Ewa Sherman
Books reviewed by Ewa Sherman
The Lover
Rikke’s safe family life is shaken when a man is found murdered in the apartment above her. She fears for her safety and that of her children, but most of all she is anxious about revealing her own secret tie to the dead man.
Reviewed on 29 April 2023 by Ewa Sherman
Dark Music
Jamal Kabir, a young football referee and Afghan refugee, is murdered after a tense match in Stockholm. Links are soon uncovered to a disturbing international agenda.
Reviewed on 17 December 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Psychopaths Anonymous
Maeve, a successful independent woman in a high-powered job, leads a pretty good life. But she is also an alcoholic and a sex addict and cannot stop killing men. When she fails to get support from an Alcoholics Anonymous group, she decides to set up her own.
Reviewed on 12 November 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Dog Park
Helsinki, 2016. When a woman sits next to her on a park bench, Olenka realises that the consequences of a murder and a career in the surrogacy business in Ukraine have caught up with her.
Reviewed on 30 September 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Hell and High Water
Tekla Berg, an A&E department doctor with a photographic memory and a complicated relationship with her brother, takes charge of the emergency response after a devastating fire. The police are convinced this was a terrorist attack, while the Uzbek mafia in Stockholm want to silence one of the victims.
Reviewed on 20 August 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Devil's Fjord
Tristan and Elsbeth Haraldsen move from the capital city of Torshavn in the Faroes to an isolated village on Vágar island. Tristan’s job is to ensure that rules of the grind, a whale hunt, are followed. Against his wishes he’s pushed into killing the animals on the day, and in the ensuing chaos two young boys go missing,
Reviewed on 20 August 2022 by Ewa Sherman
My Name is Jensen
Jensen is a Danish journalist who recently returned to her native Copenhagen after years working in London. While cycling to work one cold winter morning she comes across a body of a young man who must have frozen overnight. Yet stab wounds tell a different story.
Reviewed on 22 July 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Seat 7a
Psychiatrist Mats Krüger suffers from aviophobia but overcomes his fear to visit his pregnant daughter. Then he receives a call telling him to manipulate an old patient, now a senior stewardess, into crashing the plane, otherwise his daughter and her baby will die.
Reviewed on 25 June 2022 by Ewa Sherman
The Secret Life of Writers
In 1999 the celebrated author Nathan Fawles withdrew to Beaumont, a stunning wild island in Mediterranean. After publishing three successful novels he stopped both writing and contact with the outside world. Nearly 20 years later a young Swiss journalist tries to unlock his secrets when a grim crime takes place on the island.
Reviewed on 30 April 2022 by Ewa Sherman
First Born
Twins Molly and Katie had never been apart until Katie moved to study in New York a year ago. Now she is dead, and Molly travels across the ocean to be with her parents and to search for the truth about her death as she is the only person who knows everything about her twin.
Reviewed on 30 April 2022 by Ewa Sherman
The Girl Who Died
A young woman from Reykjavik answers an advert to work as a teacher for two girls in a remote village. Amidst hostility, recurring nightmares and visions of a ghost she tries to find out what’s been happening in the area, but the locals will do anything to protect their secrets.
Reviewed on 26 March 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Black River
Tuva Moodyson is back in Gavrik as the fever of preparations for the traditional Midsummer celebrations takes over. But she is not interested in having fun; instead, she must find her missing friend Tammy who has vanished without a trace.
Reviewed on 19 February 2022 by Ewa Sherman
The Rabbit Factor
Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen unexpectedly loses his secure job and then inherits an adventure park from his brother. He has to deal with his brother’s huge debts, some nasty criminals, strange park employees and something that might be love.
Reviewed on 19 February 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Geiger
Grandmother Agneta Broman answers a phone, hears only one word then shoots her husband and disappears, leaving the police at a loss.
Reviewed on 22 January 2022 by Ewa Sherman
Victim 2117
A newspaper photograph of an elderly murder victim brings back disturbing memories for Assad from Department Q. Together with his boss, Carl Mørck, he has to deal with own painful past, and stop a terrorist attack planned by his former tormentor.
Reviewed on 27 November 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Gilded Cage
Faye Adelheim’s life is perfect. She has a handsome millionaire husband, a gorgeous daughter, a luxurious home in the best part of the city and connections to all wealthy and powerful people. When the illusion of perfection falls apart, she is ready to kill to protect what she values most.
Reviewed on 23 October 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Mist
Erla and Einar live in an isolated farmhouse in the eastern part of Iceland. Their daily toil remains unchanged for years until a strange visitor arrives during a snowstorm just before Christmas. As the telephone stops working and electricity dies, the unsettling atmosphere intensifies.
Reviewed on 25 September 2021 by Ewa Sherman
3 Hours
DCI Ewert Grens starts investigating a strange case of one corpse too many in a morgue. This leads him to a Stockholm’s harbour where he makes a horrendous discovery of 73 refugees suffocated in a cargo container.
Reviewed on 21 August 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Therapist
A voicemail from her husband Sigurd tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Later a call from his friend confirms he never did. And then the search for a missing man turns into something much more sinister.
Reviewed on 21 August 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Seven Doors
Nina, a literature professor at the University of Bergen, decides to turn her analytical skills to criminal investigation when Mari, a tenant from the family’s second home, suddenly disappears, especially as this happens shortly after she visited the property.
Reviewed on 24 July 2021 by Ewa Sherman
Sleepless
Nadja Kulka, wearing a wig and borrowed clothes, drives a car along unknown country roads to a remote house. She is nervous and unsure of the destination, but as she agreed to help her friend Laura, she has no choice but to deliver a body.
