Fatal Gambit: A Novel

by David Lagercrantz

David Lagercrantz's detective duo, Rekke and Vargas, returns in a new installment of the internationally best-selling series that began with Dark Music (“A classic mystery . . . One Holmes himself would have loved to solve” —The Independent).

Dead women should not show up in photos fourteen years beyond the grave . . . But if anyone is likely to recognize Claire Lidman, it's her husband, Samuel. He brings the photo to Hans Rekke and Micaela Vargas. Their initial skepticism gives way to cautious belief—but where will this case lead them?

Meanwhile, Rekke's daughter, Julia, has a new boyfriend she's determined to keep secret. When word gets out, Micaela's world collapses around her, and Rekke is forced to confront a nemesis from his youth.

Plunging us back into the political upheaval and financial crisis of the 1990s, as the Iron Curtain is finally lifted, the second Rekke and Vargas investigation sees our heroes grapple with a fiendish case that affects them both in profoundly personal ways.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Scandinavian Literature, Nordic Noir, Audiobook

353 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

David Lagercrantz, born in 1962, is a journalist and author, living in Stockholm. His first book was published in 1997, a biography of the Swedish adventurer and mountaineer Göran Kropp. In 2000 his biography on the inventor Håkan Lans, A Swedish Genious, was published. His breakthrough as a novelist was Fall of Man in Wilmslow, a fictionalised novel about the British mathematician Alan Turing. In David Lagercrantz' writing you can often see a pattern: major talents who refuse to follow convention. He has been interested not only in what it takes to stand out from the crowd, but also in the resistance that such creativity inevitably faces.

In 2011 his best-selling sports biography I am Zlatan Ibrahimović was published, one of the most successful books in Sweden in modern times. The biography was nominated for the prestigious August Prize in 2012, as well as shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. To date, the book has been published in over 30 languages around the world and been sold in millions of copies.

In the summer of 2013, Lagercrantz was asked by Moggliden (the Larsson Estate) and Norstedts to write the fourth, free-standing sequel to Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. The Girl in the Spider's Web was published – in August 27, 2015 – simultaneously by 26 publishers (in 24 languages) worldwide, ten years after the Swedish publication of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Stieg Larsson's three Millennium novels have sold more than 82 Million copies to date, by 52 publishers worldwide. The Girl in the Spider's Web is sold to 47 publishers and more than 6 Million copies have been sold worldwide.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hit or miss author. This story is a long boring miss.

[Greer Andjanetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very complicated and convoluted story, written in the Scandinavian style which causes it to be difficult to read, let alone follow the story for most of the book. The writing quality is good but the events in the story are mixed up and unfathomable at times. Not an author I would search out again.

[Tony da Napoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars as I think this series is still maturing and improving. It had been so long since I read the first that I didn't realize I was reading a series until I read chapter 1.
I am a fan of David Lagercrantz as I did like his novels that extended the millennium series by Larsson (Girl with the Dragon tattoo).
I don't do reviews well, especial long synopsis type. Others here provide that very well. Just say that I like Nordic Noir and read many of their authors.
Some have said this is too complicated of a plot, but I have to disagree. Yes, you are following multiple actors back and forth in time, but I found it a very easy read even with all the Swedish names and place names.
Hans Rekke and Micaela are a Nordic Holmes and Watson. He is Holmes and she is a smart sharp, attractive cop-Watson now boarding at the genius' home. There is a housekeeper. And there is an older brother working in a government ministry. I think this team has the potential to be another Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw (see M.W. Craven) success if it matures a bit more and ramps up their team involvement. David does not try to hide the Holmes similarities- even the drug usage by the protagonist. I would also like to see more of a touch of humor in the relationship-- it might make it movie worthy and why the Poe/Tilly has so many followers.
And right, there is a very evil sociopath genius mean villain a la Moriarty.
If you have read and enjoyed David and the first of these, this will not disappoint. Non-Nordic readers may have a hard time with names and places. Personally, I look forward to the next one that I know is coming.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hugely entertaining crime/police procedural novel featuring a savant-level protagonist and antagonist, and a dead female financier who appears to have risen from the grave after 14 years. Loved the idiosyncratic way in which this was written and translated (who knew Swedish people think Volvos are daggy?), and how the burgeoning mystery involves rarified individuals from within the Swedish government/elite, right down to drug dealers in working class Husby. While many of the murder victims are female, it's refreshing to read Nordic Noir that doesn't linger on more and more improbable and horrific ways to take women and girls out. The murders or assaults in "Fatal Gambit" feature chess, classical music, arson and straight out suffocation, without the need for cross bows, booby-trapped balls etc etc. The ramping up of tension isn't by way of horror, which is a relief, but is instead character-driven.

