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Book Summary and Reviews of The Shadow Woman by Ake Edwardson

The Shadow Woman by Ake Edwardson

The Shadow Woman

A Chief Inspector Erik Winter Novel

by Ake Edwardson

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2010, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's August and the annual Gothenburg Party is in full swing. But this year the bacchanalian blowout is simmering with ethnic discord spurred by nativist gangs. When a woman is found murdered in the park - her identity as inscrutable as the blood-red symbol on the tree above her body - Winter's search for her missing child leads him from sleek McMansions to the Gothenburg fringes, where "northern suburbs" is code for "outsider" and the past is inescapable - even for Sweden's youngest chief inspector.

Psychologically gripping and socially astute, The Shadow Woman puts this master of Swedish noir on track to build an American audience on par with his international fame.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Gripping...An expert melding of sociological observation and psychological acuity." - Kirkus

"This thoroughly satisfying police procedural offers forays into the murky waters of immigration and assimilation as well as the obsessive mind of the sleuth." - Publishers Weekly

"Sure to appeal to Stieg Larsson fans eager for more noir Scandinavian crime fiction." - Library Journal

"An extremely accomplished cross between crime fiction and psychological thriller...on par with P. D. James." - Helsingsborgs Dagblad (Sweden)

"Erik Winter could be related to Elizabeth George's Sir Thomas Lynley, and the almost clinical descriptions might evoke pathologist Kay Scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell's books, while the social ambiance could well be inspired by both P. D. James and Minette Walters." - Smålänningen (Sweden)

This information about The Shadow Woman was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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More Information

Åke Edwardson has won three Swedish Academy of Crime Writers awards and his work has been translated into more than twenty languages. His novel, Frozen Tracks was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He lives in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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