Reviewed on 25 June 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Carrier
After years of leading a double life as an academic and a member of an elite security team, Erasmus Levine decides to flee. The problem is that he does it during the presidential visit to Sweden and while he is physically attached to a nuclear briefcase. Soon he becomes the world’s most wanted man.
Reviewed on 25 June 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Island
Scottish Cal and Norwegian Elsa leave their home in Washington DC to stay for six months in Norway, with their two teenage daughters and a baby son. The change of scene brings a devastating change to their lives: 15-year-old Licia vanishes from a summer camp on a tranquil island where two men shot tens of youngsters.
Reviewed on 22 May 2021 by Ewa Sherman
A Song for the Dark Times
John Rebus always focused on his job. But family is important which he realises more than ever when his distraught daughter Samantha calls in the middle of the night. Her partner Keith, interested in the old POW camp on the windswept coast, has gone missing. Rebus knows he has to help her.
Reviewed on 22 May 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Last Snow
Liv Björnlund leads a lonely existence with her teenage son and elderly father in a small, isolated village, far away in northern Sweden. When her father is killed, gossip about their dilapidated house and apparent hidden fortune intensifies as police search for the killer.
Reviewed on 24 April 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Wives
Thursday’s husband has two other wives that he sees on different days of the week, an arrangement that she accepts at first but then begins to doubt. Seth is charming to her and never violent, but then she starts to believe that something might be seriously wrong and that he might be violent with the others.
Reviewed on 24 April 2021 by Ewa Sherman
The Witch Hunter
Detective Jessica Niemi begins a complex investigation into a brutal ritualistic murder of Maria Koponen, wife of the famous writer Roger Koponen who’s fascinated by occult and witch hunters. As the body count in Helsinki increases, Jessica realises that the killer’s motives might be personal.
Reviewed on 13 March 2021 by Ewa Sherman
A Nearly Normal Family
When 18-year-old Stella is arrested for the murder of a rich charming businessman, her pastor father and lawyer mother are desperate to fight for their daughter and to do anything possible to stop destruction of their family. But the lies and the truth might be too much for them.
Reviewed on 13 March 2021 by Ewa Sherman
Sister
Frank Frølich works as a private detective after being suspended from duty with Oslo Police. He takes on an assignment to find the missing sister of a young immigrant woman who is just about to be deported to her home country. He also gets involved in searching for an eyewitness from a ferry disaster 30 years ago.
Reviewed on 16 January 2021 by Ewa Sherman
For the Dead
Thirty years ago, teenager Paul was found drowned in a lake, and his best friend Francesca vanished from home. His death was considered a suicide. Francesca was never found. When journalist Johan Ro writes about the cold case, DI Charlie Lager gets pulled into the story.
Reviewed on 16 January 2021 by Ewa Sherman
Gallows Rock
Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freya join forces again to work on a complicated case where a banker is found hanging from Gallows Rock, an ancient execution place, and a mysterious small boy is in the man’s luxurious empty flat.
Reviewed on 19 December 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Summer of Ellen
The realities of modern Copenhagen and of Jutland farmland from the 1970s clash as Jacob Errbo, an architect drinking through his bitter divorce, must return to the area he has not visited for nearly 40 years. His very old great-uncles Anton and Anders want to find out what happened to a beautiful hippy Ellen who moved in with them from a local commune.
Reviewed on 21 November 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Die For Me
Maverick DI Alex Steen cannot let go of an unsolved case that destroyed his own life four years ago. DNA evidence from recent rapes in Copenhagen links the perpetrator to the killing, and Alex is desperate for one more chance to try to solve the case.
Reviewed on 31 October 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Cabin
Chief Inspector William Wisting is assigned to lead a top-secret investigation into the life of a recently deceased controversial politician. When he finds boxes full of foreign currency in his cabin, he also manages to unearth possible links to two 15-year-old cold cases, one of them of a missing young man.
Reviewed on 19 September 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Cold Fear
Danish journalist Matthew Cave is in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. Faced with the disappearance of his half-sister Arnaq and a murder inquiry that might have involved his father Tom, he finds himself in a strange search for the killers across the vast frozen land.
Reviewed on 22 August 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Deep As Death
Detective Hella Mauzer, fired from the police and trying to survive as a private investigator, searches for a serial killer who might have been responsible for several deaths, including those of local prostitutes.
Reviewed on 31 July 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Oath
Former chief of police Ubbo Heide is enjoying a peaceful seaside retirement until a gruesome package containing a severed head turns up on his doorstep. Soon a headless body is found on the local beach. However, it is not just one victim.
Reviewed on 04 July 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Flood
A man who’s wearing his daughter’s wedding ring is found dead in front of his fireplace. A funeral director frantically searches for his brother who doesn’t seem to be missing. A woman struggles to protect her family as her husband becomes more dangerous. The three cases baffle investigative analyst Fredrika Bergman and DCI Alex Recht.
Reviewed on 13 June 2020 by Ewa Sherman
I Will Miss You Tomorrow
A damaged ex-Chief Inspector Thorkild Aske has just left prison, his life in tatters. He is asked to find a young man, Rasmus, who has disappeared off the North Norwegian coast. Rasmus is the cousin of Frei, the woman that Thorkild still loves but whom he has accidently killed.
Reviewed on 23 May 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Man Who Played With Fire
Jan Stocklassa follows Stieg Larsson’s investigation into the assassination of the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme in February 1986. The assassin has never been identified and the trail of intrigue, espionage and conspiracy covered various parts of the globe.
