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Midwinter Sacrifice
On sale
27th October 2011
Price: £9.99
‘An investigation consists of a mass of voices, the sort you can hear, and the sort you can’t. You have to listen to the soundless voices, Malin. That’s where the truth is hidden.’
Early one morning in the coldest winter in Swedish memory, police detective Malin Fors is called away from the warm flat she shares with her teenage daughter. The naked body of a man has been found hanging from a tree on the deserted, frozen plain outside the town of Linköping.
From the outset Malin is confronted with a host of unanswered questions: Who is the dead man? How did he end up in a tree? And where did the strange wounds on his body come from?
Malin and her team must search for the truth in a community that seems determined to keep its secrets, and follow in the frigid wake of a killer to the darkest corners of the human heart.
Early one morning in the coldest winter in Swedish memory, police detective Malin Fors is called away from the warm flat she shares with her teenage daughter. The naked body of a man has been found hanging from a tree on the deserted, frozen plain outside the town of Linköping.
From the outset Malin is confronted with a host of unanswered questions: Who is the dead man? How did he end up in a tree? And where did the strange wounds on his body come from?
Malin and her team must search for the truth in a community that seems determined to keep its secrets, and follow in the frigid wake of a killer to the darkest corners of the human heart.
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Reviews
Meditative. Dark. Really, really cold . . . This is a worthy successor to Larsson's Millennium trilogy . . . This first installment in Kallentoft's crime series is a splendid representative of the Swedish crime novel, in all its elegance and eeriness.
Don't bother with Stieg Larsson, Kallentoft is better
One of the best-realised female heroines I've read by a male writer
The highest suspense
He has a completely unique style, an exquisite narrative that you drink in with pleasure . . . I'm convinced: a crime novel doesn't get much more beautiful than this
A gripping opening gambit . . . Investigating inspector Malin Fors is a feisty single mother, whose flaws are intriguing and endearing . . . The chillingly suspense-filled story works up to a truly stunning finale.
Malin Fors is an intriguing and complex heroine . . . MIDWINTER SACRIFICE shows the hidden life under the picturesque surface . . . Kallentoft is an outstanding writer
More very impressive input from another Scandinavian writer with something refreshingly different to say and with a different way of saying it . . . the background of Sweden in the grip of a cruel and punishing winter is brought vividly to the page. His illustration of the complex character of his heroine is also impressive . . . An impressive book.
[Kallentoft] is rightly praised for his skill at plotting, as well as his ability to create strongly-realised female protagonists . . . The author's sequence featuring his wonderfully rounded female protagonist Malin Fors is rapidly acquiring a devoted following.
Sharp writing and original insights add spice
This is a dark novel, full of awful people and desperate loneliness. Kallentoft is ruthless in his descriptions, but there is a great story here with solid police work leading Fors to the tale of the dead man in the tree. A must for the fans of Swedish crime novels.
Kallentoft is gifted . . . He has a knack for characterisation and describing the slow burn of police work.
A cleverly crafted . . . dark multilayered murder mystery
Delivers in spades
Most successful as an in-depth exploration of small-town life in a country which is theoretically democratic and egalitarian, but only on the surface.
An all-round chilling read, and an interesting beginning to what will be a fascinating five-part series of crime fiction page turners featuring the policewoman.
My current favourite among the Scandinavian crime writers is another Swede, Mons Kallentoft. So far, three of his Malin Fors books have been translated into English: Midwinter Sacrifice, Summertime Death and Autumn Killing. I loved them all, particularly for the way Kallentoft gives a voice to his victims.
