Unspoken: A Mystery, by Mari Jungstedt

Unspoken is the second in Mari Jungstedt's series of crime and detective novels set in Gotland, Sweden. The first is Unseen (see review) The main characters, in this book too, are Inspector Anders Knutas and investigative journalist Johan Berg.

Unspoken, by Mari JungstedtSwedish Police Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas is heading the investigation into the homicide of alcoholic former news photographer Henry Dahlstrum. Henry had been celebrating winning 80,000 Swedish kroner at the races, and then he disappeared. His body was discovered by one of his drinking buddies. Henry was drenched in blood, and had a hole the size of a fist in the back of his head.

Then, well into the investigation of the first murder, 14-year old Fanny Jansson, a volunteer at the local stables, vanishes. Initially Knutas and Jacobsson view them as separate cases. One is a violent murder, the other the disappearance of child.

Painstakingly, they work the clues, assisted by ambitious Stockholm TV reporter Johan Berg, who tries to keep his bosses interested in Dahlström's murder so he can take trips to Gotland to visit his married lover, Emma Winarve. And eventually they uncover a tenuous link between Henry and the missing fourteen year old Fanny Jansson. Before his murder Henry won a lot of money at the racetrack while Fanny cared for the horses at a local stable.However, matters become further complicated when sexually explicit photos of murdered 14-year-old Fanny Jansson are found in Dahlstrom's darkroom.

The official investigation in Unspoken is cleverly designed by Mari Jungstedt to keep the audience's attention. It is a great police procedural. And the cast is fully developed and interesting - in this book we also learn more about Knutas' family and the very complicated love affair between Johan Berg and Emma Winarve..

Unspoken is a book with crisp prose, steady suspense, and flesh-and-blood characters, as well as powerful descriptions of the dark Swedish winter. The narrative is engaging and twisty, and will fool even the most attentive reader.

Order Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt from amazon UK: Unspoken
Links to Mari Jungstedt's books: Mari Jungstedt at amazon US, Mari Jungstedt at amazon UK, and Mari Jungstedt at Amazon CAN.


The Beast, by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom

Anders Roslund, a prize winning investigative journalist, and Borge Hellstrom, an ex-criminal who works in rehabilitation is a relatively new Swedish crime writing duo. They publish in English under the name Roslund Hellstrom. The Beast is their debut book. It has won Scandinavia's most prestigious crime-writing award, The Glass Key for Best Crime Novel of the Year. It has also been a bestseller in Scandinavia, primarily Sweden.

The Beast is a greatly disturbing book,The Beast, by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom not least because it is written as fictionalized fact, but also due to its subject matter. It chronicles the activities of a sadistic, murderous pedophile in considerable detail using graphic and perhaps even brutal language.

A convicted killer who murdered two little girls in a basement in a Swedish town, escapes from prison. Detective Inspector Ewert Grens who handled the case, and interrogated the pedophile, knows that unless they catch him, no children in the area are safe and if he is not found quickly, he will kill again.

Despite a manhunt, the pedophile kills and mutilates another child in the town of Strengas - sparking off vigilante hysteria. Among those trying to take the law into their own hands is Frederik Steffansson, the vengeful father of the murdered girl, and the consequences of his actions are catastrophic.

The Beast is a tale of tragedy and revenge that is truly gripping, and all the more horrifying because this kind of thing probably can happen anywhere. The prose is razor-sharp. The action cross-cuts between prison, police and the outside world.

The Beast looks into a warped abyss of the human psyche and discusses a kind of crime that to most of us is one that we fear (if we have children) and are extremely disgusted by. It also illustrates the potentially serious consequences of letting people take the law in their own hands. This is a good book, but it is tough. It is a book you will either like a lot or not like at all. There is no in between with Roslund & Hellstrom's The Beast.

See also Roslund & Hellstrom's Box 21 and The Vault (forthcoming in July 2008).

You can also order these books by Roslund & Hellstrom from amazon UK: The Beast: A Novel, The Vault, and Box 21.

Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End, by Leif GW Persson

Leif Gustav Willy Persson

Born 12 March 1945 in Stockholm, Persson is a Swedish criminologist and novelist.

