I am a Harry Kvist fan. He's a great noir protagonist-can't help but help people but nevertheless always disappointed by people and disappointing other people-with the added grit of being gay. And he reads an authentic gay man in such a closeted age in such a rundown Stockholm. The mystery is full of actual detecting and also full of stupid decisions-it's good.

This book is a second in a trilogy called the Harry Kvist Trilogy and what attracted me to this book is that it has a bisexual main character. I usually see a lot of straight main characters in mystery/thriller genres so this is what immediately intrigued me and made me request it. I haven’t read the first one in the trilogy called Clinch but that didn’t ruin my experience with it and I appreciate that because I had some concerns. It’s safe to say that this book can be read as a standalone.

This noir trilogy is set in Stockholm in the 1930s and the second installment Down for the Count is set in 1935. It follows our protagonist Harry ‘Kvisten’ Kvist who has just gotten out of prison [he has spent a year and a half there] and is planning on starting a new life with the lover [Doughboy] he met during his prison stay. From the beginning the reader can already tell that Kvist is someone who can’t stay away from trouble and so this time he receives devastating news that his friend Beda was murdered by her deaf son called Petrus. He finds this hard to believe because Petrus wouldn’t do such a thing and he also made a promise to Beda to take care of Petrus when she’s gone. During his investigation he stumbles upon shocking discoveries: what he suspected was true and the police are covering up the crime but why? This is what Kvist has to find out. Will Kvist be able to avenge Beda’s death and find out the truth behind the cover-up?

I really didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did. I read this book fairly quickly – the first day I read 15% and the second day I finished it completely. There’s no doubt that this book is fast-paced and keeps you at the edge of your seat. I have to salute Martin Holmén because he made his main character bisexual and it’s not often that I see that in mystery/thriller genre! I loved seeing that! What wasn’t a very great thing for me is that he wasn’t treated very well. I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t get into details but I wish Harry Kvist expressed his sexuality more. I haven’t read the first one so I might be wrong because this installment didn’t have much of that. The people who’ve read the book might get what I mean. I also found a few things which moved too fast for my taste. Overall this didn’t affect my experience of enjoying the book that much and I would definitely recommend reading it. I seriously couldn’t look away while reading because I had to know what would happen!

Again this book can be read as a standalone so there’s no worrying about that. It will definitely thrill you and make you want to read on and find out what happens at the very end. Will I be reading the third installment of this book? Hell yeah, I will!

If you’re looking for a historical mystery/thriller to read then look no further because this book is for you.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher (Pushkin Press) for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a struggle, poorly written and not very engaging - perhaps it was the translation but I did not enjoy this novel.

It’s winter 1935, Stockholm. Former boxer, Harry Kvist, leaves prison. All he wants to do is begin a new life with the lover he met in jail. But his past dogs him. It is a time seeing the rise of Nazi ideals, which is beginning to make life uncomfortable for many people, even in Sweden.
Before Kvist can leave Stockholm and his underworld life behind he must first find a killer. One who is linked to the very highest levels of society. Life it seems is not going to be far from easy for Kvist.
Harry Kvist is one of the most extraordinary, absorbing and offbeat detectives I have ever read. His personality grabs you from the first line. The first-person perspective certainly contributes to the immediacy of Kvist’s travails. But it is the way in which his story is told which really has you forgetting to breathe, because you’re drawn so deeply into his world, your own becomes irrelevant.
As a former boxer Kvist is essentially little more than a thug, called in when people don't oblige those they owe money or other favours. Yet he is a man of high morals, protecting the weak unable to defend themselves, even though his own body is a wreck and he lives hand-to-mouth and by his wits.
The plot is excellent, the filth and every punch palpable. This is life in the raw, pulsating with energy. I am going to hunt out Martin Holmén’s other Kvist novels.

This is very classy stuff, a Scandinoir chiller set in 1930s Stockholm . A violent anti hero, Harry Kvist, pursuing a murderer in a dark, bleak city. Evocative language sets the scene for a consistently interesting, at times, disturbing story.
Highly recommended.

Down For the Count by Martin Holmén
Stockholm, 1935. Former boxer Harry Kvist is released from prison with the intent to go home to his dog and get his life in order. This time it isn’t just for himself but for the life he wants with his young cell mate, who will be released in a week. But, going home means returning to the old neighborhood.

If it is all possible, the neighborhood has gone downhill during Harry’s incarceration. One of his neighbors has been murdered, her disabled son has been arrested for the crime, and Nazi sympathizers are out on the streets. Something is definitely wrong and Harry owes it to Bede Johansson to find her killer.

This book, which has been translated from Swedish, is dark. So dark that in my mind’s eye the scenes were in 1930’s film noir black and white. That being said, Harry has the very best of intentions and you find yourself speeding through the chapters to see what happens at the end of the longest week of his life. The author has a talent for describing the stark underbelly of 1930’s Stockholm (and who knew there was one?).

<b>A Swedish noir par excellence.</b> Bravo.

<img src="https://media3.giphy.com/media/srg19CG0cKMuI/giphy.gif"/>

<b>Martin Holmén turned this finest piece of prose into a small work of art.</b>

<img src="https://img.webme.com/pic/p/penner-items/trennlinie_eis.png"/>
Stockholm, November, 1935.
After one and half year Harry Kvist is released from prison. He has something to look forward.
He is in love. He is full of hopes and...butterflies. His Doughboy whom he got to know in the jail has just one week left. Kvist has to wait exactly seven DAYS and then he'll wait for his lover outside the gates of Langholmen jail. To start a new life. With his Doughboy. With a new suit. Because he promised. <blockquote><i>"A promise is a promise". </i></blockquote>

<b>The countdown has started.</b>

NO ONE and even less Harry Kvist himself (yes, my friends, NOT even me!!!) COULD have expected/imagined WHAT a crazy week had awaited him. The LONGEST 7 days of his life.

And what for a GRANDIOSE finale! Even when I thought, I GOT a feeling, I KNEW it, I GUESSED it right...Martin Holmén took me by surprise.

<b>A very BE-A-U-TI-FUL ending, marvelous writing, fascinating character, an amazing authentic historical atmosphere, great mystery.</b>

My TINY complaint. The details. The good and the irritating things at the same moments. Martin Holmén is obsessed with details. I adore it, I hate it. Because sometimes it was just too much of details within a very thrilling moment. Suddenly the focus went away from the story line to the descriptions of the surroundings. In SOME cases it was just a bit inappropriate that braked the dynamic of the plot.

BUT.
The details, in principle, are THE BEST things in the series. And they are sooooo important! And the author knows exactly how to benefit them the best.

And do you know WHAT? I don't want to look like I'm searching for the "fly in the ointment".
This series is amazing.


<u>Highly recommended. </u>


<b> I WANT THE BOOK 3 NOW!!!

A true noir ...... dark, dirty and bruised

As always our Kvisten leads with his fists than sometimes follows with his brain. But like a pitbull when he locks jaws into a target he will not open them until the target is down.

A magnificent use of language to create such a noir, dirty, bruised Stockholm, I had such a feeling of pervasive foreboding whilst I was reading. Holmen's sure hand builds this up with each and every word. Sinister darkness all around and then the occasional rays of sunlight that pierce the darkness and you can see why Kvist continues, what pushes him on.

I gave Clinch, the first book 4 stars which is an accolade for me, this one I give 5 stars because it is a star in it's genre. For making me feel the darkness and still kindle that hope which made me pitt myself along with Kvist to try for the light. I am definitely up for the count for the next one - which should be the end of the trilogy.