‘In the end, everything had gone according to plan.’

Or perhaps not. Near the northern Swedish town of Haparanda, human remains are found in the stomach of a dead wolf and her cub. The remains are linked to a bloody drug deal across the border in Finland, but the drugs and the money are missing. How did the victim end up outside Haparanda, and where are the drugs and the money?

Detective Hannah Wester and her colleagues are on the case, but so are others. A female assassin, Katja, is sent from Russia to track down the drugs and the money.

There are multiple points of view and plenty of different characters in this novel, which can make it confusing to read. Several of those characters make some very poor decisions, some are opportunistic, others are in desperate circumstances. Violence inevitably follows. But Hannah Wester, the flawed but likeable detective, and Katja the mysterious assassin, are key. Hannah is haunted by both present and past, while Katja has been trained to be ruthless.

While some aspects of the story are clear (the death which starts the story, and Katja’s purpose) there are other mysteries which unfold as the story progresses. I found myself caught between admiration for Katya’s discipline, irritation at some of Hannah’s actions and frustration for those who thought they could ‘get away with it’. But I am intrigued, and I will be interested in reading where Mr Rosenfeldt takes Hannah Wester in the next instalment.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A fast paced, action packed thriller set in Haparanda, a town in Sweden on the border with Finland. It begins with the discovery of dead wolves, poisoned and after examination, it’s discovered they’ve eaten a human. There’s also a drug sale between Russians and Finns that’s gone wrong across the border. Hannah Wester is a middle aged cop who’s the central character in the book. The Russians want their money and drugs back and send a highly trained to female assassin to Sweden to retrieve them leading to quite a bit of violence as the police try to figure out what’s happening.
The author is a screenwriter (The Bridge, Marcella) and it shows. It doesn’t have named or numbered chapters, but the scene changes are quick and abrupt, often as something big happens. Early it seemed like there were too many characters and it was hard to follow but it does settle as all the different threads are brought together. An entertaining read and an interesting beginning to a series.