Fans of Swedish noir will like this complicated and entertaining mystery. It's a very good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Boy I had a hard time with this one. I just couldn't seem to get into it, the whole plot was a little confusing and I was never quite sure who anyone was for a good deal of the book. Plus there were several characters who were sometimes referred to by their actual names and other times by nick-names with no explanation that it was the same person (I'm guessing it was a case of those nick-names being common variations on the actual names in the book's country of origin).

The plot revolves around a newly licensed lawyer, a (mostly) reformed, somewhat legendary, ex-gangster and his young nephew who has just been released from some sort of juvenile detention center. An unidentified body is found in a house and the only suspect is a young man who suffers from partial amnesia. He requests the attorney, who he has never met, and, in turn tells her to get the ex-gangster.

The suspect is the son of someone the ex-gangster had kidnapped (a crime for which he did prison time) some years before and who later killed himself. No one seems too sure as to what's going on - including the reader at this point.

It was a bit hard to follow and at times I had to go back and review parts I'd already read to catch up with what was happening. In the end this book just wasn't for me. Speaking of the end it also has a bit of a cliff-hanger ending... I hate when books do that!

The main story is resolved for the most part then something happens that just leaves things hanging. Without gettimg too spoilerish I'm not referring to an open ending where the reader has to come to his or her own conclusion, I mean it ends with a question of "What the hell?", as in a whole new storyline opening up. I'm assuming it's a set-up for a sequel book.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this title.

In old-fashioned Scandinavian noir, everyone got lots of great sex, but was depressed all the time anyway. This book belongs to the modern tradition where the sex is infrequent, sometimes okay but often bad or horrifying. Another development over the years is the welfare state that once was portrayed as kind if sometimes silly, now seems to be a corrupt morass that spawns rampant cheating among rich and poor, and allows the country to be run by immigrant criminal gangs, entrenched corrupt officials and foreign investment bankers.

This portrait of modern Stockholm is compelling (I have no idea if it's accurate, I've never been there), as are the motley crew of gangsters, lawyers, entrepreneurs, corrupt police, sullen wives, gamblers, teenage thugs and forensic experts who inhabit it. There are several intertwined stories, and maybe a dozen threads that either resolve events from prior books or set up plots for future books. This makes the book unsatisfying from the point of a stand-alone novel, I think you're better off reading the series in order if you like it. However, the setting and characters are strong enough to earn the book four stars if you read it like a series of intercut short stories about an overlapping group of characters.

The action scenes are frustrating. The author is extremely meticulous about set-up, but once things start moving, the reader has trouble following. Moreover I found it very difficult to understand context. Most characters seem to engage in routine major felonies in public without the slightest concern of repercussions, but in what seem to be similar circumstances, people go through great pains to avoid minor technical misdemeanors. The frequent legal scenes are worse than frustrating. There is wildly overelaborate scene setting of rooms, clothing, faces and other details. Then almost nothing happens. The reader is never told precisely what is at stake in each hearing (perhaps it would be obvious to someone familiar with the Swedish legal system, but it is bewildering to someone used to US and UK procedure). The trials seem more like community zoning board hearings than exciting legal duels with a person's freedom at stake. They start tense, then fizzle away into inconclusive boredom.

Since I don't read Swedish, I can't comment on the translation except to say that the writing is somewhat wooden and literal, which could be author or translator. There are some obvious errors, "Spider-Man sense tingling" instead of "Spidey sense tingling" (when I say "error," I mean that the passage does not read correctly in English, the individual words may well have been translated correctly), "check" used to mean look at cards in poker when bet zero is clearly meant and "wiping the table" instead of "running the table," a person is described as "EQ challenging" rather than "EQ challenged," the "premium" on an option is used to mean an amount paid above the purchase price when it means the purchase price, digital videos are "rewound," "dry suit" instead of "wetsuit," somehow the [[ASIN:1501156764 Shawshank Redemption]] quotation "disappeared like smoke" becomes vanished "like a fart in the wind" (this one could be blamed on whoever translated Stephen King into Swedish). None of these get in the way of understanding the story, but the effect is similar to a comic character who misuses words. It clashes with the mood of the book.

I recommend this book for the setting and characters, but that you do not start the series here. If you're looking for a classic thriller or mystery, you will be disappointed.

in a remote house on Varmdo Island, Emelie......against her firm's wishes......takes on the case as defence attorney for a young man found badly wounded near the scene. But when they discover the identity of this young man and his connection to a dark chapter in Teddy's past, the story explodes off the pages. With fully drawn characters, non stop action and a great mystery, this story is a reminder that you can never outrun your past. Thanks to Net Galley for a copy.

Talk about a good read, Jens Lapidus really put everything up to date with this story. Emigrants in Sweden, trying to turn the right cheek, playing with attorney's, bombs. I don't want to tell the story because it is the best read I've had in years. I was hesitant at first but as you get to know the characters like Emelie, Teddy, Nikola, and Mats, you start to root for them. The bad guys were the good guys and the good guys were the band guys sort of thing. The ending was so Lapidus, you didn't want it to end. I definitely will recommend this book to my readers.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

An alarm goes off in a rural home. A security guard responds to the alarm, but initially finds no one at home. Upon inspection of the property, he discovers the body of a man. An injured man is located nearby. He is promptly arrested for the murder.

Emelie, a new attorney at a law firm, takes on the case. She is confounded at the clues. Did the young man commit the murder after all?

Along with Teddy, the investigator for the firm, they search for information about the dead man and their client. As it becomes clear that Stockholm’s criminal element is involved in the crime, things become rather dicey for Emelie and Teddy.

This is an exciting, well written, plotted and translated (as far as I can tell), book. It has drama, suspense, and tension that ratchets up as you read along.

I have read Jens Lapidus before and found this book enjoyable as the other one I read. I will certainly look into more of their books.

I want to thank Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Vintage Crime/Black Lizard for forwarding to me a copy of this exciting book for me to read.

As a fan of Scandinavian mysteries, I looked forward to this book. It does have many of the qualities of a good mystery: secrets, hidden agendi, heroes and fall guys. One character in particular seems to veer between good guy and bad guy throughout the story. I did end up liking him overall, but it was tough at times. His comments about the Swedish way, good and bad, are fascinating and give an insider's perspective to the legal system there. While there are many similarities to what I am used to, there are some significant differences that really change the process.

The main character, the attorney, is pretty good. As usual, brilliant and juggling lots of things really well simultaneously. She is interesting and frequently questions her motives. She does make the noble decision when the time comes, showing her moral compass which unlike Teddy, remains true. Her attraction to him mystifies me though.

There were two things that stood out: firstly, all the cigarette smoking. Everyone is smoking all the time. No one goes to the gym or for a run. It felt as if the entire story had that nasty old ciggie smell in every office, car or apartment.

The second thing is that the cast is not purely Swedes; much of the action is by Turks, Slavs and Syrians. They seem to have established a strong community so far from their homes and walk between their own cultures and the one in which they live now.

Good read.

I could not read more than a third of this book. It seems quite formulaic with little if any character development.