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Hallandssviten #2
Was ans Licht kommt
Im Februar 1986 erhält die Polizei einen Anruf von einem Mann, der behauptet, eine Frau außerhalb der Kleinstadt Tiarp vergewaltigt zu haben. Ich werde es wieder tun, sagt er, bevor die Leitung unterbrochen wird. Schweden steht nach dem Mord an Ministerpräsident Olof Palme in der gleichen Nacht unter Schock.
Für den Polizisten Sven Jörgensson und seinen Sohn Vidar wird dies eine entscheidende Zeit in ihrem Leben sein. Während Vidar versucht, seinen Weg durch die Pubertät und in den Beruf seines Vaters zu finden, ist Sven von dem Fall besessen, der ihn für den Rest seiner Karriere verfolgen wird. Zwei weitere junge Frauen fallen dem Tiarp-Mann zum Opfer, ohne dass die Polizei ihn aufhalten kann. Dann wird Sven krank und stirbt, der Fall bleibt ungelöst.
Jahrzehnte später taucht die Geschichte über die brutalen Morde unerwartet wieder auf, als dem ehemaligen Polizisten Vidar Jörgensson zugeschrieben wird, den Fall des gefürchteten Tiarp-Mannes endlich aufgeklärt zu haben. Doch bald wird klar, dass nicht alles so ist, wie es scheint. Es braucht den unerbittlichen Verstand eines heimgekehrten Schriftstellers, um die komplizierten Familienbande zurückzuverfolgen, die Teile des Puzzles zusammenzusetzen. Dabei deckt er langsam Schichten der Wahrheit über ein Verbrechen auf, auf das es keine einfachen Antworten gibt.
«Was ans Licht kommt» ist ein elegant konstruierter Kriminalroman über Schuld und Verantwortlichkeit, in dem eine Besessenheit vom Vater an den Sohn weitergegeben wird. Der meisterhafte Stilist und angesehene schwedische Kriminologe Christoffer Carlsson spielt mit dem Genre, als wäre der Roman ein fiktionalisiertes True-Crime-Drama, das seinem namenlosen Autor erlaubt, die Ereignisse der Vergangenheit neu zu erfinden. Die Jagd nach der Wahrheit dient als Motor in dieser umfangreichen und komplexen Erzählung über Verzweiflung und Selbstbetrug und letztlich den Willen, in einer Welt voller Dunkelheit nach Licht zu suchen.
Für den Polizisten Sven Jörgensson und seinen Sohn Vidar wird dies eine entscheidende Zeit in ihrem Leben sein. Während Vidar versucht, seinen Weg durch die Pubertät und in den Beruf seines Vaters zu finden, ist Sven von dem Fall besessen, der ihn für den Rest seiner Karriere verfolgen wird. Zwei weitere junge Frauen fallen dem Tiarp-Mann zum Opfer, ohne dass die Polizei ihn aufhalten kann. Dann wird Sven krank und stirbt, der Fall bleibt ungelöst.
Jahrzehnte später taucht die Geschichte über die brutalen Morde unerwartet wieder auf, als dem ehemaligen Polizisten Vidar Jörgensson zugeschrieben wird, den Fall des gefürchteten Tiarp-Mannes endlich aufgeklärt zu haben. Doch bald wird klar, dass nicht alles so ist, wie es scheint. Es braucht den unerbittlichen Verstand eines heimgekehrten Schriftstellers, um die komplizierten Familienbande zurückzuverfolgen, die Teile des Puzzles zusammenzusetzen. Dabei deckt er langsam Schichten der Wahrheit über ein Verbrechen auf, auf das es keine einfachen Antworten gibt.
«Was ans Licht kommt» ist ein elegant konstruierter Kriminalroman über Schuld und Verantwortlichkeit, in dem eine Besessenheit vom Vater an den Sohn weitergegeben wird. Der meisterhafte Stilist und angesehene schwedische Kriminologe Christoffer Carlsson spielt mit dem Genre, als wäre der Roman ein fiktionalisiertes True-Crime-Drama, das seinem namenlosen Autor erlaubt, die Ereignisse der Vergangenheit neu zu erfinden. Die Jagd nach der Wahrheit dient als Motor in dieser umfangreichen und komplexen Erzählung über Verzweiflung und Selbstbetrug und letztlich den Willen, in einer Welt voller Dunkelheit nach Licht zu suchen.
491 pages, Hardcover
First published March 10, 2021
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9703 people want to read
About the author
Christoffer Carlsson
22 books466 followersI was born, I started writing stories, I haven't died yet
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November 30, 2023
I raped a woman in a car. It’s near Tiarp Farm. A brief silence followed. Then: I’m going to do it again. Bye.--------------------------------------
Monstrousness was always sleeping right beneath the surface, just out of sight.1986 - A terrible crime in an out-of-the-way place. A young woman is brutally raped and murdered in her own car. It might have gotten a bit more national attention had there not been another crime that night, the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. The attention would have been merited, as the killer taunted the police with a phone call, boasting of his deed and promising more of the same. He will become known as Tiarp Man. The case falls to Sven Jörgensson. It will consume him.
Christoffer Carlsson- image from Ahlander Agency
Blaze Me a Sun has a frame structure. It opens in 2019, with a writer looking into the famous crimes that had taken place in Halland County, in southern Sweden. He is a local, who has been away for a long time, but felt a need to return home. Those who knew him as a kid call him Moth. The primary story is the one that Moth researches and tells. Then we go back to Moth for the final fifth (or so) of the novel.
The book is divided into multiple periods. The first (inside the frame) is 1986, when the first crimes take place. Next is 1988 when the national police take over the investigation. In 1991, there are more violent crimes. Is it the same person? 2019 is when Moth is up front as our narrator, at the beginning and end of the novel.
I was reminded of the true-crime format, in which the host/narrator walks you through all the details of one or multiple crimes, then offers the reveal at the end. But the first-person perspective of the frame is replaced in the core here by a third-person-omniscient perspective. At the back end of the story, the narrator takes center stage again, leading us through his further inquiries.
Mostly, we follow Sven as he looks into several murders and one near-killing. As with the Palme murder, finding the perpetrator is a fraught, frustrating job. Evidence is scarce and the struggle to identify the perpetrator wears down the patience of both Sven and his superiors over time. He is an intrepid detective, someone who takes his responsibility to the victims and their families to heart. He thinks of them every day, even long after he is no longer on the case, even after he is retired. Sven is an easy character to pull for, mostly. A white knight on a worthy quest, but there is tarnish on that armor as well. Sven is far from purely benign.
Even heroes can make mistakes. The dream of a spotless past is, after all, only a dream. No one makes it through unmarked. We have to learn to live with it. If we can.One element that struck me was that we come to think of the victims by their first names, as Sven does. It gives them a bit of extra presence that enhances our feel for Sven’s struggles, his determination to see justice done.
Even Sven’s son, Vidar, as an adult, gets caught up in the complications, the reverberations of the case. Families are a major focus of the book. The crimes have both immediate and long-term impact on the people who must survive the horrific loss of a loved one. Single crimes echo through time to generate multiple waves of misery and destruction. People come to learn things about those to whom they are the closest. You can see why some folks might be jarred learning those things. The truth doesn’t just hurt, it can break your psychic bones, change your direction in life, make you into a different person than you were. Sven’s relationship with Vidar is both loving and strained, a source of tension that carries through the story.
Carlsson links the Tiarp Man murders to the Palme assassination thematically, rather than concretely.
When the prime minister was shot and the shooter was never more than a shadow heading up the stairs into the dim light of David Bagares Gata, it unleashed something. Distaste. A rage that no one could quite control.Tiarp Man personified that for this part of Sweden. Things that remained unresolved for far too long. A sense of community comfort that was forever disrupted.
From opinion pages and kitchen tables came an indignant clamor over police and politics, criminality and immigrants, the wretched creature that had become Sweden and one’s own reflection in the mirror. It was clear now. The country could have come through anything unscathed—anything but this. The youthful boy with his smiling eyes, a mother-in-law’s dream who turned out to be a murdering monster up there in the north: Maybe that’s us.
Of course this sort of thing leaves its mark on you. Of course it marks a country. How could it not?
There is no real magical realism at work in this book, but Carlsson does offer up an omen in the form of a local superstition.
As spring arrived, the village came to life. Everything seemed to shimmer, and the colors grew so vivid. Sweet days awaited.Carlsson knows a bit about police work and crime. Mom was the Swedish equivalent of a 911 dispatcher. And the author’s day job is putting his Criminology PhD to use as a college professor, and writer of professional papers on criminology. His father was an auto mechanic, a job he hands off to Moth’s father in the book. Carlsson is from the area in which these crimes take place. I suppose only those who know the area can opine on whether he presented it accurately.
The first white wagtail sighting also brought a moment of uncertainty. We learned to be very cautious. If you saw the bird from the back, which you almost always did, it meant happiness and good fortune. But on those rare instances in which you first happened to catch sight of it from the front, and got a good look at the black spot on its tiny breast, it was a bad omen: Misfortune and sorrow lay ahead.
Criminology taught me the rough brutal truths about crime: it’s dirty, bloody, messy, painful, raw, costs a lot, and, sometimes, it’s beyond meaning in any reasonable sense of that term. - From Crimereads articleI had only two real issues with the book. There is a gap between some of the crimes that is not really explained, and an authorial disinclination to go into the killer’s motivations. If you are ok with that, then this one should satisfy. It enhances a procedural mystery with a look at family, questioning how well we really know those closest to us, and the limits of what one might do for loved ones. It adds a take on the sense of the place and the times. Best of all, there are some excellent twists.
