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booklovervictoriaperz's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
kellym_16829's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Book one of the slow but compelling Swedish crime trilogy
spaceisavacuum's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
hayesstw's review against another edition
3.0
Over the last 10 years or so Scandinavian crime fiction has come to dominate the genre in the English-speaking world. Many of the books in the genre have a gloomy boozy divorced (or about to be) detective as protagonist. This one is different.
There is no protagonist. We are given glimpses into the lives and loves and hates of members of different branches of the Swedish police as they are touched in some way by the apparent suicide of an American journalist who fell from the 16th floor of a student residence.
The book is not well-written; in many ways there seems to be too much irrelevant detail. Describing in detail how a single protagonist spends Christmas is one thing; doing it for five or six different characters seems to be overdoing it. Some of the problems in the writing may be problems in translation rather than in the original. The writing sometimes seems stilted.
One of the more disconcerting things is that it takes one a while to work out the period the story is set in. The book was first published in 2002, so one expects it to be at around the turn of the century, but the technology doesn't fit -- there are no personal computers, only typewriters. No cell phones. The technology used would seem to date it to about the mid-1970s, but the story also concerns the investigation of a possible plot to assassinate the Swedish prime minister, which links it to the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme in 1986. Though the prime minister in the book is not named, there are sufficient resemblances in the story to make that a possible period as well.
One of the minor characters is a South African student with an improbable name, and there were stories of South African connections to the assassination of Olof Palme, and in [b:Totale aanslag|3292006|Totale Aanslag|De Wet Potgieter|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|3328499] by [a:De Wet Potgieter|504133|De Wet Potgieter|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] this is presented as historical fact. As an aside (this is not mentioned in the story, and is rather a personal anecdote), in 1988 my wife worked in a factory and the office next door to hers was used by a company that was indirectly linked. Sometimes she could not help overhearding conversations in the next door office, and she got the impression that they were involved in some shady business -- money laundering, illicit diamond buying, or something like that, and possibly the assassination of the Swedish prime minister. At about that time we had a break-in at our house, and the house was thoroughly ransacked, cupboards and boxes were emptied, but the only things that were taken were the cheap loudspeakers for our radiogram, which had been carefully unscrewed from their cabinets (the cabinets themselves were left behind), and some food. We had the impression that the thieves were looking for something very specific, which they didn't find, and the usual things that thieves took, cameras, computers etc., were left behind.
But, to get back to the book, in spite of its deficiencies, it was an interesting story, even if it was not well-told, and ultimately worth reading.
There is no protagonist. We are given glimpses into the lives and loves and hates of members of different branches of the Swedish police as they are touched in some way by the apparent suicide of an American journalist who fell from the 16th floor of a student residence.
The book is not well-written; in many ways there seems to be too much irrelevant detail. Describing in detail how a single protagonist spends Christmas is one thing; doing it for five or six different characters seems to be overdoing it. Some of the problems in the writing may be problems in translation rather than in the original. The writing sometimes seems stilted.
One of the more disconcerting things is that it takes one a while to work out the period the story is set in. The book was first published in 2002, so one expects it to be at around the turn of the century, but the technology doesn't fit -- there are no personal computers, only typewriters. No cell phones. The technology used would seem to date it to about the mid-1970s, but the story also concerns the investigation of a possible plot to assassinate the Swedish prime minister, which links it to the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme in 1986. Though the prime minister in the book is not named, there are sufficient resemblances in the story to make that a possible period as well.
One of the minor characters is a South African student with an improbable name, and there were stories of South African connections to the assassination of Olof Palme, and in [b:Totale aanslag|3292006|Totale Aanslag|De Wet Potgieter|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|3328499] by [a:De Wet Potgieter|504133|De Wet Potgieter|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] this is presented as historical fact. As an aside (this is not mentioned in the story, and is rather a personal anecdote), in 1988 my wife worked in a factory and the office next door to hers was used by a company that was indirectly linked. Sometimes she could not help overhearding conversations in the next door office, and she got the impression that they were involved in some shady business -- money laundering, illicit diamond buying, or something like that, and possibly the assassination of the Swedish prime minister. At about that time we had a break-in at our house, and the house was thoroughly ransacked, cupboards and boxes were emptied, but the only things that were taken were the cheap loudspeakers for our radiogram, which had been carefully unscrewed from their cabinets (the cabinets themselves were left behind), and some food. We had the impression that the thieves were looking for something very specific, which they didn't find, and the usual things that thieves took, cameras, computers etc., were left behind.
But, to get back to the book, in spite of its deficiencies, it was an interesting story, even if it was not well-told, and ultimately worth reading.
nightwyrm's review against another edition
4.0
Quite a complex and convoluted story. Will be interesting to see how the rest of the trilogy goes.
fmspqr's review against another edition
5.0
it took me a while to get into this book. I found the first part very fragmented and could not keep up with all the characters. But then, something clicked, and I could not stop read. I am looking forward to reading the other two books of the trilogy
rafalreadersinitiative's review against another edition
4.0
Znakomita powieść, nasuwająca nieodparte skojarzenie, że oto obcuje się z czymś, co mogłoby powstać z połączenia twórczość dość odległych od siebie pisarzy, jakimi są James Ellroy i Stieg Larsson. Zagadka tajemniczej śmierci pewnego dziennikarza jest tylko pretekstem do ukazania kulis politycznych salonów, oraz "gier" między wywiadem, służbami bezpieczeństwa i policją. Autor dość szybko odkrywa karty, natomiast największym smaczkiem jest to, że poszczególni bohaterowie nie wiedzą tego, co wie czytelnik. W związku z tym ich działania, poparte błędnymi często domysłami, odbijają się poważnymi skutkami w finale.
Świetny, oszczędny język, skoncentrowanie się na policjantach i agentach służb bezpieczeństwa, duże zróżnicowanie charakterów (solidni idealiści, moczymordy, perwersyjni zboczeńcy, szpiedzy i cwaniaczki - wszyscy w jednym worku "władzy wykonawczej"), wiarygodne zachowanie i bardzo prawdopodobna historia, z dużą, acz świetnie podaną dozą publicystyki i szczyptą satyry - tyle smakowitości dostałem ostatnio, oglądając "The Wire". I w pewnych aspektach powieść dość zbliżona do tego, co można zobaczyć w tymże serialu.
Zdziwiony bardzo niskimi ocenami, bardzo gorąco polecam! Najlepsza z dotychczas przeze mnie czytanych książek, z tak zwanej, "czarnej serii".
Świetny, oszczędny język, skoncentrowanie się na policjantach i agentach służb bezpieczeństwa, duże zróżnicowanie charakterów (solidni idealiści, moczymordy, perwersyjni zboczeńcy, szpiedzy i cwaniaczki - wszyscy w jednym worku "władzy wykonawczej"), wiarygodne zachowanie i bardzo prawdopodobna historia, z dużą, acz świetnie podaną dozą publicystyki i szczyptą satyry - tyle smakowitości dostałem ostatnio, oglądając "The Wire". I w pewnych aspektach powieść dość zbliżona do tego, co można zobaczyć w tymże serialu.
Zdziwiony bardzo niskimi ocenami, bardzo gorąco polecam! Najlepsza z dotychczas przeze mnie czytanych książek, z tak zwanej, "czarnej serii".