Reading matters

'Prime Time' by Liza Marklund

Fiction - paperback; Pocket Books; 432 pages; 2006. (Translated from the Swedish by Ingrid Eng-Rundlow.)

One of my pet hates is the trite "sells" or subtitles that endorse book covers for no other reason than someone in a marketing department thinks they might hook a potential reader. Prime Time by Liza Marklund is a good case in point. In my opinion, adding the words "Thirteen people. One Murder. Twelve Suspects" underneath the title simply detracts from the book's credibility rather than boosting it.

Which is a shame, because Prime Time is quite a good thriller that doesn't need to be cheapened by marketing hype. The novel stars a gutsy heroine, the crime reporter Annika Bengtzon, who has appeared in three previous novels -- The Bomber, Studio 69 and Paradise -- none of which I have read. According to the author's wikipedia entry the books haven't been written in chronological order, so it probably doesn't matter. As it was, I felt the book was a good, stand alone read but as someone who enjoys exploring an author's back catalogue from the beginning there's always the nagging feeling that I might have missed out on something...

'Missing' by Karin Alvtegen

Fiction - paperback; Canongate; 352  pages; 2004. (Translated from Swedish by Anna Paterson.)

I took this book on a long haul flight and read it in one sitting, but I'm sure that if I wasn't stuck on a plane I would probably have done the same. The plot is gripping and the story moves along at a frenetic pace. I know it's an over-used cliche, but the best description I can come up with is this: Missing is a real page turner.

Set in Stockholm, Sweden, it tells the story of a 32-year-old homeless woman, Sybilla Forsenstrom, who is accused of murdering a businessman in a city hotel.

'The Laughing Policeman' by Maj Sjöwall and Peter Wahlöö

Fiction - paperback; Orion Mass Market Paperback; 224 pages; 2002 (originally published in 1968). (Translated from the Swedish by Alan Blair.)

Described by many as a "classic of the police procedural", The Laughing Policeman, by husband-and-wife Scandinavian team Maj Sjöwall and Peter Wahlöö, is a wonderfully realised piece of detective fiction.

While written in the late 1960s, the storyline is far from dated. It's a well crafted and exquisitely plotted piece of fiction that had me hooked from the first page.

The setting is Stockholm, Sweden. It's a cold, wet November evening and two policemen have just stumbled upon a double-decker bus that has driven off the road. On board are eight people, including an off-duty police officer, who have been gunned down by an unknown assailant. Who was the murderer and what was his motive? Why was the policeman onboard? And did he know the young nurse sitting next to him?

The crime -- Sweden's first ever mass murder -- tests the resolve of all the detectives working on it, including Inspector Martin Beck whom appears in three other novels by Sjöwall and Wahlöö.

I initially found the writing in The Laughing Policeman a little disjointed -- probably the fault of the translator and not the authors -- but once I got used to the style I absolutely loved this book. The humour and the banter between the police working on the case really brought the story alive. And despite the grim subject matter,  I found myself chuckling throughout because of the one-liners. 

This is definitely a classic piece of crime fiction that holds up against the best of its genre today, and I would highly recommend it to anyone after a powerful and intelligent read.