The one she asks for light is also the one who will bring darkness. Like the face of Janus.
Review posted - 01/20/23
Publication dates
----------01/03/23 – (English translation) – It was originally published in Swedish in 2021
----------11/28/23 - trade paperback (English)
I received a digital ARE of Blaze Me a Sun from Hogarth in return for a fair review. Tack, gott folk, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.
This review has been cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s Instagram and Twitter pages
Blaze Me A Sun is Carlsson’s ninth book and American debut.
Interview
-----Penguin Random House - Book Club Kit - there is an excellent interview in this
-----Booktopia - An award-winning crime writer’s advice for aspiring authors. by Anastasia Hadjidemetri – from 2017
Songs/Music
-----Sting - Russians - noted in chapter 23
Items of Interest
-----Wikipedia - Assassination of Olof Palme
-----Oregon State University - frame structure in novels
Items of Interest from the author
-----Google Scholar - Carlsson’s criminology writings
-----Crimereads – 1/11/2023 - With the Dead
Could the worst of crimes be devoid of meaning? Strange things happen all the time, every day, and we don’t think too much of them because they don’t affect us that deeply. They are just “coincidences” or something else, depending on what you believe in. Criminology taught me the rough brutal truths about crime: it’s dirty, bloody, messy, painful, raw, costs a lot, and, sometimes, it’s beyond meaning in any reasonable sense of that term.
January 13, 2023
“Blaze Me a Sun” by Christoffer Carlsson, a noted and decorated Swedish crime writer, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles is Swedish noir at it’s best. A serial killer of young women in a small town of Tiarp is elusive and overshadowed by the murder of the prime minister of Sweden, which occurred a few hours prior to the first woman being brutally murdered. The local detective, Sven Jorgensson, is left bereft in his inability to find the killer. What adds to Sven’s torment is the killer taunts him, calling him to inform him he’s going to do it again.
Remarkably, one woman survived. From the terror of the night, she is unable to recall much detail, other than his using the words “dolly” while subduing her.
Sven becomes preoccupied with the case, falling into obsession and eventually depression. His family life suffers along with his health. His young son, Vidar, suffers from the same obsession when he becomes a detective. Both Sven and eventually Vidar comb through the clues, trying to find the man. In Sven’s case, his drive to solve the case results in collateral damage.
The story’s narrator, an author who returns to Tiarp after a failed marriage, comes into contact with an old friend, a retired police officer and one who worked with Sven. Through the former colleague, the novelist learns more clues that Sven did not know. This “new” evidence is not what Vidar expects. Sven has since died, peacefully. Vidar, although retired, gets involved with the new evidence brought forth by the author.
This is a dark and brooding tale. The whole village of Tiarp seems depressed and dark through Carlsson’s prose. Scandinavian noir is known for dark police procedurals, and author Carlsson writes a slow-burn of a story. Just when you think you know the truth, you will find it’s far more complicated.
I listened to the audio, narrated by Peter Nobel who did a fine job. I did increase the listening speed because it felt like his narration dragged a bit. I liked the audio but wished I would have read it. There are changing timelines, and multiple characters, all having Swedish names that my American ear found difficult to distinguish and keep straight. I highly recommend the story. I think the audio requires complete focus to keep everything straight.
Remarkably, one woman survived. From the terror of the night, she is unable to recall much detail, other than his using the words “dolly” while subduing her.
Sven becomes preoccupied with the case, falling into obsession and eventually depression. His family life suffers along with his health. His young son, Vidar, suffers from the same obsession when he becomes a detective. Both Sven and eventually Vidar comb through the clues, trying to find the man. In Sven’s case, his drive to solve the case results in collateral damage.
The story’s narrator, an author who returns to Tiarp after a failed marriage, comes into contact with an old friend, a retired police officer and one who worked with Sven. Through the former colleague, the novelist learns more clues that Sven did not know. This “new” evidence is not what Vidar expects. Sven has since died, peacefully. Vidar, although retired, gets involved with the new evidence brought forth by the author.
This is a dark and brooding tale. The whole village of Tiarp seems depressed and dark through Carlsson’s prose. Scandinavian noir is known for dark police procedurals, and author Carlsson writes a slow-burn of a story. Just when you think you know the truth, you will find it’s far more complicated.
I listened to the audio, narrated by Peter Nobel who did a fine job. I did increase the listening speed because it felt like his narration dragged a bit. I liked the audio but wished I would have read it. There are changing timelines, and multiple characters, all having Swedish names that my American ear found difficult to distinguish and keep straight. I highly recommend the story. I think the audio requires complete focus to keep everything straight.
April 3, 2023
I haven't read such a brilliant Scandinavian Noir in years! Top-notch slow-paced intrigue that spans over decades but which eventually reaches its finale and leaves you breathless.
OverDrive, thank you!
OverDrive, thank you!
December 18, 2023
Blaze Me A Sun is a slow moving, character rich Nordic noir mystery. I hadn’t realized it was the second in a series, but it worked fine as a stand-alone.
Starting in February, 1986, a serial rapist/murderer commits his first crime on the same night as the Swedish Prime Minister is assassinated. Sven Jorgensen is the detective assigned to the case. Over the next few years, two more women are attacked. Sven is already ill and is forced into retirement before he ever solves the case. His son, Vidar, later enters the police and picks up his father’s obsession about the case.
The story is told from the perspective of a writer who, years later, befriends a former colleague of Sven’s. If I heard correctly, the writer in the book is even named Carlsson, so the line between writer and character blurs. I listened to this and think it might work best as a book that you read. The multiple timelines didn’t lend themselves well to an audio experience.
Carlsson did a great job developing the different characters. The book is written in the omniscient style so we get everyone’s thoughts. He also gives a strong sense of time and place. I would have liked a faster pace and felt the book dragged at times. But it really kicked up at the end, with several twists and big questions asked. For example, can a good man do the wrong thing?
The one positive of listening to the story was Peter Nobel’s narration and hearing the correct pronunciation of all the various names.
Starting in February, 1986, a serial rapist/murderer commits his first crime on the same night as the Swedish Prime Minister is assassinated. Sven Jorgensen is the detective assigned to the case. Over the next few years, two more women are attacked. Sven is already ill and is forced into retirement before he ever solves the case. His son, Vidar, later enters the police and picks up his father’s obsession about the case.
The story is told from the perspective of a writer who, years later, befriends a former colleague of Sven’s. If I heard correctly, the writer in the book is even named Carlsson, so the line between writer and character blurs. I listened to this and think it might work best as a book that you read. The multiple timelines didn’t lend themselves well to an audio experience.
Carlsson did a great job developing the different characters. The book is written in the omniscient style so we get everyone’s thoughts. He also gives a strong sense of time and place. I would have liked a faster pace and felt the book dragged at times. But it really kicked up at the end, with several twists and big questions asked. For example, can a good man do the wrong thing?
The one positive of listening to the story was Peter Nobel’s narration and hearing the correct pronunciation of all the various names.
February 25, 2023
In this powerful, exquisitely constructed novel about a crime (but so much more), Christoffer Carlsson uses a twisty murder mystery to explore the haunting reverberations of guilt and obsession through generations of families and communities. At once thrilling and profoundly poignant, BLAZE ME A SUN thrums with an unrelenting tension that culminates in one of the most satisfying and devastating endings I’ve read in a long time.
February 16, 2024
It's been a while since I've read a Nordic Thriller that engaged me as wholly as this one did. Evidently, Carlsson is well regarded in his native Sweden, but this is the first translation of his work to reach English readers, and I'm hoping there will be more, given the shifting points of view that address life in rural Sweden, the discrepancies between police force actions and the uncommon twists that keep a reader on their feet.
November 11, 2022
Scandinavian-noir authors write some of the best, darkest police procedurals and Blaze Me a Sun is no different. Christoffer Carlsson pens a slow-burning hunt for a serial killer intertwined with the actual assassination of Sweden's Prime Minister in 1986.
I am a big fan of learning events I was not aware of in the thrillers I read and Blaze Me a Sun did just that. While not a barn-burner, Carlsson uses the assassination as a backdrop that is immensely interesting although dark. My one suggestion would be to read this when you can focus on just the book. There are many moving parts through changing timelines and it is easy to be confused. I had to read multiple parts multiple times to make sure I understood what was happening. All in all, Blaze Me a Sun was thoroughly enjoyable and shouldn't be missed if you like dark, criminal procedurals.
My sincere thanks to Christoffer Carlsson, Hogarth, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of Blaze Me a Sun!
I am a big fan of learning events I was not aware of in the thrillers I read and Blaze Me a Sun did just that. While not a barn-burner, Carlsson uses the assassination as a backdrop that is immensely interesting although dark. My one suggestion would be to read this when you can focus on just the book. There are many moving parts through changing timelines and it is easy to be confused. I had to read multiple parts multiple times to make sure I understood what was happening. All in all, Blaze Me a Sun was thoroughly enjoyable and shouldn't be missed if you like dark, criminal procedurals.
My sincere thanks to Christoffer Carlsson, Hogarth, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of Blaze Me a Sun!
April 16, 2021
In 1986 while Sweden is on chock after murder of prime minister Olof Palme there is a murder in Tirap and the life of police man Sven and hos son Vidar life is changed forever. It was an okay read. Really enjoyed the way Christoffer Carlsson writes his stories and will most likely be reading more books by him. But the story it self didn't intruige me and I found my self not being invested in the characters even though it was written very well. But it's not a bad book by any shape or form it's just that the plot wasn't for me.