I hadn't realised this was the second book in a series, so will now be seeking out "Dark Music", the first "Rekke/Vargas" novel.

[Anschen Conradie]

#FatalGambit – David Lagercrantz
#MacLehore (#JonathanBall)

The exclamation ‘Elementary, my dear Watson!’, is synonymous with one of the most famous detectives in literature. Armed with superlative powers of deduction and an astonishing eye for detail, no riddle would remain unsolved on his watch.

Hans Rekke fits the bill of his Swedish 21st century successor. Described as ‘…Sherlock Holmes without the bravado…’ (222) he is a world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of impressive feats of logic and observation. Unlike Holmes, Rekke possesses a fragile psyche, however, and falls apart under pressure. His proverbial Watson is a police constable, Micaela Vargas, daughter of Chilean political refugees who had settled in Stockholm, and sister to two brothers constantly on the wrong side of the law.

An innocent holiday snapshot taken in Venice is the trigger of a rollercoaster ride with tracks crisscrossing as far as Spain and Russia. The woman visible in the photograph shows an uncanny resemblance to one Claire Lidman, but she has been dead for fourteen years. Rekke;s abilities enable him to observe in the photograph that ‘…this woman’s gait has compensatory features…’ (20), compatible with a meniscus injury that characterized Claire’s motion, and this minute detail rings alarm bells in a Hungarian investment company headed by a vengeful rival who had sworn revenge on Rekke when they were only twelve years old.

The Rekke-Vargas investigative team was first introduced in ‘Dark Music’ (2022), the predecessor of this novel. The novelist is probably best known for his novels following those of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy, featuring Lisbeth Salander.

Lagercrantz follows Doyle’s lead in creating an eccentric, but brilliant investigator: ‘Often it felt like he was walking at a different pace from everyone else…’ (120) but retains none of the playful amusement of his British counterpart. The novel is a classic example of modern Scandinavian crime fiction; cold, calculating, and cruel, challenging the reader with more than just solving the riddle.

#Uitdieperdsebek

[Leane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rekke and Micaela’s tenuous partnership is hanging on as forces from Rekke’s past and Micaela’s relationship with her drug-dealer brother Lucas combine to put them and those they love in grave danger. Read my review of the first, Dark Music (2022) for more details on this series and the CHs. Sexual predation, fatherhood, and political mechanization play large in this novel, but the CHs remain strong and compelling with all their flaws, the Swedish frame pulses with energy and excellent detail, dialogue is punchy with underlying humor and menace, and the ending leaves it so that things are not quite sewn up, and I want another one. RED FLAGS: Sexual abuse, Rape, Child harm, Animal and human torture; Drug Addiction; Mental Health issues. For fans of Lagercrantz, of course, but also Steig Larrson, and other Scandinavian noir procedural authors like Blaedel and Kepler.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Millenium series by Steig Larsson is one of my all-time favorites and after his passing I wondered how author David Lagercrantz would measure up when he continued writing the sequels. I was more than thrilled to read the quality of work he produced so when I saw another book from him in the Rekke series I immediately hit the button to request it. The series commenced with book one, Dark Music, and I do suggest you read these books in order to see the character development which is significant in relation to this book.

The book commences with Samuel Lidman being shown a photo that absolutely stuns him, his wife who was confirmed dead fourteen years ago seems to be in the background. He enlists the assistance of Hans Rekke previously a government consultant who has a tarnished past and requests his help. Rekke now works along Michaela Vargas, a detective who initially disbelieves what she has been told. They both set out to find out if Claire could possibly still be alive, Samuel has never recovered from his wife’s death and with this revelation he is obsessed with finding out what has happened. Now the stage is set for a Rekke to confront an ominous and powerful adversary he met as a child, a man that has never forgotten Rekke and holds an almighty grudge against him. While all this is going on Rekke’s daughter Julia has met a new man and this is also going to cause Rekke grief.

