There's just one sentence that describes the plot adequately (at least with my skills): the story involves around the death of an American girl called Eddie de Wire. The events and characters form a puzzle, where sometimes the pieces seem to fit together, but the picture isn't what it's supposed to be. This wasn't exactly a hard read, but concentration is still a key here. At first I didn't get a hold on anything, not the text, or the characters, or the plot, but then I just allowed to be led by a string and walked through a spiral following flashes of various things.

Fagerholm's style may not necessarily be for everyone, because the events constantly move forwards and backwards and upside down. Lovely images create an atmospheric mood, where Eddie's red coated spirit hovers. You feel like being underwater, from where you see only part of the events, and only in twisted shapes and colors. Clarity would not fit this story at all, and if you try to keep up to date with the time span, you will surely sink into a swamp (or a pond).

I finished the book quite fast, but I wasn't blown away though. In addition to not always getting a hold on the text, the length and the excessive repetition bothered me. Especially on the very first page I kind of sighed, because the prose seemed clunky and just overall the kind of prose I don't like that much. For the most part the language was beautiful in an unusual way (almost quirky) and dreamlike, but the book could have benefited from condensing to make the atmosphere last. Sometimes particular sentences seemed random and orphaned, like they didn't belong anywhere, the least in the place they were. However, Fagerholm's approach in handling the story and the lives of her characters was unusual and fresh enough to make me continue reading her books. I can't deny myself a good challenge.