Four stars for In the Name of Truth by Viveca Sten. I love the Sandhamm mysteries and am always excited when the latest English translation is released. This book was no exception - a compelling, easy-to-read mystery told from many points of view that comes together nicely. I loved the different perspectives on bullying incidents, which felt frustrating and sad to read.

Ultimately, I wish there were more interactions in this novel between main series characters Thomas and Nora, as it felt like Sten struggled a bit to find ways to connect their narratives. But this is another solid entry in the series, and I can’t wait for the next book.

Continuing our exploration of "what was that again?" moments in this series, we have stalking, bullying, pedophilia, one runaway kid and a missing one, embezzlement, gambling, gangsters from Lithuania, relationship woes, and a wedding.

Wedding?

Jonas and Nora are getting hitched! Why, I am unsure, since their daughter Julia's school age now. And Jonas's fitness isn't, IMO, really top-notch, since he accepts a job flying to Thailand on the eve of the ceremony. Yet Nora seems not to see this as the red flag I do...though of course she's not exactly thrilled with his swanning off at that moment. Her angry repsonse felt muted and disproportionately absent the larger sense of questioning I expected. Only he could take this job? He couldn't buy a ticket on another airline to get home on time? ...???... Probably the biggest surprise to me, apart from the fact that it's happening at all, is Wilma's inclusion in the ceremony. Clearly skipping over her adolescence has let us have the nice-person end product without the factually inevitable angst.

Thomas, meanwhile, is discovering what I've thought all along: Elin's wonderful but Pernilla's a pill and rejoining his life to hers was a major goof-up. After succumbing to Erik's blandishments to leave the police, Thomas found out this didn't make Pernilla one bit less awful. Now he's back to his meaningful if lower-paying job (to Pernilla's disgust), repartnered with Aram, and his energies are focused on the summer-camp issues. As readers with any experience of series mysteries already know, there's a connection between Nora's court case over embezzlement and her star witness's son Benjamin's disappearance from said camp; what it is turned out to be a surprise to me. My original theory about what the thread was turned out to be wrong. That actually made me enjoy the read more because being surprised eight books into a series is a good thing.

The usual problem I have with these books is that Thomas or someone else police-y does something deeply stupid that risks his life...no this time so much, instead there are decisions made in investigating the camp-problems that seem particularly lunkheaded...there's a search for the missing boy that's badly mishandled...but nothing that's going to get Thomas killed. The anonymous threatening calls made to the witness and to Nora are overdetailed. Knowing they're happening is enough and there's only so many ways to threaten someone without becoming repetitive, which they do.

Possibly the biggest disappointment to me was the fact that, in pursuit of their respective crimes, Thomas and Nora really don't interact much. It makes sense given the nature of the events, but I found that I missed them spending friend-time together.

The sailing camp that Benjamin's been coerced into attending by his father is nightmarish reading, with some Lord of the Flies-level bullying that's not downplayed and a camp counselor whose mental-health struggles mislead and complicate the police investigation into Benjamin's disappearance. There's a great deal of information about sailing and its culture in Sweden that was interesting enough but might slow things down a bit for thriller readers. The local pedophile gets a look-in, of course he would since he's been put in the book, in what ends up as a truly unnecessary red herring. Oops, that's a spoiler. Well, that's life boys and girls, when reviewing book eight of a series there will be some. I expect longtime readers of the series are going to be a bit testy about the complete absence of a murder in this installment. I myownself think the evolution that's underway could be great...depending on what Author Sten does with it.

A long read with short chapters that stay on point is a good thing for most modern readers. I doubt most will see what's coming at the end. If you do see it...kudos. But don't talk about it!

Another great book in the Sandhamn series, which again bought together two seperate storylines into one fully rounded story. As background there was character development and updates on both Thomas and Nora's personal lives.

This is a great series of books, which never fail to deliver.

An intriguing and suspenseful book that takes you along for a winding path. Strong dialogue good character development makes this a good read.

Complex story line with multiple subplots and many characters, the story was slow to start with but soon picked up speed when a missing boy got Inspector Thomas into the investigation. His best friend attorney Niora too had an important embezzlement case days before her wedding.

My first book by this author, it took me some time to track all characters in my mind. The story unfurled with every chapter. A race against time to get to the truth as too many secrets refused to stay buried.

A good read

Complex and absorbing!