Leif GW Persson

Bibliography

  • Grisfesten, 1978
  • Profitörerna, 1979
  • Samhällsbärarna, 1982
  • Mellan sommarens längtan och vinterns köld, 2002 (Between Summer's Longing and Winter's Cold, 2010)
  • En annan tid, ett annat liv, 2003
  • Linda - som i Lindamordet, 2005
  • Faller fritt som i en dröm, 2007
  • Den som dödar draken, 2008

This is an interesting Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End, Leif GW PerssonSwedish crime fiction novel; a book that to some extent is a cult novel in Sweden, and that has attracted much attention because it provides a possible explanation for the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme in February 1986. The author, Leif GW Persson, is a professor of criminology at Rikspolisstyrelsen (National Police Board) in Sweden and one of Sweden’s bestselling crime fiction writers. Some believe the explanation to be the truth or close to the truth, others that it is completely misleading. Be that as it may – this is a book of fiction based on an actual event, and as such doesn’t need to be true. Instead, it needs to be entertaining and fun to read, and that it is, and more.

The intriguing and somewhat lyrically named story – deliciously told, with lots of humor and with live, fallible and flawed characters – starts with the apparent suicide of a young American, John Krassner, visiting Stockholm. Krassner was working on a book detailing the exploits of his uncle, Col. John Buchanan, an OSS agent in the years following WWII. The young man has seemingly fallen from a window in a student dorm, and his loose shoe killed a little dog taken for an evening stroll by its owner. Had the man been Swedish, the case might have stopped there. But he wasn’t – he was an American. So, to be on the safe side, a small investigation is launched. As it turns out, the search of his room reveals a few strange things. Even so, the case is classified as a suicide.

Then, by accident, police inspector Lars Martin Johansson and his colleagues get involved in the case. And as Johansson starts to look into it, he unearths more than he bargained for, and a larger and quite complex context for the apparent suicide quickly emerges. There is seemingly a huge puzzle surrounding the event – a puzzle that involves international espionage, attempted cover-ups, greed, and other ingredients. A high-ranking Swedish politician known by the code name "Pilgrim" features prominently in the puzzle. Also, several factors seem to point towards incompetent police work and possibly behind the scenes involvement and disinformation by Sweden’s secret police. The deeper Johansson looks, the more he sees that simply doesn’t add up the way it is supposed to.

Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End is at the same time fascinating and shocking. We embark on a journey deep into the underbelly of the Swedish police force, and meet lazy, incompetent and perverse police officers concerned mostly with position, power, pay, comradeship, drinking and sex. We meet cynical politicians and spin masters in controlling positions.

It’s a dark novel and a dark journey which not only seems very realistic but also masterfully recreates the blanket of uncertainty, the multiple ways insights get lost in huge and complex organizational environments where most actors have their own agendas. Fortunately there is also sarcasm, black satire, dark humor, mind boggling insights, and dialogues that make you laugh out loud. It is a wonderful novel, a riveting anti-procedure police procedural, a psychological drama, and an adventurous journey into a murky landscape we can perhaps only hope doesn’t exist but most likely does. The publication of Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End by Leif GW Persson is one of the major crime fiction events of 2010!

Links to books by Leif GW Persson at Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon CAN.
“Laced with irony and satire . . . Reminiscent of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson in its toughness . . . Persson does a fine job of pitting one desperate soul against another in a philosophically charged tale worthy of Ingmar Bergman—but with lots more guns.” —Kirkus (starred)

“A brilliant political thriller.” —Der Tagesspiegel

“One of the best Swedish crime novels of all time.” —Expressen

“One of the most exhaustive investigations ever to have been written about. A plot full of suspense, a great adventure, and a philosophical view of the dark and painful sides of life.” —Il Giornale di Vicenza

"Leif GW Persson's big lush novel is a tale of mystery and intrigue and murder. .. From a country known for terrific crime novelists, Sweden's great crime writer Leif GW Persson brilliantly takes the reader into a world of fascinating mystery and secrets." —Joseph Wambaugh



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