Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
translated by Neil Smith
narrated by Marin Ireland

Published:2017
Publisher: Atria Books
Hardback: 432
Rating: 4
Contemporary, Sports, Sweden | Goodreads
Travel destination: Sweden

Beartown series:
Beartown
Up Against You
Those Who Run Towards Fire - release date: 2021

First sentence(s):
Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

My two-bits:

Captures the world of small town culture and hockey as major characters in the story. And these characters have such influence on happenings.

~*~

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

* part of Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2020 (here)

Happy Release: The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

The Wolf and the Watchman
by Niklas Natt och Dag
-Historical, Mystery, Sweden | Goodreads
Release date: March 5, 2019
One morning in the autumn of 1793, watchman Mikel Cardell is awakened from his drunken slumber with reports of a body seen floating in the Larder, once a pristine lake on Stockholm’s Southern Isle, now a rancid bog. Efforts to identify the bizarrely mutilated corpse are entrusted to incorruptible lawyer Cecil Winge, who enlists Cardell’s help to solve the case. But time is short: Winge’s health is failing, the monarchy is in shambles, and whispered conspiracies and paranoia abound.

Winge and Cardell become immersed in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams. From a farmer’s son who is lead down a treacherous path when he seeks his fortune in the capital to an orphan girl consigned to the workhouse by a pitiless parish priest, their gruesome investigation peels back layer upon layer of the city’s labyrinthine society. The rich and the poor, the pious and the fallen, the living and the dead—all collide and interconnect with the body pulled from the lake.

Breathtakingly bold and intricately constructed, THE WOLF AND THE WATCHMAN (Atria Books; March 5, 2019; ISBN: 9781501196775; $28.00) brings to life the crowded streets, gilded palaces, and dark corners of late-eighteenth-century Stockholm, offering a startling vision of the crimes we commit in the name of justice, and the sacrifices we make in order to survive.

About the author:
Niklas Natt och Dag ("Night and Day") is a member of the oldest surviving noble family in Sweden. He enjoys playing the guitar, mandolin, violin, and the Japanese bamboo flute. THE WOLF AND THE WATCHMAN, his first novel, was named the Best Debut of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers and is being published in thirty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and their two sons.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
Translated: Reg Keeland

Published: 2009
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Paperback: 512 pages
Rating: 5

Description from the amazon:
Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.

But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander—the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

As Blomkvist, alone in his belief in Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation of the slayings, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.

About the Author
Stieg Larsson, who lived in Sweden, was the editor in chief of the magazine Expo and a leading expert on antidemocratic, right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations. He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

My two-bits:
In-a-word: longstocking

This book works both as a stand-alone and as great sequel to the first book in this trilogy. We get more here - more background info on Lisbeth. Per Stieg's style we get lots of details on the topics he chooses to focus on in this story. Good stuff. Not necessarily pretty, but good.

Again, this mystery keeps you guessing until the end. And, Lisbeth and her toughness makes me cheer for her - rah! rah! rah!

Ooo, I've got an inkling on what's coming in the third and final installment of this trilogy. Soooo, looking forward to it!

Millenium Series:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - my review
The Girl who Played with Fire
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - release date: May 25, 2010

Miss Marple sighing:
That seems to be correct, Miss Marple.
-Faste being snarky with Modig, pg 356

*girl tattoo movies - I don't want to watch these until I've read all three books.

*more movie info

*if Booklust still had the Rosie Riveter series, I would have definitely presented LISBETH!

*part of my Thriller & Suspense challenge

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

Translated: Reg Keeland

Published: 2009
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Paperback: 608 pages
Rating: 5

Description from the amazon:
National Bestseller from Sweden

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

About the Author:
Stieg Larsson was the editor in chief of the magazine Expo. He was a leading expert on anti-democratic, right-wing extremist organizations. He died in 2004, soon after delivering the manuscripts of the novels The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels.

My two-bits:
In-a-word: golf

This book turned out to be a really engaging mystery thriller!

The first couple chapters deal with the nitty gritty setup of facts and figures which threw me off for a bit. I wasn't sure if I was going to continue reading. But encouragement from fellow readers, rave reviews and praise for the book convinced me to give it a go. And, I'm so glad I did.
Like the description of the book above, lots of topics are covered in this book and woven together well. Each character is presented and developed well too.

In the end, what grabbed my attention the most was the main female character, Lisbeth Salander. Although the main mystery is resolved and interesting in its own way, the mystery of Lisbeth continues. She's tough. She's fragile. She's a genious. She's a wonder. I'm looking forward to learning more about Lisbeth in the next two books in the trilogy.

Millenium Series:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl who Played with Fire - my review
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - release date: May 25, 2010

*as previously promised, this book will be making its way to Misty of Book Rat -- watch out for her review later
*part of my Thriller & Suspense challenge
*part of my IBC challenge