Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2011
352 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
After successfully - but bloodily - dismantling a complicated hostage situation at a bank in the suburbs of Stockholm, Detective Paul Hjelm is faced with the requisite investigation by Internal Affairs. It is a potentially career-ending inquiry, but he is plucked out of it by the National Criminal Police commissioner, who drops him into an elite task force of officers assembled from across the country to find an elusive killer with a sophisticated modus operandi and even more sophisticated tastes.
Targeting Sweden's high-profile business leaders, the killer breaks into their homes at night, waits for his victims, places two bullets in their heads with deadly precision, and removes the bullets from the walls - a ritual enacted to a rare bootleg recording of Thelonious Monk's jazz classic "Misterioso."
As Hjelm, his young, doggedly energetic partner, Jorge Chavez, and the rest of the team follow one lead after another in their pursuit - navigating the murky underworlds of the Russian Mafia and the secretive members-only society of Sweden's wealthiest denizens - they must also delve into one of the country's most persistent ills: a deep-rooted xenophobia that affects both the police and the perpetrator in a small nation that is becoming rapidly internationalized.
"A less than compelling story line, full of Stockholm street names, leaves the reader floundering in clueless murders for too long... Eventually, clues come pouring in and the pace picks up." - Publishers Weekly
"Nunnally has smoothly translated the novel from Swedish to English, although it is easy for a reader unfamiliar with Sweden and its capital, Stockholm, to get confused by city and business names. The intriguing plot can be complicated at times, but Dahl neatly ties up all of the loose ends in a symmetrical exposition." - Library Journal
"This is, without a doubt, one of the best Swedish crime novels of the year; well-written... and a chilling blow to the ways of contemporary society." - Götesborgs-Posten (Sweden)
"A masterly crime novel." - Kristelig Dagblad (Denmark)
"It seems as though Sweden has once again produced a brilliant and socially engaged crime novelist." - Fyens Stiftstidende (Denmark)
"Misterioso is a detective story you have to read; as a debut novel it couldn't be better." - Xzine (Germany)
"Arne Dahl is phenomenal... Few Swedish crime novelists, if any, can get the reader to rush through each page like Dahl." - Expressen (Sweden)
"With Misterioso, Arne Dahl, an acclaimed master of the crime genre, has delivered one of his most intensely intriguing thrillers." - Corriere Della Sera (Italy)
"Dahl's character studies of people in vulnerable situations are in the top class of the European detective novel genre." - Die Zeit (Germany)
This information about Misterioso 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.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Arne Dahl is an award-winning crime novelist and literary critic. He lives in Sweden. This is the first novel in his Intercrime series. Visit him online at www.english.arnedahl.net.
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