Nothing is as it first appears in this smart and twisty mystery that takes place in a small Swedish town during the waning days of the 20th century. Christoffer Carlsson's The Living and the Dead, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, emerges as a devastating, sharp intake of fresh air from the Nordic region, with less of Stieg Larsson's explicit gore and more of Patricia Highsmith's quiet intrigue. Although it certainly contains its share of shocking revelations, this is a mesmerizing work of literary crime fiction that finds its power in the simple, brutal fallout from a small town's decades-long guilt and complicity.
The novel begins on a snowy night in 1999 with the discovery of a corpse and two 18-year-old suspects, best friends Sander and Killian. Carlsson, a renowned criminologist, allows the story to breathe and develop over more than two decades, using this expansive timeline not only to withhold the killer's identity but also to explore the generational wounds inflicted by acts of violence. This temporal scope gives the mystery a haunting, almost mythical quality. When a second body appears under similar circumstances 20 years after the first, the investigation is reopened, forcing retired detective Siri Bengtsson to confront the case that caused her to leave policing.
As Siri disentangles a series of deaths, thefts, and explosions, she is drawn back to the ghosts of her past. Questions of innocence are embedded in the social fabric, and every character becomes simultaneously a potential suspect and victim. The Living and the Dead is an intelligent, chilling mystery from a writer at the top of his craft. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.