Weave together a plot featuring a court case about embezzlement, a children's summer sailing camp off Sandhamn Island, a stalking pedophile, a runaway girl, a missing boy, a camp leader who suffers from deep insecurities, another couple of boys who would be at home in the Lord of the Flies; then throw in gambling and Lithuanian gangsters and you have one complicated plot for Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson and his friend, attorney Nora Linde to work their way through. Both unbeknownst to each other pursuing independent inquiries that have them meeting somewhere in the middle. (Oh, and did I mention the wedding?)
Nora is working on the court case and Thomas on the camp front.
I swear I smelt a wiff of pine needles and felt the sting of the sea spray in the camp sequences. I did dream wistfully of summer and sailing.
Putting this complex Swedish crime noir together must have been exhausting and I'm seeing huge maps on white boards dotted everywhere, or maybe a zillion post-it notes joining everything together. Ok, so maybe it was a speadsheet. I say this 'cause occasionally I had to backtrack just to keep up with the divergent storylines and the action. A gripping read that kept me awake long after I'd cantered to the finish line.
This was my first read about Andreasson and Linde. It didn't deter me from enjoying the storyline. Though now I am pleased to say I have a lot of catching up to do!

An AmazonCrossing ARC via NetGalley

At the heart of this Swedish crime series is the lifelong friendship between detective Thomas Andreasson and attorney Nora Linde. They grew up on Sandhamn, part of an archipelago just east of Stockholm, and the books (eight so far have been translated into English) draw on their close childhood ties and their adult professional lives for material.

In this book, it's Nora's work that's in the forefront. In the Name of Truth is above all a courtroom drama -- but don't overlook the disappearance of two youngsters from a sailing camp, which involves Thomas in the plot. And bear in my mind that as Nora wends her way through a demanding legal tangle, her marriage is just days away and her fiance is stranded on another continent.

While the crime-centered plot is rich in suspense, it is (as always) the relationships that set apart this story. Consider Benjamin, the 11-year-old victim of bullying who disappears. Who was responsible: the bullies? a pedophile that readers have seen lurking around the camp? Or an enemy of Benjamin's father, who is a prosecution witness in Nora's trial?

I loved this book, but I couldn't recommend it as a standalone -- I've read the previous seven installments, and still there were backstory elements that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. But, please -- read all eight of these wonderful books!

Thanks to Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for an early readers copy.

🌅Midsummer excitement to the extreme!😲

👍👍My first time reading a Viveca Sten Swedish thriller will definitely have me coming back! In the Name of Truth, even in English translation, is a well-written story with a great mixture of accelerating mayhem, criminal justice procedural and the complex, often frustrating, lives of its main characters. It's also whet my appetite to go back to earlier books in the series and learn more about policeman Thomas and prosecutor Nora.

👦⛵But the heart of this story is a young boy, Benjamin, small for his age, who gets hustled off to a sailing camp by his dad and his nightmare begins from the moment he arrives. He's got problems on all sides, except for a few girls who befriend him. Benjamin's desperate plight is what drives the urgency and action of the story. There are a number of villains in Benjamin's story and the young staff running the sailing camp certainly don't exert themselves to protect him! The ⌛climax is a nail-biter and the story packs a few shocking twists: both important to me in a quality thriller.

🇸🇪 To top off the pluses for me, the book takes place in parts of Sweden I can easily visualize after having lived in Stockholm for a few years. The bustle of Stockholm and its urban suburbs comes through, as does the calm beauty of the island archipelago around Sandhamn. Nora's planned wedding on the islands at Midsommer, Sweden's bucolic holiday celebration of the Midnight Sun, reads like a dream despite her stress-fraught week leading up to it.

Thanks to publisher Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.

Just days before her upcoming wedding, attorney Nora Linde is working on a difficult embezzlement case that is crucial to her career. She begins receiving threatening messages that her key witness, Christian Dufva, is lying. Her friend, Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson, back on the job after a brief stint in private security, is called to investigate when a young boy disappears from a sailing camp. Benjamin is the son of Nora’s star witness. Could the cases be related or was Benjamin the victim of bullying that went too far?

I enjoy the Swedish setting and the interesting characters in this series. This is the eighth book and although I haven’t read all of the prior books, I am very familiar with the main characters. There are a lot of characters in the first couple of chapters, so that could be confusing at first for new readers. However, it doesn’t take long to figure out who’s who so you can enjoy the story. I have liked each of Sten’s books and this one is particularly heartbreaking in the descriptions of how two older boys torment young Benjamin. His situation creates most of the tension in the book. Nora’s case has some slow parts that aren’t nearly as suspenseful, but is interesting as a whole. Nora and Christian have some conversations about their cases, but don’t really work closely together. I like each character individually, but really like when they work together. Each is having complications in their personal lives and not everything is completely resolved, especially for Thomas, by the end.