December 6, 2022
Police officer Sven Jörgensson discovers the first victim of a serial killer in a small Swedish village on the same night that Prime Minister Palme is assassinated. Through the years, he becomes obsessed with solving the case. Years later, after Sven’s death, an author re investigates with very surprising findings.
This Nordic noir novel is the American debut of a prize winning Swedish author who is also a criminologist. As is often seen in this genre, Sven is a tortured protagonist.
Told in various timelines, this slow burn story is so much more than just the exploration of crime. It explores the nature of obsession, guilt, motivation, familial relationships, the dark side of life. It was well written and engrossing with great character development.
I do have to say that I guessed the perpetrator early on, but that in no way took away from my enjoyment of the book. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouse #hogarthbooks for the ARC.
November 19, 2024
💙🖤💛💙🖤💛💙🖤💛💙🖤💛💙
Blaze Me a Sun is a #1 Bestselling Crime Thriller in Sweden and it made its U.S. debut in early-January 2023. The premise sounded incredible to me, as I love a gritty Crime story and I was excited to get to it.
This lush, slow-burn Mystery definitely did not disappoint.
This story is told via various time periods, but the way Carlsson wove it all together was brilliant. We start with an author, who after a divorce, feels the need to return to his hometown, which he has been away from for many years.
Known since he was a kid as Moth, this author, befriends a retired police officer and begins looking into a infamous local case, that of the Tiarp Man, a serial killer who haunted the area beginning in Moth's childhood.
We skillfully are shuttled back in time to the start of the Tiarp Man's crimes. It's 1986, and near Tiarp Farm, a young woman is attacked, raped and killed, left in her own vehicle. On the same night, the prime minister is assassinated. It's a time of uncertainty and unrest.
For officer, Sven Jörgensson, who found the first victim, finding the Tiarp Man becomes his life mission. The killer taunts the police, there are more victims, but without much to go on, Sven is left spinning his wheels.
Years later in 1991, there are more, similar, crimes. Is it the same person?
By this point, Sven's son, Vidar, has grown up to become a police officer himself and now it's his responsibility to investigate these heinous crimes.
Finally, in the later part of the novel, we return to Moth's perspective, as he wraps it all up for us. While at first glance, this may sound like it would be confusing, I assure you, it's not. Carlsson has expertly told this tale in a way that makes it approachable and intriguing throughout.
I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend that as a format. I was concerned about pronouncing names and places correctly on my own, so felt it might be a good option for me. I would let a professional take the stress off.
The narration by Peter Nobel was fantastic. He has a classic storytelling voice, which was a perfect match for this tale. I really enjoyed it.
From the start, I was intrigued. It is a slow-burn, one that not only pays off, but is enjoyable every moment of its telling. I like how layered the narrative was. It was more than just brutal crimes and the subsequent investigation.
There was a lot involving the history and secrets that small towns keep, as well exploration of family dynamics. For example with Sven and Vidar. Vidar discovers things about his Dad, after his Dad's death, that he didn't know before.
I think that can be an interesting discovery for adults. That our parents sometimes keep secrets from us. We don't know everything about them. They have their own distinct lives outside of us and they may keep things from us for varying reasons. Sometimes to protect us, but other times for reasons all their own.
I did occasionally have a difficult time keeping track of some details, particularly towards the end, but I take full blame for that. I'm not sure if I wasn't paying well enough attention in the beginning or what, but some of the side characters towards the end got confusing for me.
With this being said, overall, I had a great time reading this and would definitely pick up more translated works from this author in the future.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Hogarth, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I'm excited to have found a new Nordic Thriller author to follow and definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a nuanced Crime Thriller.
Blaze Me a Sun is a #1 Bestselling Crime Thriller in Sweden and it made its U.S. debut in early-January 2023. The premise sounded incredible to me, as I love a gritty Crime story and I was excited to get to it.
This lush, slow-burn Mystery definitely did not disappoint.
This story is told via various time periods, but the way Carlsson wove it all together was brilliant. We start with an author, who after a divorce, feels the need to return to his hometown, which he has been away from for many years.
Known since he was a kid as Moth, this author, befriends a retired police officer and begins looking into a infamous local case, that of the Tiarp Man, a serial killer who haunted the area beginning in Moth's childhood.
We skillfully are shuttled back in time to the start of the Tiarp Man's crimes. It's 1986, and near Tiarp Farm, a young woman is attacked, raped and killed, left in her own vehicle. On the same night, the prime minister is assassinated. It's a time of uncertainty and unrest.
For officer, Sven Jörgensson, who found the first victim, finding the Tiarp Man becomes his life mission. The killer taunts the police, there are more victims, but without much to go on, Sven is left spinning his wheels.
Years later in 1991, there are more, similar, crimes. Is it the same person?
By this point, Sven's son, Vidar, has grown up to become a police officer himself and now it's his responsibility to investigate these heinous crimes.
Finally, in the later part of the novel, we return to Moth's perspective, as he wraps it all up for us. While at first glance, this may sound like it would be confusing, I assure you, it's not. Carlsson has expertly told this tale in a way that makes it approachable and intriguing throughout.
I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend that as a format. I was concerned about pronouncing names and places correctly on my own, so felt it might be a good option for me. I would let a professional take the stress off.
The narration by Peter Nobel was fantastic. He has a classic storytelling voice, which was a perfect match for this tale. I really enjoyed it.
From the start, I was intrigued. It is a slow-burn, one that not only pays off, but is enjoyable every moment of its telling. I like how layered the narrative was. It was more than just brutal crimes and the subsequent investigation.
There was a lot involving the history and secrets that small towns keep, as well exploration of family dynamics. For example with Sven and Vidar. Vidar discovers things about his Dad, after his Dad's death, that he didn't know before.
I think that can be an interesting discovery for adults. That our parents sometimes keep secrets from us. We don't know everything about them. They have their own distinct lives outside of us and they may keep things from us for varying reasons. Sometimes to protect us, but other times for reasons all their own.
I did occasionally have a difficult time keeping track of some details, particularly towards the end, but I take full blame for that. I'm not sure if I wasn't paying well enough attention in the beginning or what, but some of the side characters towards the end got confusing for me.
With this being said, overall, I had a great time reading this and would definitely pick up more translated works from this author in the future.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Hogarth, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I'm excited to have found a new Nordic Thriller author to follow and definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a nuanced Crime Thriller.
August 15, 2022
"Was ans Licht kommt" ist auf Platz 1 der Krimibestenliste August 2022 von Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Das ist meines Erachtens berechtigt. Dieses Buch ist ein meisterhafter Krimi. Der Fall ist spannend. Aber er ist auch der Katalysator für die Konflikte der Menschen. Es geht um Schuld, Vater-Sohn-Beziehungen oder die brutale Frage, ob Menschen und somit auch Menschenleben unterschiedlich wertvoll sind (der Fall findet parallel zu der Ermordung von Olof Palme statt und geht dabei für Eltern und Ermittler fast unter). Die Gedanken der Charaktere sind mindestens genauso spannend wie die eigentlichen Ermittlungen. Großartig.
July 13, 2024
[I listened to the English version but it's not available on Goodreads yet.]
Maybe my mood or health (listened to this while quarantined with COVID) overrode my ability to be patient with this but: why was this book written? This is a novel about sexual predation, rape, and the murder of women. And yet what it is almost exclusively concerned with are the thoughts and feelings of several inarticulate, emotionally distant young to middle-aged men whose lives are somewhat touched by the crimes. We hear at length--but with no particular insightfulness--how they feel about their jobs, their sons, fathers, country, duties, mistakes, hangups, sense of self...but are these really the perspectives that matter, or are even interesting, in the story of crimes like this? I laughed aloud, bitterly, when one of these men is described as spending a "whole day trying to find out what kind of cement mixer my grandfather had owned." Never at any point does this book, or any character in it, expend that kind of effort on pondering the lives of the girls and women whose attacks this story, and the male characters' livelihoods, are built on. Nor does the book spend any time on questions like, "Why did the killer commit these crimes? Why did he target these victims? Why did everyone fail to identify the man who, as it ultimately emerges, should have been a pretty obvious suspect?" I suppose the idea here was to look at brutal crimes from the perspective of how they reflect a loss of innocence in the larger culture in which they occur, and how they ripple out to affect ordinary people's lives. But by making the victims non-entities and using their rapes and killings as nothing but a backdrop against which to dramatize the angst of some amorphously sad middle-aged Swedish dudes, the book fails on every level.
Maybe my mood or health (listened to this while quarantined with COVID) overrode my ability to be patient with this but: why was this book written? This is a novel about sexual predation, rape, and the murder of women. And yet what it is almost exclusively concerned with are the thoughts and feelings of several inarticulate, emotionally distant young to middle-aged men whose lives are somewhat touched by the crimes. We hear at length--but with no particular insightfulness--how they feel about their jobs, their sons, fathers, country, duties, mistakes, hangups, sense of self...but are these really the perspectives that matter, or are even interesting, in the story of crimes like this? I laughed aloud, bitterly, when one of these men is described as spending a "whole day trying to find out what kind of cement mixer my grandfather had owned." Never at any point does this book, or any character in it, expend that kind of effort on pondering the lives of the girls and women whose attacks this story, and the male characters' livelihoods, are built on. Nor does the book spend any time on questions like, "Why did the killer commit these crimes? Why did he target these victims? Why did everyone fail to identify the man who, as it ultimately emerges, should have been a pretty obvious suspect?" I suppose the idea here was to look at brutal crimes from the perspective of how they reflect a loss of innocence in the larger culture in which they occur, and how they ripple out to affect ordinary people's lives. But by making the victims non-entities and using their rapes and killings as nothing but a backdrop against which to dramatize the angst of some amorphously sad middle-aged Swedish dudes, the book fails on every level.
