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Sun and shadow : an Erik Winter novel
Edwardson, Ake
Adult Fiction EDWARDS
From Publishers' Weekly:
Cars from Sweden are known for being dependable and safe, but like this American debut from a celebrated Scandinavian crime writer, their stolid lines don't necessarily spark excitement. Erik Winter, a jazz-loving, gourmet-cooking detective, is a blaze of color amid the drab postwar apartment blocks of Gothenburg, a city reeling from a macabre double murder. Winter, whose normally secure battlements are assaulted by family tragedy and the impending birth of his first child, sets out to follow the dark drops of gore blooming in the snow. The path leads in any number of interesting directions-through thickets of death metal enthusiasts and swingers, through winds of psychosexual trauma-but these subjects never pierce the book's colorless atmosphere. Excessive exposition slows down an already unhurried plot, which Americans fond of glib investigators on CSI and Hannibal Lecter's piercing irony will find insufficiently suspenseful. The villain is comparatively bland, and the translation often awkward: Winters takes a "softly softly approach" so that his witness doesn't get "chary." Add in an insistence on mundane details, such as the particulars of a simple bank transaction, and the results smother any flame of personality. All the blocks that built this gothic ice cathedral are cut straight, but assembled without the design of a compelling thriller. Agent, Carol Frederick. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Mystery fans on this side of the Atlantic can be grateful that the travails of Erik Winter, the youngest chief inspector in Sweden, are now available in English. In six months, Winter deals with the move-in of his longtime lover, Angela, now pregnant; his father's death; and his 40th birthday. Then there's the grisly homicide of a married couple, with the naked corpses carefully posed, accompanied by black metal music. A second such crime that leaves the wife still clinging to life proves connections through personal ads for sex and raises the possibility of a cop perpetrator. The case swirls closer to Winter personally as Angela gets mysterious phone calls and feels that she's being watched. This dark police procedural is a topnotch work, suspenseful to the very end, with appealing characters. Award-winning Scandinavian writer Edwardson is often compared to Henning Mankell; his Winter and Angela should prove to be favorites. Highly recommended for all mystery collections.-Michele Leber, Arlington, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Edwardson, Ake
Adult Fiction EDWARDS
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Cars from Sweden are known for being dependable and safe, but like this American debut from a celebrated Scandinavian crime writer, their stolid lines don't necessarily spark excitement. Erik Winter, a jazz-loving, gourmet-cooking detective, is a blaze of color amid the drab postwar apartment blocks of Gothenburg, a city reeling from a macabre double murder. Winter, whose normally secure battlements are assaulted by family tragedy and the impending birth of his first child, sets out to follow the dark drops of gore blooming in the snow. The path leads in any number of interesting directions-through thickets of death metal enthusiasts and swingers, through winds of psychosexual trauma-but these subjects never pierce the book's colorless atmosphere. Excessive exposition slows down an already unhurried plot, which Americans fond of glib investigators on CSI and Hannibal Lecter's piercing irony will find insufficiently suspenseful. The villain is comparatively bland, and the translation often awkward: Winters takes a "softly softly approach" so that his witness doesn't get "chary." Add in an insistence on mundane details, such as the particulars of a simple bank transaction, and the results smother any flame of personality. All the blocks that built this gothic ice cathedral are cut straight, but assembled without the design of a compelling thriller. Agent, Carol Frederick. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
Mystery fans on this side of the Atlantic can be grateful that the travails of Erik Winter, the youngest chief inspector in Sweden, are now available in English. In six months, Winter deals with the move-in of his longtime lover, Angela, now pregnant; his father's death; and his 40th birthday. Then there's the grisly homicide of a married couple, with the naked corpses carefully posed, accompanied by black metal music. A second such crime that leaves the wife still clinging to life proves connections through personal ads for sex and raises the possibility of a cop perpetrator. The case swirls closer to Winter personally as Angela gets mysterious phone calls and feels that she's being watched. This dark police procedural is a topnotch work, suspenseful to the very end, with appealing characters. Award-winning Scandinavian writer Edwardson is often compared to Henning Mankell; his Winter and Angela should prove to be favorites. Highly recommended for all mystery collections.-Michele Leber, Arlington, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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