Review by Booklist Review
Sidelined by an ambitious rival's manipulation of the weak-willed chief prosecutor, Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson is removed from the investigation of the brutal murder of Sol-Britt Uusitalo, whose seven-year-old grandson has been traumatized into silence by the crime. Outraged, Rebecka takes all her accumulated leave time and discovers that the murder may be connected to a series of suspicious deaths of Sol-Britt's relatives. In alternating chapters, Larsson also tells the story of the founding of Kiruna, Sweden's newest and northernmost city. Both story lines are compelling, but the story of school teacher Elina Pettersson arriving in Kiruna in 1914, is enriched by telling historical details of life on a frontier 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where iron ore has been discovered. Spanning a century, the plot is labyrinthine and suspenseful. Larsson's characters and their worlds are closely observed, revealing small-town small-mindedness in contemporary Sweden and the elemental struggle for survival a century before, when children might be sold into servitude at a pauper's auction. Larsson has given her fans another winner (Until Thy Wrath Be Past, 2011).--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Larsson's compelling fifth Rebecka Martinsson thriller (after 2011's Until Thy Wrath Be Past), the prosecutor travels to the far north of Sweden to investigate a murder victim's troubling family history. Before Sol-Britt Uusitalo was stabbed to death, her son was killed in an unsolved hit-and-run, and her father's remains were discovered inside a slain bear. The century-old murder of Sol-Britt's grandmother in Kiruna, an iron mining town, also remains unsolved. Rebecka, sidelined by a conniving colleague, looks into the earlier deaths for a motive as the official investigation focuses more narrowly on Sol-Britt's case. The murderer stalks the woman's seven-year-old grandson, Marcus. Larsson excels at creating engaging, complex characters whose interactions and development provide as much forward momentum as the search for the killer. The settingalternates between the present and WWI-era Kiruna, with uneven pacing and a few holes. Depictions of brutality are unflinching, and readers should be prepared for scenes of animal cruelty. Agent: Astri von Arbin Ahlander, Ahlander Agency (Sweden). (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Hunters in northern Sweden shoot a bear threatening their town and are shocked to find human remains in its stomach. In a nearby town, a woman is discovered brutally murdered; her young grandson, too traumatized to speak, is unable to help the police. Prosecutor Rebecka Martinson (Until Thy Wrath Be Past) and inspector Anna-Maria Mella team up to find her killer, but a workplace rivalry soon has Martinson on the sidelines. As police examine the dead woman's life for clues, Martinson begins to uncover a much deeper motive that goes back to the town's early days. Verdict Like many Scandinavian mystery writers, Larsson imbues the story with a strong sense of place and bleak atmosphere, made even more palpable in the desolate dark and bitter cold of northern Sweden. Fans of Henning Mankell will find similarities in Larsson's intricate weaving of past and present, although the author moves her story along at breakneck speed unlike the more leisurely Mankell. A good bet for readers who enjoy strong female leads and intricate plotting. Although this is the fifth book in the series (after Until Thy Wrath Be Past), readers can comfortably pick it up as a stand-alone novel without missing anything.-Portia Kapraun, Monticello-Union Twp. P.L., IN (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Another heinous murder in the frozen north.In the tradition of modern Nordic crime fiction popularized by another Larsson, this is a stark, bloody book with strong female leads. There are two separate but related stories running parallel: the modern-day murder of a waitress and the tale of the victim's grandmother, who was murdered many years earlier. When a woman is found slain and her small grandson missing, Rebecka Martinsson, a prosecutor in cold, sometimes-barren Northern Sweden, once again teams up with detective Anna-Maria Mella to solve the crime. But when Martinsson crosses a vain and incompetent prosecutor who wants the case, he takes it over, and she goes on vacation. Though she's off the case, she hasn't quit looking into it. She thinks there's a correlation between the killings of several members of the same family: The woman, her son, her father and grandmother all died under mysterious circumstances. As Martinsson gets closer to the truth, she and the victim's grandson become vulnerable, bringing them closer to danger and the truth about all the killings. Larsson's writings have the same dark and bloody bleakness that readers of Scandinavian crime fiction crave, and the details of the twin cases prove compelling. Even more interesting than the crimes themselves, though, are the day-to-day details of life in both present-day and turn-of-the-century Northern Sweden, where winter's brutality is a normal component of life. One warning: Sensitive readers may find some aspects of the novel disturbing. The real draws here are neither the crimes nor the accompanying mysteries, but rather the deeply compelling atmosphere.The translation proves odd and stiff in places, veering between American and British colloquialisms, but this glimpse into Swedish life in the boonies is fascinating. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