July 1, 2021
Den närvarande naturen, stämning, de helt vanliga och aviga människorna, stämning, lite spänning, sa jag stämning?
Glesbygd noir är verkligen min grej nu.
Glesbygd noir är verkligen min grej nu.
March 12, 2021
Betyg: 5 av 5 - Det här är den nionde boken som jag läser av författaren Christoffer Carlsson. Jag har tyckt mycket om alla hans tidigare böcker, och alla utom den senaste har fått det näst högsta betyget av mig, och den senaste, Järtecken, fick högsta betyget. Hans nya bok, Brinn mig en sol, är i samma anda som Järtecken, och tillhör också serien Hallandssviten. Jag tyckte väldigt mycket om boken, som är så mycket mer än en kriminalroman. Den är lika mycket ett relationsroman som en deckare. Rekommenderas varmt.
December 22, 2022
Before you decide to read one of Christoffer’s books, take a look at his bio. You’ll understand how he can write such intense crime thrillers. He started his writing career at an amazingly young age, and he hasn’t slowed down.
This book is set in Halland- an area I love to read about. It’s the closest I’ll come to traveling there. The procedures of the investigators are different from America’s methods, and it makes the story so much more interesting. The setting, weather, and common language habits add to the ambiance.
In this thriller, a local murder happens on the same evening that the prime minister is assassinated. This immediately throws a wrench in the investigation of the local crime: are the two related? The majority of the manpower is more concerned with solving the prime minister’s murder. But Sven Jorgensson refuses to be sidetracked. He makes it his priority, and over time it becomes a fixation, almost an addiction.
The murdered victim is a young local girl who had just gotten off work at the local bar. She’s found raped and brutally beaten in the back of her car, but when Sven checks her pulse, he finds she’s still alive. His race to get her to the hospital proves fruitless, though. She’s DOA.
The killer strikes again, and to aggravate Sven, he calls and taunts him. The years continue to roll by with no positive ID on the murderer.
Sven’s son decides to follow his father’s path. Against Sven’s wishes, his son becomes a local policeman. The veil of inadequacy that hung over Sven is naturally tossed over his son by relation.
There is so much more going on between the paragraphs of the main story. The ingenuity of the author shines through and makes it difficult to stop reading. I glanced up at one point and it was 3:00 AM! I will most definitely read more by Carlsson.
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is January 3, 2023.
This book is set in Halland- an area I love to read about. It’s the closest I’ll come to traveling there. The procedures of the investigators are different from America’s methods, and it makes the story so much more interesting. The setting, weather, and common language habits add to the ambiance.
In this thriller, a local murder happens on the same evening that the prime minister is assassinated. This immediately throws a wrench in the investigation of the local crime: are the two related? The majority of the manpower is more concerned with solving the prime minister’s murder. But Sven Jorgensson refuses to be sidetracked. He makes it his priority, and over time it becomes a fixation, almost an addiction.
The murdered victim is a young local girl who had just gotten off work at the local bar. She’s found raped and brutally beaten in the back of her car, but when Sven checks her pulse, he finds she’s still alive. His race to get her to the hospital proves fruitless, though. She’s DOA.
The killer strikes again, and to aggravate Sven, he calls and taunts him. The years continue to roll by with no positive ID on the murderer.
Sven’s son decides to follow his father’s path. Against Sven’s wishes, his son becomes a local policeman. The veil of inadequacy that hung over Sven is naturally tossed over his son by relation.
There is so much more going on between the paragraphs of the main story. The ingenuity of the author shines through and makes it difficult to stop reading. I glanced up at one point and it was 3:00 AM! I will most definitely read more by Carlsson.
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is January 3, 2023.
August 18, 2024
Die Geschichte wird in mehreren Zeitebenen von einem Ich-Erzähler erzählt, einem Schriftsteller, der in einer kleinen Lebenskrise sich wieder nach Halland in die alte Heimat begibt, um dort einen True-Crime-Roman zu verfassen. Er wählt die Geschichte des Mordfalls Stina Franzén aus und die Obsession des örtlichen Polizeibeamten Sven Jörgensson, den Mörder zu finden. Der Mordfall ereignet sich am späten Abend bzw. in der Nacht des 28. Februar 1986. Für alle Schweden ein JFK-Moment, denn an diesem Abend wird Ministerpräsident Olof Palme von einem Attentäter erschossen. Der Palme-Mord überschattet den Fall in der Provinz. Der zuständige Beamte Jörgensson erhält einen anonymen Anruf vom Täter, in dem dieser weitere Taten ankündigt. Tatsächlich verschwindet kurz darauf wieder eine junge Frau, Frida Östmark. Doch sie bleibt verschwunden, wie auch lange der Täter. Sven Jörgensson wird schließlich krank über der Suche und vererbt seine Obsession schließlich an seinen Sohn Vidar, ebenfalls Polizist.
Durch diese Notizen sah Vidar seinen Vater in einem deutlicheren Licht, als er in jemals auf der anderen Seite des Küchentischs, am anderen Ende des Sofas oder neben sich im Auto gesehen hatte. Manche Verbrechen weichen nicht vom Fleck, ehe sie aufgeklärt sind. Und scheitert man, wird es einen für alle Zeiten prägen.
Was hier oben geschehen war, hatte seinen Vater regelrecht aufgezehrt. (Auszug Seite 308)
Das große Motiv des Romans ist das Scheitern, den Opfern durch Aufklärung eines Kriminalfalls Gerechtigkeit widerfahren zu lassen, das vergebliche Mühen nach Wahrheit, Gerechtigkeit und Sühne. Das Ganze bereitet Carlsson unglaublich präzise auf, in dem er die Geschichte von Vater und Sohn Jörgensson erzählt, die alles tun, um Gerechtigkeit herzustellen und doch dabei scheitern. Der Vater bezahlt es sogar mit Krankheit und Tod. Dabei schwelt neben den Fällen im ländlichen Halland immer der große Palme-Fall im Hintergrund, der das Vertrauen der schwedischen Bevölkerung in Polizei und Justiz fundamental erschüttert hat.
Christoffer Carlsson bedient sich dabei einer sehr klugen Gesamtkomposition mit einer cleveren Rahmenhandlung, in der der Autor als Ich-Erzähler letztlich selbst zum Ermittler wird und am Ende eine weitere Pointe dem Roman hinzufügt. Ein herausragender Kriminalroman, der sehr versiert und mit leiser Sohle Hintergründe, gesellschaftliche Stimmungen und die Psychologie der Figuren offenlegt.
Durch diese Notizen sah Vidar seinen Vater in einem deutlicheren Licht, als er in jemals auf der anderen Seite des Küchentischs, am anderen Ende des Sofas oder neben sich im Auto gesehen hatte. Manche Verbrechen weichen nicht vom Fleck, ehe sie aufgeklärt sind. Und scheitert man, wird es einen für alle Zeiten prägen.
Was hier oben geschehen war, hatte seinen Vater regelrecht aufgezehrt. (Auszug Seite 308)
Das große Motiv des Romans ist das Scheitern, den Opfern durch Aufklärung eines Kriminalfalls Gerechtigkeit widerfahren zu lassen, das vergebliche Mühen nach Wahrheit, Gerechtigkeit und Sühne. Das Ganze bereitet Carlsson unglaublich präzise auf, in dem er die Geschichte von Vater und Sohn Jörgensson erzählt, die alles tun, um Gerechtigkeit herzustellen und doch dabei scheitern. Der Vater bezahlt es sogar mit Krankheit und Tod. Dabei schwelt neben den Fällen im ländlichen Halland immer der große Palme-Fall im Hintergrund, der das Vertrauen der schwedischen Bevölkerung in Polizei und Justiz fundamental erschüttert hat.
Christoffer Carlsson bedient sich dabei einer sehr klugen Gesamtkomposition mit einer cleveren Rahmenhandlung, in der der Autor als Ich-Erzähler letztlich selbst zum Ermittler wird und am Ende eine weitere Pointe dem Roman hinzufügt. Ein herausragender Kriminalroman, der sehr versiert und mit leiser Sohle Hintergründe, gesellschaftliche Stimmungen und die Psychologie der Figuren offenlegt.
June 17, 2022
This review was originally posted through NetGalley
Wow. I’ve always been so picky about the crime/thrillers I read as a lot of them give you the over the top gore as a means to be memorable. This however is far scarier as you believe that it’s just a normal town, full of normal people and unremarkable lives. This story is given to you from a few different perspectives but it continues in a nice and easy linear fashion, slowly turning up the heat and unease as you go. I think the other thing that makes it so eerie is the underlying social behaviors or characters big and small. I guarantee you, you’ve heard people who think these things, people who act this way and you’ve seen situations that could’ve gone better with open communication. But you’ve got a small town, in the 1980s and the only bit of efficiency comes from the fact that everyone knows your business.
Great book. This early review was made possible by an ARC from the publisher. I’ll be watching this author and their future works.
