Never Coming Back

Kommer aldrig mer igen #1

by Hans Koppel

Mike Zetterberg lives with his wife Ylva and their daughter in a house just outside Helsingborg in Sweden. One evening, Ylva doesn't come home as expected. Mike passes it off as a drink with a work friend, but when she's still missing the next day, he starts to worry. As Mike battles suspicion from the police and his own despair, he is unaware that Ylva is still alive, just a stone's throw from his own home: Ylva has been drawn into a twisted plot of revenge and tragedy that leads back into her and her abductors' shared past.

Given the sudden and mysterious circumstances of her disappearance, Mike becomes the chief suspect. But what no one knows is that she's being held hostage in the cellar of the house across the street. A secret camera has been set up in her own home so that Ylva can only watch her family on the screen. They cannot see her and they most certainly cannot hear her scream.

This superbly-told tale of horrific tragedy and brutal revenge which has obsessed readers across Scandinavia and England for the past year and climbed numerous bestseller lists now makes its American debut.

Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Horror, Scandinavian Literature

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Hans Koppel is a pseudonym for Petter Lidbeck, an established Swedish author who was born in 1964 and lives in Stockholm.

It was revealed that Petter Lidbeck is the author behind the name in August 2010. Following article was published in Svenska Dagbladet a few days later:

TT Spektra: Varför denna katt-och-råtta-lek med läsarna?
– Min gamla barnboksförläggare gick över till ett nytt förlag och ville verkligen att jag skulle skriva för vuxna. För att skilja dem åt blev det en pseudonym.

TT Spektra: Varför var det viktigt att vara hemlig?
– Jag inbillade mig att jag skulle bli helt annorlunda bemött om man visste att det var jag. I stället blev det ett jävla tjatande om att det var en hemlig figur bakom böckerna. Det trodde jag inte för jag är van vid barnböcker som passerar väldigt obemärkt. Sedan kändes det som att det var ett bra sätt att få lite uppmärksamhet.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensationalist written Nordic drama, maybe with Hollywood as the target audience> A crime / revenge thriller, definitely a page turner to a degree but lacking the depth seen in a lot of other modern Swedish / Nordic crime fiction writing. 6 out of 12, Three Stars

2012 read

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The blurb said it’s a “page-turner.” It’s supposed to be “nail-biting.” It’s “the Swedish thriller phenomenon.”
I was conned by the “Swedish thriller” bit, thinking Steig Larsson and Jo Nesbø, but I was sadly disappointed.
A woman is kidnapped, held in a cellar and tortured. Yes. It’s a pretty hackneyed plot, but I got the impression the plot was merely a vehicle for the violence.
And there’s plenty of violence. I can generally cope with that (I did mention Steig Larsson and Jo Nesbø!), but in this instance there’s no apparent motivation. The sexual humiliation and brutalisation of its heroine came across as violence for violence’s sake. It’s almost as if the author was revelling in it. Later in the book, we do discover a motivation, of sorts, but it’s too trivial (as if there could ever be a valid reason!) and too late.
I found the characters not only unsympathetic, but two-dimensional, certainly not believable. The characters seem disconnected from each other, and there seems to be no attempt to portray relationships.
But for me, the worst thing is that this book is so badly written. The storyline was full of holes and contrivances. Nothing made sense. . Perhaps this was because having seen the appalling, senseless violence at the beginning of the book I was not prepared to give the book as a whole any chance at all!
The best thing about this book – I got it from the library so I didn’t waste money!

[La loca de los libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Pues qué decir! Me ha sorprendido muy gratamente. Tanto es así que fui pasando las páginas casi sin darme cuenta, gracias a sus capítulos cortos y a la tensión que supo mantener durante todo el libro. Aunque los policías protagonistas era para darle un par de meneos para que espabilaran (qué impotencia madre mía) la historia en sí me ha parecido buena. Personalmente, la disfruté muchísimo y la recomendaría. Un gran descubrimiento. Ahora a por La Novia Gitana y La Red Púrpura que ya no me puedo aguantar más, tengo otros cientos pendientes antes pero no puedo más jajajajaja

[Barbara Elsborg · Rating 2 out of 5]

two and a half stars.
Since I've written a book myself about a kidnapped woman, I was very interested to see the take in this one. With all the recent horrible cases of women being held captive for years, it didn't make that part of the plot line unrealistic. What didn't work for me was the motive of those who did it. To wait so long?? To behave in the way the guy did, with the acceptance - mostly - of his partner?? What did work for me was the ambiguous character of the victim. Not a saint by any means, and we learn at the end just why she was taken, she alternately had my sympathy and my dislike. I think it was clever to let the reader know that she had done something bad - so while we abhor her being treated in the way she is, we don't entirely love her. Even so I was willing her to escape!
I'd have liked much more insight into her mind. A lot of time passes and it's glossed over. I'd have also liked more insight into the minds of those who took her. The print was quite large the book and I suspect it was much shorter than the thickness of the paperback led me to believe. The style of writing was very blunt and not really descriptive. It was easy to read but left me feeling a bit dissatisfied.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

It didn't really come as much of a surprise that somebody has taken up the "girl in the cellar" storyline, although in SHE'S NEVER COMING BACK the victim is an adult woman, kidnapped on her way home from work, held in the cellar of the house opposite her own home.

Talking about this book is going to be a balancing act, as without giving away too much, there was just so much about it that simply did not work, that actually worried me. Worried me to the point where I got my partner to sit down and read it as well, so that we were then able to discuss the concerns that, in the end, we both shared.

I don't think it's giving too much away to suggest there's something profoundly "film script" about this book. From the initial kidnapping, the perfect family and picturesque location that Ylva lives in, through to the use of a camera to allow her to see snippets of her family life, the book is clearly telegraphing the look, and the feel of a film. Whilst that's not necessarily always a bad thing, in this case there were a number of elements of the plot that just seemed too strongly geared towards the "film", with so many things left unexplained when there was plenty of space for explanation.

The characterisation of the victim was, not to put too fine a point on it, decidedly dodgy. An adult woman, known to have been unfaithful to her husband in the past, there was some subtle undercurrent throughout the book that seemed to be drawing the reader's attention constantly to her sexual past, veering dangerously close to victim blaming. Having said that, there were a lot of extremely disconcerting female characterisations going on. The women in this book all seemed to be either morally ambiguous, sainted angels or barking mad. Not that many of the male characters fared a lot better - they were sooks, ineffectual, complicit (and in one very notable case, complicit in the face of professional expertise that should have had him running for the straight-jackets, the hills or both).

Nothing in the motivation for the kidnapping, or in the manipulation and cruelty once Ylva was captive made much sense. The motivation was unconvincing, the supposed execution of the plan for her fate flew in the face of the "blueprint" being followed, and there were simply too many daft or missed opportunities, over the top or flat out unbelievable actions and way too many convenient lapses to allow even a smidgen of willing suspension of disbelief. Instead, there were so many glaring holes in the plot and inconsistencies in the characterisations that these readers became increasingly incredulous and profoundly frustrated and annoyed. Annoyed to the point where the evening after finishing the book we found ourselves carefully working through the "blueprint" and how you would go about addressing the requirements properly. Thankfully we don't have any neighbours to freak out and there's no chance we'd ever be able to dig a cellar through the quartz layer around these parts, as I doubt it would have been an easy conversation or stack of notes to explain to the local constabulary.

Perhaps it's more a book for somebody looking for a film-styled thriller, with some carefully choreographed graphic cruelty and sexual violence, a blatantly manipulative happy ever after ending, built around a very current day scenario. It was a undoubtedly a very quick read. But for this reader (actually these readers) there were so many aspects of the plot and characterisations that were simply too far a stretch to be believable, plausible, justifiable or palatable.

[Maud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik vind het een mooi thrillerdebuut van deze auteur, waar ik nooit eerder van gehoord had (waarvoor dank aan de mensen van de groep "boekenfans"). Het begin was wat wennen aan de vele namen en plaatsen die erin voorkwamen (zweeds) maar algauw wordt men helemaal meegesleept in het verhaal. Ik heb ervan genoten.
Het boek heeft me ook wel geboeid van de eerste tot de laatste bladzijde, het leest lekker weg en het zijn korte hoofdstukken, wat ik persoonlijk aangenaam lezen vind.
Om een minpuntje te noemen zonder veel over het verhaal te verklappen is de rol van de politie in het verhaal, het is duidelijk dat men niet op hun hulp hoeft te rekenen (een beetje cliché?!)
Misschien wat jammer is de titel die u eigenlijk al een beetje voorspelt wat er te verwachten valt... en misschien niet zo spannend voor een echte thrillerliefhebber maar het feit is wel dat u wilt blijven doorlezen tot het einde en weten hoe het afloopt.
Iemand in de groep zei mij dat het een trilogie is...wel...ik ben zeker van plan om de andere ook te lezen ;-)

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

In She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel, Ylva Zetterberg is a married mother of a small daughter and after telling her husband Michael she may or may not stop off after work for drinks with co-workers, she suddenly disappears. At first, authorities discount the worries of her husband, but after her continued departure, soon, the police and most everyone else believes her husband may have had something to do with her disappearance.