Reviewed on 25 April 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Little Siberia
A meteorite lands near a small village in northern Finland and is placed in the local war museum before its journey to London for analysis. Pastor Joel Huhta volunteers to keep watch there at night but immediately realises that various people want to steal the precious rock.
Reviewed on 11 April 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Boy in the Headlights
Detectives Holger Munch and Mia Krüger are in search of a serial killer who targets random ordinary people. The pair struggle to predicts his next move but must deal with their own demons to stop the murders.
Reviewed on 14 March 2020 by Ewa Sherman
A Grave for Two
High-flying lawyer Selma Falck has lost everything because of her former client Jan Morell, and her own recklessness. Now Morell wants her to clear the name of his daughter Hege, an elite cross-country skier accused of doping. Selma has no choice but to search for the truth.
Reviewed on 14 March 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Girl Without Skin
The discovery of a mummified body on the edge of an ice sheet in Greenland leads to the re-opening of an unsolved case from the 1970s. Danish journalist Matthew Cave and a young woman released from prison after serving a sentence for killing her family delve into the shocking and brutal past.
Reviewed on 22 February 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Last Woman in the Forest
Marian is offered an opportunity to work with rescue dogs on environmental projects and falls under the spell of her mentor Tate. Several months later after Tate’s tragic death she realises that he might have been responsible for the unsolved murders of at least four women.
Reviewed on 22 February 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Trolls
When a huge wolf escapes his captors and a dangerous cult leader escapes the psychiatric facility it can only mean that a young woman, Susso, might be in danger again. Years ago she killed a troll and since then her life has been traumatic.
Reviewed on 31 January 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Absolution
Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freya are working together again. Their own relationship goes through various stages as they investigate vicious murders in Reykjavik, being announced by a killer via a mobile phone Snapchat app.
Reviewed on 31 January 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Cage
In Iceland Agla’s prison sentence for financial crimes is coming to an end while her former nemesis Maria gets drawn into helping her to pull another international money fraud.
Reviewed on 18 January 2020 by Ewa Sherman
Wolves at the Door
Bergen’s social-worker-turned-private investigator Varg Veum, who’s been scared by earlier accusations of sexual abuse, decides to reopen his earlier case after he is nearly killed by a speeding car.
Reviewed on 21 December 2019 by Ewa Sherman
After She's Gone
Psychological profiler Hanne and her partner investigator Peter arrive in an isolated town in dense forests to investigate a cold case. She tries to keep her dementia secret, writing everything in a diary. Within days the couple vanishes, adding to the tensions between local inhabitants, police and the refugees relocated to the area.
Reviewed on 30 November 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Courier
In 1942 Jewish courier Ester is betrayed in Oslo but manages to escape the Norwegian Gestapo. In Sweden she meets resistance hero Gerhard Falkum, but their tentative relationship is cut short when he dies in a fire. Yet 25 years later he suddenly reappears.
Reviewed on 09 November 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Night
Detectives Kirsten Nigaard from Norway and Martin Servaz from France join forces in search of a notorious cunning serial killer on the run. All clues point to Martin’s earlier personal painful history with the murderer, but this time the life of a five-year-old boy is also at stake.
Reviewed on 26 October 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Beton Rouge
Public prosecutor Chastity Riley and Detective Chief Inspector Ivo Stepanovic meet when they are called to investigate a horrendous case of a naked and tortured man left in a case outside an office of Germany’s biggest magazines where’s he been working.
Reviewed on 12 October 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Glass Woman
A young woman, Rósa, is suddenly married off to Jón Eiríksson, a brooding widower and a wealthy chieftain of an isolated settlement in 17th century Iceland. As she joins him at his croft, she becomes aware of many secrets surrounding her husband, especially the suspicion that he has murdered his previous wife.
Reviewed on 28 September 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Hunting Game
Detective Inspector Embla Nyström arrives for the annual autumn moose hunt in a deep Swedish forest. The local hunters are not happy about Peter, an outsider, joining them. Two people disappear, and then one is found dead in a lake.
Reviewed on 07 September 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Inborn
The high school in a small Norwegian village becomes a double-murder scene. Immediately everyone points at 17-year-old Even who has been recently dumped by Mari Lindgren, a girl found dead after the school concert.
Reviewed on 24 August 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Hunted
Private investigators Sam Berger and Molly Bloom are on the run from the authorities, burned from previous investigation, and hiding in the depths of snowy north Sweden. But soon they are asked to follow up on the letter from a distressed and seemingly paranoid woman who knows secret details of a murder case from long ago.
Reviewed on 24 August 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Chestnut Man
Headstrong detective and single mother Naia Thulin and Mark Hess, a burned-out investigator suspended from Europol, investigate the horrific murders of young women in Copenhagen.
Reviewed on 10 August 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Silver Road
In a remote part of northern Sweden the lives of two people become intertwined. Lelle keeps searching for his teenage daughter Lina who had vanished without a trace three years ago. Meja has just moved to the area with her mentally unstable mother.
Reviewed on 27 July 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Malice in Malmo
Inspector Anita Sundström of the Skåne County Police is under pressure. She has to deal with evidence-less cases of kidnapped businessmen and a murder of an infamous journalist. Her boss is in hospital, replaced by Anita’s nemesis, and her long-distance boyfriend is suddenly too close.