Wow. I’ve always been so picky about the crime/thrillers I read as a lot of them give you the over the top gore as a means to be memorable. This however is far scarier as you believe that it’s just a normal town, full of normal people and unremarkable lives. This story is given to you from a few different perspectives but it continues in a nice and easy linear fashion, slowly turning up the heat and unease as you go. I think the other thing that makes it so eerie is the underlying social behaviors or characters big and small. I guarantee you, you’ve heard people who think these things, people who act this way and you’ve seen situations that could’ve gone better with open communication. But you’ve got a small town, in the 1980s and the only bit of efficiency comes from the fact that everyone knows your business.
Great book. This early review was made possible by an ARC from the publisher. I’ll be watching this author and their future works.
May 26, 2023
This is a Nordic noir with a compelling mystery and a gruesome crime, but at times, this feels not like a story about crime and justice, but like a contemplative character study and a deep dive into familial relationships. It’s structure is fabulous and acts as a great plot device and the writing is so rich! As a bonus, you will not be able to guess how the story ends and who is actually the killer. Highly recommend!
January 30, 2023
Book Review
Blaze Me a Sun
Christoffer Carlsson
reviewed by Lou Jacobs
readersremains.com | Goodreads
Finally, the American debut of one of Sweden’s best Criminologists and Crime novelists.
Christoffer holds a Ph.D. in Criminology at University of Stockholm and was awarded the International European Society of Criminology’s Young Criminologist Award. His previous critically acclaimed novels have won numerous literary awards and this novel was met with many accolades in Sweden in 2021. He masterfully uses his training and skills to create this cerebral page-turner and welcome addition to the canons of crime fiction, which may eclipse the notoriety of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankiell.
His well-honed tale is told in multiple timelines and the narrative eye of four main protagonists. The story unspools in the viewpoint of policeman, Sven Jorgensson, his son, Vidar, his partner, Evy Carlen, and lastly the “novelist.” A burgeoning serial killer commits his first brutal rape and murder in the small town of Tiarp on the eve of the assassination of Sweden’s prime minister. Sven is first on the scene and finds 20-year-old Stina Franzen, barely breathing in the back seat of her vehicle. He valiantly tries to rush her to the hospital, but she breathes her last on the futile trip. To add insult to injury he is later legally accused of hastening her demise by mishandling her body.
On this fateful night in February of 1986, the killer taunts the local police with a phone call announcing his killing and proclaiming: “I’m going to do it again.” Sven becomes obsessed with the case as no clues or links to the killer are uncovered. One evening at home, Sven receives a phone call: “I did it again… and you’ll never find her body.” Frida Ostmark indeed is missing—no leads or linkage to the first victim arise. And, yet again, this small community is rocked when twenty-three-year-old Gisela is raped and brutalized in her own home. She is haunted by his muttering: “Lie still now, Dolly.” She miraculously survives the attack when the perpetrator is interrupted by the early return of her boyfriend. Robert Mellberg’s body was found three days later in a green van with his head bashed in and a baseball bat slathered with gray matter and swatches of hair. Sven is obsessed and haunted by the unsolved murder’s of the Tiarp Man ( the nom de plume bestowed by the newspapers). This affliction is shouldered to a lesser extent by his partner, Evy, and to a lesser extent by his son, Vidar. ( Who eventually and briefly assumes the mantle of police officer.).
Decades later, the “novelist’ returns to his childhood home of Tiarp, after his failed marriage.
He has not written in a long time, suffering from a “writer’s block.” He’s surprised how so very little has changed in thirty years. He meets and befriends Evy, who has long since retired. They exchange phone numbers and soon frequently chat over tea or wine. She is soon spinning tales of police work that are both hilarious and tragic, as well as stories about her husband, Ronnie and her brother, Einar. The novelist recalls idolizing Sven when he was a child and in fact was a classmate of Vidar. Evy also confides what happened to Sven and his son, because of the Tiarp murders. The novelist becomes enthralled with this cold case and starts to “pull at the threads” of details to better understand and possibly truly solve this cold case. He uncovers many disturbing occurrences and shame, as well as secrets buried for years.
Carlsson proves to be a masterful storyteller spinning a complex and convoluted tale, presented in intense and concise prose, and in multiple timelines and viewpoints. He explores the themes of truth, justice and moral suffering and the lengths that one will pursue to exact closure. Carlsson opines early in his narrative: “ Moral suffering is strange. It can strike the strong as easily as the weak, and no surgery, painkillers …. can help.” …. “ you can let yourself be consumed or resort to drastic measures to free yourself.”`. This gem is a multilayered and nuanced police procedural that rises to the level of literary fiction. Hopefully we will have further translations of his highly acclaimed fiction.
Thanks to NetGallery and Random House Publishing / Hogarth for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.
Blaze Me a Sun
Christoffer Carlsson
reviewed by Lou Jacobs
readersremains.com | Goodreads
Finally, the American debut of one of Sweden’s best Criminologists and Crime novelists.
Christoffer holds a Ph.D. in Criminology at University of Stockholm and was awarded the International European Society of Criminology’s Young Criminologist Award. His previous critically acclaimed novels have won numerous literary awards and this novel was met with many accolades in Sweden in 2021. He masterfully uses his training and skills to create this cerebral page-turner and welcome addition to the canons of crime fiction, which may eclipse the notoriety of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankiell.
His well-honed tale is told in multiple timelines and the narrative eye of four main protagonists. The story unspools in the viewpoint of policeman, Sven Jorgensson, his son, Vidar, his partner, Evy Carlen, and lastly the “novelist.” A burgeoning serial killer commits his first brutal rape and murder in the small town of Tiarp on the eve of the assassination of Sweden’s prime minister. Sven is first on the scene and finds 20-year-old Stina Franzen, barely breathing in the back seat of her vehicle. He valiantly tries to rush her to the hospital, but she breathes her last on the futile trip. To add insult to injury he is later legally accused of hastening her demise by mishandling her body.
On this fateful night in February of 1986, the killer taunts the local police with a phone call announcing his killing and proclaiming: “I’m going to do it again.” Sven becomes obsessed with the case as no clues or links to the killer are uncovered. One evening at home, Sven receives a phone call: “I did it again… and you’ll never find her body.” Frida Ostmark indeed is missing—no leads or linkage to the first victim arise. And, yet again, this small community is rocked when twenty-three-year-old Gisela is raped and brutalized in her own home. She is haunted by his muttering: “Lie still now, Dolly.” She miraculously survives the attack when the perpetrator is interrupted by the early return of her boyfriend. Robert Mellberg’s body was found three days later in a green van with his head bashed in and a baseball bat slathered with gray matter and swatches of hair. Sven is obsessed and haunted by the unsolved murder’s of the Tiarp Man ( the nom de plume bestowed by the newspapers). This affliction is shouldered to a lesser extent by his partner, Evy, and to a lesser extent by his son, Vidar. ( Who eventually and briefly assumes the mantle of police officer.).
Decades later, the “novelist’ returns to his childhood home of Tiarp, after his failed marriage.
He has not written in a long time, suffering from a “writer’s block.” He’s surprised how so very little has changed in thirty years. He meets and befriends Evy, who has long since retired. They exchange phone numbers and soon frequently chat over tea or wine. She is soon spinning tales of police work that are both hilarious and tragic, as well as stories about her husband, Ronnie and her brother, Einar. The novelist recalls idolizing Sven when he was a child and in fact was a classmate of Vidar. Evy also confides what happened to Sven and his son, because of the Tiarp murders. The novelist becomes enthralled with this cold case and starts to “pull at the threads” of details to better understand and possibly truly solve this cold case. He uncovers many disturbing occurrences and shame, as well as secrets buried for years.
Carlsson proves to be a masterful storyteller spinning a complex and convoluted tale, presented in intense and concise prose, and in multiple timelines and viewpoints. He explores the themes of truth, justice and moral suffering and the lengths that one will pursue to exact closure. Carlsson opines early in his narrative: “ Moral suffering is strange. It can strike the strong as easily as the weak, and no surgery, painkillers …. can help.” …. “ you can let yourself be consumed or resort to drastic measures to free yourself.”`. This gem is a multilayered and nuanced police procedural that rises to the level of literary fiction. Hopefully we will have further translations of his highly acclaimed fiction.
Thanks to NetGallery and Random House Publishing / Hogarth for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.
October 20, 2022
Mein Interesse an Kriminalromanen, speziell an solchen, die neben einer spannenden Story auch Innenansichten der Gesellschaft bieten, wurde vor Jahrzehnten von dem schwedischen Autorenpaar Maj Sjöwall und Per Wahlöö geweckt. Skandinavische Krimis waren damals auf dem deutschen Markt nicht wirklich präsent, geändert hat dies Henning Mankell, der mit seiner Wallander-Reihe den Geist aus der Flasche entließ. Seither wird/wurde der deutsche Buchmarkt von einer wahren Flut „Schweden-Krimis“ überschwemmt, deren Inhalte und Präsentationen in der Regel keine Alleinstellungsmerkmale bieten und sich lediglich um die Entlarvung des Täters kümmern.
Aber glücklicherweise gibt es auch die eine oder andere Ausnahme wie den Schweden Christoffer Carlsson (von Haus aus promovierter Kriminologe), dessen Kriminalromane sich weniger durch eine ausgeklügelte Story sondern durch die feinen Charakterisierungen der Personen und den Umgang des Autors mit Sprache von der Massenware unterscheiden.
„Was ans Licht kommt“ ist in seiner Schwere und Melancholie einerseits ein sehr skandinavischer Roman, zeigt andererseits aber auch die Momentaufnahme einer Gesellschaft in den achtziger Jahren, in der durch ein einzelnes Ereignis die Grundwerte an Bedeutung verlieren, in Frage gestellt werden und zutiefst verunsicherte Menschen zurücklassen.