Of course, there is more to the novel and as with typical Swedish writers, the backstory is lengthy and complex, along with the introduction of characters that at first have unclear ties to the main plot.

The novel unfolds through the perspectives of different characters and while it would not reveal all aspects of the book to describe the main plotline, this reader feels it is best to let other readers discover the plot of the novel upon themselves.

The subject matter is harsh and violently graphic.

While the overall novel did not resonate with this reader as much as other crime novels have done so, it possibly will with other readers who enjoy this type of novel.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty darn good book. I really liked the lean style of writing. This author is able to express a great deal, and hint at a lot more, with an economy of words. I admire that, because to me, the author is not hiding behind gimmicks or flowery prose; he's telling a story and he's telling it well. I started the book in the early evening and stayed up until it was finished. It isn't a challenging read, it's an inviting one, in spite of the often disturbing content. It was easy to read and I appreciated that. Yes there are elements of implausibility, but no more than usual, and they were just plausible enough to make the story seem real. Some of the narrative is terse, but Koppel manages to make his characters, real, relate-able and very human. I came to care for these people and even wonder at the villains, who were truly horrible, except that...maybe they had a point.

I felt that the woman was more severely punished than the men, even though they were the ones who inflicted the most physical pain, however she was the mover and shaker and, as it was pointed out to her when she was initially abducted, "I understand you like to watch." To paraphrase - true evil can only exist when good men (or, in this case, women,) stay silent.

[María Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se lee rápido, pero no me ha convencido mucho. No he sentido empatía con los personajes, víctimas que se convierten en verdugos, y viceversa. Nadie es totalmente bueno, ni totalmente malo. No hay misterio. Principalmente se basa en los diferentes estados por los que pasa una víctima de secuestro, y cómo reaccionan sus familiares. Y un final esperado?

[Etienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5/5. Est-ce la faute de la traduction? Peut-être, mais le fait est que je n’ai pas aimé. Un style assez médiocre en termes d’écriture, une histoire peu intéressante et un schéma (avec l’utilisation du cours, sous forme de présentation) m’a laissé très froid. Je m’attendais a peu (les critiques étant assez faible), mais j’ai tout de même été déçu.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ylva desaparece y Mike Zetterberg, su marido, pasa a ser el principal sospechoso, por lo que la policía y los medios no prestan atención a los pequeños detalles que llevan a la casa de al lado, esa casa donde viven unxs vecinxs mayores que llevan poco viviendo en el barrio...

Wow, qué sorpresa, no esperaba nada del libro, y me ha sorprendido mucho.
Lo encontré de casualidad en una tienda de segunda mano, y forma parte de una trilogía, pero puede leerse perfectamente como autoconclusivo, porque el caso de Ylva finaliza aquí. La segunda y la tercera parte por desgracia no las he encontrado en castellano, pero aún así os recomiendo este, porque insisto, me ha parecido muy bueno y no es necesario nada más para que esta trama termine.
Este thriller nórdico me ha tenido pegada a sus páginas hasta el final, y si hubiera tenido tiempo, lo habría terminado mucho antes. La historia destila tensión y mal rollo, pero la pluma del autor es muy sencilla, por lo que se lee muy rápido.
La historia me ha parecido bastante original, y muy ágil, la trama no decae en ningún momento, y no me esperaba el motivo por el que Ylva desapareció.

Me ha parecido un thriller fuera de lo habitual y muy disfrutable, ideal para leerlo en un día libre para poder devorarlo de una sentada.

[Tara Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Do you know what this is?’
Ylva took her hand off the woman’s shoulder and looked.
‘Well, come on then,’ the man said, ‘what does it look like?’
‘An electric shaver?’ Yvla suggested.
‘Yes, it does,’ the man replied. ‘It looks like an electric shaver, but it’s not an electric shaver.’
Yvla tried the door again.
‘Open the door, I want-’
The shock made Yvla’s body arch. The pain was paralysing and she couldn’t even scream. A moment later her body relaxed and she crumpled, her head against the man’s thigh. She was surprised that she was still breathing as nothing else seemed to work….

When Ylva is abducted, her husband Mike at first suspects she has left him. He feels angry that she hasn’t called. He considers divorce and shared custody of their daughter, Sanna. Internet dating. A new life. But while the hours tick on and he tries to keep his concerns from his young daughter, he could not possibly imagine that his wife is only metres away, held prisoner in a custom-built sound-proof room in the neighbour’s cellar, at the mercy of her twisted captors, a TV screen her only connection to the outside world, rigged to a camera watching her house - watching her husband and her daughter go on without her.
What would you do if your spouse went missing? What would you do if you were in Yvla’s position - in a soundproof room with only a bed and a television? How would you protect yourself without a weapon? Would you retreat into your mind? Would you survive? You’ll find yourself asking these questions over and over.
Don’t be put off by the occasional turn of phrase lost in translation. She’s Never Coming Back moves at a swift pace from the very first pages, setting up a compelling and surprising tale of murder, abduction and dark secrets that can’t be escaped. Disturbing.

[Bruce Hatton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much a no-frills, straight ahead, unpretentious thriller which doesn't waste time in getting started. A man is brutally murdered with a hammer in the first brief chapter and, in the second, a woman is abducted and forced to live in a cellar. The irony being that it's the cellar of the house just opposite her own home. The rest of the book deals with the police investigation into her disappearance, how her husband and daughter cope with the loss and inevitable suspicion, how the woman herself tries to endure her imprisonment and, crucially, why she was abducted in the first place.

[The North Wall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grubby little thriller written in sparse prose which at least makes it mercifully short. The characters are no more than ciphers; faceless, forgettable, and entirely unsympathetic. Their motives remain pretty much unexplored throughout with only the most basic (and clichéd) of reasoning provided by the author. The book is deeply unpleasant right up to its ridiculous conclusion which leaves you both unenlightened and sorely in need of a thorough scrub-down. Avoid this and read Emma Donoghue's Room instead.

[Ken Fredette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the story, my copy says "Never Coming Back" and all the copies I've seen say "She's Never Coming Back" but it was written by Hans Koppel. Ylva Zetterberg goes missing after work one night. She was kidnapped by a husband and wife team that move in across the street. It's a thriller.

[mimi (depression slump) · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only nice thought I had for all book long was that maybe it was for the best if she wouldn’t have came back.
I mean, what they did to her wasn’t right but, honestly, who cares?

↠ 1.5 star

[Iris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo único bueno fue el principio y el final. Lo terminé solo por la curiosidad y en modo lectura rápida. Personajes sin fuerza y sin estructura y los policías parecían sacados de una mala comedia de tv.

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't want to give up on this book and leave unfinished. I just couldn't get into it properly and predicted the end fairly early into the book. Not my cup of tea

[Runita · Rating 2 out of 5]

No he empatizado con ningún personaje. Y la forma en que está narrado tampoco te hace meterte en la historia.

[Astrid F. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich wollte wissen, wie es aus geht. Aber eigentlich fand ich es doof. Habe quer gelesen und mit 244 Seiten war es auch nicht dick.

[Ingrid Fasquelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le polar polaire s'offre un nouveau génie. Auteur de livres pour la jeunesse apprécié en Suède, Petter Lidbeck publie, sous le pseudonyme de Hans Koppel, un premier roman pour adultes. Châtiments est disponible aux éditions Presses de la Cité depuis le 4 avril 2013.

On le sait, le crime scandinave fait recette. Depuis le triomphe posthume de Stieg Larsson, chaque éditeur veut publier son nordique. Si Actes Sud publie Camilla Läckberg et Métaillé Arnaldur Indridason, Les éditions Presses de la Cité semblent, eux, avoir mis la main sur un nouveau génie du genre ! J'ai vraiment été impressionnée par Hans Koppel ! Son roman est un des thrillers les plus noirs que j'ai jamais lu !

Scènes de viol, tortures, Châtiments un roman violent qui n'épargne rien au lecteur ! La quatrième de couverture annonce clairement la couleur ! Châtiments n'est pas un thriller à mettre entre toutes les mains ! Tout au long du récit, Hans Koppel dévoile par bribes, le pourquoi du comment de l’incarcération d’Ylva. Il décrit, froidement, la torture physique et psychologique d'Ylva, le lent processus de dépersonnalisation qu’elle subit. Mais au-delà de l'horreur et du calvaire quotidien que vit Ylva, c'est également la vision d'un monde cruel qu'il donne à voir au lecteur. Un monde pas franchement beau à voir, dans lequel la violence est banalisée et où on se fait justice soi-même. Un monde dans lequel on rend coups pour coups...

Châtiments est un roman dérangeant, choquant, truffé de dilemmes moraux. Les personnages que l'auteur a imaginés sont tout sauf innocents ! Peu importe qu'ils soient fondamentalement bons ou mauvais. Peu importe qu'il soient victimes de leurs faiblesses ou qu'ils regrettent les abus commis par le passé. Ce qui compte, c'est qu'ils payent pour ce qu'ils ont commis.

"A partir de maintenant, ta vie sera comme dans Les Mille et Une Nuits. Les histoires ennuyeuses en moins. Tu resteras en vie tant que ça nous conviendra."

La vengeance est le thème phare du roman. Les personnages, loin d'être attachants, ne suscitent guère la sympathie, encore moins l'empathie ! On en vient à examiner chacune des positions, à analyser chacun des actes des protagonistes comme dans une étude psychologique. Hans Koppel aborde la question du bien et du mal de manière presque philosophique et soumet le lecteur à un véritable conflit psychologique.

"Cette approche naïve du bien et du mal est attirante et trouve des résonnances en chacun de nous. On a tous envie d'être un type bien, quelqu'un qui fait les bons choix. Après des années passées à interroger aussi bien les victimes que les agresseurs - qui sont aussi des victimes, ce que nous avons tendance à oublier -, je sais que la majorité d'entre vous, ici dans cette pièce, moi inclus, pourrait sans grande difficulté être amenée à pencher dans un sens ou dans l'autre. [...] Prétendre le contraire serait se voiler la face."

Victime, agresseur... Le lecteur finit par ne plus savoir à quel saint se vouer, d'autant qu'Ylva offre un passé et une personnalité troubles... Pour autant mérite-t-elle de payer aussi durement pour des actes commis vingt ans auparavant ? Hans Koppel laisse au lecteur le soin de trancher et c'est ce qui fait toute la force, toute l'intensité de son roman...

A n'en point douter, on peut faire confiance à The Independent qui déclare que Châtiments est une œuvre impeccablement exécutée. Je n'y ai malheureusement pas trouvé la tension aussi insoutenable que celle à laquelle je m'attendais. C'est le principal reproche que je pourrais adresser à Hans Koppel qui signe toutefois un thriller original et déroutant. C'est un auteur prometteur qui a toutes les chances de convaincre et trouver son public ! A suivre donc !

[Lightblue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho generosamente assegnato tre stelline a questo libro, anche se forse sarebbero due e mezza. E' un thriller di poche pretese, mi aspettavo molto di più dopo aver letto la quarta di copertina. E' la storia di Ylva, madre e moglie un po' libertina, dal passato poco pulito. Ylva sparisce nel nulla: viene sequestrata e torturata per espiare una colpa che avrebbe commesso da adolescente. Quello che non mi è piaciuto è la psicologia dei personaggi (tagliati davvero con l'accetta) e il finale che sembra voler risolvere in fretta e furia una situazione "scomoda" (e non anticipo altro). Consigliato per chi vuole leggere una storia senza troppe elucubrazioni e dalla trama semplice e lineare.

[Andie Constantinides · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. Very weird book, I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened but the writing wasn’t great and it was very far-fetched without much depth

[Teolinda Stark · Rating 3 out of 5]

En del oklarheter uppkommer under berättelsens gång. Egentligen mest smådetaljer som inte stör själva förloppet men som får mig att undra varför den eller den gör så.
T ex förväntas man komma över sin frus försvinnande redan efter tio månader. Att mannen skaffar en ny flickvän är ju bara bra för familjen. Nu var ju inte den försvunna kvinnan, Ylva, världens bästa fru men ändå.
Och så dessa poliser som passar bäst i en satir över poliskåren. Charmiga är de men lösa brott kan de inte.
Men det är första boken jag läser av Hans Koppel och jag kommer definitivt att fortsätta.

Betyg: 3,5 teveskärmar av 5

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a good read, I found his second novel more entrancing. However, the captors in this one ate far more evil. You detest them for what they do, and I found it hard to fathom how people could think their kind of revenge is called for. The portrayal of the policemen makes me wonder if this is how coppers really think. Or whether they do listen to tips. When I think about that recent serial killer in Toronto who was killing gay men, maybe the police don’t listen. So perhaps it is a true portrayal after all.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually surprised by how into this book I got. Having read another book by Hans Koppel and not really liking it, I wasn't sure what to think. But I really quite enjoyed this book. It's a very interesting examination of messing with someone's mind, and what's right or wrong, and what people deserve or not. The ending particular leaves you reeling.

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman is kidnapped and kept prisoner in a house just across the street from her home, where she can watch her husband and daughter living without her.

I was going to give it four stars, as the first 300 pages seemed fairly good, but the last 100 pages read like a rough plot outline hastily cobbled together to meet a deadline so in the end I gave it three.

[Antonella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non male, bel thriller

[Nele Hillewaere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dit vind ik een goed boek. Ik kon niet wachten om verder te kunnen lezen, wou telkens weten wat er ging komen. Het eind vond ik ook gewoon goed. Af.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plöjde igenom på en dag. Överlag bra. Gillade storyn.