Reviewed on 13 July 2019 by Ewa Sherman
For the Missing
Detective Inspector Charlie Lager is sent from Stockholm to investigate the disappearance of teenager Annabelle in Gullspång. She dreads being back in her small home town, full of quiet despondence and ghosts from the dark past but must deal with the case and her own anxiety.
Reviewed on 29 June 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Mrs Mohr Goes Missing
Ambitious social climber Zofia Turboty?ska plans to arrange a charity raffle under the patronage of elderly rich women. Instead she conducts her own investigation into a suspicious death at Helcel House where they reside – but finds that nobody wants to listen to an inquisitive woman.
Reviewed on 15 June 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Katharina Code
On the anniversary of Katharina Haugen’s disappearance 24 years ago, Chief Inspector William Wisting looks through the case files as he does every year. He also visits her husband Martin. This time it seems that the grieving husband has gone missing – and he might have been involved in another cold case involving a kidnapped teenager.
Reviewed on 15 June 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Evil Things
It’s 1952. Hella Mauzer, the first female Inspector in the Helsinki Homicide Unit, has been deemed too emotional for her job, demoted and sent to a small-town police station in Lapland. She sees a chance to redeem and prove herself when an old man disappears in the forest.
Reviewed on 01 June 2019 by Ewa Sherman
An Elderley Lady is Up to No Good
Maud is nearly 90 years old and lives rent-free in a spacious apartment in Gothenburg. She might be old and seemingly confused but will not allow anyone to upset her peace and quiet.
Reviewed on 11 May 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Trap
Sonja is tucked away in Florida with her young son and hopes that she has escaped her violent ex-husband who also manipulated her into smuggling cocaine. But soon the idyll is shattered as she’s forced back to Iceland, pushed into more drug trafficking, and forbidden from seeing her son.
Reviewed on 01 May 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Palm Beach Finland
Top undercover detective Jan Nyman travels from Helsinki to a newly established holiday resort, Palm Beach Finland, to investigate a murder and the main suspect Olivia Koski in whose house the victim was found.
Reviewed on 27 April 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Fog Island
Sofia accepts an offer of employment at a mysterious New Age movement. She’s excited about creating a library at its headquarters on an isolated island but gradually becomes aware how impossible is to leave the cult.
Reviewed on 27 April 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Cold Summer
Pietro Fenoglio, a Marshall in the Carabinieri, conducts an investigation into the kidnapping and killing of a local mobster’s young son amidst spreading violence in the region.
Reviewed on 13 April 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Attend
A young gay man Sam and a recovering heroin addict Anne are connected through the world of drugs and revenge in Deptford. They must deal with the consequences of other people’s deeds that affect their own existence.
Reviewed on 13 April 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Root of Evil
Detective Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti receives a letter informing him that a murder will take place in his small Swedish town. And indeed, a man is soon found dead. When more letters arrive, he and his team must try to prevent more deaths.
Reviewed on 30 March 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Thin Blue Line
Detective Leo Junker has crossed many professional lines. But when John Grimberg, his oldest friend/enemy and a hardened criminal on the run, asks him to investigate a five-year-old case of a murdered prostitute, Junker has to face his own demons from the past and corruption at the heart of the Swedish police force.
Reviewed on 30 March 2019 by Ewa Sherman
After the Death of Ellen Keldberg
The artist Ellen Keldberg has been found frozen on a street bench in Skagen. Soon two visitors arrive in town: her nephew Mikkel who has to organise a funeral, and Anne Sofie, a young reckless photographer obsessed with death. As their paths cross a history of old and new secrets come to the surface.
Reviewed on 09 March 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Overkill
Sam Shepard, the only policewoman in the small rural town of Mataura, New Zealand, investigates the death of a young mother Gaby Knowes. Apparent suicide was in fact a murder, and the victim was married to Sam’s ex-boyfriend. Sam finds herself the main suspect and suspended from duty but decides to find the killer anyway and clear her name.
Reviewed on 23 February 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Wanderer
Magnus Jonson is an American Icelander newly returned to the Reykjavik police force. He’s called to investigate the murder of a young Italian tourist found at a sacred church in northern Iceland.
Reviewed on 23 February 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Unrest
Detective Superintendent Alex Steen must investigate the death of a brutally murdered unidentified man, found outside a Copenhagen cemetery after a night of violent street riots. But Denmark’s national security agency is also interested in the victim.
Reviewed on 09 February 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Resin
Liv lives on an isolated farm with her hoarder-carpenter father Jens, bed-ridden obese mother Maria, dead twin brother Carl and mummified baby sister. She’s happy but a bit worried, especially when she witnesses her dad killing her granny. Life goes on but a newcomer to the area wants to find out more about the strange family.
Reviewed on 26 January 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Lies We Tell
Successful Swedish-American lawyer Martin Benner must the prove innocence of dead woman Sara Texas, accused of a string of murders in the US, while looking for her missing son Mio. At the same time he finds himself framed for crimes he didn’t commit.
Reviewed on 12 January 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Cold Breath
Officer Gunnhildur Gísladóttir’s new task is to protect an enigmatic guest of the Iceland’s controversial Minister of Justice. Ali Osman is either a saviour of war zones’ refugees, or a manipulative arms dealer.
Reviewed on 12 January 2019 by Ewa Sherman
Big Sister
Bergen’s PI Varg Veum is approached by a woman who introduces herself as his older half-sister and who wants him to find her missing goddaughter. The search for 19-year-old Emma takes Veum on a personal journey into the past.
Reviewed on 08 December 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Boy at the Door
Cecilia Wilborg’s picture-perfect Scandinavian life is threatened when a small, lonely and vulnerable boy enters her world. She’s determined to protect her family and status in the wealthy Norwegian town, and takes extraordinary measures to keep her dark secrets hidden.