In der Rahmenhandlung ist hier zum einen das Attentat auf Olof Palme zu finden, ein Fall, in dem bis heute der Täter nicht zweifelsfrei ermittelt werden konnte, zum anderen aber auch, und das ist hier wesentlich wichtiger, eine Mordserie in der schwedischen Provinz. In beiden Fällen war die Polizei überfordert und kam bei der Suche nach dem Täter nicht voran.
Dreißig Jahre später kehrt ein Schriftsteller in die Kleinstadt zurück, um ein Buch in Angriff zu nehmen. Er ist dort aufgewachsen, hat Interesse an dem alten Fall und rollt diesen Cold Case für seinen neuen Roman wieder auf. Zahllose Gespräche mit den Einwohnern führen ihn schließlich auf die richtige Spur, und so entlarvt er ganz nebenbei den Täter, letzteres ist allerdings für die Qualität von Carlssons Roman eher nebensächlich. Was für ihn und uns Leser von Interesse ist, sind die Auswirkungen, die diese Taten und die nachfolgenden Ermittlungen nicht nur für die Bewohner der Kleinstadt sondern auch für die ermittelnden Polizisten hatten. Hier schaut Carlsson ganz genau hin, entlarvt komplizierte Familienbande und Beziehungen, stellt die Frage nach der Wahrheit, aber auch nach Schuld und Sühne. Ein literarischer Kriminalroman, der zu überzeugen weiss.
Aber glücklicherweise gibt es auch die eine oder andere Ausnahme wie den Schweden Christoffer Carlsson (von Haus aus promovierter Kriminologe), dessen Kriminalromane sich weniger durch eine ausgeklügelte Story sondern durch die feinen Charakterisierungen der Personen und den Umgang des Autors mit Sprache von der Massenware unterscheiden.
„Was ans Licht kommt“ ist in seiner Schwere und Melancholie einerseits ein sehr skandinavischer Roman, zeigt andererseits aber auch die Momentaufnahme einer Gesellschaft in den achtziger Jahren, in der durch ein einzelnes Ereignis die Grundwerte an Bedeutung verlieren, in Frage gestellt werden und zutiefst verunsicherte Menschen zurücklassen.
In der Rahmenhandlung ist hier zum einen das Attentat auf Olof Palme zu finden, ein Fall, in dem bis heute der Täter nicht zweifelsfrei ermittelt werden konnte, zum anderen aber auch, und das ist hier wesentlich wichtiger, eine Mordserie in der schwedischen Provinz. In beiden Fällen war die Polizei überfordert und kam bei der Suche nach dem Täter nicht voran.
Dreißig Jahre später kehrt ein Schriftsteller in die Kleinstadt zurück, um ein Buch in Angriff zu nehmen. Er ist dort aufgewachsen, hat Interesse an dem alten Fall und rollt diesen Cold Case für seinen neuen Roman wieder auf. Zahllose Gespräche mit den Einwohnern führen ihn schließlich auf die richtige Spur, und so entlarvt er ganz nebenbei den Täter, letzteres ist allerdings für die Qualität von Carlssons Roman eher nebensächlich. Was für ihn und uns Leser von Interesse ist, sind die Auswirkungen, die diese Taten und die nachfolgenden Ermittlungen nicht nur für die Bewohner der Kleinstadt sondern auch für die ermittelnden Polizisten hatten. Hier schaut Carlsson ganz genau hin, entlarvt komplizierte Familienbande und Beziehungen, stellt die Frage nach der Wahrheit, aber auch nach Schuld und Sühne. Ein literarischer Kriminalroman, der zu überzeugen weiss.
September 7, 2022
When I began this book the first thing that caught my attention was the fact there were 117 chapters. No way a book that long would hold my interest! Oh I was so wrong again.
This book will suck you in like a high powered vacuum, spin you around like an industrial dryer, and once you think that all the pieces have fallen into place….think again. I love these kinds of stories and the characters are highly believable. The setting is perfect for the atmospheric balance and anguish of the main character as he tries to solve this horrid crime and is felt throughout the story. How far will Sven Jorgensson go to uncover the truth?
Highly recommended!
This book will suck you in like a high powered vacuum, spin you around like an industrial dryer, and once you think that all the pieces have fallen into place….think again. I love these kinds of stories and the characters are highly believable. The setting is perfect for the atmospheric balance and anguish of the main character as he tries to solve this horrid crime and is felt throughout the story. How far will Sven Jorgensson go to uncover the truth?
Highly recommended!
May 17, 2023
3.75 stars
The book was well written. As I was reading the book, was thinking it could be a five star read. It was reading fast and chapters were short so it was like "just one more chapter." Why then the rating of 3.75 from me? The book grew too long. There was so much inter turmoil, angst and back stories that I grew weary of it.
The book was well written. As I was reading the book, was thinking it could be a five star read. It was reading fast and chapters were short so it was like "just one more chapter." Why then the rating of 3.75 from me? The book grew too long. There was so much inter turmoil, angst and back stories that I grew weary of it.
November 25, 2023
I'm giving this book three stars rather than two owing to the author's literary skill and effective dialogue.
This book is a murder mystery set in Sweden and written by a Swedish author. I mention this in relation to the book's status as "international best-seller." I going to assume that the "international" part refers to Europe. I've known a few European authors, and I've heard the lament that over-seas readership has different expectations than Americans. European novels are not nearly so dogmatic when it comes to plot, progression, evolution of the main character etc. Interesting people doing interesting things is quite sufficient for a novel over-seas. The only other European novel I've read is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, though I found that it certainly aligned with my expectations for a novel. It was fricken' awesome.
This book is not awesome. Maybe it's more European in approach.
The author is certainly competent. There's an art, beauty, insight that puts this novel in a more "literary" category. The bird on the cover is used as a type of foreshadowing, and it reappears as a bookend near the end. The first three chapters are directionless and frustrating, then the murder is just dumped on the reader. It doesn't fit well. It becomes apparent that the author is simply withholding crucial information from the reader to force a mystery. I kept having the feeling that I'd somehow skipped a chapter that would make sense of everything.
There are two factors that make this book a difficult read. First, because the author assumes this "literary" writing style, he feels the need to linger on each character's inner narrator. That is, each chapter descends in the characters' thoughts, perception of events, constant self-analysis and dreary self-loathing in most cases. It's a slow depressing read. There are no ups and downs in the book; it's all down. Because of the indulgent introspection, the book is twice as long as it needs to be. Second, the timeline is muddled. There are four timelines--in the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2010s and, Jesus, I forget. We jump back and forth in these timelines, and the constant question the reader has is not "where am I?" but "when am I?" This is not exaggeration, a character in present time can be thinking back to a character in the 2000s who then thinks back to a time in the 1980s. Again, quite frustrating.
Another frustrating part of this book (I guess I should've said three factors) is the slow death of one of the main characters--chain-smoking Sven. He's got lung cancer, and we go through 60 chapters--yes, I said 60 chapters-- of Sven's hacking, choking, and bleeding decline as everyone (EVERYONE) says "hey Sven, maybe you want to get that cough checked out." The highlight of the book isn't when they solve the mystery, but when Sven finally dies and we ALL don't have to suffer with it anymore.
This book had well over 100 short chapters, each bouncing around the timeline like a ping pong ball. At several points, I felt directionless. I didn't know why I was reading about certain things or how those things fit into the story. The motivation of many of the characters was equally amorphous.
The author, Mr. "PhD in Criminology" doesn't know how DNA analysis works. Yes, I have an advanced degree in Criminal Justice, but that's irrelevant in this situation. If you're a fan of "Finding your Roots" you'll spot a third-grade logic error.
The title is explained near the end--quite unsatisfying.
The author does manage some strong surprises at the end concerning the presumed murderer and the actual murderer, but are these revelations worth the pain? It's like saying "yeah, it's a 20-mile hike in the desert with a 40 pound pack, but you get a scoop of ice cream at the end." Choose wisely.
This book is a murder mystery set in Sweden and written by a Swedish author. I mention this in relation to the book's status as "international best-seller." I going to assume that the "international" part refers to Europe. I've known a few European authors, and I've heard the lament that over-seas readership has different expectations than Americans. European novels are not nearly so dogmatic when it comes to plot, progression, evolution of the main character etc. Interesting people doing interesting things is quite sufficient for a novel over-seas. The only other European novel I've read is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, though I found that it certainly aligned with my expectations for a novel. It was fricken' awesome.
This book is not awesome. Maybe it's more European in approach.
The author is certainly competent. There's an art, beauty, insight that puts this novel in a more "literary" category. The bird on the cover is used as a type of foreshadowing, and it reappears as a bookend near the end. The first three chapters are directionless and frustrating, then the murder is just dumped on the reader. It doesn't fit well. It becomes apparent that the author is simply withholding crucial information from the reader to force a mystery. I kept having the feeling that I'd somehow skipped a chapter that would make sense of everything.
There are two factors that make this book a difficult read. First, because the author assumes this "literary" writing style, he feels the need to linger on each character's inner narrator. That is, each chapter descends in the characters' thoughts, perception of events, constant self-analysis and dreary self-loathing in most cases. It's a slow depressing read. There are no ups and downs in the book; it's all down. Because of the indulgent introspection, the book is twice as long as it needs to be. Second, the timeline is muddled. There are four timelines--in the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2010s and, Jesus, I forget. We jump back and forth in these timelines, and the constant question the reader has is not "where am I?" but "when am I?" This is not exaggeration, a character in present time can be thinking back to a character in the 2000s who then thinks back to a time in the 1980s. Again, quite frustrating.
