Cry Wolf: A Novel (Haparanda, 1)

This is the first in a new series about Swedish policewoman Hannah Wester. It's ok but not the most captivating scandi thriller I've read in recent years. Reading with a bit of prior understanding of the political geography of Russia, Finland and Sweden is useful. For some reason I had trouble keeping some of the characters straight. I found the ending unlikely but that should not put you off if you are in the mood for one of these. I received a review copy of "Cry Wolf" by Hans Rosenfeldt from Hanover Square Press through Netgalley.com.

Fans of Nordic Noir know that a new procedural will feature a detective with issues and, let's face it, gruesome murders. This is no exception. Hannah is a police officer in a cold northern Swedish town-close to Finland. She's struggling with menopause, with a marriage gone cold, and long lingering guilt. She's also got a mass murder and missing drugs and money on her hands. This rolls between various characters- Hannah, her husband's nephew and his wife, Katja, UV the reformed criminal, and so on- giving a more well rounded picture than a straight line narrative might, especially given the complexity of the plot. Is it a implausible that Katja was trained as a child to be an assassin (see Killing Eve)? Perhaps, but she's an interesting one. There are some intriguing asides in the text which suggest that there might be additional installments, which I would welcome. This kept me guessing- always a plus- and I was surprised by several of the twists. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A good read.

This was a slow burn, dark Nordic noir thriller. The story is mainly told from the POV of Hannah, a 50 year old police woman in Haparanda, Sweden, a small Northern town just outside of Finland. We also get random POV’s from other characters in the story including Haparanda herself (yes the town has its own chapters). There are quite a few players and characters and it took some time for me to all get it straight. A complicated story of drugs, murder and a female assassin are woven together in a chain of events that end up affecting many in the process. For the first half I had no idea which direction anything was going, the next hundred pages it all clicked into place and by the last hundred pages I couldn’t put it down. The complicated story leads to many twists, some of which took me by surprise, some of which didn’t. This all sets up “Cry Wolf” to be the first book in a series following Hannah. I do wish we had gotten more answers in the end, but it has me looking forward to picking up the next book. If you love a moody and atmospheric thriller with a complex chain of events you’ll love this one. There is quite a bit of graphic violence so check triggers before reading.

Cry Wolf is a good mix of crime thriller and police procedural, and it's the first in a new series. Since I'm always on the lookout for new crime series, I'm happy to have found another one to follow. The story is very well written, and even the setting is developed. There are a lot of characters, which can go either way, but it works for this book, and they are so well developed that I didn't have any trouble keeping track of them. The book also has a fair amount of twists and turns, and things move along at a good pace. This is my first read by Hans Rosenfeldt, but it won't be my last. Rosenfeldt's writing is wonderfully descriptive without being overdone, and this first in the Hannah Wester series introduces us to an exciting world of danger, suspense, and drama.