After the wonderful success of Stay, which built upon the promise of the Blue Place, it was reasonable to anticipate that Always would be a crescendo, a culmination of this wonderfully noir world and its Norwegian sensibilities. Unfortunately, in almost every way, this likely final adventure with Aud goes in two unexpected and completely disappointing directions. The A plot, which ought to have picked up from the threat promised in Stay, where Aud was forced to make a deal with the devil, is has the feel of Aud's mid-life crisis. I was far too aware of Ms. Griffith speaking through Aud, perhaps as some means of therapy; who knows. The B plot, which takes us back to the Atlanta of the first novel, is interesting enough and some might even learn something from the self-defense classes Aud teaches here. And certainly the mystery in Atlanta holds some power. But again, this has the feel of something Ms. Griffith wrote for herself, not for us. In that sense, Always is nothing more than an afterthought to the first two books. An unworthy and undeserved conclusion.
Even so, I will buy a fourth Aud Torvingen novel, if it is to be written, but I will hope that it returns to the path Always veered so sharply away from. Such is my love for Aud.(2/5 Stars)
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