Another frustrating part of this book (I guess I should've said three factors) is the slow death of one of the main characters--chain-smoking Sven. He's got lung cancer, and we go through 60 chapters--yes, I said 60 chapters-- of Sven's hacking, choking, and bleeding decline as everyone (EVERYONE) says "hey Sven, maybe you want to get that cough checked out." The highlight of the book isn't when they solve the mystery, but when Sven finally dies and we ALL don't have to suffer with it anymore.
This book had well over 100 short chapters, each bouncing around the timeline like a ping pong ball. At several points, I felt directionless. I didn't know why I was reading about certain things or how those things fit into the story. The motivation of many of the characters was equally amorphous.
The author, Mr. "PhD in Criminology" doesn't know how DNA analysis works. Yes, I have an advanced degree in Criminal Justice, but that's irrelevant in this situation. If you're a fan of "Finding your Roots" you'll spot a third-grade logic error.
The title is explained near the end--quite unsatisfying.
The author does manage some strong surprises at the end concerning the presumed murderer and the actual murderer, but are these revelations worth the pain? It's like saying "yeah, it's a 20-mile hike in the desert with a 40 pound pack, but you get a scoop of ice cream at the end." Choose wisely.
March 20, 2021
Brinn mig en sol är en mycket välskriven och tänkvärd berättelse. Christoffer Carlssons språk är som vanligt en njutning, det är tänkvärt och vackert men aldrig tungt. Jag kunde inte sluta läsa när jag väl hade börjat och det enda jag ångrar är att jag läste Brinn mig en sol för fort. Så snart jag hade läst klart den så började jag fundera på om jag skulle läsa den en gång till, för att upptäcka alla de lager i berättelsen som jag med säkerhet hade missat vid första läsningen. Jag funderade också på att läsa om Järtecken, där en del av personerna i Brinn mig en sol förekommer.
Brinn mig en sol är både mörk och vacker. Jag upplever den som mörkare än Christoffer Carlssons tidigare böcker, som att det ligger en tyngd över den, en klaustrofobisk känsla. Kanske det beror på temat, kanske det beror på tiden vi lever i nu, tiden den är skriven i. Berättelsen utspelar sig både i nutid och med tillbakablickar. Den tidpunkt som allting förändras, både för huvudkaraktärerna och för Sverige som nation, är natten när Olof Palme mördas. Natten när vi på något sätt förlorade känslan av att vi i Sverige var skyddade från det som hände i omvärlden. Natten när också huvudkaraktären Sven Jörgenssons liv förändrades, blev mörkare och mer desperat, vilket påverkar kommande generationer.
Brinn mig en sol är inte bara en kriminalroman om vad som hände i Tiarp den natten, utan en berättelse om den transformation det svenska samhället genomgick under 80-talet. Sven blir en symbol för det svenska samhället, men är också urtypen för det svenska som fortfarande finns. Miljön, den halländska landsbygden, förstärker givetvis känslan av att det här är en mycket svensk historia. Jag känner till trakten i viss utsträckning, men det är bitvis lite väl många ortsnamn. Karaktärerna är sådana som man som läsare minns långt efteråt, det är personer som är så verkliga att man tror att man känt dem på riktigt.
Berättelsen i Brinn mig en sol väcker många tankar och det finns mycket att fundera på. Tidsåldern, 80-talet, 90-talet och sedan 2010-talet. Också mina tider, även om berättaren i historien är yngre än jag (och författaren ännu yngre) så finns det mycket som jag känner igen. Inte bara den ödesdigra natten, och som så många andra vet jag exakt var jag befann mig när beskedet kom, utan även den allmänna tidskänslan. Är det svenska samhället då så mörkt som jag upplever berättelsen i Brinn mig en sol? Jag tycker inte det, utan det fortfarande finns många som har de grundläggande värderingarna som ger hopp för kommande generationer. En del av det som en gång var det svenska folkhemmet finns kvar, som mycket av det som det statliga står för, välfärden som många inte reflekterar över. Som vanligt i Christoffer Carlssons böcker så finns det reflektioner invävda om brott och vad som gör en brottsling. Och kan man kanske inte alltid förstå en brottslings motiv? Eller vem som blir en mördare? Här ser man som läsare också Christoffer Carlssons grundläggande kunskap som kriminolog.
Det verkar som om Christoffer Carlsson kommer på Svenska Deckarfestivalen i Sundsvall i höst. Det ser jag väldigt mycket fram mot. Han är inte bara en god berättare, och skriver bra böcker, han är också en trevlig person som gärna pratar med sina läsare!
Omdöme: Välskrivet, vackert och mörkt om att söka efter en sanning som kanske aldrig går att få tag på.
Betyg: 5-
https://lottensbokblogg.wordpress.com...
Brinn mig en sol är både mörk och vacker. Jag upplever den som mörkare än Christoffer Carlssons tidigare böcker, som att det ligger en tyngd över den, en klaustrofobisk känsla. Kanske det beror på temat, kanske det beror på tiden vi lever i nu, tiden den är skriven i. Berättelsen utspelar sig både i nutid och med tillbakablickar. Den tidpunkt som allting förändras, både för huvudkaraktärerna och för Sverige som nation, är natten när Olof Palme mördas. Natten när vi på något sätt förlorade känslan av att vi i Sverige var skyddade från det som hände i omvärlden. Natten när också huvudkaraktären Sven Jörgenssons liv förändrades, blev mörkare och mer desperat, vilket påverkar kommande generationer.
Brinn mig en sol är inte bara en kriminalroman om vad som hände i Tiarp den natten, utan en berättelse om den transformation det svenska samhället genomgick under 80-talet. Sven blir en symbol för det svenska samhället, men är också urtypen för det svenska som fortfarande finns. Miljön, den halländska landsbygden, förstärker givetvis känslan av att det här är en mycket svensk historia. Jag känner till trakten i viss utsträckning, men det är bitvis lite väl många ortsnamn. Karaktärerna är sådana som man som läsare minns långt efteråt, det är personer som är så verkliga att man tror att man känt dem på riktigt.
Berättelsen i Brinn mig en sol väcker många tankar och det finns mycket att fundera på. Tidsåldern, 80-talet, 90-talet och sedan 2010-talet. Också mina tider, även om berättaren i historien är yngre än jag (och författaren ännu yngre) så finns det mycket som jag känner igen. Inte bara den ödesdigra natten, och som så många andra vet jag exakt var jag befann mig när beskedet kom, utan även den allmänna tidskänslan. Är det svenska samhället då så mörkt som jag upplever berättelsen i Brinn mig en sol? Jag tycker inte det, utan det fortfarande finns många som har de grundläggande värderingarna som ger hopp för kommande generationer. En del av det som en gång var det svenska folkhemmet finns kvar, som mycket av det som det statliga står för, välfärden som många inte reflekterar över. Som vanligt i Christoffer Carlssons böcker så finns det reflektioner invävda om brott och vad som gör en brottsling. Och kan man kanske inte alltid förstå en brottslings motiv? Eller vem som blir en mördare? Här ser man som läsare också Christoffer Carlssons grundläggande kunskap som kriminolog.
Det verkar som om Christoffer Carlsson kommer på Svenska Deckarfestivalen i Sundsvall i höst. Det ser jag väldigt mycket fram mot. Han är inte bara en god berättare, och skriver bra böcker, han är också en trevlig person som gärna pratar med sina läsare!
Omdöme: Välskrivet, vackert och mörkt om att söka efter en sanning som kanske aldrig går att få tag på.
Betyg: 5-
https://lottensbokblogg.wordpress.com...
January 4, 2023
Thank you NetGalley, Christoffer Carlsson, and Random House Hogarth publishing for this ARC!
I am not normally a crime thriller reader, but this book may have just converted me. This work has so many surprising plot twists and is incredibly detailed in the processes it takes to catch a killer, even so many decades later. The reader can truly feel the emotional turmoil come from the pages as police tackle the darkest parts of humanity without getting an explanation into the creation of such darkness. It is an incredibly well-written book with so many realistic and nuanced perspectives that make you grow fond of most of the characters. I think this work is also relevant to a time of distrust in police, especially in America.
When the prime minister is assassinated in Stockholm the same night a serial killer makes his first kill in the small town of Tiarp, a local policeman is thrown into an obsessive pursuit to find the killer while coping with the whole country’s loss. This work has a long timeframe, starting in 1986 with Sven Jörgensson’s investigation and carrying into his son, Vidar’s policework into the late 2010s. In the last couple of years of the novel, a writer making his return home sets the stage for this case in his new novel but finds more secrets than resolutions on his own.
I was truly swept away by this book’s universal themes of the pursuit of truth, justice, and obsession. Carlsson expertly relates these themes from a whole country’s perspective in finding the man who shot the prime minister, to a small town’s paralyzing fear of a serial killer, to Sven and Vidar’s own grappling with the unknown of their own cases. Old folklore weaves into real-life discovery, and the author truly captures fear on all levels of the human psyche.
I loved the paralleling of certain symbols as they reappear as omens throughout decades. I also really enjoyed the author’s deep psychological narrative where you empathize with each character thoroughly. I also enjoyed how we got to explore the personal lives like the marriages and relationships.
The book was also fast-paced enough to keep me reading throughout the night but not too fast that I couldn’t keep up. The plot twists were so unexpected; I’m usually pretty good at predicting mysteries in crime shows, but this ending threw me for a loop. This book is incredibly memorable!
