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.

Swedish 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 StockholmTV 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.

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,

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.

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 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 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 discussed a type of crime that to most of us is one that we fear (if we have children) and is extremely disgusted by. 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.

Good Night, My Darling, by Inger Frimansson

Inger Frimansson is well established as a Swedish crime writer, and Good Night, My Darling is one of her best books. It has won the Swedish Academy of Mystery Authors Award for Best Swedish Crime Novel in 1998.

Good Night, My Darling is the

Good Night, My darling, by Inger Firmansson

first book in a series about the mysterious Justine Dalvik, a wealthy and eccentric woman in her forties living alone in a big house by the beach, with a bird as her only companion. It is a beautiful house, but full of memories of a tortured childhood. As readers, we are witnesses to her childhood hardships. And we start to are feel vindictive on her behalf. However, not until Justine is in her forties does she catch up with the our feelings.

Inger Frimansson enables the reader to enter Justine's child-thoughts of being an almost willing victim while she absorbs both the hurt and the methods of cruelty used to hurt her. We sympathize with Justine the child, but as she grows to maturity we become less sympathetic. Now the memories come back to haunt Justine, but she is prepared. It is time for Justine to take revenge on everyone who has done her wrong. Terrible things start to happen.

Inger Frimansson has the courage to experiment with the crime genre. Good night, my darling is not a whodunit or a thriller. This book is a how-could-she-do-it. In her effort to understand this - to peer into the mind of a dark soul - Frimansson has written a deeply psychological crime novel which in several ways reminds me of the Norwegian author Karin Fossum.

This books takes a while to really pick up speed, but when it does, the tension is almost unbearable. Putting it away does not feel as an option before the end is reached.

Praise for Good Night, My Darling:

“With this book, she stands out as one of the great authors of psychological suspense in contemporary Swedish literature.” - GT

" .. whereas Mankell often tries to pinpoint the external factors which shape our lives, Frimansson concentrates on what we look like on the inside; what it feels like to be at someone’s mercy.” - Eskilstuna Kuriren

Order this book by Inger Frimansson from Amazon UK: Good Night, My Darling,

The Ice Princess, by Camilla Lackberg

(Review based on the Swedish edition.) Camilla Lackberg (Läckberg in Swedish) is a young (born 1974), very talented writer Swedish crime writer. She was voted Swedish Writer of the Year for 2005. Her books have so far sold 1.5 million copies.

The Ice Princess takes place in the small town of Fjällbacka. In an interview, Camilla Lackberg says that “It’s a place I know very well. I think a small town is more interesting and dynamic than a big city. It’s the setting that gives the flavor.” Läckberg says the town’s history has shaped its inhabitants – and her characters. “The people there don’t take things for granted and always

want to be one step ahead of fate. I try to bring that out in my books as well,” she says. And she certainly does in The Ice Princess.

When writer Erica Falck returns to her hometown after the funeral of her parents, she finds her childhood friend Alex murdered. Her wrists are slashed, her body frozen in an ice-cold bath. At first, is seems that she has taken her own life. Lackberg paints a portrait of a small, closed community where everybody knows everything about each other and where appearances are of immense importance. Under the wrong circumstances, this may lead to tragedy.

Local detective Patrik Hedstrom and his colleges at the Tanumshede police station investigates the case. Detective Hedstrom follows his own suspicions about the case. Meanwhile, Erica conceives a memoir about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will help to overcome her writer's block as well as answer questions about their own past.

But it is only when they start working together that the truth begins to emerge about this small town with a deeply disturbing past.

The plot is superb, almost Agatha Christie-ish. The characters emerge with clarity and feel genuine. And Lackberg lets secrets about the little community be revealed that bring about more things than murder.The Ice Princess shows Lackberg's ability to work with emotional responses and her considerable psychological insight. In The Ice Princess she builds like a master.

Praise for The Ice Princess:

‘Strong portrayals and ice-cold suspense from Sweden's new Agatha Christie’ My Life

'This is unputdownable. Leckberg keeps the thrills coming until the very end' Viva

Order The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg from Amazon UK.

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See more reviews of Swedish Crime books!

Unspoken: A Mystery, by Mari Jungstedt

The Beast, by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom

Good Night, My Darling, by Inger Frimansson

The Ice Princess, by Camilla Lackberg

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