The Intruder

Starred review from June 8, 2015
At the start of Östlundh’s outstanding second Det. Fredrik Broman novel to be published in the U.S. (after 2012’s The Viper), food blogger Malin Andersson and her fashion photographer husband, Henrik Kjellander, return with their two children, Ellen and Axel, to their isolated house on the island of Fårö, off Gotland, after a holiday on the mainland. To their dismay, there’s broken glass on the kitchen floor, a nasty surprise in the kids’ toy basket, and family photos missing from the study. Broman and his colleagues have little to go on, but soon anonymous letters start arriving. When the family photos start turning up, the eyes of those in the pictures are poked out. Then someone tries to abduct Ellen. Malin and Henrik don’t know who could hate them so much, though Henrik’s complicated family history may provide a clue. Fans of psychologically insightful Scandinavian crime fiction will relish this tale of betrayal, shame, and madness. Agent: Lena Stjernström, Grand Agency (Sweden).

June 15, 2015
Returning from their summer vacation to their desecrated home in Gotland, a Swedish family can't imagine how things could be worse. But Ostlundh can. Someone-presumably the very last of the tenants to whom noted photographer Henrik Kjellander and his wife, food blogger Malin Andersson, rented their house while they were away with their children, Ellen, 7, and Axel, 5-has helped themselves to some glasses and dishes, strewn garbage and broken glass all over the floor, used the children's toy basket as a toilet, and poked the eyes out of a family photograph. Fredrik Broman, just returned to patrol duty on the Visby Police Department after two years' medical leave, soon finds that all leads to those tenants are dead ends. Unfortunately, the family's troubles are only beginning. Another photograph taken from the house is returned with the eyes similarly defaced. Ellen is kidnapped from her school by a mysterious woman. And soon enough, the home becomes the scene of a horrific double murder. Who could have hated Henrik and Malin enough to have waged such a relentless war against their family? For better or worse, one possible answer is close to home, for Henrik's been battling his half sisters, Elisabet and Alma Vogler, over an inheritance from their grandmother. Nor do the Voglers seem like the kind of people who could never have resorted to violence. But Fredrik and the other members of the police investigative department, convinced the answer lies elsewhere, keep digging and eventually reach sins as dark as they are commonplace. Middling among the endless crop of Scandinavian procedurals but a distinct improvement over Fredrik's debut (The Viper, 2012).

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June 1, 2015
Malin and Henrik Andersson have used an agency to rent out their home on Faro, a tiny island in the Baltic Sea that was the longtime home of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. But when they return, their house has been trashed, and photos of the couple and their two children have had their eyes poked out. The investigation is handed to Detective Fredrik Broman on his first day back from a two-year medical leave necessitated by a massive concussion and cerebral hemorrhage. Ostlundh (The Viper, 2012) has conceived an imaginatively disturbing threat to the Andersson family and skillfully builds suspense and tension. Primary characters are very closely observed, and Ostlundh highlights the stark differences between their veneers of Swedish calm and their inner turmoil. These character expositions add complexity, but they occasionally threaten to dissipate the tension and sense of menace Ostlundh creates. Nevertheless, U.S. readers of Swedish crime fiction should persevere and appreciate another talented Scandinavian crime novelist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)