This is a nail biting read, and one that I am now sitting at my desk at work, and I really wished I drank coffee as I have hardly slept as I could not put the book down. Some very well developed shady and menacing characters are present in the book who all come together to heighten the plot make this a fabulous thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions expressed are my own.

[Craig Sisterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout his career, Swedish journalist and storyteller David Lagercrantz has had a deep interest in – and brilliant touch for – enigmatic, eccentric characters, both fictional and real-life.

In terms of global readers, he’s likely best known for deftly continuing Stieg Larsson’s iconic ‘Millennium’ series starring goth hacker antihero Lisbeth Salander. While some fans found it blasphemous that series would continue beyond what Larsson had written before his death, others embraced the ongoing Salander tales, and even considered that while Larrson created the brilliant characters and their fascinating world, Lagercrantz was arguably the better actual writer.

Before he took on the potentially poisoned chalice of the Millennium series, Lagercrantz had already penned books on persecuted maths genius Alan Turning and mercurial footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Outsiders, eccentrics, oddballs and geniuses. Like Salander.

And like Hans Rekke in Lagercrantz’s own new crime series set in Sweden, which began with 2022’s Dark Music, which introduced a detective duo akin to a modern twist on Holmes and Watson. Hans Rekke is an upper-class Swedish professor, gifted in many ways yet stricken by self-doubt and suicidal tendencies. Michaela Vargas is a young community cop forged in a tough neighbourhood whose parents were political refugees and who may one day have to arrest her own brothers. Thrust together by the troubling murder of an immigrant football referee, to find the killer Vargas and Rekke had to uncover truths many powerful people wanted hidden, and battle themselves as well.

Now, in Fatal Gambit, the Sherlockian adventures continue as the husband of a supposedly long-dead financier brings tough Vargas a holiday snap he swears shows her still living. Vargas loops in Rekke, but as they investigate Rekke is falling apart again, Vargas is in conflict with her gangster brother, and the unlikely duo uncover a conspiracy involving high-ranking Swedish officials, international bankers, and organised crime in eastern Europe.

Then there’s an old enemy from Rekke’s past, re-emerging.

Lagercrantz masterfully weaves all the threads together in a terrific tale that gives a few nods here and there to his love of Conan Doyle, while being a modern crime thriller that builds to a thrilling finale. Two books in, it’s already a very good series. More please.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, though at times a bit convoluted and filled with lots of details and connections that all build to a strange, powerful and venomous relationship between Professor Hans Rekke and the evil Gabor Morovia who is a wealthy, quite corrupt businessman. Morovia bases his hatred of Rekke on childhood games but also blames Rekke's grandfather for the downfall of his own family. So even though Hans himself does not have direct involvement, Gabor has decided to place his enmity entirely on Rekke and his family.

In the past, Hans Rekke was a brilliant pianist and also has a quicksilver brain, able to discern relationships and solve puzzles quicker than others. But due to the death of a woman Hans loved, he has disappeared into a shell of himself, though still able to rouse himself to solve puzzles. And a man brings a photo that he believes shows his wife, who everyone thought was dead. But she seemed to have been alive and well in Venice, captured on the off chance by the man's neighbor while they were vacationing and taking pictures of buildings and pigeons. This photo sets off an investigation and making connections to help find the woman.

Meanwhile, also connected is Gabor's desire to destroy Hans' daughter and that story runs parallel. Micaela Vargas is a police officer who assists Hans in some of his pursuits while also seeking evidence to put away her own brother, Lucas, who is a drug dealer in their town. However, this puts her in harms' way and also circles back to the daughter of Hans, Julia, who is Lucas' girlfriend. While she is entranced, he is involved purely for the games he can play and also because he is in debt to Gabor (yet another connection!) and Gabor is interested in setting up Julia somehow.

Whew, if you've followed all this, I'm glad and if you didn't, then it's my fault because I know I'm not doing this plot recap justice! It is a good book, interesting read, though at times I wanted to punch some of the characters when they would sell out family members. And the end of the book clearly hints that there will be another entry in this series!

Oh, and p.s. - this author helped to finish the Girl In the Spider's Web series after the death of Stieg Larsson mid-series. Those were exceptionally good books!

[Karen Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buried Too Deep Karen Rose
5 stars

The third book in the New Orleans Series

Karen Rose is one of my favourite authors and I have read most of her books. This one is the third one in the New Orleans series and I think each one is getting better.

Cora Winslow has spent 23 years thinking her father had walked out on her family and despite receiving letters from him every year she cannot forgive him for what he did to her mother and younger brother. They are both dead but Cora still wants to know the truth.

At the start of the book Cora has just discovered that her father’s body has been discovered buried in the foundations of a building and shortly after the office manager at Broussard Detective Agency is shot whilst Cora is enlisting their help and then chased through the streets. Her whole world is turned upside down who has been sending the letters and why.

The other main character in this story is Phin Bishop who has just returned to helping out at the detective agency with minor jobs. He is suffering from severe PTSD and needs the help of his service dog Sodapop. Everyone involved in the detective agency as well as their contacts in the police are determined to unravel what is happening and, as is usual in a Karen Rose book the twists become thick and fast.

All of her books are so brilliantly crafted as she lets us into the plot a little at a time and as usual, I could not put this book down. There is always a romance in her books and in some of her earlier books I found them a little overpowering as the couples seemed to be passionately in love by the end of the first chapter. This relationship grows slowly and enhanced the book for me.

I also enjoyed the way characters from the previous New Orleans series are also in this book, the way they all interact and to be able to find out how their lives are continuing. I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

Karen Deborah
NetGalley

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Fatal Gambit" drops readers in the center of already pulsating relationships in a noirish world. A man spots what looks like his dead wife in one of a friend's holiday pictures. The man is dumbfounded, and hires Hans Rekke, a disgraced professor and his unofficial partner Detective Michaela Vargas to find out whether his wife might still be alive. Rekke is a mess of drink and drugs and Vargas is wrangling possibly criminal family issues, so poor Sam Lidman has certainly picked himself a team. The story weaves through iconic events of the past--the 1990s financial crisis and the fall of the Berlin wall--on top of the return of old friends and enemies. It's a rich, sticky brew.

This novel does stand alone, but will be better appreciated if you read "Dark Music," the first book in the series, "Fatal Gambit" is a nail biter but will be much more terrifying/exciting/thrilling with the solid stage setting of the first novel. David Lagerkrantz proved himself a worthy successor to Stig Larsson as he continued the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series, and how he proves himself with a series of his own. Read "Dark Music" before "Fatal Gambit" and put yourself in a good place to indulge in what promises to be a strong, chilling series.

Thanks to The publisher and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded up.

[KDRBCK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fatal Gambit by D. Lagercrantz, published by Quercus, is part of the Rekke Series.
I recommend to read the books in order, there isn't much easying in, the reader gets thrown right in the story.
Enthralling, well written, twisty and fulkl of unexpected turns that has the reader guessing til the very end.
Blurb: When a dead woman appears—very much alive—in a recent photograph, mismatched crime-solving duo Rekke and Vargas are drawn into a dangerous mystery.When Samuel Lidman spots his wife—who was confirmed dead fourteen years ago—in the background of a friend's holiday photo, he brings it to disgraced former professor and government consultant Hans Rekke and his unofficial partner Detective Micaela Vargas. Their initial skepticism gives way to cautious belief—but where will this case lead them? Meanwhile, Rekke's daughter, Julia, has a new boyfriend she's determined to keep secret. When word gets out, Micaela's world collapses around her, and Rekke is forced to confront a powerful nemesis from his youth. Plunging us back into the political upheaval and financial crisis of the 1990s, as the iron curtain is finally lifted, the second Rekke and Vargas Investigation sees our heroes grapple with a fiendish case that affects them both in profoundly personal ways.

[Jac Filer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I most liked about this story is that the mystery of whether Claire was still alive turned into a trio of tangentially related mysteries, each interdependent on the others. The pieces were perfectly revealed in onion skin layers, which stretched the grand reveal to the latest moment possible. As a mystery, this book succeeded in not giving away too much up front.
The cast of characters seemed a bit large for a book of this size, which resulted in several main personas coming across as stock characters. This was most prominent with Lucas, who could have benefitted from more nuance.
Still, there were unique personas where they were most needed. Gabor seems to carry a dark backstory that dare not be breached, which makes his evil genius all the more believable. Micaela is talented, but still balancing finding her niche while simultaneously dealing with family baggage. And of course Rekke's quiet quirkiness truly make the story. He's odd, but not in a cartoonish way, and his auditory perceptions are portrayed in a way that grounds him in reality and makes him a credible character.