I enjoy spending time with these characters and was eager to find out what would happen next. The resolution to the cases took me by surprise, but I liked the ending. The next book in the series has already been written, but don’t know when we can expect the English translation. I really like these books and look forward to reading more in this series. The book would appeal to fans of Camilla Lackberg.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Amazon Crossing. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

I'm in love with this series and I think it improves with each instalment.
Great storyline, great characters and a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

So much revolves around young Benjamin Dufva. He's disappeared from a summer camp where, btw, he's been bullied and where there's a pedophile lurking. DI Thomas Adreeason is looking for him,. His father Christian is integral to an upcoming trial being run by Nora Linde. That's the synopsis but there's so much more going on here. You might think the answers are obvious but this is nordic noir and they aren't. The twin threads will pull together. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This has good characters, is nicely atmospheric, and you'll learn a bit about embezzlement and Swedish law.

Viveca Sten’s In the Name of Truth is a story where nothing is at it seems. As Nora Linde prepares for her wedding, she must also prepare herself for a major trial. She is up for the position of chief prosecutor but if the trial does not go well it could ruin her chance. Everything depends on the testimony of Christian Dufva.

Benjamin is Dufva’s eleven year old son. As a child, Christian spent his summer at sailing camp. Against his ex-wife’s wishes he arranged for his son to attend the same camp. While Christian has fond memories, his son dreads the idea. To compound his problems, he is placed in a cabin with two older boys who bully him unmercifully.

The two storylines converge as the trial approaches. Nora has been getting threatening letters and Christian is under pressure from his former partner to change his testimony. His partner is accused of siphoning money from their company until it failed. He swears that it was a deal that went bad and Nora has been unable to locate the money, so Christian’s testimony is vital. Then his son goes missing.

Stern offers the reader misdirections at every turn. Prior to Benjamin’s disappearance, another camper had run away. Did the bullying force him to run away as well? Was he the victim of a child predator who had been in the area or was he kidnapped to silence his father? The search intensifies and the tension increases as Sten brings her story to a conclusion that stuns the reader. It is a tale of greed and intimidation that had me reading late into the night and one that I would highly recommend. I would like to thank NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for providing this book for my review.

I've been a fan of this series for so long that this one was a bit of a dissapointment. In this case there's no murder mystery, but two different plots that we soon realize are intertwined. Part courtroom drama, part child abduction investigation, it was clear from the beginning how both were gonna develop, making the story pretty predictable but entertaining nonetheless thanks in part to the short chapters style typical of the author. The kidnapping happens almost halfway through so it takes a little bit for the story to take off.

One thing I didn't enjoy as much as in the previous books was that both main characters barely interact with each other (a couple of phone calls). After so many books these characters feel almost like family so I wanna see them together!!

Changes are coming, both personal and work wise, so I can't wait to meet Nora and Thomas again for book 9.

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Crossing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the eighth book in popular Sandhamn Murder series written by Viveca Sten in Swedish and translated into English by Marlaine Delargy. All the books in the series feature Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson. If you haven’t read the other books in the series, still you can read it as a standalone book.

The Story revolves around the Christian Dufva’s family. Christian Dufva’s first marriage with Asa Dufva has fallen apart, and he has married Ninna. Benjamin Dufva is his son from first marriage, staying with his mother Asa Dufva. Christian forces Benjamin to attend a week long summer sailing camp. Benjamin, aged eleven years, is an introvert type of child who just wants to stay in the home and play games on the phone. A pedophile is there as well searching for his next victim. He likes boys and girls reaching puberty age.

Christian Dufva is a key witness in a trial, in which his business partner Niklas Winnerman is accused of embezzlement. He receives threatening calls from an unknown number, on the day of his testimony in the trial. On the same day, Benjamin goes missing from the sailing camp. Instructors at the sailing camp inform Thomas Andreasson and a big search operation is launched to find him.

Multiple threads are running together with each character having a story of its own.

Nora Linde is the prosecutor in the case. If she wins this case, she can get the position of deputy district chief prosecutor. Her second marriage is scheduled on Saturday, a couple of days after the trial ends, with airline pilot Jonas. Jonas has to leave for Bangkok at the last minute. He commits that he will be back by Wednesday. She didn’t like this and doubt her decision of marriage with Jonas.

Thomas Andreasson is the deputy inspector, who has rejoined the police after leaving a private job that was paying him well, but he was missing his colleagues and purpose. His wife Pernilla has got a job that involves a lot of travel and work pressure. Thomas thinks that she isn’t spending enough time with their daughter and their married life is going to ruin soon.