The book was a bit slow to start, and until Sven’s POV in 1986, I felt confused in certain parts about the narrator’s intentions.
I will definitely be looking out for Carlsson’s new works and always have this one in the back of my mind!
I am not normally a crime thriller reader, but this book may have just converted me. This work has so many surprising plot twists and is incredibly detailed in the processes it takes to catch a killer, even so many decades later. The reader can truly feel the emotional turmoil come from the pages as police tackle the darkest parts of humanity without getting an explanation into the creation of such darkness. It is an incredibly well-written book with so many realistic and nuanced perspectives that make you grow fond of most of the characters. I think this work is also relevant to a time of distrust in police, especially in America.
When the prime minister is assassinated in Stockholm the same night a serial killer makes his first kill in the small town of Tiarp, a local policeman is thrown into an obsessive pursuit to find the killer while coping with the whole country’s loss. This work has a long timeframe, starting in 1986 with Sven Jörgensson’s investigation and carrying into his son, Vidar’s policework into the late 2010s. In the last couple of years of the novel, a writer making his return home sets the stage for this case in his new novel but finds more secrets than resolutions on his own.
I was truly swept away by this book’s universal themes of the pursuit of truth, justice, and obsession. Carlsson expertly relates these themes from a whole country’s perspective in finding the man who shot the prime minister, to a small town’s paralyzing fear of a serial killer, to Sven and Vidar’s own grappling with the unknown of their own cases. Old folklore weaves into real-life discovery, and the author truly captures fear on all levels of the human psyche.
I loved the paralleling of certain symbols as they reappear as omens throughout decades. I also really enjoyed the author’s deep psychological narrative where you empathize with each character thoroughly. I also enjoyed how we got to explore the personal lives like the marriages and relationships.
The book was also fast-paced enough to keep me reading throughout the night but not too fast that I couldn’t keep up. The plot twists were so unexpected; I’m usually pretty good at predicting mysteries in crime shows, but this ending threw me for a loop. This book is incredibly memorable!
The book was a bit slow to start, and until Sven’s POV in 1986, I felt confused in certain parts about the narrator’s intentions.
I will definitely be looking out for Carlsson’s new works and always have this one in the back of my mind!
July 18, 2022
Major events in Swedish history that caused the nation to see itself anew parallel the events in this book, with the town of Halmstad a microcosm of the larger turmoil. As the book opens, a woman is found in the back of a car, raped and murdered. The crime will always be linked in the minds of locals with the (real-life) assassination of Sweden’s prime minister, Olof Palme, which happened on the same night, February 28, 1986. Halmstad is in a staid area, where everyone knows everyone, the kids play soccer with a beloved coach, and what farms are left are the quiet backbone of life.
The death of Palme and of Stina Franzén, the murdered young woman, cause a kind of shocked introspection whose weight pervades Carlsson’s writing. Horror surfaces once again when another woman disappears the day before the relatively nearby Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes on April 26, 1986. Chernobyl is “on the other side of freedom,” but even given that the crimes are in much-more-open Sweden, investigator Sven Jörgensson can’t catch the man who taunts him with phone calls and promises there will be more. As years go by, Sven’s son becomes involved in the impossible puzzle, as does a writer who grew up locally and who has returned to write about the crimes (and who narrates this tale). Following events over several decades brings us to care for the characters as much as the outcome of this case, one that’s as unpredictable as it is tragic.
The author’s U.S. debut (he’s the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, for The Invisible Man), this is an absorbing and thought-provoking puzzle.—Henrietta Verma
For more reviews of forthcoming Crime Fiction, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, First Clue: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/First...
The death of Palme and of Stina Franzén, the murdered young woman, cause a kind of shocked introspection whose weight pervades Carlsson’s writing. Horror surfaces once again when another woman disappears the day before the relatively nearby Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes on April 26, 1986. Chernobyl is “on the other side of freedom,” but even given that the crimes are in much-more-open Sweden, investigator Sven Jörgensson can’t catch the man who taunts him with phone calls and promises there will be more. As years go by, Sven’s son becomes involved in the impossible puzzle, as does a writer who grew up locally and who has returned to write about the crimes (and who narrates this tale). Following events over several decades brings us to care for the characters as much as the outcome of this case, one that’s as unpredictable as it is tragic.
The author’s U.S. debut (he’s the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, for The Invisible Man), this is an absorbing and thought-provoking puzzle.—Henrietta Verma
For more reviews of forthcoming Crime Fiction, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, First Clue: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/First...
May 16, 2021
Jag har redan avskrivit "Årets bok" som något typ av försäljningsjippo. Shuggie Bain var riktigt bra - på skotska! - och "Älskade barn" (töntig översättning!) var driven men lite väl trendig för att vara imponerande på riktigt. Emma Hamberg gillar jag pga gillar, men boken var knappast "Årets". (Och han den där-Musso bör jag aldrig mer nämna eftersom jag blir så väldigt oartig.)
Sorry, Christoffer Carlsson, nu ägnar jag din recension åt andra författare. Men så är det ju alltid; saker är bra eller dåliga i jämförelse med andra. Och i jämförelse med sina Årets bok-konkurrenter är Brinn mig en sol bra. I jämförelse med alla andra i genren, och då särskilt svenska deckare, är den riktigt bra.
Om du inte själv är insatt inom området är det svårt att förklara - dessutom har ju jag min egen kräsna lilla smak - men Carlsson prickar många poänger: språket är personligt och snyggt, tonen är unik och engagerande och intrigen är inte förutsägbar.
Visst, jag skulle kunna klaga på att det är unga kvinnor som seriemördas (men det känns ändå trovärdigt och nära), eller på att tidsmarkörer utnyttjas för att måla miljö (men Carlsson gör det på ett sätt som bidrar till känslan, snarare än att påtvinga den).
Närmast jämförelse blir Stina Jackson, som också figurerat i nämnda jippo-sammanhang, med med en egen take på svenska standardromaner.
Säger därför som om hennes Ödemark: klar 4,5:a, som jag avrundar uppåt.
Sorry, Christoffer Carlsson, nu ägnar jag din recension åt andra författare. Men så är det ju alltid; saker är bra eller dåliga i jämförelse med andra. Och i jämförelse med sina Årets bok-konkurrenter är Brinn mig en sol bra. I jämförelse med alla andra i genren, och då särskilt svenska deckare, är den riktigt bra.
Om du inte själv är insatt inom området är det svårt att förklara - dessutom har ju jag min egen kräsna lilla smak - men Carlsson prickar många poänger: språket är personligt och snyggt, tonen är unik och engagerande och intrigen är inte förutsägbar.
Visst, jag skulle kunna klaga på att det är unga kvinnor som seriemördas (men det känns ändå trovärdigt och nära), eller på att tidsmarkörer utnyttjas för att måla miljö (men Carlsson gör det på ett sätt som bidrar till känslan, snarare än att påtvinga den).
Närmast jämförelse blir Stina Jackson, som också figurerat i nämnda jippo-sammanhang, med med en egen take på svenska standardromaner.
Säger därför som om hennes Ödemark: klar 4,5:a, som jag avrundar uppåt.
April 8, 2021
Boken är en riktig bladvändare och Christoffer Carlsson är en mästare på att berätta. Språket och hur berättelsen är skriven är en njutning att läsa, trots att det handlar om mord och hemska övergrepp.
Samtidigt är det en berättelse om en far, en polis och hans arbete som präglar hela hans liv och hans relationer. Det är också en skildring av ett land som skakas om rejält i och med mordet på statsminister Olof Palme. För invånarna och polisen i halländska byn Tiarp på Nyårsåsen utanför Halmstad förändras tillvaron också totalt natten den 28 februari 1986.
Polisen nås av det otänkbara larmet att Sveriges statsminister skjutits på öppen gata i Stockholm. Samma natt får Halmstadspolisen ett samtal från en okänd man som meddelar att han våldtagit en kvinna i en bil. Efter att ha angivit brottsplatsen meddelar han att han kommer att göra det igen. Polismannen Sven Jörgensen är först på plats. Den natten och Tierpsmannen kommer att prägla resten av hans liv.
Den här boken får högsta betyg. En sann läsupplevelse som jag varmt rekommenderar.
August 29, 2022
Nordic noir at it's best!
In Sweden in the 19080's a serial killer gets their start while at the same time as the prime minister is assassinated. A young police officer thinks they may be connected. As the body count rises, the officer is haunted by his inability to close the case.
Years later a defeated novelist revisits the murders. What he finds may shock you. If you love nordic thrillers, police procedurals and slow burns, Blaze Me a Sun is for you!
#RandomHouse #Hogarth #Blazemeasun #ChrisofferCarlsson
In Sweden in the 19080's a serial killer gets their start while at the same time as the prime minister is assassinated. A young police officer thinks they may be connected. As the body count rises, the officer is haunted by his inability to close the case.
Years later a defeated novelist revisits the murders. What he finds may shock you. If you love nordic thrillers, police procedurals and slow burns, Blaze Me a Sun is for you!
#RandomHouse #Hogarth #Blazemeasun #ChrisofferCarlsson
September 10, 2022
I liked the way that Christoffer Carlsson writes, Moth is the one telling the story and we have Sven and Vidar Jörgensson, Evy Carlén, and her brother Einar Bengtsson, and David Linder. All of these characters were extremely involved with the killing of the women in Tiarp. I won't ruin it for you but these people have the components to solve the murders and put the person away. I recommend this book since there are several red herrings to make it a good read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 601 reviews