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Sun Storm, by Asa Larsson

Sun Storm (published as The Savage Altar in the UK, see also our review of The Black Path), Asa (Åsa) Larsson's first book (published in English in 2006), starts with a bang: "When Viktor Strandgård dies it is not, in fact, for the first time." Asa Larsson, born in 1966 in Uppsala, Sweden, is an author, translator, and tax lawyer (now a full time writer).

Viktor Strandgard, a preacher of a church in northern Sweden called The Source of All Strength, is found in the chapel viciously slaughtered. His sister Sanna Sun Storm, by Asa Larsson discovers the body and is emotionally at a breaking point. She contacts her friend Rebecka Martinson, a tax attorney in Stockholm, for her help. Rebecca Martinsson is an overworked junior member in a Stockholm law firm, and comes from remote Kiruna, far north in Sweden. Now Rebecca immediately returns to Kiruna, the town she’d left in disgrace years before and the craziness she thought she had escaped. And when Sanna is arrested for the murder, Rebecca feels she has to prove her innocence as well as take care of her two young girls.

In trying to solve the case, Rebecka must relive the darkness she left behind in Kiruna, delve into a sordid conspiracy of deceit, and confront a killer whose motives are dark, wrenching, and impossible to guess. And the closer Rebecka gets to the solution, the more danger she places herself in.

In Sun Storm, Asa Larsson builds suspense gradually but inexorably. Sun Storm has wonderful characters and a plot that twists and turns. The end is maybe a little over-written, but all in all this is a stunning debut and holds great promise for future books. Asa Larson is a very talented writer, and the book is breathtaking.

Other good books from Asa Larsson from amazon (US): The Blood Spilt, and The Black Path.

Order books by Asa Larsson from amazon UK: The Savage Altar, The Blood Spilt, and The Black Path.

The Preacher, by Camilla Lackberg

The Preacher is the second book by Camilla Lackberg that is translatedThe Preacher, by Camilla Lackberg into English. The first wasThe Ice Princess, a marvelous debut book and an exciting read.

The Preacher starts out very violently, with a little boy finding a naked woman staring at him in a ravine in the small Swedish town of Fjällbacka. Beneath the body, two skeletons of young women who had disappeared more than 2 decades earlier are visible. It turns out that all three had been tortured in similar ways before dying of strangulation. Thus everything points to the same killer.

This happens during the warm summer months in the little city of Fjällbacka, with the city full of tourists. Detective Patrik Hedström of the local police heads the investigation. The evidence seems to point in the direction of a preacher, Ephraim Hult, who was also under investigation when two young women disappeared a quarter of a century earlier. And it soon turns out the Hult has lots of skeletons in his closets.

At the same time his heavily pregnant girlfriend Erica deals with invasions of visitors seeking to stay in their house, but still manages to help her husband with the investigation. Together the gradually uncover the truth hidden beneath layers of lies.

The Preacher is excellently written and well translated. As well, it is beautifully plotted and has well developed characters. I read this book much faster than I should have, as I just wanted to get to the end. And a great end it was! A wonderful read and a great follow up to The Ice Princess.

You can order The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg from amazon UK as well.


Missing, by Karin Alvtegen

Missing grabs the reader from the first page, and doesn't let go until the gruesome end. This fabulous thriller by Karin Alvtegen won Best Scandinavian Crime Novel (previous winners include Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla and Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers) and Silverpocket Awards in 2002. Missing has enjoyed massive success all over Europe (see also our review of Karin Alvtegen's Betrayal).

Sibylla Forstenström is the daughter of a rich but insensitive merchant and his wife. After a depression and an unwanted pregnancy she flees as an 18 year old girl from her family and the institution where she is kept. Now Sybilla Forsenstrom doesn't exist. For fifteen years she has been excluded from society and, as one of the homeless in Stockholm, she takes each day as it comes, keeping all her possessions in her backpack, including a knife and salami. She is always well-dressed and displays impeccable manners. One night, in The Grand Hotel, she charms a susceptible businessman into paying for her dinner and room. Then, the following morning his dead body is discovered and Sybilla becomes the prime suspect. When a second person is killed in similar circumstances, she becomes the most wanted person in Sweden.

Fearing that her homeless state means she will be considered as guilty, she eludes the cops with some help and begins investigating the homicides together with a young boy. Their inquiries are entertaining nad interesting, as they see the clues differently than the cops. And they display considerable smartness and courage, as well as an uncanny ability to think and act outside the box - sometimes far outside it.

Missing is not only an excellent crime novel and a wonderful, very exciting book. It is also an exploration into the terrifying isolation of a woman who has turned her back on her family and rejected the values of her background. Alvtegen is a sensitive writer with considerable empathy, at the same time as she uses stunningly direct prose in a plot of tremendous pace and nerve. Missing Missing would be a mistake on your part!

Other great books by Karin Alvtegen include Betrayal and Shame.

Order the books by Karin Alvtegen from amazon UK: Missing, Betrayal, and Shame.

Mind's Eye, by Hakan Nesser

Mind's Eye is actually the first of the books Hakan Nesser wrote in the Inspector Van Veeteren series. Finally it is available in English. Thus, for readers loving this series from one of Europe's best-selling crime writers, it becomes possible to go back to the start of it. Mind's Eye, by Hakan Nesser

Murder cases were never as open-and-shut as the one in Mind's Eye: Janek Mitter wakes one morning with a brutal hangover. He can't remember anything from last night. Then he discovers, behind the locked door to the bathroom, his wife of three months - Eva Ringmar - lying face down in the bathtub, dead. Van Veeteren has his doubts about the case and searches for more evidence. However, with only the flimsiest excuse as his defense, Mitter is found guilty of a drunken crime of passion and imprisoned in a mental institution.

But Van Veeteren’s suspicions about the identity of the killer are borne out when Mitter also becomes a murder victim. Now the chief inspector launches a full-scale investigation of the two slayings. More and more he feels that finding the solution involves finding out the secrets of the dead - in particular that of Eva Ringmar. As it turns out, finding out more about her is much more difficult than anticipated. A mysterious letter that Mitter wrote shortly before his death plays a prominent part in this.

Mind's Eye is an excellent crime book by Hakan Nesser. He captured me after only a very few pages, less than ten! And held me there. All the way through the book I was one small step behind van Veeteren it seemed. And all the while my sympathy for him as well as the suspense were building. Watching Chief Inspector Van Veeteren connecting the dots in this delicately woven plot was great. So is Hakan Nesser's subtle humor, that runs throughout the book. A top read!

Order The Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser from amazon UK! See also, by Hakan Nesser, The Return.

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