An addictive thriller debut about the darkest desires possible.
Author: Villy Lindfelt
Finnish original: Miltä tuntuu tappaa
Publisher: Siltala, 2020
Genre: Thriller
Number of pages: 280 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample, English synopsis
Technology lawyer Mia Lund is desperately trying to scour new clients for her solo law firm, all the while striving to survive the challenging life of a single parent. A message from Mia’s former client Robert Holmster gets her hopes up momentarily. The company founded by Holmster, AR Combat Technologies, is globally recognized, and an assignment might wipe away Mia’s financial troubles for a long while.
However, the meeting with Holmster goes against her plans. The mentally unstable Holmster tells Mia something she can hardly believe, and offers her an assignment that is both disturbing and unusual. As she accepts the lucrative assignment against her professional principles, she gets drawn back into the world she has managed to avoid for a decade, a world tinged with violence.
Villy Lindfelt’s debut crime novel offers the reader a surprising premise, interesting characters, brilliant plot twists and foreboding on the autumnal streets of Helsinki.
“How It Feels to Kill has a hardboiled name. Equally hardboiled is the beginning of the novel, written as a thriller that deliberately uses cinematic effects in its style. The mood of the story stays focused even though Lindfelt is in places like best-selling Liza Marklund, meticulous with his detail.”
– Ilkka-Pohjalainen newspaper
“Villy Lindfelt’s debut thriller How It Feels to Kill opens to an interesting setup with delightful psychological depth. […] Detailed, fluent narration builds excitement while successfully hooking the reader. […] The whole story works well; it is subtle, and not particularly distressing or crude, even though it deals with the darkest human desires. […] So convincingly does Lindfelt weave the criminal network in his novel that hopefully a sequel will follow.”
– Keskisuomalainen newspaper
“On the crime fiction market that has already seen everything uncountable times, the starting point of Villy Lindfelt’s debut How It Feels to Kill is exceptionally interesting: a man who believes that he has killed someone, wants the death to be ascertained. He also wants to know the identity of the person he shot in the ship container, slaughter-style, and expects punishment worthy of the worst of all crimes. Or is it all just a psychotic delusion?”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
“Lindfelt’s debut novel is so promising – will the young man, born 1976, have courage to continue, leave his day job and become a full-time author? We will wait and see.”
– Kallio newspaper
“Lindfelt’s way of developing the story is smooth and often surprising, so it’s a great debut overall. At many points, I could ‘hear’ how the music crept out to emphasize the sense of threat. The book evoked strong visual images, so it would also fit well into a TV series or a movie.”
– Reader, Why Did I Marry Him literature blog
“What a joy it is to discover the debut by an emerging writer, a thriller that hooks the reader in the most extraordinary way.”
– Munkin Seutu newspaper
“Lindfelt’s distinctive style holds and the work stays effortlessly together. The author’s clear line of thought and the lucid text that reads well – even if the work is not written without a little twinkle in the eye – does not suffer from the lack of the typical, even disgusting effects that are often used for the purpose of shocking the reader.”
– Mummo matkalla literature blog
“The book has an interesting, slightly different plot that holds together well. It has the right amount of characters, which makes the story easy to follow. The everyday life of a single parent is described convincingly. All in all, a successful debut thriller that hooks you right from the start. I hope there will be a sequel.”
– Kaksi sivullista literature blog
“An excellent thriller – draws the reader into the story with no effort.”
– Älä ota sitä niin vakavasti literature blog
About the author:
Villy Lindfelt