Blaze Me a Sun Lauded in German Der Spiegel

Christoffer Carlsson’s Blaze Me a Sun has received a rave review in German’s biggest newspaper, Der Spiegel. Here is an excerpt:

”The best Swedish crime novel of the year […]. Carlsson may be from Sweden, but he writes anything but run-of-the-mill Scandi noir. […] What sets him apart from most of his Swedish colleagues is that he takes the psychological flaws of his main characters seriously, avoiding gimmicks and clichés. Carlsson delves deep into the psyche of his characters, and the tension in his stories comes not from explicit descriptions of violence, but through the exploration of the suffering that a crime can cause – for the victims, but also for a society at large. […] The novel’s immensely powerful storytelling lies in the precise pacing, in the way that Carlsson gives all the characters room. And the surprising and plausible solution to the case is ultimately a result of these precisely depicted relationships between the characters. This is not only of enormous sophistication, but also of an emotional impact that is rarely experienced in a crime novel.”

Read the full review here.

Blaze Me a Sun was published on July 19th by Rowohlt.