Woman Of The Dead By Bernhard Aichner

“One of the most arresting thrillers I’ve read in years. A hypnotic thriller! Aichner plumbs the darkest depths of the human psyche in this compelling tale of a female undertaker. As a mother, Blum is touching and relatable, but as a vengeful wife determined to hunt down her husband’s killers… be afraid. Be very, very afraid.” (Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author)

With a review like that from bestselling author Lisa Gardner, I can’t help being lured by “Woman Of The Dead”, the first book in a trilogy by Bernhard Aichner. This is the Austrian author’s first book to be translated into English. To gain insights into sometimes grisly world of undertakers, the author spent six month as an undertaker’s assistant.

Woman Of The Dead By Bernhard Aichner

This dark thriller combines elements from Kill Bill and the Lisbeth Salander trilogy to carry readers on a horrifying journey at breakneck speed. It is a thriller about the lengths a woman will go to seek revenge for the death of her husband but it isn’t your usual detail-oriented revenge thriller, with step by step elaborate planning and investigation; the gruesome revenge comes so fast and relentlessly.

Brunhilde Blum, the main character in the novel, may be a remorseless serial killer but as the story progresses, readers can relate to her rage and grief and unconsciously start rooting for her, willing her on to succeed. Her job as an undertaker provides her with the resources to commit the perfect act of revenge. I find her final act of revenge at a crematorium particularly scary as I have witnessed the cremations of my mum and my nephew in recent months.

The novel opens with Brunhilde Blum letting her abusive adoptive parents slowly drown as she sunbathes on the family sailboat. Though readers may be shocked by her callousness, they won’t shed any tears for her parents. She had a most traumatic childhood growing up in a loveless household, dealing with dead bodies in her parents’ mortuary business and being shut in a coffin as punishment.

Fast forward eight years and Blum is happily married to Mark, the police officer who investigated the deaths of her parents,  with whom she has two children.  She is running her late father’s mortuary business. Her world crumbles when she witnesses Mark being killed in a hit-and-run as he is leaving their home for work.

While going through Mark’s things, Blum discovers Mark’s recorded conversations on his mobile phone with a woman named Dunya from a case he was investigating. In the conversations, Dunya recounts terrible tales of being held captive with two other immigrants while a group of five men, whose names she doesn’t know, rapes and abuses them. She could only describe them as the photographer, the priest, the huntsman, the cook, and the clown.

She soon learns Mark’s death was no accident—it was murder—and Blum sets out to exact vengeance. What follows is a grisly revenge saga as she hunts down the five men.

I need to warn you that this story may not be your cup of tea. It is gory and explicit, brimming with hate and vengeance.