WHAT I LIKED

I liked the Cover of the Book, its just so beautiful. Plot was a simple one with an interesting story line. It took me some time to get into the story, but once I did, I didn’t put it down until the end. Each chapter had a story of a different character in third person narration style. Writing Style is simple and smooth, making it an easy read for a beginner as well. The Characters are well written, realistic and pretty detailed. Especially, Benjamin is one character which I liked the most. All his feelings of shyness and fear have been depicted beautifully by Viveca Sten. The Ending of the story was too good with an unpredictable outcome.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT

The thing, I didn’t like in the book was that there was just too much focus on the personal lives of characters, turning the book a bit too long and boring. The Focus should have been on the events affecting the trial and the investigation of the kidnapping.

OVERALL

It is a good crime thriller novel, with a bit boring first half, but a gripping other half and surprising ending.

An Captivating Novel of Deceit and Greed

The children were asleep. A pedophile was searching for his next victim. This main story thread is joined by two other threads. These new threads both involve Christian Dufva. Christian is a partner in the now defunct Alliance Construction. He is the chief witness in the case against his partner, Niklas Winnerman, for the company’s collapse. Nora Linde, a reoccurring character, is prosecuting. The pressure on Nora for a successful prosecution was high because of a number of well-publicized setbacks for her Economic Crimes Authority. Christian is a major character in the third main thread. Christian’s son, Benjamin, by a previous marriage, is a small-for-his-age and introvertish 11 year-old. Christian wants him to attend a summer sailing camp as he did and to meet and make new friends. Benjamin does not want to go. After the day’s sailing, a girl goes missing. Thomas Andreasson, who recently returned to his detective position, was sent to investigate the missing girl.

These three main story threads are interwoven into plot that has many twists, turns and misdirections. As with the previous novels in this series, Each chapter is in a different voice of a main character. I quickly was captured. I just wanted to continue to read and finished this novel faster than usual.

There are two major B-storylines. First is centered on Nora and her significant other, Jonas. They finally decided to marry in a week and right after the prosecution. Jonas is an airline pilot and asked to fly at the last minute to Bangkok and back. He would return on Wednesday. Things do not go as planned. Much insight into the Nora is seen how she handles this adversity with a major prosecution. The second thread involves Thomas and his spouse, Pernilla. She has a job that requires much travel and after-hour commitments, which is exactly the same requirement for a policeman. Much insight to the Thomas’s character is provided by how he reacts to deteriorating home life, child care, the sailing camp’s missing children, and a possible pedophile near the sailing camp. These B-storylines added poignancy and enriched the novel, and my enjoyment in reading it.

This novel is definitely for adults. While there are not any intimate scenes, the language is consistent with the adult characters. While there aren’t any direct descriptions of violence, there are scenes of a child’s confinement.

The novel is a translation. In the first novel, I discovered the use many British informal words. That was not the case with this translation. The read was a very smooth for me.

My final observations start with this is the eighth novel in the series, and the third that I have read. I didn’t feel anything was missing anything because I hadn’t read the previous novels. Also, all of the various main and B-storyline threads were tied up by the end of the novel. Some not in ways I expected.

Based upon my enjoyment in reading this novel and exhibiting all the requirements for a high star rating, I rate this novel with five stars. If this storyline intrigues you, do give it a read. By the way, I recently purchased the five novels that I haven’t read yet.

I have received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Amazon Crossing with an expectation for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Amazon Crossing for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

I’ve never read much crime fiction, so when I heard that fellow book bloggers Emma and Marina Sofia were planning a virtual literary festival to make up for the cancelled Quais du Polar, I thought this would be a good opportunity to try something different.

The book I chose for this event was In the Name of Truth by Swedish writer Viveca Sten. It’s a well-plotted, intriguing crime novel whose central event is the disappearance of an eleven-year-old boy from a sailing camp on a sandy island in the Stockholm Archipelago.

Sten takes quite a long time to build up to the disappearance, however. Most of the first half of the book is devoted to building up the characters and stories in a series of different and apparently unconnected threads.

We spend time with a businessman on trial for fraud, the prosecutor who’s trying to prepare for the case while arguing with her fiancé who’s leaving on a trip to Bangkok a few days before the wedding, a paedophile lurking around a bakery having a disturbing fantasy about a young child, police detective Thomas Andreasson and his failing marriage, shy little Benjamin preparing for a sailing camp he dreads, and more.

At first, I found it difficult to keep up with all the threads and the onslaught of new characters, particularly as there was nothing much of interest happening, except for the creepy menace of the unnamed man watching young children.

But gradually I settled into it and followed the various story strands as they slowly developed, still staying resolutely separate for a long time. And then the child disappears, and one by one they are all brought together.

