Carolina Setterwall’s debut novel Let’s Hope for the Best has just received another rave review in Denmark:

”A magnificent reading experience. Raw, honest, and self-revealing. For those who love stories from real life.”
5/6 Magasinet Liv

Carolina Setterwall’s debut novel Let’s Hope for the Best continues to receive rave reviews in Denmark:

“I can only recommend this book.”
MELLEM-LINJERNE.DK (DK)

“It’s the kind of book that you’ll never forget. It gets under your skin. It moves into the heart. The story is so vulnerable and direct that one cannot avoid caring for the people it is about, and to love them. […] I have never read a book that, so beautifully, puts into words how difficult it is to live without – but also to live with – the one you love. One of the best, most touching and most relevant books I’ve ever read.”
RANDIGLENSBO.DK (DK)

“A brave and honest story that is very hard to let go of – even after you’ve finished reading it. A ‘must read’ for everyone – whether you have lost someone or not.”
BECH’S BOOKS (DK)

Let’s Hope for the Best by Carolina Setterwall is being praised in Denmark:

“Honest and unvarnished autofiction … Carolina Setterwall writes about the many nuances of grief, but also about love, family life and expectations of life before and after the sudden death. The precise and almost photographic memories of the past are fine and nuanced … The love story is by no means romanticized, and the descriptions of the author’s grief process and thoughts, also the less pretty ones, makes the novel even better.”
LITTERATURSIDEN.DK

“A vulnerable, honest and intense novel about loss and trying to move on. It’s poignant and well-written.”
DANSK BIBLIOTEKSCENTER

Erasure by Tove Alsterdal continues to receive rave reviews in Sweden:

“This is a thrilling page-turner. But Tove Alsterdal’s Erasure is also a subtle psychological novel about relationships, a captivating historical novel about life in a borderland, and a thought-provoking, philosophical novel. […] Breathlessly, the reader gets to experience how silenced and hidden stories from the past and people’s inner depths are brought into the light – in a way Tove Alsterdal does like no other. Cleverly, delicately, masterfully.”
Västerbottenskuriren (SE)

“Tove Alsterdal stands out in the suspense genre with an illuminating social perspective.”
AFTONBLADET (SE)

Carolina Setterwall’s debut novel Let’s Hope for the Best has been lauded in Denmark since its publication by C&K on January 17th.

“Setterwalls book is razor sharp and so brave that you can barely understand how she dares. […] It’s a book that gives you shivers as it rises beyond grief in the finest way.”
6/6, Femina 

”Let’s Hope for The Best is a story about love. And it’s a reconciliation with death, but also with life and our expectations for it.”
HENDES VERDEN 

“The book is a novel as much as it is an honest diary, and the naked self-examination is a moving read. Guilt, grief, and dizzying love are combined in a brave way.”
EUROWOMAN 

Tove Alsterdal’s new suspense novel Erasure continues to receive rave reviews in Sweden:

“[Alsterdal’s] nuanced and restrained prose not only gives authenticity to the characters and milieus, and the same fenomen heightens the suspense. […] What builds her plot isn’t the calculated or unlikely, it’s rather the structured and comprehensive. The wisdom of history, the return of injustice from the century when the idiocy of nationalism devastated the continent. History is the murderer, now and then. […] A true history lesson, a tale in the minor key.”
Norrbottenskuriren (SE)

“Erasure is a novel about a time, an era, and history. But it is also both thrilling and moving, it is after all written by Tove Alsterdal, which is always a guarantee for quality. […] In Erasure she elevates her authorship further. She tells a story that may be fictive, but that nonetheless stems from many actual human fates. And she does so with precision and great empathy.”
Smålandsposten (SE)

A Nearly Normal Family by Mattias Edvardsson has received a rave review in Stavanger Aftenblad:

“Edvardsson is a master of suspense, and digs deep into the inner workings of the family. He has written an impressive page turner about three people in crisis.”

The novel was published by Gyldendal in Norway on January 4th.

Erasure by Tove Alsterdal has received a rave review by Lotta Olsson in Dagens Nyheter:

“The atmosphere is as eerie as in a horror movie: the creaking old estate without a single mirror, the overgrown garden that extends down to the river, the cellar that isn’t really consistent with the plans, an alarming sense of impending catastrophe. […] Few can write like Tove Alsterdal. She has a style of her own and a directness to her tone, and portrays people who are neither downright good nor bad. It is human and that’s what makes it so frightening: everyone can commit evil deeds, and everyone can keep fateful secrets.”

A Nearly Normal Family by Mattias Edvardsson has received a review in Adresseavisen after its recent publication in Norway by Gyldendal:

“About to conquer the world.”

Tiina Nevala and Henrik Karlsson have received a rave review from Aftonbladet for their novel For People Like Us:

“A brilliant feel good novel […] Marvelous style and authentic emotions.”

After She’s Gone by Camilla Grebe has received a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly:

“Grebe delivers an unflinching, heart-wrenching message about the plight of refugees in this scorching thriller.”

Read the review here.

The US edition of After She’s Gone has just received a rave pre-publication review from Booklist:

“This atmospheric mystery is masterfully constructed. […] Nordic noir at its best.”

Ballantine will publish After She’s Gone on February 26th, 2019.

A Nearly Normal Family by Mattias Edvardsson has received a rave review:

“A Nearly Normal Family is endlessly thrilling about the turbulence surrounding a family that’s crumbling, and the secrets that have been laid bare. Is nothing what it seems? Mattias Edvardsson has written a deeply moving psychological thriller with many layers and many questions, and with answers that surprises.”
Smålandsposten

Inertia by Camilla Grebe has received a rave review in Uppsala Nya Tidning:

“The last book by the brilliant Camilla Grebe, After She’s Gone, was named Best Crime Novel of the Year by the Crime Writer’s Academy in 2017. In the new book Inertia, she uses a different narrative technique. The protagonists take turns telling the story in separate chapters. At the centre is 18 year old Samuel who has found himself on a slippery slope. In the end, his deeply religious mother Pernilla is forced to act against everything she’s ever believed in. Psychologically permeating and incredibly disturbing.”

Camilla Grebe, the winner of The Glass Key Award 2018, has received a rave review in Oskarshamns-Tidningen:

“It’s impossible to lay Camilla Grebe’s books aside until you find out how everything’s connected.”

Inertia is Camilla Grebe’s latest psychological thriller and was recently published by Wahlström & Widstrand in Sweden.

Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s novel What We Owe, recently published in the US by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has received a rave review in The Literary Review:

“Hashemzadeh Bonde depicts a haunting and emotional tale of survival, of what it means to be a refugee. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nahid, the reader vividly sees that fleeing a place is not synonymous with fleeing the complexity of a situation. Through language that is practically poetic, Bonde constructs a story that reads like a love letter from mother to daughter, a letter in which Nahid expresses her deepest regrets and offers the explanation her daughter always craved, but she could never verbalize.”

Read the review here.

Samuel Bjørk’s third book in his bestselling series about Mia Krüger and Holger Munch, The Boy in the Headlights, was just published in Norway and here’s the latest collection of rave reviews:

“The Boy in the Headlights is the best book in the series so far. Here, Bjørk proves he’s in shape and that he’s being playful. The plot is thrilling and well constructed, with many surprising twists. The ending is both frightening and cold as ice. […] Bjørk has an original voice. His style is at times rhythmic and musical, and sometimes he offers constructions we usually find in poetry.”
VERDENS GANG (NO)

“Bjørk proves to be a storyteller that builds and constructs his tales in clever and ingenious ways […] When you think you’re close to figuring everything out, Bjørk gives the story a new turn and the tension holds to the very last page. That’s the way it should be in the great crime novels, and that’s how it is here. […] Bjork writes exceptionally well – there’s a propulsion to both his style and plot that makes it impossible to put down the book before your eyes give up.”
NETTAVISEN, 5/6 (NO)

“An exuberant and dark fantasy. […] There’s an uneasy atmosphere permeating this story urging the reader from page to page in want of a solution. Bjørk’s writing is captivating, and Holger and Mia have established themselves as a couple you like and recognize.”
TRØNDER-AVISA, 5/6 (NO)

“What distinguishes Bjørk from most of his colleages in the thriller genre is his literary talent. His imagery and metaphors are more original, and he’s better at creating associations than most. He creates subsidiary characters we care about, and let’s them sail their own sea in favor of the main plot, as we keep being curious about them. This creates a singular energi which separates Bjørk from the many thrillers that are more adapted for the market. […] Claustrophobic suspense to the very end.”
ADRESSEAVISEN (NO)

Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s novel What We Owe, published in the UK by Fleet, has received a rave review in The Economist:

“It knots the experiences of three generations of women into a taut and moving account of grief, a legacy handed down from mother to daughter “as sure as the raven-black hair”.”

Read the review here.

The US edition of The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson, recently published by Grand Central, has received a review by Book Reporter :

“The Forbidden Place is a slow-boiling novel that combines elements of classic and modern mysteries with discussions of such disparate topics as quantum physics anomalies, ancient mysticism, legends and religion. While there is certainly a mystery within these pages, the police investigation and procedure often take a backseat to philosophical considerations, even as the conclusion features a modern take on Agatha Christie’s “meeting room” whodunit disclosures.”

Read the review here.

The US edition of The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson has received a first rave review in Crimereads.com list of debut crime novels to read this September:

“This debut marks the first appearance in English of a major new voice in Scandinavian crime fiction.”
Crimereads.com

The American edition of What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde has received rave reviews prior to the publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on October 16th:

“Nahid’s sentences are short and thrillingly brutal, and the result is exhilarating. Hashemzadeh Bonde, unafraid of ugliness and seemingly unconcerned with likability, has produced a startling meditation on death, national identity, and motherhood. Always arresting, never sentimental; gut-wrenching, though not without hope.”
Kirkus

“Life is juxtaposed with death, resistance and revolution and rebirth are woven throughout the pages, and what it means to be a wife, daughter, sister, mother, and woman are unflinchingly examined in this book. This book is a powerhouse, and I don’t use that term often.”
Book Riot

Dorthe Nors continues to receive stunning reviews of her new short story collection Map of Canada:

“Incisive short stories about the distances between people. […] Dorthe Nors’s precise prose moves effortlessly from the smallest perceptible details to the alarming destruction of memory.”
Politiken, 5/6

“Dorthe Nors has a great eye for the peculiarities of ordinary people, the thoughts and desires we don’t share with others.”
Weekendavisen

“Dorthe Nors is great, antiheroistic literature for our time. Read her.”
Elle, 5/6

Danish master of the short story Dorthe Nors has just published a new collection of stories, Map of Canada. Here are excerpts of some of the stunning reviews that has come from Denmark so far:

“Dorthe Nors can make it hurt incredibly in just a few lines.”
Berlingske, 5/6

“Dorthe Nors is a master in the art of suggestion.”
Børsen, 5/6

“Nors is an incredibly honest, observing, and brave author.”
Femina, 6/6

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors has received a rave review by Clare Vaye Watkins in The New York Times:

“Page after addictive page, Nors pushes Sonja beyond her class betrayal and survivor’s guilt, beyond anger at her mother for encouraging her independence, into and, miraculously, out of a profound dislocation of the soul embodied by her vertigo, which bursts forth in a gorgeous, breathless finale. […] Nors gives the invisible woman the dignity of her artful gaze; as Sonja thinks on the masseuse’s table, “It’s wonderful being delved into.” This triumphant novel sounds the depths of women’s unseen strength in a register that reconciles enlightened feminism with working-class rage.”

Read the review here.

What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde has received a rave review in The New Zealand Herald:

“She’s a challenging protagonist: abrasive, suffering, contemptuous, judgmental, relentless in her rejections and surgically honest. Short, concussive chapters jerk with sentences that hammer like a machine-gun. Bonde manages to be tender without any sentiment, precise but never reductive. It’s a narrative arc which moves towards a wounded reconciliation. It’s lit by moments of tranquillity and something close to joy but it’s never easy or mawkish. […] Read this short book and marvel; it shakes you to your centre.”

Read the review here.

The US edition of Requiem by Geir Tangen was published by St Martins Press on July 31st, and here’s two rave reviews:

“A dark and slightly creepy thriller that fans of Henning Mankell and Arnaldur Indridason will appreciate.”
Library Journal

“A gripping, suitably atmospheric must-read for Scandinavian crime-fiction devotees.”
Booklist 

A Nearly Normal Family by Mattias Edvardsson has received rave reviews in Sweden:

“This is a real page turner. […] The book is structured in a way that gives us the father’s, the mother’s, and the daughter’s stories in separate parts, and the truth is revealed piece by piece. A perfect summer read on the beach.”
Aftonbladet

“It’s not often that you have a stomache-ache when reading a suspense novel. Usually, the plot is far from one’s own life, so that you’re able to be frightened in a pleasant and comfortable way. In this case, you’re stuck in a state of true unease. The parents’ anxiety is contagious. You grow mad of all that is left unsaid, the lack of communication and trust. At the same time, you understand the characters involved. They are human, through and through, and victims of their own shortcomings as well as the inequality of society and the legal system. Simply put, Mattias Edvardsson writes with impressive psychological drive. The portrayal is so convincing that it feels as though a close friend is caught up in the story. The plot is so skillfully constructed that you don’t find out how it ends until the very last pages  – and then it surprises in every possible way. On top of that, there is a much needed and important critique of the arbitrary way that abused women are treated by the legal system. But, most of all, one is left with a alarming sense of how vulnerable life is.”
Norra Skåne

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors has received a rave review in The New Yorker:

“In flowing and absorbing prose, Nors illustrates how this anxious, alienated woman experiences setbacks and triumphs, proportionate to her carefully enclosed life, and how it might be possible for anyone to overcome immense loneliness and make a connection.”

Read the review here.

The UK edition of Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s novel What We Owe was published by Fleet on July 5th, and here’s a first rave review from Stylist Magazine:

“In this short yet remarkable novel, Nahid learns she has cancer, and just six months to live. […] Rather than a gentle meditation on a life lived to the full, What We Owe is filled with the rage of a woman who has been through trauma and loss, who has been left haunted by violence, and who wants more from those that love her.”

Falco by Mons Kallentoft and Anna Karolina continues to receive rave reviews from Swedish critics. Here’s yet another one from Ölandsbladet:

“This is a really good thriller, suspenseful and well-written.”

For People Like Us by debut authors Tiina Nevala and Henrik Karlsson has received a rave review in Dagens Nyheter:

“An unexpectedly funny and well-written tale about a newly separated literary scholar who meets an editor at an all inclusive holiday. But the editor is already in a relationship… A classic, romantic story with lots of humor and eerily authentic interiors from the publishing world (including frightening authors) and the university.”

The Finnish edition of What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde was published in March, and here are excerpts of recent rave reviews from Finland:

“Bonde’s psychological insight is sharp as a knife, and her character portrayals are touchingly striking. This intense and captivating novel is one to devour in a single sitting. It holds an incomparable courage that strikes the reader like a punch to the face – in the best of ways.”
Ilta-Sanomat

”When [Nahid] finds out that she is terminally ill, she realizes her own will to live. This may sound like a cliché, but it’s quite the opposite. […] The emotions of motherhood are scrutinized with great sensitivity, and the ending causes you to cry violently.”
Kodin Kuhalehti

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors has received a rave review in The Guardian:

“Sonja thinks in wry, quippy sentences and her delivery is deadpan. While her existential malaise contains moments of desperation, there are fabulously zingy one-liners alongside it. This bewitching Danish novel reveals its tragicomic depths gradually.”

Read the review here.

The New York Times has chosen Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors as one of the ten new books they recommend this week:
“Nors, the darkly comic and wily Danish writer, is at her most unassuming and ambitious in this novel, which was a finalist for the International Man Booker Prize in 2017.”

Read the editors’ choice of the week here.

The 2017 Man Booker Prize finalist Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors has recieved a rave review by Parul Sehgal in New York Times:

“There’s a bracing freshness and chill to the writing, and the unforced ease of a song. […] Nors’s fiction begins at the moment of unmooring — in all its pain and possibility, as these women imagine themselves into being. It’s the foundation, too, of a harsh wit that recalls early Lorrie Moore. […] If her subject is unwavering, her style remains restless, less out of a desire to be ‘experimental’ than out of playfulness and a genuine yearning, one feels, for contact and connection.”

Read the full review here.

The 2017 Man Booker Prize finalist Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors is listed as a summer book to get excited about by Buzzfeed:

“Dorthe Nors’ protagonist, Sonja, is an unassuming, fascinating character, whose quiet journey through learning how to drive manages to illuminate the angst of her very existence. […] Sonja’s little victories feel monumental, in the way your own little victory might. It’s because Dorthe Nors has created a woman merely doing what we all are — trying to figure out how to live.”

Read more here.

First review for Running Through Fear by Kristina Paltén and Desirée Wahren Stattin. Out now in Sweden.

“The first pages grab hold of me. It’s incredibly thrilling and the book offers a lot of moments of identification.”
OUTSIDE (SE)

Dorthe Nors has just gotten a starred review from Kirkus Reviews for her novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal:

“In this tautly observed novel, Nors reveals a middle-age woman on the verge of disappearance and discovery. […] Nors is an exquisitely precise writer, and in rendering her heroine’s small disruptions and, yes, victories, she is writing for, and of, every one of us.”

The US edition of Mirror, Shoulder, Signal will be published by Graywolf on June 5th, 2018.

The German edition of Susanne Jansson’s The Forbidden Place (Opfermoor) has just been published by C. Bertelsmann, and here’s a first rave review from radio station SR, which also named the book their crime novel recommendation of the week:

“The Forbidden Place by Susanne Jansson has captivated and fascinated me. I have devoured this debut novel packed with psychological suspense and forces of nature in one sitting. […] The milieu that Susanne Jansson portrays is astounding and the language with which she does so couldn’t be more beautiful. […] Simply magnificent!”
SR 3 Saarlandwelle

Rave reviews for Geir Tangen’s thriller Maestro, published by House of Books, in the Netherlands:

“A dream debut from a Norwegian writer. Geir Tangen has written a very good thriller.”
Boeken Bijlage

“Geir Tangen is without a doubt a new star on the Scandi-thriller scene. His writing style is flawless, his language is simple and extremely effective and most importantly, the characters have depth. The story is visually written and it’s captivating from the start.”
Perfecte Buren

Geir Tangen’s thriller Maestro continues its success among readers and critics in the wake of the Swedish publication by Forum.

Renowned crime critic Lotta Olsson from Sweden’s biggest daily Dagens Nyheter:
“Geir Tangen (who is known as Norway’s best-known crime book blogger) writes with an energy that compensates for the most unlikely of scenarios, which makes for a story of incredible drive and high pace.”

Tangen also recieved a rave review on national TV-show Gokväll:
“Most crime novels follow an obvious pattern, but this one stands out in a great way. […] I really like to see a twisted take on a genre that normally is so static. […] A great debut which promises more!”

Susanne Jansson has just gotten a rave review in Denmark for The Forbidden Place:

“Can a suspense novel about a misty bog be thrilling? Hardly, you might think. But then you’d be wrong. Because with her debut novel Susanne Jansson writes herself into the tradition of distinguished Swedish crime writers, who we hope to hear more from.”
Nordjyske stiftstidene

The Danish edition of The Forbidden Place was published on January 12th.

Zack by Mons Kallentoft and Marcus Lutteman is hailed as top-notch Swedish noir by Booklist:

”Fallible, fullbodied characters drive an absolutely riveting plot by acclaimed crime-fiction writer Mons Kallentoft in collaboration with biographer Lutteman. Top-notch Swedish noir.”

Zack is the first novel in a successful series featuring Zack Herry, the brilliant but unconventional star of the Stockholm police force.

Read the full review here.

Camilla Grebe’s crime novel Diary from My Disappearance was praised by Leif GW Persson in his round up of the best Swedish novels this year. Persson is an iconic crime writer, professor of criminology, and widely appreciated TV-host.

Christoffer Carlsson’s last installment in the Leo Junker series, The Thin Blue Line, has just been named one of the best suspense novels of 2017 by Borås Tidning. Here’s what their critic had to say:

“Read it. This is a series that is set to become a future classic. Non-stop enjoyment from The Invisible Man From Salem (2013) until now, the final book.”

Åsa Avdic’s thriller The Dying Game has just received a great new review:

“The Dying Game is an excellent Shutter Island vs. The Hunger Games lovechild. […] A riveting and an excellent read for those who enjoy entering a world where psychological torture is but a game.”
W24 (UK)

The UK edition of The Dying Game was published by Windmill Books on November 2nd.

Geir Tangen’s debut novel Maestro has been chosen as the crime novel recommendation of the week by German radio station WDR 2’s show Krimitipp:

“Maestro by Geir Tangen plays with many clichés and at first it might not seem innovative, but that game is what makes him so special. A highlight for all fans of Scandinavian crime!”

The German edition of Maestro, titled Seelenmesse, was published by Goldmann on October 16th.

Camilla Grebe’s latest novel, Diary from My Disappearance has just received this rave review from renowned critic Ingalill Mosander at Aftonbladet:

“A page-turner that is both an insightful portrayal of our society as well as a skillfully constructed suspense novel. And, not unexpectedly, shortlisted for the Crime Novel of the Year Award.”

Åsa Avdic’s  The Dying Game has just gotten a great review from Heat Magazine:

“With a scary dystopia core and a foreboding that lurks on every page, this is terrifying stuff.”

The UK edition of The Dying Game was published on November 2nd.

Expecting – The Swedish Way by Agnes Wold and Cecilia Chrapkowska has just gotten yet another great review:

“Cecilia Chrapkowska and Agnes Wold’s Expecting – The Swedish Way gets right to the heart of it: that pregnancy and infancy isn’t just a rosy bliss. […] There’s something 70’s-esque about the straightforward and informative writing, without being wrapped in flowery language and completely free from romance and sentimentality. In the best of ways. […] Educative and interesting.”
Aftonbladet

Åsa Avdic has just received a great pre-publication review for The Dying Game from The Sunday Times: 

“Resembling Agatha Christie at her zaniest, this fascinating, ever-changing scenario is deftly and grippingly handled.”

The UK edition will be published by Windmill Books on November 2nd 2017.

Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde keeps getting rave reviews for What We Owe:

“While navigating themes like illness and impending death that are rife with the potential of misstep, she succeeds in creating a completely unsentimental story and is faithful to Nahid’s voice to such a degree that I forgot that there was a writer behind it. I got to know a person so deeply, in a way I have not before, and catch myself wanting to agree with Nahid. To say the world ought to have treated her better, that life ought to have been better. But I have gotten to know her so well that I also know that she would push my embrace away with a sneer. No matter, Nahid is indispensable to Swedish literature’s cast of characters, and I am deeply grateful that Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde has give her to us.”
EXPRESSEN

Susanne Jansson has just gotten a brilliant new review for The Forbidden Place:

“Jansson paints an atmospheric and mysterious portrait of the mire with the help of mist, light, and old legends. It becomes a place where life and death collide, a sort of anteroom to the realm of the dead. […] Since The Forbidden Place is one of the absolute best suspense debuts this year, I’ll gladly return to the enthralling milieus of Dalsland and to the joie-vivant Maya and her way of seeing things through images again.”
CRIMEGARDEN

Camilla Grebe has just gotten a great review for Diary from My Disappearance from renowned suspense critic Lotta Olsson at Dagens Nyheter:

“The atmosphere is quite horror movie-esque in Camilla Grebe’s tenth suspense novel, which is one of her best ones yet. […] Grebe handles her Ormberg with understanding and sensibility, and she succeeds in portraying something entirely new through her carefully constructed and eccentric cast of characters.”

Here’s a great new review for Christoffer Carlsson’s October Is the Coldest Month, which was published in the UK and Australia in June:

“this Scandi thriller is short and taut — and all the better for it. Carlsson’s spare style suits the bleak rural setting he portrays in a remote part of Sweden where inhabitants earn a living by hook or by crook.”
NEW ZEALAND WEEKEND HERALD

Agnes Wold and Cecilia Chrapkowska’s groundbreaking parental guide Expecting – The Swedish Way keeps getting attention in Swedish press. Here’s another rave review:

“Are you of the opinion that the Trump administration relies on alternative facts? That is nothing compared to what women are confronted with as soon as they get pregnant. In the parallell pregnancy reality the alt-facts are commonplace. ‘Truths’ are constantly foisted on you, and shockingly enough they often turn out to be intrusive opinions, moralism, or pure inventions. […] If The Handmaid’s Tale is an exaggerated and dramatized reminder of the anxiety of becoming breeding stock, Wold & Chrapkowska’s book can be a crucial antidote. One by one, they deal with some well-known ‘truths’ related to bearing and birthing and propogated by official institutions, e.g. the variety of advice on what you can eat and drink during pregnancy and breastfeeding – some are correct while other recommendations seem to have been inspired by Christian faith and morality rather than rooted in science.”
Catia Hultquist, Dagens Nyheter

Camilla Grebe’s latest thriller, Diary from My Disappearance, has just gotten a rave new review:

“Diary from My Disappearance is an excellent, stand alone sequel to the acclaimed The Ice Beneath Her. The way the perspectives are interlaced in this story about a cold case murder in a de-populated town is incredibly skillful and well done.”
Tara

Here’s a great new review for Expecting – The Swedish Way:

“Agnes Wold has been a guiding hand when I’ve been pregnant and had small children. A more comforting hand than various parenting bibles, a more allowing hand than the leaflets from the maternity care and the child health centers. She gives the parent more room to be a human being, and less bad conscience. […] What parents need is advice based on science and level-headed tips. And some encouragement.”
Heidi Avellan, Sydsvenskan

Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s stunning novel What We Owe continues to get rave reviews:

“The style is effortless and matter of fact, and the author has a way of giving each sentence heat and weight. […] Literature has a habit of simplifying lives to ’stories’. In many such stories I’ve read, dying people are full of gratitude over the years and experiences they’ve been given here on earth. Nahid is not grateful. She is full of bitterness and rage. Justified rage, I think, against Khomeini and the Islamic dictatorship in Iran, against her father’s illness and her own, against the husband she loved but who hit and kicked her when she wasn’t being submissive enough. Rage and bitterness are often considered harmful and consuming, especially to women. Nahid draws her strength from her rage. She burns. Until the very last breath.”
aftonbladet

Read the review in full here.

Christoffer Carlsson has just gotten a rave review for October is the Coldest Month from The Sydney Morning Herald:

“Everyone knows about Scandi noir but are you aware it extends to teen fiction? October is the Coldest Month is one of the first YA novels of its kind to be translated into English. It should win over a younger audience to the ice and the cold, the grime and grit the genre does so well. […] Vega Gillberg is 16 when the police come looking for her older brother Jakob, who’s vanished after an appalling crime. She has mixed motives for finding him before the cops do. Vega braves the hard faces and long-held grudges of a rural Swedish community. On one level, she’s a typical adolescent  and on another, as we learn more about her complicity that fateful night, Vega has come of age, stepping into an adult world full of doubt and menace. Taut, tense and thick with atmosphere.”

The Australian edition of October is the Coldest Month was published by Scribe on July 3rd.

Dr. Bertil Marklund has gotten a great new review from Publishers Weekly for his book The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer: 10 Easy Tips for a Happier, Healthier Life, which was published in the US and Canada in May:

“Marklund, a doctor and professor at Gothenberg University in Sweden, packs many good things into this small package. His slim book distills medical research, as well as observations from his 20-year practice, experience as a public health specialist, and the Scandinavian way of life, into 10 tips for good health. They are eminently practical, reasonable, and straightforward to implement. […] He explains the science behind each in a refreshingly unpretentious, down-to-earth, thoroughly convincing way that encourages readers to follow his suggestions. […] Readers looking to improve their health without extreme diets or fads, and those who feel overwhelmed by the overload of available health information, must read this book.”

Publishers Weekly has selected The Dying Game by Åsa Avdic as their book of the week, saying:

“Agatha Christie meets George Orwell in journalist Avdic’s unsettling first novel, set in Sweden in 2037 […] Avdic not only constructs a fascinating and original plot but makes her imagined reality chillingly plausible.”

Lotta Olsson, literary critic at Dagens Nyheter, states in her review of The Thin Blue Line that “stylistically, Christoffer Carlsson is one of Sweden’s best crime writers”

Read the full review here.

Bustle has just chosen The Owl Always Hunts at Night as one of “15 Heart-Pounding Thrillers For Your Summer TBR List” with these words:

“Expertly paced and thoughtfully plotted, The Owl Always Hunts at Night will leave you shaken to your core.”

The US edition of The Owl Always Hunts at Night was published by Penguin Books on June 6th.

Åsa Avdic has just gotten this great pre-publication review from Booklist for The Dying Game:

“An Orwellian debut novel that never lets up.”

The US edition of The Dying Game will be published by Penguin Books on August 1st.

The Irish Times has just chosen Christoffer Carlsson’s October is the Coldest Month as one of the best recent YA books:

“Christoffer Carlsson’s October Is the Coldest Month, translated deftly from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, is one of the first Scandi noir books for teens to be published in the UK. In a small rural community, the arrival of a police officer at the front door prompts 16-year-old Vega to find her older brother, Jakob, and uncover the truth about what happened the night a man died. The desolate landscape is the perfect backdrop for this taut tale of old family feuds and unfurling secrets.”

The UK edition of October is the Coldest Month was published by Scribe last week.

Starred review for Åsa Avdic’s The Dying Game in Publishers Weekly:

“Agatha Christie meets George Orwell in journalist Avdic’s unsettling first novel, set in Sweden in 2037. A coup has led to a state of martial law and the country’s transformation into a protectorate under the aegis of an international entity known as the Union of Friendship. Anna Francis, a bureaucrat, is estranged from her family and tempted by an unusual job offer from a high official called the Chairman. The Chairman explains that the secret RAN Project is short-handed and that a psychological exercise has been devised to identify a suitable new member of the team: prospective candidates are to be transported to a remote island, along with Anna, who will pretend to have been murdered, so that she can covertly observe their reactions to the unexpected trauma. Things don’t go as planned, and Anna soon has a real murder to deal with. Avdic not only constructs a fascinating and original plot but makes her imagined reality chillingly plausible.”

The US edition of The Dying Game will be published by Penguin Books on August  1st.

Christoffer Carlsson keeps getting praised for The Thin Blue Line:

“The brilliant and initiated storyteller Carlsson has previously written three books about Leo Junker. Sadly, The Thin Blue Line is the last one. The reasoning, contemplating, and at times poetic style of this book could be followed by yet another Junker story, but I’m sorry to say it comes to an end here.”
Skaraborgs Allehanda

Malin Persson Giolito has just gotten a fabulous six star review for Quicksand in Norway:

“The reader gets sucked into the story from the very first page… The protagonist in Quicksand makes observations about her surroundings: they are sharp, relentless, and at times truly witty – brilliantly portrayed by the author. […] Much is at stake for the protagonist, Maja, where she stands as the accused. Malin Persson Giolito handels this excellently. She writes in an unvarnished, ‘no-nonsense’ and direct style, where everything is played out through the eyes and mind of Maja. Never for a moment does it fall flat, but it is rather to the point and elegant. And well-balanced, because it never tips over in cynicism. […] Quicksand was named Best Crime Novel of the Year by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy in 2016. Incredibly well-deserved.”
Bok 365

The Norwegian edition was published by Cappelen Damm on April 21st.

Dorthe Nors continues to enchant UK critics with Mirror, Shoulder, Signal. Here’s a new rave review:

“Occasionally irritatingly scatty, Sonja is a character one can warm to, while appreciating her quirkiness. Although little happens, Nors’s prose captures the disappointments, loneliness and desires of middle-aged single life. A heartfelt, darkly funny and addictive read that will leave you longing for more.”
The Lady

The fourth and final installment in Christoffer Carlsson’s bestselling Leo Junker Series is due to be published on May 10th and it just got a rave review in public service television broadcaster SVT’s morning show, Gomorron Sverige. Host Marianne Rundström called Carlsson “one of Sweden’s sharpest crime writers”, and leading critic Magnus Utvik had the following to say:

“It’s very rare in a crime novel to find that the author is so rooted in regular police work. […] There are great relationships between characters, psychological depth and an incredible drive. […] The style is effortless, there’s not a sentence out of place.”

Rave review for Samuel Bjørk’s The Owl Always Hunts at Night from The Daily Express:

“Norway’s most famous artwork is Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Norwegian author Samuel Bjørk gives Jo Nesbø a run for his money in conveying the pain and rage beneath the country’s placid surface. This sequel to I’m Travelling Alone sees the return of the brilliant but damaged investigator Mia Krüger and her appropriately named boss, Munch. The plot is competently handled but the brilliantly drawn angsty sleuths kept me hooked.”

The UK edition of The Owl Always Hunts at Night was published by Transworld / Penguin Random House on April 20th and it immediately entered The Sunday Times‘ bestseller list for hardcover fiction at #8.

Dorthe Nors has just gotten a fantastic review in The Economist for Mirror, Shoulder, Signal:

“Dorthe Nors’s novel is a magnificent exploration of anxiety. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal introduces a writer who is both funny and brave. […] Nors, in contrast, turns her gridlocked human traffic into a transport of delight.”

Read the review in full here.

Today is the publication day for the UK edition of The Owl Always Hunts at Night and here’s a first stunning review from The Irish News:

“There’s something about Scandi-crime fiction that sets it apart from the norm and the second novel in Norwegian author Samuel Bjork’s Munch and Kruger series exemplifies everything that is great about the genre. […] Told in short, compelling chapters that alternate between several perspectives, Bjork creates a unique, twisting, unsettling thriller that really epitomises the phrase ‘page-turner’. And at the heart of it are two police officers whose own emotional battles are as enticing as the crime they are investigating. Read as a standalone novel or as part of the series, the book works equally well. In fact, there is very little to fault in this Nordic crime thriller par excellence.”

Great new review from Skånska Dagbladet for Susanne Jansson’sThe Forbidden Place:

“The Forbidden Place navigates both the horror and suspense genres, and does not veer away from supernatural elements. As a contrast, it also offers interesting glimpses into Nathalie’s scientific work and police photographer Maya’s pondering about photo art. All in all this is a well-written and refreshing debut.”

Susanne Jansson has just gotten a rave review from renowned crime book critic Lotta Olsson at Dagens Nyheter:

“The atmosphere is what makes me fall, head over heels: a lonely woman who rents out her city apartment and heads out into the wilderness. […] Susanne Jansson skillfully builds mounting uncertainty. Is there something supernatural out there, in the mire? Or is there a person using the lore for their own purposes? Does Nathalie have more reasons for coming to the mire than she lets on? […] The Forbidden Place is one of the best and most complete debut novels I’ve ever read.”

Read the full review here.

Samuel Bjørk has just received a great pre-publication review from Publishers Weekly for his bestselling crime novel The Owl Always Hunts at Night.

“The tension and stakes increase exponentially over the course of this meticulously plotted tale. […] Bjork’s character work is excellent and imbues the story with nuance and heft.”

The US edition of The Owl Always Hunts at Night will be published by Penguin on June 6th.

Read the full review here.

Dorthe Nors’s Man Booker International Prize longlisted novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal has gotten yet another rave review from the UK:

“This novel reads like a sort of Danish Woody Allen; existential, domestic, gently humorous. […] On the one hand, this poetic, thoughtful book is an affectionate send-up of the modern Nordic mindset. But in a deeper way it’s a love letter to a vanished land, that of childhood.”
The Daily Mail

Malin Persson Giolito’s critically acclaimed novel Quicksand, which was published in the US last week, has just gotten a rave review from The Washington Post:

“A remarkable new novel from Sweden […] Giolito, who practiced law before she turned to fiction, writes with exceptional skill. […] Giolito keeps us guessing a long time and the outcome, when it arrives, is just as it should be.”

Read the full review here.

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors continues to garner fantastic reviews by leading critics. Here are excerpts from The Guardian and Financial Times:

“Nors is at her most trenchant and empathic when her protagonist, riddled with superstition and uncertainty, is inwardly soliloquising […] When Sonja’s narrative breaks free of the corner she has boxed herself into, the prose swoops and soars like her yearned-for whooper swans. It’s at these moments that Nors’s reinvention of experimental fiction is so marvellous: the remainder of her backlist should not disappoint.”
the guardian

“Mirror, Shoulder, Signal has just been published in Britain and will raise Nors’ profile further. […] Nors writes important modern women’s fiction. It is an act of 21st century recovery and assertion: she gives back agency and centrality to older women, sidelined in all societies, even Scandinavian ones, where women are valued less than men, and childless, single women least of all.”
Financial Times

The Danish edition of Geir Tangen’s debut novel Maestro was published by Modtryk on January 31st and the reception has been fantastic. Here’s the latest rave review:

“There are crime novels you simply have to read. Well-written and with a level of suspense that is heightened page after page, a touch of humor and characters who are exciting, authentic, and each with their individual qualities. Geir Tangen is a master in his own right. He conducts his plot with elegance and linguistic precision.”
Fyens Stiftstidene

Dorthe Nors’ praised novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal has just received this fantastic pre-publication review from The Big Issue in the UK:

“The experience in reading about Sonja’s heroic struggle to get out of a crummy rut is very moving. Perhaps because Nors’ watchful eye, as well as often seeing the humour in regular situations, creates characters so believable in their small, everyday battles that we can’t help but care. Even more important, though, is the tenderness of her writing; the feeling she is giving much of herself away, wincing with Sonja’s everyday slight, warming with every moment of unexpected affection. It’s from that generous spirit of self-sacrifice that this novel gets its heart.”

The UK edition of Mirror, Shoulder, Signal is to be published by Pushkin Press on February 23rd.

Sweden’s biggest daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter has chosen The Spy with No Country as one of their five favorites from last week. Renowned critic Lotta Olsson writes:

“Espionage, poisoning, and high-level politics in a story that comes frighteningly close to the current international reality.”

Camilla Grebe has just received this rave review for The Ice Beneath Her from Bookpage:

“When a new Scandinavian mystery hits the stands, you pretty much know it’s going to be good, and Swedish author Camil­la Grebe’s The Ice Beneath Her, translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel, does not let the team down. All the tried- and-true adjectives apply here: gripping, atmospheric, nuanced and, of course, graphically violent. […] Through it all, the true killer remains as elusive as smoke on a breezy day, and when the twist comes, it’s one that even jaded Nordic noir fans likely won’t see coming.”

The Ice Beneath Her was published in the US on December 27th.

Ahead of the US publication in February, The White City by Karolina Ramqvist continues to garner fantastic pre-publication reviews. Here are excerpts from the most recent ones, from Shelf Awareness and Booklist:

“The White City is rich in language and ambience. Moody, mysterious, maternal and magnetic […] it is a haunting novel of a woman adrift yet firmly attached to romantic memories of her lover and the simple needs of her daughter […] Like a Madonna of the tundra, Karin is a resilient and irresistible protagonist, and Ramqvist is a serious contender for the Swedish literary limelight.”
Shelf Awareness

“The ghostly Scandinavian setting and Karin’s closely narrated sense of impending doom, baby cooing patiently at her hip, make Swedish star Ramqvist’s English-language debut an atmospheric and suspenseful read.”
Booklist

Camilla Grebe’s critically praised psychological thriller The Ice Beneath Her has just been published in the US by Ballantine. In the lead-up to publication, the book received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly:

“The decapitation of a young woman propels Grebe’s exceptional solo debut, which examines three lives broken by failures to take responsibility in a Stockholm where ‘even the sky is crying’.”
Publishers Weekly

“Veteran coauthor Grebe takes her first solo turn in this tale of three troubled souls linked by a horrific crime—and what a turn it is. […] Each of these stories—Peter’s, Hanne’s, and Emma’s—is compelling enough to fuel an entire novel; Grebe’s skill in weaving them together is impressive. A tour de force that lifts its author to the front rank among the increasingly crowded field of Nordic noir.”
Kirkus

The US edition of Malin Persson Giolito’s novel Quicksand will be published by Other Press on March 7th 2017 and this rave pre-publication review has just come in from Kirkus:

“Sharp social commentary through the tragic story of a young woman’s trial for mass murder. Swedish novelist Giolito begins her English-language debut with a powerful view of a crime scene. To the narrator, 18-year-old Maja, her fellow classmates are still in the present tense, the horror not yet real. As she tells her tale we understand that she is at the center of a school shooting perpetrated by her boyfriend, Sebastian Fagerman, and the question is whether she is complicit. Both teenagers come from privileged backgrounds, she from a loving home she has no patience for, and he the son of “the richest man in Sweden,” who verbally abuses him. Giolito keeps the narrative moving quickly, alternating between the present tense of Maja’s jail cell and the courtroom and her memories of parties and travels with her jet-setting boyfriend, though as Maja says,’there are no chapters in this mess.’ That mess takes in the uneasy place of race in modern-day Sweden and the voracious press that amplifies the details of everything in Maja’s young life. There is no suspense in the shooting of Amanda, Maja’s best friend, or of Sebastian. She did it and admits to it. The literary anticipation here is in the telling of the tale, the facts that turn the story to something else, and yes, the verdict. The rhythm, tone, and language are just right, due in great part to the fine translation by Willson-Broyles. Giolito gives us the unsettling monologue of a teenage girl as she works her way through her role in murder. It is a splendid work of fiction.”

Here’s a new rave pre-publication review for Malin Persson Giolito’s novel Quicksand, which will be published in the US come March 2017:

“Giolito’s astonishing English-language debut is a dark exploration of the crumbling European social order and the psyche of rich Swedish teens. […] In crafting a first-person narrative told by a school shooter, many authors would go too far, creating and overly likable character; Giolito masterfully walks this fine line, developing a protagonist whom readers will remain intrigued by and ambivalent about, but who they won’t necessarily like. Giolito’s past as a lawyer and as a European Union official poke through the pages as she exposes the curing racism that refugees in Europe endure, even in supposed left-wing-idyll Sweden. Praise must also go to translator Willson-Broyles, as the incisive language that’s on display here surely involves translation precision that’s second to none.”
Booklist, starred review

Joakim Zander’s celebrated second novel The Believer will be published in the US on January 17th, 2017. The book has just gotten this starred pre-publication review from Booklist:

“Zander has written another compelling, timely, and character-centered thriller, and many readers will look forward to what he does next.”

Karolina Ramqvist has just received this rave pre-publication review from Kirkus:

“Though the plot of Ramqvist’s English debut may make it sound like a crime thriller, the pace is lulling, the writing sensuous and patiently observed. So much of the book, in fact, consists of long scenes of Karin nursing Dream or spending hours watching the infant play that the book feels, more than any thriller, like an allegory of parenting. […] as Karin, quite literally, works to keep Dream alive against a backdrop of violence and deception, readers root for both characters to find their way. Delicate and unsparing.”

The US edition of The White City will be published by Grove Atlantic on February 7th 2017.

In the lead-up to the US publication of Joakim Zander’s novel The Believer, this fantastic pre-publication review from Kirkus has just come in:  

“Zander’s latest page-turning political thriller weaves three interconnected stories into a hypertopical tale of international intrigue. […] Zander’s twisting, high-octane plot could not be more timely, but it’s the characters, all three of them, that bring this vivid novel to life. Suspenseful and primed for Hollywood adaptation, this is escapist fiction at its best.”

Here’s also a new, rave review from the UK:

“The Brother by Joakim Zander is a prime slice of Nordic noir. Zander is part of the influx of new blood into the genre, and this second novel is both forceful and subtle. […] What we have here are two crucial ingredients of Scandicrime: powerfully orchestrated tension set against a strong dose of social commentary.”
The Independent

Dorthe Nors’ latest novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal has just been published in Sweden by Ordfront to fantastic critical praise. Here are a few excerpts:

“A slender novel bursting with substance and sharp turns. What’s beautiful about it is that you haven’t got a clue of where you’re going, and yet you’re wholly enjoying the ride.”
VI LÄSER

“An exquisite little novel, that feels bigger than most and that makes my heart beat.”
UPSALA NYA TIDNING 

“Ninni Holmqvist has exquisitely translated Dorthe Nors’ funny and beautiful novel about alienation and finding a home within yourself. It’s so easy to both recognize yourself and to feel for Sonja’s struggle that I, both during and after reading, tear up from giggling as well as from the solemn sensation of how peculiar life actually is. Or how singular this novel is and how rich I feel from having read it.”
BORÅS TIDNING

“Dorthe Nors writes sparsely yet at the same time poignantly and hilariously, finds the words that captures the details, the situations, the relationships sometimes with a dizzying twist, sometimes with a social-realistic accuracy of aim.”
KULTURNYTT, SVERIGES RADIO

Åsa Avdic’s page-turner Isola continues to garner praise. Here’s a fantastic new review from  Sydsvenskan:

“Isola is a well-constructed paranoid thriller […] Full of unexpected twists and turns, power games, and realizations that no one is to be trusted. With a prose so effective that it’s capable of evoking the concrete gray atmosphere of totalitarism, Avdic stays on point from beginning to end. This is exceedingly skillful  craftsmanship. […] The pages rush past – I can’t seem to be able to put the book down.”

So far, Isola has been sold to six territories:

France, Actes Sud
Germany, HarperCollins
Poland, Sonia Draga
Romania, RAO
Russia, Corpus
Sweden, Natur & Kultur