The Mountain King is an atmospheric Swedish noir. It feature Leo Asker a gritty, determined and smart as hell detective. Her journey throughout this story is told in several voices, from being raised by a crazy prepper father, to a star detective in the Serious Crime division and then a demotion,prompted by her nasty rich controlling mother, who is devoid of empathy and controlled by power, to the Department of Orphaned Cases and Lost Souls.
I loved the dark and dreary atmosphere of the small towns in Sweden. It adds so much texture to the story along with characters that fit into doomsday prepper.
Leo Askers demotion in prompted by a missing rich girl who her mother deems is not fit to find her. She has another detective, one that Leo had previously filed charges against for harassment to fill her position. Unbeknownst to Leo, the previous detective who was on floor minus 1 (the level where all the misfits had been placed) had left clues to a possible serial killer. Of course Leo must follow these leads and what happens is the finale of the book. The last 20% of the book is fast paced in an otherwise slow burn that builds to the crescendo in its finale. The ending leaves us wondering what happens next and gives way to possible a sequel to Leo Askers journey and her team of misfits, who have proven they are still the best at their own specialities.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #simonandschuster for the opportunity to read this wonderful book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

The Mountain King is a gripping and atmospheric thriller that takes the reader on a journey through the dark and hidden corners of Malmö, Sweden. The protagonist, Leonore Asker, is a brilliant and ambitious criminal inspector who is demoted to the Department of Lost Souls, a unit for cold and odd cases, after a high-profile kidnapping case goes wrong. There, she becomes intrigued by a mysterious case involving small figures that are placed around the city, one of which resembles the kidnapped woman. With the help of Martin Hill, a local architecture expert and urban explorer, she uncovers a web of secrets, lies, and violence that connects the past and the present.

The author, Anders de la Motte, is a former police officer and security consultant, and his expertise and experience shine through in the realistic and detailed descriptions of the police work, the cityscape, and the criminal underworld. He also creates a complex and compelling character in Asker, who struggles with her personal and professional life, her ambition and guilt, and her sense of justice and loyalty. The plot is fast-paced and full of twists and turns, keeping the reader hooked until the end. The Mountain King is the first book in a new series featuring Asker, and I look forward to reading more of her adventures.

The Mountain King is a must-read for fans of Nordic noir, especially those who enjoy the works of Jo Nesbo (one of my personal favorites).

Leonore is a detective with a high success rate, but she has crossed one of her very ambitious colleagues, and when a high profile kidnapping occurs, the case is given to him, and Leonore is banished to the cold case department. She is certain upper management and when she discovers that her predecessor was pursuing a case similar to the current she is determined to solve it. I liked her, and the unique "lost souls" she is forced to work with. I am looking forward to a sequel. I received this as an arc from NetGalley and am under no pressure for a positive review.

I really wanted to like it as the beginning and altering POVs caught my attention. However, no matter how many times I try to chip at it, I always end up turning to a different book. I think ultimately this is a DNF that I might end up finishing in the future, but I might not.

Thank you to NG and the publisher for an arc in exchange for a review.

Every once in a while, a new series comes along where I really connect with the main characters, where every new installment becomes like catching up with an old friend, and I have a feeling that The Mountain King begins a new series like that for me. Leo Asker is gritty, complex, and damaged, but also so relatable and likable. I want to know more, to see her solve more cases in her Department of Lost Souls, to see what happens between her and Martin Hill. Even though it's only book one, I already love this series, and I can't wait for the next installment.

Finely wrought…stellar. Leo’s investigation was riveting.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Mountain King
This Scandinavian noir book begins with two young people who loved to explore abandoned buildings and sites in their area. Malik and Smilla ventured into a mountain with an abandoned trail. A few days later they had not returned home and were reported missing.
The police department office of Serious Crimes in Skala, headed by Inspector Leonore Asker, took the case and started investigating. However Smilla’s family was an influential one in the area and Jonas Hellman, a top detective from Stockholm, was brought in to head the team hunting for the two people. Hellman and Asker had a bad history and she was removed from the case. She then found herself heading a unit for misfits in the police department.
While going through the open cases of the man she replaced, Asker found that a local model railroad display had been vandalized. She began investigating and soon found a connection between the train display and the missing couple. So she started investigating the disappearances on her own. She discovered that the two missing people were the latest in a series of unexplained disappearances over the last few years.
This story is fast paced and scary. It will come as a surprise when the identity of the monster known as the Mountain King is revealed at the end of the book.
I enjoy Scandinavian noir books and this is a good example of that genre. The author does a great job of making the reader feel that they are participating in the story rather than simply reading about the events.
I received this ARC from the publisher and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for a digital ARC of this one!

And a huge, huge thanks to my friend Char Cocrane for putting this on my radar!

I was immediately intrigued after reading Char’s review and was so happy to get approved for this one. I love reading about urban exploration and I find there’s very few books out there – whether in the thriller or horror genre’s – that focus on it at all.

This novel is translated from the original Swedish release and with that in mind, you know you’re in for a story with desolate landscapes, dreary atmosphere and a constant feeling of being on edge. That seems to be the trait for almost all of the bigger Swedish novels released over here.

The story follows Detective Inspector Leo Asker. She’s worked hard to put her background behind her – living under a father who became more and more distrusting of society and earned the nickname Prepper Per – and now heads up the Major Crimes Unit in Malmo. The novel really kicks off when a young woman – Smilla, a daughter in a well-connected family – and her boyfriend, MM, seemingly disappear and are presumed kidnapped.

What I liked: It’s from that point where de la Motte really takes off. We learn Leo has a strained relationship with her mother and sister, as well, when a few phone calls are made, Smilla’s family and Leo’s mom (who is a powerful lawyer) conspire to bring in a Detective from higher up – a man whom Smilla previously had a brief fling with, before it ended and he harassed her.

All of this makes for a cat-and-mouse game with Smilla’s disappearance, but also with Leo trying to find the truth, after being jettisoned to a ‘forgotten department,’ and the Major Crimes Unit follows a lead that has nothing to do with the true disappearance.

de la Motte kept the tension high throughout and this was wholly down to the short snappy chapters. It was a great way to create an atmosphere that constantly crackled with energy and makes it tough for readers to catch their breath. The middle half of this book is filled with numerous hints, sleight-of-hands and ‘maybe it’s this guy’ moments, as de la Motte keeps the true identity veiled until the final quarter.

I will add, I loved the quick time jumps back to Leo’s youth, to learn the truth of what happened between her and her father and how he continued to travel down a road that grew ever darker and more distrustful. It also worked to showcase the ‘why’ of her decisions when we arrive at the very end.

Lastly, I will add this as well – there’s a character – Hill – who is imperative as a secondary character. He was friends with Leo as a kid before moving away and now, as an adult, teaches at a University and has written a bestselling book on urban exploration. He was so fully formed, he would’ve even made for a great lead character, but I’m glad it was Leo, as she’s a formidable and strong lead who kicked so much ass, it was awesome.

The ending and discovery of the identity was great and seeing how a lot of minor things were connected was really well done.

What I didn’t like: Two things really. Much like I’ve found with every Thomas Olde Heuvelt novel’s I’ve read – well, I’ve read ‘Hex’ and dnf’d ‘Echo’ – it felt like throughout, and most likely due to it being translated, a lot of areas were bereft of emotions. As though each sentence was written by a robot. I was very worried in chapters one and two that this would be the case of the entire novel, as those first two chapters came across as completely emotionless, but thankfully that changed and it took off. Saying that, there were parts scattered throughout that just felt hollow, and I think that’s due to the nature of translated work.

Secondly, the very ending of this one, after everything is all said and done, sets up the next book. This is book one in the Leo Asker series after all, but I found it incredibly cheesy and almost completely unbelievable. Leo is given a permanent job/post and within two seconds of her sitting at her ‘new’ desk, the phone rings and someone is asking specifically for her? I know we needed a hook for book two, but it felt very forced and comical.

Why you should buy this: If you’re like me and love reading about people going missing in odd places and the frantic search that takes place to find them, ‘The Mountain King’ will be right up your alley. This one was compulsive, entertaining and I can’t even count the number of times I was convinced it was one person who was the mountain king, only to be completely wrong. And while I said the last closing part was comical, I’m completely invested in Leo Asker and want to read all about her adventures and watch her kick ass!

