Exposed at the Back

this book is essentially a 20-21 Spurs team playing against a top 6 club, promising in first 20 minutes then bland and a sudden nose-dive in the second half, let's talk about this

I found this book perchance, was checking out someone's old blog. The cover page blurb “Finally, a football crime book” made me go “WEEEEEEE!” Two of my favourite things together - football AND murder yes, please!

Exposed at the Back has all your classic Scandinavian crime novel tropes - an attractive blonde female lead who will not stop chasing the truth no matter what the cost, an aloof male lead with a mysterious past with darkness he can' reveal until we're 60% through the book, a questionable frienemy character who you don't know it with or against you, a creepy middle-aged man who is defo going to be misogynistic and a child because why not.

The central pitch of “Norway's most powerful football agent is murdered” was a gripping plot. (nope, Haaland transfer and my dislike for Railo has nothing to do with my interest in the plot). The story, much like the current Tottenham Hotspur squad, had so much potential. Alas, you can see that potential go down the drain as the author tries to overfit more storyline than defenders in a Spurs game. (should I stop with this spurs parallel? therapy is expensive, complaining about spurs on goodreads is free - so deal with it, sorry)

You have the health implications of artificial turf, the corruption and exploitation of players from the African continent, doping young talent, celebrity power couple, gay players, life-ending injuries, under-the-table deals with clubs and investigative football journalism. I understand that Arild Stavrum is not a professional author but a footballer and with that perspective, this is a great first book. It was entertaining for the most part (even if the cliches made me do mini eye-rolls) but I do feel this book could have gone through a more thorough editorial process and the focus of the book could have been trimmed down to a single focus. So many diverse plotlines are started and abandoned in the next few pages much like spurs attacking strategy (okay this is the last one, I promise).

What I absolutely despised was i) treatment of the lead female whose whole presence was to be some sort of a (sexual?) motivation for the male lead. who unironically says, “okay, we will have sex once this case is solved” seriously, who does that? who finds that hot? argh!
ii) undertones of Islamophobia and homophobia - I despise when brands, storytellers or movie makers use “wokeness” and “activism” as plot device or marketing gimmicks. the absence of LGTBQ+ members in men's football is a serious issue and concern for the sports. if you plan to use this as an integral plot device, please do it in a better way that does not make it sound problematic and rely on harmful stereotypes. especially in the second half, you see a lot of problematic portrayal of minority groups (women, people of colour, lgbtq members) that seems completely unnecessary.

TL;DR the book starts very strong, feels promising but over the course gets bored of itself, repetitive and slightly annoying. You could give it a shot once but I am very much in the market for more football murder mystery books with far more focused plot and better writing. As a debut novel from someone who played professionally for their national team - good stuff!

The title of the book is a major giveaway to the identity of the killer and I think that's super cool. If you're into football but also want to read a footy-ish book, I'd recommend this.

PS. If someone has a copy of Steve Bruce's book Striker! Please share <3