Supriya's Banter
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good
Author: Helene Tursten
Publisher: Soho Crime (6 November 2018)
Language: English
Paperback: 184 pages
Audiobook: Listening Length: 3 hours and 12 minutes
Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Imagine an eighty-something granny cleansing the world one creep at a time. Maud, an 88-year-old Swedish woman living alone in a spacious apartment in Gothenburg, is a combination of a stealthy fox and a top-secret, off-duty ninja. She thoroughly believes in the ‘live and let live’ dictum. But if anyone disturbs her routine, all hell breaks loose. Maud unleashes her unadulterated, undiluted anger on the unsuspecting culprit who mistook Maud for a sweet, frail, and helpless old lady.
Her solutions are mostly deadly and almost always permanent.
In this witty collection, Maud handles annoying neighbours, romantic rivals, and overly curious intruders with the ease of someone swatting away flies. Instead of a flyswatter, Maud relies on her cunning and sharp intellect.
Tursten writes with breezy confidence, letting Maud’s sharp inner monologue guide the action. The narrative is peppered with dry humour: Maud pretends to be feeble when under suspicion, often hiding behind her walker and her weak constitution. But look a little deeper, and you’d find an astute strategist planning, plotting and watching her victim commit the slightest mistake. It does get repetitive after a while and predictable, too, but nonetheless quite entertaining.
The collection never dives into gore; instead, it relies on cleverness and Maud’s unapologetic calm.
The Audible version is narrated by Suzanne Toren, whose delivery is delightfully unnerving. Her voice is a perfect balance of playful and deadpan. She flips from Maud’s polite tone, all the while underscoring her annoyance and irritation to subtle anger leading up to amusing, almost murderous solutions.
A sly, sharp, and surprisingly funny romp through the misadventures of an octogenarian with nerves of steel.
The thrilling twist packaged as bite-sized morsels of wit and suspense will keep you entertained.
Not to be missed by fans of dark humour!
