My Review:The brand new thriller featuring Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht of the Stockholm police. On a cold winter's day, a pre-school teacher is shot to death in front of parents and children at the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm. Just a few hours later two Jewish boys go missing on their way to tennis practice. A heavy snowstorm hits Stockholm and the traces of the perpetrator are few and far between. Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht are faced with one of their toughest challenges ever as they hunt for a killer that seems as merciless as he is effective. The leads in the investigation are many and diverse but in the end they all point to the same place: Israel. Someone or something called the Paper Boy keeps popping up in the police investigation. But who was he really? And could he possibly have resurfaced in Stockholm, now claiming new victims?
Another atmospheric, wintry Scandinavian crime thriller/police procedural?! Yes, please. Although this one was my first in this series, it definitely could have been read as a standalone. There were probably some spoilers of past books but nothing so severe that I wouldn't want to read the earlier books. What I love about this genre is how equal it feels - there are so many women working in law enforcement throughout this genre and they are never treated as abnormalities or incompetent because they have a family. Rather, they are important in solving crime, their opinions are listened to and acted upon and they are not novelties or quotas. This series surrounds two detectives in the National Crime Unit - Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht, who are partners in the Unit, and this particular book solved a very peculiar, complex and interesting set of murders. I was intrigued although this did get a bit too long and detailed. I will be curious to read other books in this series and am definitely adding this to my ever evolving list of books in this genre.
I wouldn't call mtasks a 'feminist' exactly, BUT I am SO DOWN with the fact that women are actually treated as equals in this book, because it's so often that they're... well, NOT.
ReplyDeleteLovely review!♡
I have yet to read a Scandinavian crime novel! Abbey from Crime By the Book is always recommending them so I need to look for them.
ReplyDeleteI like that the women are treated with such respect! Usually their opinions are ignored so it's nice to see something different for a change.
Genesis @ Latte Nights Reviews