Cell 8

Starred review from November 14, 2011
Two intriguing yet apparently unconnected story lines power Roslund and Hellström’s stellar follow-up to Three Seconds (2011), once again featuring Det. Supt. Ewert Grens of the Stockholm police. An Ohio death row inmate, convicted of killing his 16-year-old girlfriend when he was 17 years old, dies of heart disease. Six years later, the police arrest a Canadian expatriate living in Sweden for repeatedly kicking a drunken man in the head. The narrative takes a wild turn after the cantankerous Grens discovers that the foreigner in their jail cell is a convicted murderer, the same death row inmate who supposedly died in America six years earlier. Thriller fans will relish the bitter Nordic atmospherics, relentless pacing, and brilliant twist ending, but it’s the authors’ deep exploration into the personal and political fallout from the use of the death penalty that makes this novel such a provocative reading experience.

November 1, 2011

What happens when Scandinavian crime writers tire of scrutinizing Stockholm's mean streets? In the case of writing team Roslund and Hellstrom, they tackle capital punishment in the United States. John Meyer Frey is on Ohio's death row, convicted at age 17 of killing the daughter of a prominent politician. The frenzied thirst for vengeance felt by the victim's father is thwarted when Frey dies of a heart condition. Several years later and thousands of miles away, Swedish police arrest lounge singer John Schwarz for a brutal assault during a party cruise. Something about Schwarz doesn't seem right, and DI Ewert Grens soon uncovers why--the suspect's fingerprints match those of the long-dead Frey. VERDICT This book offers fewer thrills and more polemic than the duo's roller-coaster Three Seconds. Opening with a gripping sequence counting down a condemned man's graphic final moments, the novel ends with a cunning twist. But the suspense stalls in between, as the authors couch familiar arguments against the death penalty amid a surprisingly mundane police investigation. Still, those who appreciate socially conscious crime fiction should be intrigued by this European take on a hot-button American topic.--Annabelle Mortensen, Skokie P.L., IL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2011
Convicted felon John Meyer Frey has accomplished the seemingly impossible, escaping from an Ohio death-row prison with his life. His journey from incarceration to freedom and back again is recounted in the second breathless entry (after Three Seconds, 2011) in Swedish writers Roslund and Hellstrm's critically acclaimed series. When Frey, sentenced to die for the rape and murder of his girlfriend, succumbs to a fatal heart attack while awaiting execution, prison authorities have no reason to suspect foul play. Little do they know that Frey, with the help of two doctors and a prison guard who believe in his innocence, faked his own demise; Frey is now living a new life in Stockholm as lounge singer John Schwarz. But his secret is revealed when Schwarz is arrested for assault while engaged to perform on a cruise ship. Mere days after Swedish Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens and his clever colleagues make the connection between Frey and Schwarz, the former prisoner is returned to the U.S. and death row. What fate awaits? Award-winning journalist Roslund and ex-con Hellstrm eloquently explore the themes of guilt and innocence, retribution and release. This relentlessly suspenseful thriller further confirms Scandinavia as home to an impressive lot of killer crime novelists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)