Stockholm Noir
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Akashic's multivolume Noir series returns to Scandinavia, focusing this time on the capital city of Sweden, a country that is famously neutral in time of war but is also a large-scale dealer in arms. Stockholm, the editors say in their introduction, is itself a seriously divided place, the inner city associated with prosperity while the suburbs are viewed by some as a tumor, a fungus and are, if not riddled with crime, at least darker and more dangerous. Each of the stories, all published for the first time and mainly written by writers not widely known in the U.S., takes place in a different community or neighborhood; the characters range from a PI hired to find a missing man, to a gang of bootleggers, to a would-be crime novelist whose girlfriend is murdered (almost too fortuitously for his writing career). The bulk of the stories are translated by Laura A. Wideburg, who has a real knack for preserving the rather ornate structure of Swedish prose while rendering its idioms and grammar in the familiar North American style. Another worthy entry in this globe-trotting mystery series.--Pitt, David Copyright 2016 Booklist

Grouped under three headings, the 13 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series capture the gloomy underside of Sweden's capital, portraying the hopelessness of those trapped in what Larson and Edenborg in their introduction call the city that "devours your soul." The first section, Crime and Punishment, focuses on what the editors call "places of immense spiritual corruption," as scathingly illustrated by Åke Edwardsson's "Stairway from Heaven," which consists of the bitter musings of a housing-project hit man. The second section, Fear and Darkness, presents the horrors of aging in suburbia, most notably in Inger Frimansson's horrifying "Black Ice." The highlight of the final section, The Brutality of Beasts, is Carl Johan De Geer's "The Wahlberg Disease," set in the city's center, "a sea of ruins." All stories unsparingly testify to the degradation through human vicissitude of idealistic social planning. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In the latest entry to Akashic's "Noir" series (Helsinki Noir; St. Petersburg Noir), 13 Swedish authors from a variety of backgrounds were assembled to write short stories about the underbelly of the Swedish capital. In Part 1, "Crime & Punishment," Åke Edwardsson shines with "Stairway from Heaven," which illustrates the bleakness of the city and the grittiness of its inhabitants. In Part 2, "Fear & Darkness," Inger Edelfeldt's "From the Remains" evokes the typical dreary Scandinavian setting but adds a twist to the noir genre by tying in vampires. In Part 3, "The Brutality of the Beasts," Unni Drougge's provocative Stalker" follows a teenage girl in a soon-to-be-gentrified Stockholm suburb as she strolls around dilapidated buildings where bodies are dumped. Verdict Coedited by local authors Larson and Edenborg, this superb sampling of Swedish crime writing talent, some of whose work has been translated into English for the first time here, will be appreciated by fans of Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy and Jens Lapidus's Easy Money; they will enjoy getting to know these authors, who write about Stockholm's dark side.-Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Larson and Edenborg manage to unearth a dark side to a city that "is verdant, clean, and surrounded by crystalline water." Since Sweden's crime rate is so low, many of these 13 new stories revolve around social issues. Affordable housing is surprisingly high on the list. In Johan Theorin's "Still in Kallhll," Inger Frimansson's "Black Ice," and Carl Johan De Geer's "The Wahlberg Disease," the lust for desirable homes becomes a driving force to crime. Sweden's version of the war on drugs powers Anna-Karin Selberg's "Horse." And co-editor Larson's "10/09/03" offers a Swedish take on good old-fashioned xenophobia. Martin Holmn's "The Smugglers" features more conventional law breaking, and there's plenty of room for tales of love gone wrong, like ke Edwardson's "Stairway from Heaven," Malte Persson's "The Splendors and Miseries of a Swedish Crime Writer," and Unni Drougge's "Death Star." But "gone wrong" doesn't come close to describing the romantic calamities of Lina Wolff's "Northbound" and Torbjrn Elensky's "Kim." Co-editor Edenborg shows a police officer sliding off the rails in "Nineteen Pieces." And Inger Edelfeldt's "From the Remains" is a testament to what Larson and Edenborg call Swedes' love of "scaring themselves." Stockholm may not be Marseille, but Larson and Edenborg's contributors show that even a verdant place with socialized medicine can have its seamy side. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Akashic's multivolume Noir series returns to Scandinavia, focusing this time on the capital city of Sweden, a country that is famously neutral in time of war but is also a large-scale dealer in arms. Stockholm, the editors say in their introduction, is itself a seriously divided place, the inner city associated with prosperity while the suburbs are viewed by some as "a tumor, a fungus" and are, if not riddled with crime, at least darker and more dangerous. Each of the stories, all published for the first time and mainly written by writers not widely known in the U.S., takes place in a different community or neighborhood; the characters range from a PI hired to find a missing man, to a gang of bootleggers, to a would-be crime novelist whose girlfriend is murdered (almost too fortuitously for his writing career). The bulk of the stories are translated by Laura A. Wideburg, who has a real knack for preserving the rather ornate structure of Swedish prose while rendering its idioms and grammar in the familiar North American style. Another worthy entry in this globe-trotting mystery series. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

In the latest entry to Akashic's "Noir" series (Helsinki Noir; St. Petersburg Noir), 13 Swedish authors from a variety of backgrounds were assembled to write short stories about the underbelly of the Swedish capital. In Part 1, "Crime & Punishment," Åke Edwardsson shines with "Stairway from Heaven," which illustrates the bleakness of the city and the grittiness of its inhabitants. In Part 2, "Fear & Darkness," Inger Edelfeldt's "From the Remains" evokes the typical dreary Scandinavian setting but adds a twist to the noir genre by tying in vampires. In Part 3, "The Brutality of the Beasts," Unni Drougge's provocative Stalker" follows a teenage girl in a soon-to-be-gentrified Stockholm suburb as she strolls around dilapidated buildings where bodies are dumped. Verdict Coedited by local authors Larson and Edenborg, this superb sampling of Swedish crime writing talent, some of whose work has been translated into English for the first time here, will be appreciated by fans of Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy and Jens Lapidus's Easy Money; they will enjoy getting to know these authors, who write about Stockholm's dark side.—Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE (c) Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Grouped under three headings, the 13 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series capture the gloomy underside of Sweden's capital, portraying the hopelessness of those trapped in what Larson and Edenborg in their introduction call the city that "devours your soul." The first section, Crime and Punishment, focuses on what the editors call "places of immense spiritual corruption," as scathingly illustrated by Åke Edwardsson's "Stairway from Heaven," which consists of the bitter musings of a housing-project hit man. The second section, Fear and Darkness, presents the horrors of aging in suburbia, most notably in Inger Frimansson's horrifying "Black Ice." The highlight of the final section, The Brutality of Beasts, is Carl Johan De Geer's "The Wahlberg Disease," set in the city's center, "a sea of ruins."All stories unsparingly testify to the degradation through human vicissitude of idealistic social planning. (Mar.)