Reviewed on 24 November 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Reckoning
A chilling message found in a school’s time capsule says that six people will be killed. The threat has been written ten years ago. Disgraced detective Huldar is assigned to investigate this seemingly non-case.
Reviewed on 24 November 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Darkness
As 64-year-old Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early yet unwelcome retirement, she can work on one cold case of her choice. Hulda takes on the apparent suicide of a Russian asylum seeker Elena. But ignored by her colleagues and plagued by painful memories she seems to be heading into real danger.
Reviewed on 10 November 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Master and Margarita
A mysterious Professor of Black Magic arrives with his bizarre entourage in Moscow to wreak havoc among the city’s intellectual elite and ordinary citizens. He soon becomes interested in the fate of the Master and his manuscript about Pontius Pilate.
Reviewed on 27 October 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Sons
After six years in prison, Sweden’s most notorious bank criminal Leo Duvnjac is free, acquitted of most of the bank robberies he and his two younger brothers pulled off. While behind bars he planned the biggest heist ever. But a bitter cop is on his case.
Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Macbeth
Inspector Macbeth is the best cop, able to clean up any mess, such as a drug bust turned into a bloodbath. He’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past.
Reviewed on 13 October 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Shadow Killer
When a travelling salesman is found shot in a basement flat, the police initially suspect a member of the Allied forces as it’s 1941 and British and American soldiers are stationed in Iceland. But the investigation takes a turn into the past and uncovers evidence of dubious experiments carried out on Icelandic boys.
Reviewed on 15 September 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Ice Swimmer
When a man’s body is discovered in the freeing waters of Oslo harbour, city detectives Gunnarstanda and Stigersand face a very complicated case, leading them into the murky world of political secrets.
Reviewed on 18 August 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Marked for Revenge
Public prosecutor Jana Berzelius needs to deal with the case of a Thai girl who died on a train while smuggling heroin capsules in her stomach, as well as trying to protect her own old identity. She fears that a notorious criminal Danilo will uncover her past.
Reviewed on 14 August 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Silent Girl
Leading criminal profiler Sebastian Bergman again joins Riksmord, the national police homicide unit based in Stockholm, to search for a killer who has gunned down a whole family in a small, quiet Swedish town.
Reviewed on 04 August 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Fire Pit
On the Faroe Islands local detective Hjalti Hentze investigates the suicide of an old drunk. In Denmark the British DI Jan Reyna searches for answers to his past. Both men realise that both stories might be connected.
Reviewed on 01 August 2018 by Ewa Sherman
When Time Runs Out
As a young man fires shots from a rooftop in downtown Helsinki, his mother and sister are confronted with a horrifying truth, and the realisation of what has been happening to their loved one.
Reviewed on 21 July 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Whiteout
Two days before Christmas, a young woman is found dead beneath the cliffs of a deserted village. Siglufjörður’s detective Ari Thór and his former boss Tómas investigate whether she jumped, or whether something more sinister or supernatural happened to her.
Reviewed on 21 July 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Anthill Murders
1972. A serial killer is hunting young women in Oslo. He strangles them and leaves a cut-out picture of an ant by each body. Brilliant Inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen fears that he won’t be able to catch the murderer.
Reviewed on 07 July 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Hydra
Investigative journalist Scott King delves into a family massacre, told by the killer and five witnesses, through six podcasts.
Reviewed on 07 July 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Hellfire
A mother and her five-year-old child are found murdered in an abandoned caravan. Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer believes that the killing has been planned but the initial investigation leads nowhere.
Reviewed on 23 June 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Holy Ceremony
Lieutenant Ariel Kafka from the Violent Crime Unit in Helsinki investigates a bizarre case of a woman’s body stolen from a morgue. He’s been chosen by someone who wants to exact revenge and who might be a perpetrator or a severely damaged soul.
Reviewed on 23 June 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Silenced
A viciously savaged body is found in the water. Detective Inspector Julia Gabrielsson investigates the macabre case, and gets pulled into a web of political scheming.
Reviewed on 09 June 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Man Who Died
Jaakko Kaunismaa, a successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, is told that he’s been poisoned and hence on the verge of death. He decides to find his own murderer.
Reviewed on 09 June 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Certain Signs That You Are Dead
A badly injured patient vanishes at Akershus University Hospital. The Iranian porter Arash is blamed as he later finds the body in the basement. But as the retired pathologist Jenny Plåterud gets involved, things get messier and more complicated.
Reviewed on 26 May 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Earth Storm
Detective Malin Fors investigates cases of two opposing voices: murder of a right-wing extremist and a missing left-wing teenage activist, connected through words and actions, and as soon becomes apparent, also though the mysterious person who made them suffer.
Reviewed on 26 May 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Maria in the Moon
Catherine has a great memory, but she cannot remember what happened when she was nine years old. She feels desperate to unlock her past to understand herself and those around her.
Reviewed on 12 May 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Bloody Scotland
A collection of short stories by 12 of Scotland’s best crime writers using the country’s iconic sites and structures.
Reviewed on 28 April 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Darkest Day
The Hermansson family are gathering to celebrate father Karl-Erik and eldest daughter Ebba’s joint landmark birthdays. But underneath the smiles, tensions are running high. Before the festivities are over two members of the family are missing. Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti must find out what has happened.
Reviewed on 14 April 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Berlin Syndrome
When Australian photographer Clare meets Berliner Andi, she has no idea that she will become a prisoner in his flat and his twisted world of love and secrets.