I loved this start to a new series. I loved Asker and her group of misfit cops. I loved how this story is filled with thrills and chills and lots of action. I love that Asker needs to figure out what to do in her life when she gets knocked down. I could not put this book down. I received a copy of this book from the publisher for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Mysterious: 5/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

The Mountain King is about a detective trying to climb her way back up in her job by solving a case of two missing people. I really enjoyed the mystery and the twists and turns of the story. There were some times the main character made annoying choices but I still really enjoyed this book. The writing was really well done. There were a lot of different POVs and it added to the mystery and allowed me to get into the heads of the different characters. I would be interested to read other books by this author.

I received an arc and am leaving an honest review.

Synopsis: This is a new series featuring Criminal Inspector Leonore Asker with the Malmo Major Crime Division in Sweden. Two individuals go missing and police first suspect a kidnapping. When an Inspector is brought in to head up the case, Asker is booted from the case and “promoted” to the Department of Lost Souls. While on paper it appears to be a promotion for her, in actuality she has been taken off a high profile case to temporarily head up a department that resides in the lowest level of the police station that no one really knows what its mandate is. While straightening up the paper mess in her new office, she discovers something that she realizes links to the disappearance of not only the two individuals that are currently missing but some cold cases of missing persons and she begins working on a parallel investigation trying to get to the truth before her old division beats her to it.

My thoughts: I read Anders de la Motte’s Seasons Quartet series last year and really enjoyed it so when I saw that he had a new series starting, I was immediately interested. I loved the character of Asker. While she can be aggressive and abrasive to others, she is also intelligent, hard working, intrepid but also a little bit broken from a traumatic childhood. Reading about her co-workers in the Lost Souls Division brought to mind the characters in the “Slow Horse” series by Mick Herron which I also love. I will definitely keep reading this series as they are written and translated into English. I gave this book 4/5 stars and it is available for purchase on January 30, 2024.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for a review copy.

The Mountain King is book 1 in the Askerserien series by Anders de la Motte.
TMK was an amazing foreboding mystery. That kept me glued to the pages.
This was an atmospheric and suspenseful novel.
The setting was fabulous and the plot is surprising and engaging.
The tension built with every page, the twists kept coming. I found myslef flying through the pages, not wanting to put it down. It was exhilarating.
Anders de la Motte has written an engaging story with an interesting cast of characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Mountain King, which could be regarded as a slow burner, although I found it compulsive reading.
I can’t wait for the second book.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley on behalf of Atria books!
This was my first jump into Nordic thrillers, and I was pleasantly surprised. I think urban exploration is super interesting, mixed with my favorite genre I knew I had to pick this up. I didn’t notice a language or culture barrier at all, and if anything I honestly would have liked a little bit more of it to feel more immersed. I truly loved the imagery of the location of the story, it’s something that stuck with me the entire read though. It truly felt like 2 completely different worlds, with very stark differences between the wilderness and the city. This plays into the very core of our protagonist, who is stuck in the middle of the two worlds.
Regarding “Leo” Asker; I loved her through the story as she navigates not only the case, but her past and the memories that arise against her will. I appreciate that she held herself true through the entire novel, and I absolutely cheered for how badass she is. She has so many layers and I felt the more I read the better I understood her. None of the realizations about her came too early or didn’t eventually fit into the puzzle.
As always with this genre I expected twists, and this did not disappoint!! I had something in mind and of course I was nowhere close when the book ended. That did not upset me in the slightest, and it was worth all of the frantic page turning and misbelief. I swear I was 3/4th done and was wondering when shit would hit the fan.. The answer was a lot more close to be expected!
I know that mixed pov’s sometimes get a bad rap, but I think this was done in a very balanced way. It kept the story flowing smoothly and allowed the reader to see the entire story while still leaving enough gaps to keep us on our toes.

Delicious Dark Nordic Noir

What secrets are hidden in the hall of the mountain king? What tricks will be used to lure people in?

A missing persons alert in Southern Sweden gets unexpected attention since one of the persons is Smilla, daughter of that country’s wealthy Holst family. After a weekend passes with no word or contact the alarm is raised bringing the vanishing without a trace to the attention of the Malmo Serious Crime Command, and Detective Inspector Leonore “Leo” Asker.

Given the potential publicity of the disappearance (think Patty Hearst), things get quickly complicated and twisty, especially with career path reward potential. Detective “Leo” gets quickly promoted into the “Department of Department of Orphaned Cases and Lost Souls” at a sublevel in the building to make room for rising star and former colleague, Jonas Hellman.

And as it turns out, her journey is as complicated as that of the missing Smilla and her companion, Malik Mansur, when they pursued their hobby of urban exploration, “UE”, investigating neglected and abandoned sites. And a ill-fated trip into the depths of a mountain with old Cold War fortifications and other inhabitants lurking there, including someone calling himself the mountain king.

Is this shadowy figure a rekindling of “Bergakungen”, the Norse mythological Mountain King and his court of trolls who lure people into their depths never to return? And what does the unexpected appearance of tiny figures of missing persons in a miniature train setting mean?

Originally published 2022 in Sweden, Anders de la Motte’s 2024 (US) twisty thriller “The Mountain King” evokes the dark plots of Scandinavian writers Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbit with a well-paced, alternating narratives of pursuer, pursued and hostage that makes the ending impossible to put down until it reaches its conclusion with a final unexpected twist.

Fasten your seat belts before you start.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Great police procedural book with the perfect creepy atmosphere.
Well written and enjoyable read.

Yes! My first 5-star read for 2024! I thought this Swedish police procedural was terrific, keeping me on my toes guessing while introducing a smart and strong main character, Detective Inspector Leonore 'Leo' Asker.

Leo is the lead detective in the Serious Crime Command when a young couple goes missing. The case is so high-profile, involving the daughter of a wealthy and powerful family, that a rising star in the National Operations Department is called in to replace Leo, Detective Superintendent Jonas Hellman, someone who just happens to have a personal grudge against Leo. She quickly finds herself 'promoted' to Manager of the Resources Unit, aka the Department of Orphaned Cases and Lost Souls... in the basement. Her small staff is 'a bunch of HR nightmares who've been shunted off to the basement, where they can't do any damage.'

Hellman quickly zeroes in on the boyfriend involved in the girl's disappearance and is blind to all other possibilities so Leo pursues some other tantalizing clues--something her predecessor was working on before his heart attack. Is it possible a serial killer is at work? Whose theory will prove to be correct? Leo's or Hellman's? And who will get to the truth first?

I really enjoy police procedurals, watching such a clever, insightful investigator dig through layers of information to slowly piece together the answer. Leo is a great new main character with a very interesting backstory that has prepared her for dealing with all sorts of 'crazies'--be they criminals or her fellow officers. I can't wait to read more in this series!

I was invited to read an arc of this new thriller by the publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the opportunity! My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

This is a perfect addition to Scandinavian noir in the tradition of Jo Nesbo and Jussi Adler Olsen’s Department Q.
I gave it the following SCORE:
Setting: Present day in and around Malmo, Sweden
Characters: The lead is Leonore (Leo) Asker, an intrepid Criminal Inspector who has been relegated to the Department of Lost Souls and Orphaned Cases, a group of talented but thoroughly uninspired and unmotivated detectives who have no direction and are purposely forgotten by the administration.
Overview: Banished to the elevator’s appropriately labeled “level minus one” in the headquarters building, Leo cannot let go of a case she has started in the Serious Crimes Division involving missing and presumably kidnapped people. Working independently and against the new head of her former division with whom she has had a previous involvement, she persists to unravel much larger dark mysteries of urban exploration.
Recommendation: I rate this book 5 stars
Extras: The story is told from multiple perspectives and important flashbacks that slowly reveal Leo’s relentless drive and the roles of n excellent supporting cast. It is a “thriller” that actually supplies some thrills and a “page turner” that really makes you anxious to turn the page. Like many tales in this genre, there are several unexpected twists and delicious red herrings. This promises to be an excellent new series and future installments revealing the evolution of Asker’s underrated department are anticipated.
Thanx to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to provide this candid review.

A young couple goes missing., and it will take an unusual detective to solve this far from ordinary disappearance.

