A hugely engaging and enjoyable Swedish crime story. The killing of a football fan in a bar and the death by explosion in a prison are each investigated by ex-members of a special police investigative team, disbanded after a disastrous case. When a robbery that uses explosives and leaves six dead provides threads a link both the team is reassembled. As the investigation develops it becomes clear that there is something very serious happening and that the team have a significant task to stop it. The investigation is superbly set up, the threads of the story twist together in a nasty, very satisfactory way and the bleakest justice is served.
The plot mechanics are superb, Arne Dhal sets up multiple threads in the story and each one follows to an intersection with the others in its own time and is never forced. The reveals are set up with great skill and complicate as much as they reveal. When the knots start to tighten, the suspense is steadily increased until;l the very bitter and utterly satisfactory conclusion is reached.
Arne Dhal manages a large cast with confident skill and discipline, each cast member gets enough time to fully establish themselves and then develops further as the interactions between plot and cast make them collide with each other. All of them demand attention from the reader, none are decorations or simple plot devices, they make their way through the story bursting with life, doubts, confidence and energy. This is the third book in a series, continuity is used with a light hand, the shared history is suggested without ever being required to understand and enjoy everything.
Alice Menzies translation is transparent, the cast and context are entirely natural, it is uncompromisingly Swedish and wholly at home in English. Strongly recommended
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