Reviewed on 31 March 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Watching You
Detective Sam Berger is convinced that a third missing 15-year-old girl is in fact another victim of a serial killer. He’s forced to deal with his long-buried personal demons to understand and catch the murderer.
Reviewed on 17 March 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Hermit
When police find an abandoned car with a body of a small boy in a cardboard box on the back seat, they want to close the investigation quickly. Erhard, an old Danish recluse and a taxi driver on the island of Fuerteventura, decides to solve the murder.
Reviewed on 03 March 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Lake
The remains of a young woman, tied to a stone, are discovered in a lake in the Danish countryside. After fruitless investigation by the local police, the case finds its way to the Copenhagen Homicide Department.
Reviewed on 17 February 2018 by Ewa Sherman
3 Minutes
Former government agent Piet Hoffman is on the run from his old life in Sweden. Now he tries to survive as an infiltrator of the Colombian mafia on which he also informs for the Americans. Then things get terribly complicated.
Reviewed on 17 February 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Snare
Sonja survives on a cocktail of cocaine smuggling and love for her young son. Desperate to escape drug barons’ snare and to win full custody of Tomas she must become more daring and entrepreneurial. But things are getting dangerous.
Reviewed on 03 February 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Killing Bay
A body of a woman is found following the clash between international activists and local fishermen on the Faroe Islands. Detective Hjalti Hentze wants to find out if there is a connection between the murder and the slaughter of whales.
Reviewed on 03 February 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Thirst
A woman is found dead after a Tinder date, and marks left on her body indicate that the killer used iron teeth to kill her, and then drink her blood. Oslo’s ex-detective Harry Hole reluctantly gets involved in a search for a vampirist.
Reviewed on 20 January 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Shadow District
In wartime Reykjavik, a body of a young woman is found behind the National Theatre. An Icelander and a Canadian start investigation. In the present times an old man is discovered dead in his own bed. Newspaper cuttings found in his home report that particular death.
Reviewed on 06 January 2018 by Ewa Sherman
The Secret History of Twin Peaks
The co-creator of the landmark TV series Twin Peaks brings more information and mystery from the iconic fictional town.
Reviewed on 16 December 2017 by Ewa Sherman
When It Grows Dark
Stavern 1983. As Christmas is approaching the young policeman and a father of baby twins William Wisting becomes engrossed in an old mystery of an abandoned classic car. He’s determined to uncover 60-year-old secrets.
Reviewed on 25 November 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Butterfly on the Storm
A young Afghan boy is found in the woods outside Amsterdam, apparently a victim of a hit-and-run. Journalist Farah Hafez realises that he speaks her native language and decides to investigate the events that led to the accident.
Reviewed on 11 November 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Wolves in the Dark
Bergen’s most famous private investigator Varg Veum is accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into jail. Desperate to clear his name, he must unravel his own hazy memories of failed jobs and uncomfortable assignments.
Reviewed on 28 October 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Six Stories
In 1996 teenager Tom Jeffries vanished from an Outward Bound centre. His body was found a year later. In 2017 in a series of podcasts investigative journalist Scott King attempts to discover what really happened.
Reviewed on 14 October 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Souls of Air
Malin Fors, Linköping’s top detective, deals with a matter too close for comfort – her daughter Tove has discovered the dead body of one of the residents at the care home where she works.
Reviewed on 30 September 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Quicksand
Rich teenager Maja Norberg is accused of killing four students and a teacher at school. As the trial starts, the prosecutor and the defender battle to prove their points. But is she is a cold-blooded murderer, or a girl who lost her way?
Reviewed on 16 September 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Exiled
Finnish police officer Anna Fekete returns to her home town in the former Yugoslavia for a well-deserved summer holiday. But when her handbag and passport are stolen, she realises that there are other deep-rooted reasons why the Romany thief chose to target her.
Reviewed on 19 August 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Bird Tribunal
TV presenter Allis Hagtorn takes a job as a housekeeper and a gardener in a remote house on an isolated fjord. Her mysterious silent employer establishes strict rules. But as they both await return of his wife from travels, Allis starts making very unsettling discoveries.
Reviewed on 05 August 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Faithless
When a scalded body of a woman wrapped in plastic is found in a dumpster, Inspector Frank Frølich has to search for the killer – and also to face his private nearly-forgotten demons.
Reviewed on 02 August 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Crow Girl
A gruesome discovery leads Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg into a horrendous world of abuse of trafficked children, and also into a personal and professional relationship with a psychotherapist working with young victims of abuse.
Reviewed on 22 July 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Cursed
Crime reporter Henning Juul, scarred emotionally and physically, becomes involved in his ex-wife Nora Klemetsen’s search for a missing woman. The investigation leads them into the sinister past of a very wealthy Norwegian family.
Reviewed on 08 July 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Good Girls Don't Tell
A tortured body of a man is found in an allotment shed. Inspector Magnus Kalo and his team are mystified, especially due to the lack of information about the victim. Eventually they find a connection to a past event in Argentina.
Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Legacy
Out of his depth detective Huldar and the child psychologist Freyja must work together to get any information from seven-year-old Margrét, the only witness to her mother’s horrific murder.
Reviewed on 10 June 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Chameleon People
Inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen’s quiet evening is shattered when a young cyclist turns up at his apartment. He has run away from a crime scene but proclaims his innocence, even though he’s in possession of a bloodied knife used to kill a prominent politician.
