Christmas crackers - two Scandi masterpieces; Scandi crime just doesn't get better than this!

Hello partners in crime!  I’ve just finished reading two Scandi crime novels that are so good that I’m highly recommending both of them.  So, if you’re looking for a last minute something for a Christmas present or just a treat for yourself…read on.

 MemoRandom by Anders de la Motte.  I’ve blogged before about de la Motte’s novels – his Game Trilogy is simply excellent and I found interviewing him to be both informative and entertaining.  It’s been a while since de la Motte published a new novel and MemoRandom has been well worth waiting for.  David Sarac is a police officer in Stockholm, waking up after a terrible car crash.  Seriously injured, Sarac’s only memories of his life are vague and sketchy.  All he can remember is that he has done something bad – criminally bad – but he can’t remember what, let alone anything of his former life.  Slowly he begin to recollect details of which Janus, a highly placed Confidential Informant is the most important.  Sarac knows he has to protect Janus, but he doesn’t know who Janus is and police colleagues are no help as Sarac has kept Janus’ identity a secret.  Janus holds the answers to help unlock the secrets of Sarac’s past life.  Unfortunately Sarac’s not the only person trying to find Janus – some of the people on Sarac’s and Janus’ trail are downright nasty and dangerous.  Can Sarac find out who Janus is?  Can he unlock the secrets of his past?  Most importantly is there anyone at all he can really trust?  You simply have to read this excellent novel which is absolutely jam packed with exciting twists and turns to find out!  My verdict - Highly recommended – a must.

Victim Without a Face by Stefan Ahnhem.  Although he’s an established screenwriter, this is Anhem’s first novel.  The central character is detective Fabian Risk, who at the start of the novel has arrived with his family in the provincial city of Helsingborg.  Risk has a few weeks to settle his family into the city before he starts work and he’s looking forward to a return to his home town, moving away from Stockholm and some kind of serious error in his previous job.  Just as Risk and his family arrive at their new house, he gets a call from his new boss Tuvesson.  There’s been a murder and the victim was one of Risk’s old classmates.  Risk is quickly drawn in to the investigation and despite Tuvesson trying to make Risk a part of the team, he has a tendency to follow up leads alone and put himself in danger.  As the novel progresses there are more murders, all of Risk’s old classmates or related to the class in some way.  Risk soon thinks he knows who the perpetrator is, but as in all good crime novels, it’s never that simple and soon it’s not only Risk, but his family that are in danger.  This is a fast paced novel, with an incredibly high body count and the murders are committed using the most ingenious methods imaginable.  The characters are well developed and the tension between the Swedish and Danish police adds another interesting dimension to the book.  Victim Without a Face is an excellent book, even more so, considering it’s a debut novel.  My verdict same as above – Highly recommended – a must (Today, 22 December, this novel is only 99p on Kindle – surely worth a punt?).

That’s all for now – hope you have a great Christmas and I’ll be bringing more reviews of great novels for you in 2016.

See you soon!

Romancrimeblogger