Blot

Written by Håkan Östlundh

Narrated by Reine Brynolfsson

En ambulanshelikopter flyger över Östersjön med kriminalpolisen Fredrik Broman. Han har en svår skallskada och ingen vet om han kommer att klara sig.

Tre veckor tidigare har två människor hittats mördade på en gård i Levide. En kvinna, dödad med ett enda hugg. En man, massakrerad till oigenkännlighet. När de hittas på den blodiga stavparketten i det exklusiva vardagsrummet har de redan varit döda i två dagar. Husets ägare, Arvid Traneus, har nyligen kommit hem efter flera år som storföretagskonsult i Japan. Polisen utgår först från att Arvid är den slaktade mannen. Kvinnan vid hans sida har ju identifierats som frun i huset. Men när det visar sig att den döde mannen inte är Arvid utan hans kusin, tar utredningen en ny vändning. Och de misstänkta tycks försvinna spårlöst.

Blot utspelas på det idylliska men isolerade Gotland, där det visar sig vara svårare att undkomma sitt förflutna än i storstaden. Vi får följa Fredrik Broman och hans kollegor vid Visbypolisen i deras jakt på en förbryllande besinningslös mördare. Med Blot har Östlundh skapat en annorlunda men ändå klassisk deckare, som i Reine Brynolfssons uppläsning håller lyssnaren fängslad från början till slut.

• Language: Svenska
• Publisher: Word Audio Publishing International
• Release date: Apr 3, 2008
• ISBN: 9789185771363

Reviews for Blot

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Östlundh may be new to the American crime scene, but he's an established crime writer in Sweden, where his series featuring Fredrik Broman has already enjoyed success. This novel is a police procedural which also tries to be a psychological study; as a police procedural it's pretty good but otherwise it comes off sort of flat. When the Visby cops (with whom Broman works) are doing their job it's quite interesting; otherwise, it's a bit confusing, incomplete and rather so-so. There are two main stories at work here. As the novel opens a helicopter is landing at a hospital, its patient none other than Fredrik Broman himself. He has sustained terrible injuries that will keep him hospitalized for some time. That storyline is interspersed with the investigation that ultimately put him there, as the police are called to the scene of a double homicide. The female victim is Kristina Traneus, wife of Arvid, who is returning to his life in Sweden after a number of years away as a corporate "annihilator" in Japan. Kristina was not at all happy about Arvid's return; it seems that while Arvid has been gone, she had taken up once again with her former lover (and Arvid's cousin) Anders. But the question on the minds of the detectives is that of the male victim's identity -- who is it? His identity has been virtually wiped out after having been attacked in a frenzy with some sort of very sharp blade, and the police are left to wonder if it was Anders, Arvid or even a third, unknown party. During their investigation, the police pick up clues about Arvid and Kristina's family life, which, according to everyone, was all but happy -- including the death of a daughter some years earlier, something "hush-hush," which "may have been cancer, or else something psychological that made her commit suicide." While the central mystery behind the identity of not only the killer but the victim is solid, keeping the reader interested enough to keep reading on, the characterizations leave a lot to be desired. Chapters move quickly, and each character plays a part in moving the story along. But therein lies the problem: considering that the story moves via an omniscient narrator between the viewpoints of different characters, you'd think the author would have put much more effort into careful character construction. Sadly, with the exception of Arvid and Kristina, the others come across as less than credible, especially when the author tries to delve inside of their respective heads. And I'm sorry -- but why do we need a high-class prostitute talking to Arvid's penis before performing oral sex in the very first chapter? I hate when authors do this. I would love to read his other work to find out if this one is an anomaly among the other series novels; normally I would chalk this up to the problems often found in series' first novels, but this one is the fourth. To be fair, I was interested in the main murder plot, and I was interested in the story of the dead sister, but the latter had to be guessed at, pulling in clues here and there as the story progressed, ultimately to be somewhat disappointed. And to be even more fair, this book is getting a number of great reviews, with people comparing the author to other masters of Scandinavian crime fiction.

[beamis12 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book even though every book that comes out of Sweden is being compared to Steig Larson. Actually the only resemblance is another dysfunctional family, and we all know there are several novels with this as a basis. Pacing was a little slow in parts but I did enjoy the story. Look forward to reading more of this series. Actually I think this is the fourth in the series, now have to go and see if the other three have been translated in the US.

[souleswanderer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just when you think they can't possibly add another wonderful author to the overflowing buffet of Scandinavian crime fiction, better plan on going back for seconds, or even thirds. Responding to a house-cleaner's call, two people have been killed. The woman who resided there and an unidentifiable man, presumed to be her husband, recently returned from Japan. It's the story of how life can go wrong living in a small community, where growing up with outward appearances not matching the reality of a dysfunctional family life leads to heinous consequences. Maybe it's the isolation, or one man's seeming attempt to control everything around him, but it's up to detective Fredrik Broman to put the pieces together. This is a novel filled with a lot of wonderful characters, both real and flawed, coping with a harsh landscape and even harsher peoples. The police aren't innocent of rushed speculations, missing pieces of evidence due to theories based on supposition, and it's comforting to see they don't get everything right all the time. Through many man hours and determination the pieces eventually fall into place as the investigation moves towards a close.The only disappointment was learning that this is actually the fourth book in the series, first one printed in the States. Now I either need to begin studying a foreign language or wait patiently for the previous books to be translated.

[garcia6690 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was lucky to have received a free copy from Goodreads. I really liked this book, a who did it double murder mystery with twists along the way.

[karieh_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am absolutely 100% on the Swedish thriller train. Started with Stieg Larsson, moved to Lars Kepler, and just read “The Viper” by Hakan Ostlundh. What has gripped me about most of these books is not so much the crime, or the thriller aspect, but the unique characters, the depth given to them by the authors…such a huge departure from most American thrillers and their stock characters.I do always wonder how a story changes in the translation…and after reading this book – I wonder even more. “The Viper” had none of the depth that I have appreciated in the past. To be honest, I kept forgetting who the main character was even supposed to be. Per the back of my copy, I think it is Detective Fredrik Broman, but that doesn’t come across in the story.There are many sort-of main characters. The reader learns a bit about them, but not enough to form any sort of attachment or develop much interest in what happens to them. As in American thrillers, the case leads the plot, with the author throwing out several possible combinations of events, but without giving the reader nearly enough background to even have a suspicion on which might be true.I just didn’t get much from this book. The chapters kept tiptoeing towards dramatic tension…but then when the moment would come for some sort of revelation or turn of events – the chapter would end.So I don’t know if this book lost something in the translation or if the story was just rather flat to start with. But “The Viper” just didn’t have much of a bite.(Sorry.)

[annie.michelle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The crime writing Swedes are alive and well in Hakan Ostlundh’s new book The Viper In this book, we are introduced to a family in crisis. The father Arvid Traneus is a hard and controlling man working and living in Tokyo while his estranged family waits for him on a tiny and isolated island in Sweden that they call home. Arvid's longtime job is finally done and as he bids his girlfriend goodbye and flies home for the last time from Tokyo to return to his family, He wonders what life will be like now.four days after he arrives home the maid comes to clean and discovers two dead & mutilated bodies on the living room floor. One is clearly Arvids long suffering wife and the other one is a man so badly mutilated it is too hard to tell who he is. So begins the police procedural as they try to unravel this heinous "who done it"Is it Arvid who has beaten his wife in the past and maybe this time went to far? Could it be a boyfriend of the long suffering wife and victim Kristina? Was the childhood of the now grown children Rickard & Elin so tortured maybe one of them snapped?Could it be the crazy old man who bicycles the loney roads day and night who sees all going in the tiny & isolated village? This book kept me burning the midnight oil until the very end when the killer is revealed. A great read from a writer I will be keeping my eyes on

[mikedraper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Arvid Traneus, a ruthless, arrogant businessman, returns home to Sweden after a lengthy assignment in Tokyo. Shortly after his return, the maid finds two bodies in the Tranus's home, a male and a female. The female was stabbed and is identified as Mrs. Tranus but the male is too disfigured to tell for sure.The action takes place on the island of Gotland, located sixty miles off the southeastern coast of Sweden. It's an island where gossip is part of life and many people pride themselves on knowing what their neighbors are doing.We also see the relationship between the members of the Gotland police department, their camaraderie, friendship and professionalism. As the story opens, detective Fredrik Broman is helicoptered into an emergency room with a severe head injury. Then as we follow the story, we move back to the hospital to see the progress of his recovery and view the steps that happened during the investigation which resulted in the injury.The island life, the exotic setting and the family relationships and police friendships combine to create a novel rich in psychological drama and interesting to read.