Still more Swedish crime recommended by Rob

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom

Booklist’s starred review for Three Seconds ends with this: “Crime fiction rarely gets as good as this.” (Booklist has been reviewing books for over 100 years, and their reviewers know a thing or two about crime fiction!) Booklist review and Swedish Crime Novel of the Year (2009) Award aside, Three Seconds is a darned good read. The protagonist is an informer deep inside the Polish mafia seeking to extend its grip of the drug trade in Sweden. Piet’s handler’s handlers high up in the government are quite used to playing fast and loose with rules and procedures (not to mention laws) when it comes to paid informants. When another informant is killed with Piet as an accomplice, the authors bring in the venerable Ewert Grens to solve the murder. The result is a high tension, edge-of-your-seat thriller which will make you want to go out and grab other books by the Roslund/Hellstrom writing team. (But you better hurry because I’m about to go grab one myself…)