Grendel’s Game

Written by Erik Mauritzson

Narrated by David Doersch

Southwestern Sweden is the site of an increasingly frantic hunt for Grendel, a psychopathic murderer the media will dub "the cannibal killer."

Thirty-year veteran, quirky, overweight Chief Superintendent Walther Ekman, has a difficult choice when he gets a boastful letter from the self-proclaimed cannibal: he can ignore it as a hoax or set about finding him. His intuition tells him there have been multiple murders, even though no bodies have been found.

His friend, psychiatrist Jarl Karlsson, helps his build a profile of a brilliant, homicidal sociopath, and warns Ekman that the killer is focused on him. The investigation pursues a twisting path, in the process uncovering Stina Lindstrom, a seductive black widow, her first husband and ex-con accomplice, and a ruthless, adulterous official.

Grendel's taunts have become increasingly personal and so dangerously close to home that Ekman sends his wife, Ingbritt, out of harm's ways. As the push to find the killer accelerates, headline-seeking newspaperman Bruno Haeggman launches a public vendetta against Ekman that can shatter his reputation. Compelled by political pressure to call on Superintendent Garth Rystrom of the National CID for help, Ekman senses the investigation is spinning out of control. As he and his team narrow the field of suspects, a sudden, wrenching confrontation with the killer threatens to destroy Ekman and his family.

In a long career of catching criminals, Ekman has somehow always felt personally invulnerable. Grendel teaches him otherwise by brutally making him a crime victim, and in the process, changes Ekman forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Aug 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094426464

Erik Mauritzson

ERIK MAURITZSON, an attorney, has worked as a court administrator, central bank official, financial consultant, university professor, editor in chief of a legal publishing house, newspaper columnist, and military intelligence specialist. His travels around Sweden and Scandinavia have taken him to thirty-two other countries, including a year spent in a Japanese fishing village in northern Hokkaido. Grendel's Game is his first mystery novel.

Reviews for Grendel’s Game

[karolina.loof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book is good and the narrator is ok, but why does he think Swedes sound German? ??

[Leif Henning · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great narration. Complex story. Definitely a page turner. Would recommend.

[Robert Belyk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I’ve found in years! With excellent narration and a cleaver plot, I can’t recommend this Nordic mystery highly enough.

[James van Scoyoc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great mystery with the right pacing!

I'm surprised it's his first.

[Emily Blasdel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a complexly woven story that kept my attention until the last word! Whoever said the narrator wasn’t good obviously didn’t listen to much of the book. Great writing! I hope to find more as good as this one.

[Paul Willmann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I did not like the reader his voice was terrible

[Rob Saunders · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's a good story. Not homophobic as some reviews claim.

[Eedge Eeva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a good and twisted story with so many guesses, some losses and brilliant finale. Be mindful what people are around you!

[Barry Weber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Some good twists and turns that one easily follows and great psychological analysis.

[Janette Terry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I rarely come across an author with such skill. One of the best

[Meghan Laue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well read with excellent voice acting! Thoroughly enjoyed it! Recommend

[Dragos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good book but with a major problem. The final twist seems artificial, rushed and not believable.

[mike purdy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Detective work was realistic. Real people and thoughts. I’d like another like it.

[Sarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book and characters were great, with the exception that there weren't very many compelling or developed female characters. I'm looking forward to seeing what else this author writes or has written. In the audiobook, though, the narrator / actor very annoyingly mispronounces all st- words. He didn't bother to find out that Swedes would never do this, and unfortunately no producer told him to stop. Ugh. The book is so filled with SCHTina, SCHTillen, and SCHTockholm that it became grating and distracting from the story.

[Lorraine Becker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent story with a great narrator.Looking forward to more by this author!

[Dayle Paquette · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. The main character had me from the first paragraph. I will definitely look for more books from this author. The reader, unbelievable great.

[Scott Shepard · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I dislike any book that digs deep through many hours of reading or listening into various possible bad guys only to spring the real miscreant in the final 20 minutes. I feel cheated and the author was going for page count.

[Manya Maratou · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story is ok, kept me listening. I am not so sure about the accents in the narration. Even though the pacing, voices and general timbre of the narrator are excellent, I couldn’t get used to the Scandinavian accented English. I kept on asking “why???” It did distract me

[Ruth Caramanica · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It kept me interested right until the end. I thought it might be gory given the first chapter but it wasn’t and like the characters.

[kwakyewaa owusu-nyantakyi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There’s a certain stoic precision to the way the book was written that makes it so enjoyable. Not too much fluff. Would love to read more from this writer.

[J.R. Ruhlman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good book, and no it has nothing to do with transphobic. Ignore those comments completely. Unbased.

[Ashlee Rosenberger · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The writing is good, the plot twist is good. However the book started with racist tones on "others" moving into the area and Walther not fully accepting the environmental changes. Note to the author: if someone is transgender m2f, pronouns are she/her or even they/them. "He" was used multiple times without variation after naming the culprit as transgender. I could understand perhaps the author was going for a crotchety old man stuck in an old school mindset of ignorance, characters are people, and some folks are downright ignorant with no will to learn. But the author continues the word "he" all around through the ending.

No qualms about the reasoning behind it, that could very well be a solid motivation. This book has a set up that could have been a great book if the author was not tone deaf. I would have also liked to hear more on the couple after all the investigative work. Or included the culprit more into the story line.

I'm surprised and a bit disappointed Scribd would pick this book up as a feature project.

The narrator was great, I enjoyed listening to his voices and he does a very nice gruff voice

[speckledpup · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good story without gore, descriptive sex, foul language and “without the “inner existential meditative thoughts “ and musings of today’s writers…just let the story proceed and move along ….without all the descriptive reflecting….Swedish writers seem to stay with the moving story.. …SOoo prefer male narrators and no British accents for a change..thanks!!!

[Zetamora Rose Tilly · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Problematic. Slow and boring. Transphobic and uninspired. 0/10 DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

[JoAnna DeHaven · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very suspenseful. Difficult knowing who is murdering- who is Grendel? Loved the narrator-great voice.

[Tiffany · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Summary: The writer is transphobic and assumes that everyone else is, too. The writing itself is unexceptional.

Review:

The main character and the writing is incredibly transphobic and misogynistic. It’s not just a transphobic character, it’s a transphobic narrative. The writer assumes that the reader’s default framework for a trans person is that gender dysphoria stems from trauma, mental illness, and a desire to manipulate people.

The detective casually describes women with their physical attributes as substitutes for personalities. Rather than fleshing out any personalities, he uses their appearances and social status to signal their static roles. A plain faced wife is dependable and comforting. A plain faced wife with an ultra youthful and fit body? Now you really know why she is so highly valued by her husband! Boring. It’s just boring.

The plot was predictable and not really that interesting. I did finish it, I think so I could definitely say that the book sucked. I really don’t understand the good reviews. It was like listening to a detective story from someone who slept through one psychology class in 1975 and feels that gives them an deep understanding of all criminal behavior.

Setting aside the repulsive attitudes shared by the protagonist and the author, the story itself is nothing special. I knew who the killer was within two minutes of their introduction. It was not a guess. It was totally obvious.

It’s mediocre self insert fiction from an ignorant point of view. I have nothing against mediocre writing, self insert fiction, or even predictable plot lines. I listen to plenty of mediocre books and even enjoy them. What I don’t enjoy is an author’s failure to do research and lack of basic understanding of human behavior. It’s lazy, arrogant, and irresponsible.
You can get the same quality of story writing minus the side of sewage with zero effort. Don’t waste your time with this book. Don’t waste your time with this writer.

[Sara Romao · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was cautious as many reviews seemed to find the book slow
I thought it was excellent and was engaged right to the end. I thought the characters evolved well and I enjoyed the build up which also reminded me that the main character was exhausted and in deep pain. I really look forward to another book from this author who combines day to day lives of average, normal people with a tension that bites and holds on.

[MK Hunter · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The audiobook cuts off partway through, in the middle of a sentence, and says the book is finished. Disappointing.

[Leah Barton Tew · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Meh. Characters were poorly developed. I didn’t predict the twist at the end, yet it wasn’t surprising at all. No build up or suspense.

[Michaelissa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written, tight suspense, looking forward to reading the next book!