English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

For August 2019 we have 8 books for read-alongs they are:

1) Narkotika by Christoffer Petersen to be published 1 August 2019. Greenland.

When a Greenlandic cop is discarded by international law enforcement agencies, his talent to blend in allows him to survive and thrive in a hostile environment.

Eko Simigaq is an undercover cop with a talent to blend in.

When agents from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the forerunner of the DEA, arrest Eko in a violent drug bust, his appearance and attitude make him the perfect candidate to infiltrate the opium trade coming out of The Golden Triangle.

But when the operation goes awry, and all communication is lost, The Greenlander is given up for dead.

Eko’s talent to blend in and his ability to adapt to harsh environments, enable him to survive and thrive on the other side of the law.

But when rumour of a new player in the Asian drug trade reaches the agency, there is just one question in desperate need of an answer:

Just how deep is Eko’s cover?

2) The Story of My Face by Kathy Page to be published on 6 August 2019. Finland.

A young girl grows up an outsider, then becomes drawn into the life of a local family with some curious beliefs. They treat her as a daughter, and take her away with them to a religious holiday camp. It is here that she is introduced to the Finnish Envallist branch of Protestantism, and here that events start to take a terrible turn. Rejected by some of the sectarians for her non-commitment to their beliefs, Natalie creates a rift in the group which culminates in a climactic event. Later, as an adult in Finland, she tries to make sense of what happened and to unlock the secret origins of Envallism itself.

3) Valerie by Sara Stridsberg to be published 6 August 2019. Sweden (in the U.S.A.).

Winner of the Nordic Prize in Literature, acclaimed Swedish novelist Sara Stridsberg makes her American debut with Valerie, conjuring the life and mind of 1960s firebrand, American feminist, and author of the SCUM manifesto, Valerie Solanas.

In April 1988, Valerie Solanas—the writer, radical feminist, and would-be assassin of Andy Warhol—was discovered dead at fifty-two in her hotel room, in a grimy corner of San Francisco, alone, penniless, and surrounded by the typed pages of her last writings.

In Valerie, Sara Stridsberg revisits the hotel room where Solanas died; the courtroom where she was tried and convicted of attempting to murder Andy Warhol; the Georgia wastelands where she spent her childhood, where she was repeatedly raped by her father and beaten by her alcoholic grandfather; and the mental hospitals where she was shut away. Through imagined conversations and monologues, reminiscences and rantings, Stridsberg reconstructs this most intriguing and enigmatic of women, articulating the thoughts and fears that she struggled to express in life and giving a powerful, heartbreaking voice to the writer of the infamous SCUM Manifesto.

4) The Golden Wolf by Linnea Hartsuyker to be published 13 August 2019. Norway.

The fates of Ragnvald and his sister Svanhild unfold to their stunning conclusion in this riveting final volume in The Golden Wolf Saga, a trilogy that conjures the ancient world with the gripping detail, thrilling action, and vivid historical elements of Game of Thrones and Outlander.

Ragnvald has long held to his vision of King Harald as a golden wolf who will bring peace to Norway as its conqueror--even though he knows that Harald's success will eventually mean his own doom. He is grateful to have his beloved sister, the fierce and independent Svanhild, once more at his side to help keep their kingdom secure. Free from the evil husband who used her, she is now one of Harald's many wives.

While Svanhold is happy to be reunited with her beloved brother, and enjoys more freedom than ever before, she is restless and lonely. When an old enemy of Ragnvald's kidnaps his niece, Freydis, his sister follows the daughter she has neglected to Iceland, where an old love awaits. This strange new land offers a life far different from what each has left behind, as well as unexpected challenges and choices.

Ragnvald, too, must contend with change. His sons--the gifted Einar, the princely Ivar, and the adventurous Rolli--are no longer children. Harald's heirs have also grown up. Stepping back from his duties as king, he watches as his sons pursue their own ambitions. But Norway may no longer be large enough for so many would-be kings.

Now in their twilight years, these venerable men whose lives have been shaped by war must face another battle that awaits. A growing rebellion pits Ragnvald and his sons against enemies old and new, and a looming tragedy threatens to divide the hardened warrior from Harald and all who care for him. Across the sea, Svanhild, too, wrestles with a painful decision, risking the dissolution of her fragile new family as she desperately tries to save it.

Yet as old heroes fall, new heroes arise. For years, Ragnvald and Svanhild pursued the destinies bestowed by their ancient gods. Though the journey has cost them much, their sacrifices and dreams will be honored by the generations that follow, beginning with Freydis and Einar. Emerging from their parents' long shadows, they have begun to carry on the family's legacy while pursuing their own glorious fates.

This compelling conclusion to the Golden Wolf trilogy recreates Viking-age Scandinavia in all its danger, passion, power, and glory--a world of brutality and myth, loyalty and betrayal, where shifting alliances and vengeance can build kingdoms . . . and can tear them down.

5) The Glass Woman Caroline Lea to be published 14 August 2019. Iceland.

1686, ICELAND. AN ISOLATED, WINDSWEPT LAND HAUNTED BY WITCH TRIALS AND STEEPED IN THE ANCIENT SAGAS.
Betrothed unexpectedly to Jón Eiríksson, Rósa is sent to join her new husband in the remote village of Stykkishólmur. Here, the villagers are wary of outsiders.
But Rósa harbours her own suspicions. Her husband buried his first wife alone in the dead of night. He will not talk of it. Instead he gives her a small glass figurine. She does not know what it signifies.
The villagers mistrust them both. Dark threats are whispered. There is an evil here - Rósa can feel it. Is it her husband, the villagers - or the land itself?
Alone and far from home, Rósa sees the darkness coming. She fears she will be its next victim . . .

6) Cage by Lilja Sigurdardottir to be published on 17 August 2019. Iceland.

Drugs, smuggling, big money and political intrigue in Iceland rally with love, passion, murder and betrayal until the winner takes all … in the masterful, explosive conclusion to the award-winning Reykjavík Noir trilogy…

The prison doors slam shut behind Agla, when her sentence ends, but her lover Sonja is not there to meet her.

As a group of foreign businessmen tries to draw Agla into an ingenious fraud that stretches from Iceland around the world, Agla and her former nemesis, María find the stakes being raised at a terrifying speed.
Ruthless drug baron Ingimar will stop at nothing to protect his empire, but he has no idea about the powder keg he is sitting on in his own home.
At the same time, a deadly threat to Sonya and her family brings her from London back to Iceland, where she needs to settle scores with longstanding adversaries if she wants to stay alive.

With a shocking crescendo, the lives of these characters collide, as drugs, smuggling, big money and political intrigue rally with love, passion, murder and betrayal until the winner takes all … in the masterful, explosive conclusion to the award-winning Reykjavík Noir trilogy.

7) The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz to be published 22 August 2019. Sweden.

The sixth in the Millennium series featuring THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

"What will you do now?"
"I shall be the hunter and not the hunted"

The girl with the dragon tattoo is finally ready to confront her nemesis, the only woman who is evidently and in many ways her match. Salander will not wait to be hunted. When she strikes it will be a double blow: vengeance for recent atrocities, and the settling of lifelong scores.

For months now Salander has been closing in on her target. She has moved from Stockholm, her hair is newly styled, her piercings are gone. She could pass for any other businesswoman. But not all businesswomen have a Beretta Cheetah beneath their jacket. They do not wield the lethal power of a hacker's genius. They do not carry scars and tattoos to remind them that they have survived the unsurvivable.

The new episode in David Lagercrantz's acclaimed, internationally bestselling continuation of Stieg Larsson's Dragon Tattoo series is a thrilling ride that scales the heights of Everest and plunges the depths of Russian troll factories. It begins with the discovery of Mikael Blomkvist's number at Millennium magazine in the pocket of an unidentified homeless man who died with the name of a government minister on his lips.

Blomkvist, at extreme risk to himself, tracks down his old friend and will protect her as far as he can. But he is powerless to crush her enemies on his own.

And for Lisbeth Salander, the personal is always political - and deadly.

8) The Truth Behind the Lie by Sara Lövestam to be published 27 August 2019. Sweden.

The Truth Behind The Lie is Sara Lövestam’s award-winning and gripping novel about blurred lines, second chances, and the lengths one will go to for the truth.

When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother Pernilla turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator:
“Need help, but can’t contact the police?”

That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He and his brother were forced to leave Iran after their involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. Kouplan’s brother disappeared, and he hasn’t seen him in four years. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.

Pernilla’s daughter has vanished without a trace, and Kouplan is an expert at living and working off the grid. He’s the perfect PI to help… but something in Pernilla’s story doesn’t add up. She might need help that he can’t offer...and a little girl’s life hangs in the balance.

As always we will add books as they become known to us during the month. Good reading.

Published 29 July 2019 was If Nobody Listens Part Two by Rikard Sommer published 29 July 2019. Norway, Ukraine.

She does not know them. They know all about her.

Tom has made a promise to Vasili. He will not reveal what happened in Borodianka. He soon realizes that his promise is impossible to keep.

Now the war begins between those who will reveal the truth, and those who will bury it. In the middle of it all is Vasili, his family and a ten year old orphan girl.

Found 3 August 2019 "Long Way Home" by Tom Crown on Amazon not on Goodreads yet. 221 pages.

After surviving a year in captivity in Afghanistan, Ryan West travels to northern Sweden, hoping to photograph secret test cars in relative peace and quiet. That backfires immediately when the receptionist at his hotel receives an envelope containing gruesome photos of a murdered young woman and Ryan sets out to help, putting himself in the line of fire worse than ever before.

Their investigation soon takes them in dangerous directions, beginning with her abusive ex-boyfriend now entangled with an international trafficking ring operating at the outskirts of the lucrative car testing industry.

With the body count quickly rising, Ryan finds that he must confront deadly enemies both local and foreign, as well as take on his own dark demons, before every single victim and witness is killed.

The Frozen Girl by Mie Kjaergaard was published 23 July 2019. Denmark.

Denmark, a suburb to Copenhagen, Herlev Hospital. Christmas Eve, it is approaching midnight. Nurse Regitze Jensen has the graveyard shift in the Maternity Ward when her best friend calls. Can she take a dead mother and child, found frozen solid out by the airport, to the morgue? What begins as a simple favor develops into a life changing experience and a battle to survive and to save the one she loves. To do that Regitze will have to stay strong.

R.W. Wallace has a short story for us in "Two's Company: A Mystery Short Story" published 22 August 2019. Norway. On Amazon not on Goodreads yet.

Officer Belamy travels to a tiny island on the Norwegian coast to help clear up the murder of a French citizen.
The island offers an awful boat ride, tall, blond Norwegian police officers, and a talkative lady desperate for company.
And silence. Lots of silence.