Meet Leonore (Leo) Asker, a top investigator in the Malmö’ (Sweden) Serious Crime Command, is highly competent, a less-than-ideal team player, and the product of a very unusual upbringing. She is on track, she thinks, to be the person who replaces current Department Chief Vesna Rodic when Rodic retires in the next few years. Her lack of patience with co-workers who are not as proficient as she is has made her some departmental enemies, which becomes evident when she is sidelined from the current case under investigation. A young couple, the daughter of an extremely wealthy and socially prominent family named Smilla Holst and her former boyfriend Malik Mansur, were out exploring somewhere and have disappeared. No clues, no ransom requests, just gone, leaving behind only a smiling selfie taken on the last day they were seen. Many have jumped to the conclusion that Malik, who despite the recent renewal of their friendship had not taken the break-up well and whose financial situation is rocky, must clearly be to blame for Smilla’s disappearance, but Asker is not so sure. Pressure is brought to bear on the commissioner by Smilla’s family (and their lawyer, Asker’s mother….awkward) to bring in reinforcements from the National Operations Department in the form of Jonas Hellman, formerly of the SCC in Malmö and with whom Asker had had a relationship that ended (at her instigation) badly indeed. Hellman is convinced that Malik is guilty and that he has kidnapped Smilla, and soon Asker is removed from the investigation, “temporarily reassigned” to lead the Resources Unit, whose current head Bengt Sandgren has been hospitalized. She’s told its a promotion, as it will provide her with managerial experience to better prepare her for future promotions, but she’s not that naive. No one quite knows what the Resources Unit does, but Asker quickly finds out that it is located in the basement, is shabbily outfitted (to put it kindly) and its staff is a collection of HR problem children; its nickname is The Department of Lost Souls and Orphaned Cases. The most recent case that she can figure out her predecessor was working on concerns painted figures that were being placed without permission on a displayed set belonging to a model railway club, Soon Asker comes to believe that there is a connection between this odd not-quite-a-crime situation and the Holst disappearance. There also appears to be a link between Malik and Martin Hill, now a professor and the published author of the “bible” of urban explorers….and someone who was important in Asker’s life when she was in her teens. With limited help from the collection of oddballs and outcasts in her department and a strong sense that Hellman is pursuing the wrong line of inquiry and in so doing is risking Smilla Holst”s life, Asker begins her own parallel investigation, reaching out to Hill for help. But Smilla may not be the first person taken, and Asker must risk everything and draw upon skills ingrained in her during her youth if she is going to live long enough to stop the person behind the disappearances.
If you enjoy a strong female protagonist, you should give Leo Asker a try. Raised by a father she calls Prepper Per, a survivalist who may have been less than completely sane and who subjected her to continual extreme training exercises to prepare her for….just about anything, really, she is not an average person. She doesn’t have close bonds with other people, and the tattoo that covers up the scars on her arm is (no, not a dragon) the word “resilience”. What her relationship was with Martin Hill is slowly revealed through flashback chapters, as is the history of the person who calls themself the Mountain King, someone else who is a product of a different sort of childhood. Well developed secondary characters, including the kidnapped Smilla (who puts to use what she learned in the long weekend of “hostage school” with which her grandfather had gifted her…no passive victim here) add dimension to the story, and their backgrounds could provide fodder for upcoming installments in this series. Readers of Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen will find a bit of Department Q in this tale, and comparisons to Steig Larson and his Lisbeth Salander series are perhaps inevitable. But while Asker is definitely not entirely normal, she is also not in the same quasi- feral category of Salander.. Author Anders de la Motte’s background as a police officer adds a realistic tone to the story, and the concept of urban exploration and the “architecture of decay” is a fascinating element as well. I found The Mountain King an engrossing read, with plenty of plot twists and possible villains woven into the structure. I am a fan of many Scandinavian mystery/thriller authors, including not just those I’ve mentioned above but also Jo Nesbø and Christoffer Carlsson, and am pleased to add a new name to my list of must-reads in the genre. Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books/Emily Bestler Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy of this, the first but hopefully not the last in the Leo Asker series.

I couldn’t get enough of this once I started (mostly) because of the vibes! It reminded me a bit of The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup, so if you liked that one you’ll definitely like this one too. The story is told through multiple points of view in short chapters so the pace feels really quick. Instead of parts, the book is broken up into which day it is.

This would be a great book to read during the fall months and is perfect for those that want an atmospherically spooky book but don’t want anything witchy or paranormal.

Ooh…I loved this.

This is a great Nordic Thriller. It does have touches of humor for those who don’t want things too dark, but it still hits that need for some Nordic Noir.

Leo Asker is a great character. I definitely want more of her and the Department of Lost Souls.

As for our crime, not only was I completely swept up in it, I was very surprised by much of what happened.

This was a wonderful escape and I want more!

• ARC via Publisher