynamic manner that you feel some emotion for them. For example, I despised Ingeborg and her crass, selfish attitude.

Another reason why I really enjoyed the story is how atmospheric it is. Mainly, the suspense and mystery just creeps up slowly as Nina tries to figure out what happened to Mari. Its definitely a change from the fast paced thrillers I read regularly with the sudden twists. Moreover, the author makes most of the Mari’s family members as suspects, so after a certain point you start wondering what really happened to her. The story gets more intricate and interesting as secrets start to unravel and you figure out what is going on.

Perhaps my only criticism for the novel is the author’s writing style. The author has a unique style of writing the dialogues without the quotations. I know a lot of people enjoy this, but personally I found it difficult to read and it slowed down my reading speed. Apart from this, I really enjoyed reading this story.

Overall, the Seven Doors is a very nice psychological thriller that slowly builds up, but leads to a very memorable mystery.