Betrayal

Title: Betrayal

Author: Karin Alvtegen

Number of pages: 297

Started: 18 September 2008

Finished: 21 September 2008

Opening words:

”I don’t know”

Three Words.

Each by itself or in some other context completely harmless. Utterly without intrinsic gravity. Merely a statement that he was not sure and therefore chose not to reply.

I don’t know.

Three words.

As an answer to the question she had asked it was a threat to her entire existence. A sudden chasm that opened in the newly polished parquet living-room floor”

Plot summary:
Eva and Henrik have been living together for fifteen years and have a son together. Eva suddenly realizes that her husband is seeing another woman. In anger and desperation, she decides to seek revenge. At the same time, a young man has for the past two years been watching by a hospital bed where his girlfriend lies in a coma after an accident. But his year-ning for closeness is growing excruciating. She keeps letting him down by refusing to wake up. Deceit deals with how devastating it can be to be let down and how our destructive actions create consequences far beyond our control. The destiny of Jonas and Eva is the consequence of other people’s actions and it is by chance that the roads of these two people cross..."

Summary taken from Karin Alvtegen’s website.


What I thought:

This was a very dark book that was about a side of life that was about so much more than betrayal and its consequences. It was a very easy read and the pages just slipped by but it showed a side of humanity that I felt uncomfortable with, not because I thought the plot was unbelievable, but because it could indeed happen. Maybe not in those specific circumstances, but people capable of each of the things that the characters did do exist and could do those very things.

I didn’t always feel comfortable with the plot of the book, but I think that was because it is not a pleasant story. It was a good read though and I am likely to read others of her books.