The slow buildup really paid off in the second half, because by now I really cared about all of the characters and what was happening to them. I had a really vivid sense of the sailing camp in particular, and even the minor characters like the sailing instructors had their own chapters and backstories.

The multiple story threads and shifting perspectives also mean that it’s not all about the cop and his process in solving the crime. That becomes a large part of it in the second half, but there’s plenty going on outside of that too, as the fraud case takes a new turn, with gambling addiction, threats, Lithuanian gangsters, and doubt over who actually defrauded whom.

The resolution of all this is quite satisfying, with all the threads drawn together in a convincing way. I found myself speeding through the pages to see what would happen.

So I am glad I finally dipped my toe into the world of Scandinavian crime fiction in which it seems everyone else has been swimming for ages. Thanks to Emma and Marina Sofia for giving me the nudge!

Will I read more crime fiction now? To be honest, probably not. As enjoyable as this book was, I did feel a bit frustrated by the limitations to what was possible. I don’t think I’m giving any spoilers away here when I say that the crime was solved shortly before the end of the book. And when a cute child goes missing… OK, I am getting into spoiler territory here, so I’ll shut up. The point is that I wasn’t really surprised by anything that happened. Order was restored, the guilty were punished. The only uncertainty is in seeing who was responsible and exactly how they did it and how they end up getting caught. And I had figured out the broad strokes of it quite early.

I’m sure there are crime fiction books that break with these conventions and contain more surprises—I don’t read enough of it to know how many—but this one very much conformed to type. So although it was fun to see how it all worked out, I tend to want more from a book than the neatness of a puzzle solved.

But it’s good to try something different, so I’m glad I took part. Please do visit the organisers’ sites—Book Around the Corner and Finding Time to Write—to see their posts and read more about the festival. Not sure if they’re planning a link-up of posts, but you can find out more there. Or check out the original Quais du Polar festival that inspired it all.

Am I being unfair on crime fiction? Can I judge it when I’ve read so little of it? Are there rule-breaking crime fiction writers I should be reading? Lovers of the genre, please set me straight!

I requested this book because I enjoy thrillers and especially have liked other Swedish authors like Camilla Lackberg. This book did not disappoint! I read it in one sitting late at night. It is the first book I've ever read by Viveca Sten but now she is definitely on my radar. I hope her other books are translated into English!
This is a no-nonsense thriller, as in it gets right to the point, is written clearly and introduces all the characters right away. Again, like Lackberg's books, the characters are likeable and you learn about their personal lives as they intertwine with the fast-paced story. I think Sten's writing may be a bit clearer and to the point than Lackberg's though.
The book is set near a Swedish island called Sandhamn, which is about 30 miles from Stockholm. A young boy at a summer sailing camp on the island goes missing. There is some buildup before he actually disappears, setting up backstories and potential culprits to suspect. Trigger warning - there is a pedophile bad guy character/suspect who alludes to sexual abuse of a child in his chapters.
There are kind of two main characters, and I'm curious if their friendship is explained more in previous books. One is a police officer, Thomas, who is called to investigate the boy's disappearance since he is nearby the island on his day off. The other is Nora, a prosecutor, who has a criminal trial regarding fraud and embezzlement. Her key witness is the father of the missing boy... Lots of interesting paths connect with each other and I really was kept guessing until almost 80% through the book. I will read more of hers.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publisher. It is my second book from Viveca Sten and I adore her writing and characters.

Slowly and throughout short chapters the author combines multiple stories. She was able to link them to each other and make readers moving easily from one story to another wondering when the intrigue will be revealed and resolved.

All stories were connected to the Benjamin troubles and difficulties. Benjamin is an eleven years old boy who disappeared from a sailing summer camp where his father had taken him using a lot of insistance. What I can say is that it was full of suspense and twists and it goes different directions when you think you guessed what happened.

I highly recommend this book particularly for Nordic litterature fans.

My rate is 4.5 *

Another masterfully written mystery by Viveca Sten.
There are multiple plots within this story, all written with depth and fluency that it is easy to keep up with all that is happening. Nora is in the middle of a case where she has convinced herself she has all the facts and it is a slam dunk case. But, when her lead witness suddenly changes his testimony, things get complicated. Simultaneously, Thomas and the police department are called to a sailing camp where a ten year old boy has disappeared, who strangely enough turns out to be the son of the man Nora is questioning. There are lots of twists and turns that left me guessing and rethinking who did what. Great story with a wonderful cast of characters all portrayed as everyday people with everyday problems while they go about doing their jobs.
Loved the book and looking forward to the next in the series.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Another winner from this author. Kept me going late into the night. Justice is served for everyone. The author deftly brings the two stories together to a conclusion. 5 stars