[Gord · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read and enjoyed this author’s completion of the Stieg Larsson series so when I saw this newer book I wanted to give it a try.
However, I personally wasn’t as enamoured as I’d hoped to be. Although written very well by an accomplished author it wasn’t exactly to my liking. I rounded up from a 2.5 star review despite finding the whole story kind of convoluted, some situations hard to believe, no really likeable characters and one indescribably evil one. I found myself avoiding reading at times and needed to make an effort just to get it done and allow me to move on.
btw, the ending was somewhat satisfying but ultimately finished with a new character shown; related to the same story somehow?…or just a shameless hook for the next novel?
Don’t think I’ll seek out any more from this author
but that’s just me

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Rekke series and I found it just as enjoyable as the first, Dark Music. All the characters from the first book were back again but this time the two families were more interwoven for the sake of the story. The pace picked up as the book progressed and I found myself turning the pages quickly towards the end. It still had a Sherlock Holmes feel to it from Hans but not as much as the first book. You could read this as a stand-alone but to understand the characters I would strongly advise reading Dark Music first. I look forward to more from this series. Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books/MacLehose Press for letting me read and review this book.

[Michael Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5 Follow-up to Dark Music, which introduced the brilliant, twitchy professor Hans Rekke and his feisty Latina Watson, Michaela Vargas. There isn't as much character development, since the characters were introduced at length in the first book. In this one, Rekke is drawn into a web by a boyhood rival who is (nearly) his intellectual peer but is pure evil. Rekke and Vargas find their loved ones drawn into peril as well.

[Don Fisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novel a bit unsatisfactory: the author seems to introduce characters on a bit of a whim, and the story line is broken up whenever there is need to expand on a character - not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but in this case the enormous cast of characters, interesting as they are, make the progress of the anecdote too jerky and dilute to sustain interest (mine, anyway). The writing is very nice to read, but does not seem to have enough point to it.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not sure about this series - I find the writing style a bit strange and the behaviour of the characters very peculiar. They constantly bump into relevant characters in the street - is Sweden such a small place? Rekke is weird and often annoying & Michaela is a police officer who is never at work.
Feels like the author has read too many Sherlock Holmes novels and then given it a Scandinavian twist? Will probably not read any more in the series.

[Peta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love a bit of Scandi mystery/thriller noir but could not get into this book.
The writing was easy enough to read (kudos to the translator) but the convoluted nature of the story and events was both odd and difficult to follow. There was a lack of fluidity.
I loved the author's Millenium Series - just not this book (and perhaps not this series).

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent mystery. It takes place in Stockholm where Hans Rekke (with some real personal challenges and Micaela Vargas (policewoman) are approached by a man whose wife has been missing for 14 years but has suddenly appeared in a photograph in Venice. Fast paced, great characters and location.

[Gary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of this book just did not grab me, draw me in, as books usually do. However, it gradually improved and by the halfway point, I was content. I was not pleased with how badly the main character Rekke had physically, mentally degraded. And it seemed to take forever for him to get his act together.

[VP · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a weird book in that I felt I had been dropped into the middle of it and the intensity was already high. That said, it was also very slow to start.

What I do not like:
Protagonists with addiction issues (Harry Hole, Joona Linna)
Or with mental health issues (Monk)
Continuing boogeymen (Carrie Grethen)

[Chip Domke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plunging us back into the political upheaval and financial crisis of the 1990s, as the iron curtain is finally lifted, the second Rekke and Vargas Investigation sees our heroes grapple with a fiendish case that affects them both in profoundly personal ways.

Just discovered this author - I’m looking forward to more!

[Angie Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #2 with Rekke & Vargas. Enjoyed it. Would put it in the "book candy" category, meaning a quick easy read. Clearly you can't pick your siblings. The ending was a bit meh for me, but I'm still giving it a 4* and hoping for a book #3 in this series.

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first part, but this one didn't work too well for me. I didn't remember the characters and there is no recap to remind the reader, so I was confused during the first quarter of the book. There is also an unspeakable act done to a cat that keeps being brought up again and again.

[Carol]

Dnf

[Rowley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. I codnt get into this one.

[Jason Blythe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Susan Toovey]

7.5

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit a slow start - great 2nd half - looking forward to Book 3.