Ultimatum

Yolande Kettle performs this second installment of a trilogy with a crisp and deliberate pacing that serves the high-octane Swedish noir plot beautifully. ULTIMATUM is a police procedural and political thriller with plenty of action and gore, and it helps that Kettle delivers the mayhem with measured and elegant diction that makes everybody sound plausible and sane, though a number of the players manifestly are not. Her precision also aids the listener in keeping Swedish character names and place names straight. It may aid your pleasure to have read the first novel in the series, but I suspect it's not necessary. The author does a skillful job of filling in backstory, the returning characters have different roles here, and the plot is propulsive. B.G. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine