Hostage

Starred review from September 7, 2015
Ohlsson’s nail-biting fourth Fredrika Bergman novel (after 2014’s The Disappeared) teams Fredrika, a former police detective now temporarily working for Sweden’s justice department, with two legendary crime solvers: Alex Recht, Fredrika’s former police boss now with the National Bureau of Investigation, and Eden Lundell, the aggressive new head of the counterterrorism unit of Säpo, the Swedish security service. The trio face a huge crisis when Karim Sassi, the captain of SAS Flight 573 en route from Stockholm to New York, reports that a note found in one of the plane’s lavatories threatens to blow up the Boeing 747 unless the Swedish government stops the scheduled deportation of Zakaria Khelifi, a suspected terrorist, and the U.S. shuts down a covert operation called Tennyson Cottage. The copilot happens to be Recht’s son. Meanwhile, the Americans are determined to shoot down the plane if it enters U.S. air space. In an illuminating afterword to this breathtaking thriller, Ohlsson mentions her fascination with the United States, a country she loves, though she questions some of its post-9/11 counterterrorism policies. Agent: Niclas Salomonsson, Salomonsson Agency (Sweden).

Justine Eyre demonstrates her vocal dexterity in delivering this Swedish thriller. Four hundred hostages are in the middle of a transatlantic flight. The team that stands between them and sudden death is headed by Swedish analyst Fredrika Bergman. This is the fifth book in the crime series that features both Fredrika and Stockholm-based policeman Alex Recht. Eyre brings out the feisty core of Fredrika in a rapid, consistent delivery. Her swift pace carries listeners through the brief chapters and keeps them waiting for more. She provides a capable treatment of both male and female characters, using a husky undertone for Recht. A well-crafted story that maximizes fears about terrorism in public spaces. M.R. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine