After the success of the Millennium series, published posthumously, every publisher in the world is looking for the next Swedish crime writing sensation. Little, Brown have chosen Hans Koppel as their best shot, and are promoting this book accordingly. It has a good cover, a lot of Swedish publication quick quotes and all looks good.
Ylva is late home from work. When she left in the morning she thought that she might stop off with colleagues for a Friday night drink, so Mike isn’t too worried. But when she isn’t home the next morning, he begins the search. Eventually he gets the police interested, but then they just assume the he murdered his wife and this is all a smokescreen. In reality she was offered a lift home by their new neighbours. Little did Ylva know that she was never going to actually get home. Instead she is imprisoned for 18 months, with a CCTV link to her front yard so that she can watch her family get on with their lives without her.
This book is not a bad read. The plot is logical and characters are believable. As I was reading I could just see the police ticking off their boxes, deciding the husband did it, but successfully covered up his crime. Mike himself was torn up with guilt and anger and frustration, but had to hold himself together for the sake of his little girl. Even the reporter who finally cracks the case has enough character to be interesting.
Is this a copycat? Definitely not. I’d call it more a wannabee. The story is too simple and straightforward with very few twists. In fact the complete plot is outlined in the second chapter and from there on there are no surprises, just a gradual reveal. This could be explained because the author is better known for his children’t books. This is his first venture into adult crime fiction. Not a bad first effort, but there is still a long way to go.
