Doesn’t the cover of this book look pretty? It landed on my doorstep around the same time we had that weird hail storm which felt pretty apt. When my neighbour poppped round the other day the first thing she did was comment that it lookd intreguing.
Amsinck is an author I hadn’t heard of before but I ve already put Last Train to Helsingor, a collection of short stories in my shopping basket to see what other characters she creates.
The book spans a few weeks and while it feels like a lot happens in that time, realistically little does. Jensen, a journalist, find a dead boy on the way to work. She takes a few photos as she knows it’ll please her boss then calls the local police, who also happens to be her ex booty call.
Something about it being just another homeless murder doesn’t feel right to Jensen and when she refuses to right the story she can’t walk away from finding out the truth. Is it really just another homeless killing from what is now being described as a serial killer or is this different? She walked past the boy yesterday and shes sure there was other items, why was he there and not in a hostel? Theres a lot of questions to answer. In the background we begin to learn how messy Jensens life is. No real home, her job is a at risk and her love live is complicated.
We spend all our time with Jensen who despite showing a lot of integrity and brilliance in putting the pieces together feels like a bit of a loser. She wrote one good article years ago and is still riding the coat tails of it. Someone got sacked to give her a job and shes not putting the effort in. It didn’t make me warm to her as a character. Despite not knowing she was the other woman at one point when she found out the backstory makes it sound like she continued the romance, and even now still does. For me the part I struggled with was the dog – it would have been nice for him to be given a name, and (SPOILER ALERT – STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS)
When he was severely injured rather than getting emergency vet treatment Jensen takes matters into her own hands and ‘puts it out of its misery’. As a dog person I hated this part. It might be more real than I would like to accept but it just made me dislike Jensen more.
There is clearly more to come from the characters and it would be interesting to see them develop into more likeable people. Right now my favourite person is the driver who helps out, and the young boy who becomes Jensens assistant. The main storyline is great, and intriguing, however Im sad about the dog!
My Name is Jensen is out in August.
One More Chapter 