In Lara Paulussen’s Red House, we follow the life of a woman who, at nineteen, gets a promotion to chief of police in her native Sweden. When she realizes that she still has to deal with the personal and romantic drudgery of working as a police officer, she takes an instant and massive dislike to the system, particularly her lack of respect for her superiors. Despite her misgivings, she is quickly promoted and, later, assigned to work with one of her coworkers, inspector Nils Wallander. The two are paired together for the first time when Wallander’s daughter calls and claims that she saw a violent domestic incident involving her friend. As the investigation proceeds, the tension between these two major players rises to new heights.
The novel begins by delving into the lives of the two major characters, and the circumstances that lead them to be colleagues and then lovers. The complex personalities of both men, their loyalties to each other, and their commitment to the institution they serve, provide the basis for an interesting tale. Their contrasting attitudes also give the reader hints as to the social and political spheres of their respective societies. By depicting the bureaucratic hurdles that the two men must navigate, and the ways in which their personal lives connect, Paulussen succeeds in creating a vivid portrait of a small but significant part of Europe. Her descriptions of the mundane, even mundane, parts of everyday life set against the dramatic chivalry and prejudice that characterize the profession of law enforcement, lends this novel an important and engrossing narrative.
Paulussen’s debut novel is an impressive debut and expertly weaves the sexual tension between the main characters. Though not laden with sex scenes, there are enough descriptions of the brutality of some law-enforcement officials towards those who are less than law-abiding, and this serves to bring home the message. Also, the characters’ attitudes toward their sexuality, as well as Wallander’s own attitude toward his sexuality make this book even more appealing to modern audiences. With a fast pace that never stalls, Paulussen’s debut is certain to achieve widespread success.