Stockholm Delete

February 20, 2017
This gloomy crime novel from Lapidus (Easy Money and two other books his Stockholm Noir trilogy) focuses on Serbian immigrants. Teddy is trying to go straight after his release from prison—where he served time for kidnapping Mats Emanuelsson, a one-time police informer now believed dead—by working as a fixer for a law firm. Teddy’s 19-year-old nephew, Nikola, who idolizes him, is just out of Spillersboda Young Offenders’ Institute and is also trying to stay clean. Meanwhile, Teddy’s coworker, newly minted lawyer Emelie Jansson, gets drawn into criminal defense work, against the rules of her upscale business law firm, by defending Mats’s son against the charge that he murdered Mats. The complicated narrative unfolds through the viewpoints of Teddy, Nikola, and Emelie. Transcripts of police interrogations with Mats fill in the background. Lapidus tackles such matters as big-business fraud, police corruption, and refugee-related tensions in a dismal “new Stockholm,” but interminable financial scheming bogs down what might have worked better as a fast-paced, action-oriented thriller.

Narrator Jon Lindstrom's straightforward style provides a distinct advantage for listeners as he guides them through the labyrinth of Lapidus's latest novel. The Swedish author known for meaty stories with intricate plots and multiple characters certainly does not disappoint here. But these very features present difficulties for a successful transition from print to audio as listeners may need to backtrack frequently to follow the numerous subplots and to clarify identities. Lindstrom's presentation cannot be faulted as he delivers the text cleanly and moves the action forward at a manageably brisk pace. Given the extensive cast, he wisely avoids accents and character voices, instead establishing character definition with variations of tone. This gripping story of Sweden's criminal underground is a challenging yet worthwhile listen. M.O.B. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine