Peters Top 10 Scandinavian Crime Fiction 2010
Discover Peter's top 10 Scandinavian crime fiction books of 2010—gripping mysteries, thrilling plots, and unforgettable Nordic noir from top authors. Perfect for crime fiction fans!
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The Snowman
by Jo Nesbø
The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf.
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Hypothermia
by Arnaldur Indriðason
One cold autumn night, a woman is found hanging from a beam in her summer cottage. At first sight it appears to be a straightforward case of suicide. But when Karen, the friend who found her body, approaches Erlendur and gives him the tape of a sǎnce that the victim had attended, Erlendur embarks on an unofficial investigation to find out why the woman's life ended in such an abrupt and tragic manner. At the same time, he is haunted by the unresolved cases of two young people who went missing thirty years before, and, inevitably, his discoveries raise ghosts from his own past.
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Box 21
by Anders Roslund
The International Thriller that Stockholm City hailed as the Best Crime Novel of the Year has finally crossed the Atlantic! Three years ago, Lydia and Alena were two hopeful girls from Lithuania. Now they are sex slaves, lured to Sweden with the promise of better jobs and then trapped in a Stockholm brothel, forced to repay their “debt.” Suddenly they are given an unexpected chance at freedom, and with it the opportunity to take revenge on their enslavers and reclaim the lives and dignity they once had. What will happen now that the tables are turned and the victims fight back? In this masterful thriller, the celebrated team of Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström delve into the seedy underbelly of Stockholm. There we meet Lydia and Alena as they embark on a desperate plan to expose their captor and demand justice; police officers Sundkvist and Grens, on the trail of both Lydia’s enslavers and Jochum Lang, a notorious mob enforcer; and Hilding Oldéus, a junkie on what might be his last—and most destructive—bender. At the Söder Hospital, their destinies begin to converge in unexpected and explosive ways. Box 21 is a Scandinavian thriller of the highest order: a mindblowing psychological drama written with powerful intensity. When it was published in Sweden, Solo called it “suspenseful, gripping, and intelligently written . . . Almost impossible to put down,” while SVT exclaimed: “Forget crime literature; this is, simply put, great literature!”
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The Darkest Room
by Johan Theorin
WINNER OF SWEDEN’S BEST CRIME NOVEL AWARD On the idyllic island of Öland, off the coast of northern Sweden, a young couple from Stockholm tries to start life afresh. For Joakim and Katrine Westin, reclaiming a long-neglected family manor will be a labor of love, as they slowly bring the sprawling home back to life and introduce their two children to the island’s woodlands, glens, and beaches. But in the Westins’ new home, there are things that cannot be repaired, lives that have gone wrong, and secrets that have followed them. When the family is struck by tragedy, it’s up to grief-stricken Joakim to put together a puzzle of inexplicable loss, unbearable suspicion, and tangled lives. In this powerhouse of suspense–at once a crime novel and a searing family drama–a home built as a shelter from the sea becomes a human storm of murder.
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The Water's Edge
by Karin Fossum
When a couple discovers the body of a boy and sees a man limping away from the scene, Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre make inquiries throughout the community of Solberglia and find the case complicated by another boy's disappearance.
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The Stonecutter
by Camilla Läckberg
For the first time in English, the third psychological thriller from No 1 bestselling Swedish crime sensation Camilla Lackberg.
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The Postcard Killers
by James Patterson
NYPD detective Jack Kanon and Swedish reporter Dessie Larsson traverse Europe in hot pursuit of a serial killer, one who sends a postcard before each murder and was responsible for the slayings of Jack's daughter and her boyfriend. Cowritten by the best-selling author of Private.
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The Consorts of Death
by Gunnar Staalesen
It's September 1995, and Veum is in his office when a telephone call takes him back 25 years, to a case he was involved in while working as a child protection officer. A small boy was separated from his mother under tragic circumstances, but now he is on the run, determined to take revenge on those responsible for destroying his life."