Reviewed on 27 May 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Mine
Investigative reporter Janne Vuori travels to the north of Finland to uncover the truth about an industrial corruption threatening lives and environment in the area by a nickel mine.
Reviewed on 13 May 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Ice Lands
Four friends embark on a road trip to escape reality and to heal their professional and personal lives. But their adventure takes a macabre turn when they crash in the fog into a strange farmhouse, fortified and barricaded, and surrounded by butchered animals.
Reviewed on 14 April 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Tunnel
Danny Katz searches for the killer of his former drug dealer Ramón. While following the faint trail of Ramón’s missing girlfriend Jenny, Katz is pulled into the darkest corners of Stockholm’s porn industry.
Reviewed on 01 April 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Man Who Wasn't There
The long-buried bodies of six people are found in a mountain grave. The Criminal Investigation Department from Stockholm, including brilliant but arrogant profiler Sebastian Bergman, is called to the scene.
Reviewed on 01 April 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Ice Beneath Her
A beheaded body of a young woman is found in an upmarket home of a controversial retail king. Stockholm’s homicide detectives and a criminal profiler are shocked when they realise that the murder resembles an unsolved case from years ago.
Reviewed on 18 March 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Cut
Gabriel’s pregnant girlfriend is abducted. To find her and the serial killer he is forced to face the horrific past he’s been running away from for nearly three decades.
Reviewed on 04 March 2017 by Ewa Sherman
A Death in the Family
Wilmon Bengu is found murdered but his son detective Kubu isn’t allowed to investigate his father’s death. Kubu goes against his superiors but soon needs to follow a series of murders connected to the Chinese owners of a mining company.
Reviewed on 21 February 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Other Son
Sophie Brinkmann is an ordinary nurse who regrets falling in love with the major crime lord Hector Guzman. But following a vicious attack he is left in coma and she has to take control of his empire, as both his friends and enemies won’t leave her in peace.
Reviewed on 18 February 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Invisible Man From Salem
Disgraced police officer Leo Junker is first on the murder scene at his apartment block when a young woman is shot dead. But he’s shocked to discover her holding a familiar necklace. This event starts unravelling some strange connections to his youth.
Reviewed on 04 February 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Why Did You Lie?
Four people are stranded in a small lighthouse on a rock surrounded by raging sea. An ordinary couple return from home-swap in America to find their guests apparently missing. A journalist on the track of an old case hangs himself in his own garage. Someone is determined to punish them.
Reviewed on 21 January 2017 by Ewa Sherman
The Dying Detective
Following a stroke the retired Chief of the National Crime Police and the Swedish Security Service meets a neurologist who wants him to look into an old case. Twenty-five years ago a young Iranian girl was raped and killed, and the perpetrator never found.
Reviewed on 07 January 2017 by Ewa Sherman
Blackout
A body of a murdered man is found in a remote location on the shores of a serene fjord in northern Iceland. Young policeman Ari Thór Arason investigates the case while a reporter from Reykjavík escapes the volcanic ash cloud and makes her own enquiries.
Reviewed on 24 December 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Wednesday Club
Memories of the Finnish Civil War in 1918 affect everyone: members of the exclusive Wednesday Club, run by a lawyer Claes Thune, and also his secretive working-class secretary Mrs Matilda Wiik. It’s 1938 and Hitler’s expansion in Europe causes both admiration and anger. The past and present collide.
Reviewed on 24 December 2016 by Ewa Sherman
A Suitable Lie
Andy, a widower and a single dad to a small boy, cannot believe his luck when he meets Anna, full of life and beauty. Their idyll seems complete until the wedding night when a visit to the hospital might be a clue that things could be far from perfect.
Reviewed on 10 December 2016 by Ewa Sherman
In the Name of Love
Young and beautiful but rude and dysfunctional Lena Sundman was brutally murdered on one of the Swedish islands. To start with a family of Iraqi refugees falls under suspicion, but nothing is as clear cut as the ordinary inhabitants and the wealthy weekenders would like to think.
Reviewed on 10 December 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Epiphany Jones
Jerry Dresden, deeply troubled and unhappy, is accused of murdering his work colleague and of stealing a Van Gogh painting from the Chicago museum. While on the run he becomes involved with Epiphany, an emotionally damaged young woman who listens to voices from God.
Reviewed on 26 November 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Ice Child
In the frozen forest a traumatised semi-naked girl wanders aimlessly. When she finally reaches a road, the approaching car fails to stop. The accident leaves the police and the local community completely shaken.
Reviewed on 12 November 2016 by Ewa Sherman
MemoRandom
When police officer David Sarac awakes from a violent car accident in Stockholm he realises that everybody, including his friends and enemies, is searching for Janus, the informant he’s handling.
Reviewed on 29 October 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Blood Strand
Jan Reyna, a British police detective, returns to the Faroe Islands where he was born when his estranged father is found unconscious in a car, with a shotgun by his side. Traces of someone else’s blood are found at the scene.
Reviewed on 15 October 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Final Word
Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon is revisiting an old story of a young woman Josefin murdered by her violent boyfriend, a case that deeply touched her own life. She also reports on the court case of the savage killing of a homeless man. But the mysterious disappearance of her sister leaves her distraught.
Reviewed on 01 October 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Vanished
When Detective Konrad Simonsen returns to work after a heart attack, he’s called as an observer to a violent school shooting, and assigned to deal with a minor case of a dead postman. He soon finds a tenuous link between these two and decides to follow it.
Reviewed on 17 September 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Where Roses Never Die
A violent robbery at an exclusive jewellery shop goes completely wrong. Bergen’s private investigator Varg Veum is asked to look through details of an old case of a missing child. Will he find a connection between these two crimes which happened nearly 25 years apart?
Reviewed on 03 September 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Medusa
Local doctor Axel Glenne is linked to the deaths of two women who seem to have been mauled by a bear. He needs to prove his innocence as the net of suspicion around him tightens with surprising speed, and to find his elusive twin brother Brede before another victim is claimed.
Reviewed on 20 August 2016 by Ewa Sherman
My Name Is N
Ernst Grip of the Swedish Security Police is summoned to the USA to interrogate a prisoner, accused of involvement in the terrorist attack. Then he meets the man called N.
Reviewed on 06 August 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Chosen
The terrifying Paper Boy arrives at night, carefully chooses his victims, mostly children, and disappears. Later the mutilated bodies are found with paper bags on their heads. Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht have to stop him from claiming more lives.
Reviewed on 23 July 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Abigale Hall
Two sisters are sent away by their aunt to work at an isolated Welsh mansion. Amongst the dark and cold rooms they are surrounded by rumours of missing maids and a young bride who disappeared before her wedding.
Reviewed on 09 July 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Midnight Sun
Jon Hansen is on the run after betraying Oslo’s biggest crime lord, the Fisherman. But hiding in a small town in the far north of Norway, close to the Arctic Circle, brings its own dangers, and the never-ending daylight is just one of them.
Reviewed on 25 June 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Ordeal
Chief Inspector William Wisting is bothered by both the unsolved case of a taxi driver who disappeared in winter, and criticism from the press and the public.
Reviewed on 11 June 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Wicked Game
Robert Finlay is in his late 40s, and he returns to uniform policing in London. He hopes that his deeply concealed SAS secrets and traumatic experiences will never be revealed. But the past comes to haunt him in the most horrendous way when two of his former colleagues are murdered.
Reviewed on 28 May 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Mainlander
Young teacher Colin Bygate sees his student just about to throw himself into the sea – but the search for the boy only aggravates Colin’s wife and the community in Jersey.
Reviewed on 14 May 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Water Angels
A married couple are found murdered in their home, and their adopted five-year-old daughter has vanished. Inspector Malin Fors, struggling with her own demons, starts to investigate.
Reviewed on 23 April 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Victim Without A Face
The instant Detective Fabian Risk leaves Stockholm and moves with his family to his hometown of Helsingborg, he becomes involved in a string of horrendous murders of his schoolfriends.
Reviewed on 02 April 2016 by Ewa Sherman
A Summer With Kim Novak
Two teenage friends, Erik and Edmund, know that the holidays will be a testing time for them, due to family circumstances. But they don’t realise that when a body is found near the summerhouse where they’re staying, their lives will be changed for ever.
Reviewed on 12 March 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Nightblind
In a quiet fishing village in the northern tip of Iceland a police inspector is shot at close range. Ari Thór searches for the clues in the darkness of a long cold winter and in people’s memories.
Reviewed on 27 February 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Europa Blues
A gangster is eaten by wolverines in Stockholm Zoo. A celebrated professor is executed in the Jewish cemetery. Eight East European women from a refugee hostel disappear. The Intercrime Unit investigates how and why these cases might be connected.
Reviewed on 13 February 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Hanging Girl
Seventeen years ago a beautiful girl disappeared from school, only to be found dead, hanging in a tree. Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, is called to investigate the old case and discovers a bizarre cult hidden from prying eyes.
Reviewed on 30 January 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Defenceless
A young Pakistani Christian, who fled to Finland to escape persecution, is denied asylum and gets caught in drugs and gangs warfare. An old man in pyjamas is found dead in the road. Detective Anna Fekete investigates whether there could be a connection between the two.
Reviewed on 16 January 2016 by Ewa Sherman
The Voices Beyond
Jonas is excited about summer on the island where his family run a holiday resort. But when he encounters a terrifying ghost ship one night, only an elderly islander wants to solve the mystery that threatens the calm and peace of all visitors.
Reviewed on 02 January 2016 by Ewa Sherman
Dark As My Heart
Aleksi’s mother disappeared without a trace when he was only 13. Twenty years later he is convinced that a charismatic millionaire Henrik Saarinen has murdered her.
Reviewed on 07 November 2015 by Ewa Sherman
Reykjavík Nights
A homeless alcoholic man is found drown in a shallow pond on the outskirts of Reykjavik. A young woman disappeared while walking home from a club. Erlendur Sveinsson is just a traffic cop…
Reviewed on 24 October 2015 by Ewa Sherman
Oblivion
1953: A young girl disappears on her way to college. A newly promoted detective Erlendur is only starting out. 1979: A woman discovers a corpse floating in a blue lagoon. Erlendur is obsessed, though, with the cold case.
Reviewed on 26 September 2015 by Ewa Sherman
The Last Lullaby
Inspector Conny Sjöberg unearths a tale of revenge and guilt and how nearly forgotten events from the past can still shape people’s lives when he investigates the murder of a woman in an expensive Stockholm apartment.
Reviewed on 12 September 2015 by Ewa Sherman
To the Top of the Mountain
It’s summer in Stockholm. The A-Unit has been disbanded, and its former members are disillusioned. Detective Paul Hjelm and his team race against time while investigating three separate cases.
Reviewed on 29 August 2015 by Ewa Sherman
The Drowned Boy
Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer is still grieving for the loss of his wife. And he cannot shake off the feeling that something is not right when he investigates the drowning of a small boy.
Reviewed on 15 August 2015 by Ewa Sherman
