The Viper
A Crime Novel
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3.6 • 8 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Another Scandinavian star has been born into the world of crime fiction. Don't miss out on Hakan Ostlundh!"
--Stephen Booth, author of The Devil's Edge
Published in nine countries worldwide, Håkan Östlundh is well on his way to becoming one of the new superstars of Scandinavian crime fiction. In this gripping and haunting novel, Arvid, a ruthless business consultant for a major international company, returns home to Sweden after a lengthy assignment in Tokyo. Four days after his return, the maid discovers two dead bodies on the living room floor—a man and a woman. At first, police detective Fredrik Broman assumes the two bodies to be Arvid and his wife, but the male body is badly disfigured and could be anyone. Soon, Fredrik is knee-deep in case that is much more complex than he could ever have imagined.
Set on the island of Gotland, The Viper is a fabulous crime novel that explores the terrors lurking beneath small town life, where escaping one's past is impossible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
stlundh's U.S. debut, an engrossing thriller, upholds the fine Scandinavian literary tradition of using crime to peek into deep-rooted social malaises. When a cleaning lady discovers a gruesome double murder in an isolated farmhouse on the Swedish island of Gotland, the police assume that the disfigured male body next to Kristina Traneus, who's been hacked to death, belongs to Kristina's husband, Arvid. A few days earlier, Arvid returned home permanently from a decade spent working in Japan, where he made a fortune and left behind a lover. The eventual realization that the body is not Arvid's prompts a manhunt that unearths long-buried family secrets about accidental and other untimely deaths without casting any light on the perpetrator of the crimes. Along the way, as various minor characters flit across the stage, the author delivers a thoughtful meditation on the nature of evil and what makes a person culpable.
