Paralysed by grief, Blum feels caught in a nightmare from which she can’t escape. Massimo, Mark’s partner has promised that the killer will be quickly caught but the police make no progress. Their happiness is shattered when Mark is killed in what appears to be a tragic hit and run accident after leaving for work. Mark still works for the police and Blum is running her family’s undertaking business. She and Mark live in wedded bliss with their two children and Mark’s elderly father, Karl. The method of killing is both ingenious and gruesome, it happens to be one of the best written scenes in the book and I won’t spoil it by revealing exactly what happens.įast forward eight years and Blum has married the policeman who discovered her dead parents. After years of psychological and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents, our anti-heroine has hit upon exactly the right way to exact revenge and better yet, make the whole thing appear to be a tragic accident. Now Austrian author Bernhard Aichner has added his character, widow and mortician Brunhilde Blum, to a list stretching from Jim Thompson’s sheriff Lou Ford (The Killer Inside Me) to Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter.īlum is only just an adult when she kills her first victims – her adoptive parents. As readers, we are asked to empathise with every type of criminal, from small time grifters to murderers, sociopaths and even serial killers. Vivid, tense, and written with breakneck narration, this novel introduces Bernhard Aichner as a rising star in crime fiction.Written by Bernhard Aichner, translated by Anthea Bell - Placing the reader in a moral dilemma by asking them to empathise with a transgressive protagonist is something crime fiction has always done particularly well. 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 the tug-of-war between good and evil that exists in all of us. She soon learns Mark’s death was no accident-it was murder-and Blum dives headfirst into the abyss to find out why and have her revenge. Time passes quietly until while packing up Mark’s office, Blum discovers a recorded conversation from a case he was investigating. As Blum’s grief over the death of her husband, Mark, overwhelms her, only her two little girls can drag her back to the land of the living. Then in one devastating moment, a hit-and-run changes everything.

She is a successful undertaker, a doting mother, and the loving wife of a decorated police officer. The #1 international bestseller hailed as 'one of the most arresting thrillers' (#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner), Woman of the Dead is the darkly riveting tale of Brünhilde Blum, a successful undertaker whose happiness is struck by tragedy that sets her on the path for revenge.įor the past eight years, Blum has had a good life-a life that masks the terrible secrets of her past.

Woman of the dead by bernhard aichner