A grandmother waves her daughter and grandchildren goodbye after a nice visit, when the phone sings. She hears one word and then goes and gets her gun and shoots her husband in the head.

It’s a bold opening.

This is a Swedish penned espionage thriller from Gustaf Skordeman, who has a background in writing and directing movies. The book has a much more cinematic style than a lot of other books coming out of Sweden. This isn’t Skandi-noir. It has more of the feel of something like Jack Reacher, for example, and it’s put to good use. I did see online somewhere when I looked up the author that this book has been optioned to be made into a movie, which I would like to see.

The book revolves around espionage, with Sweden’s historical connection with East Germany, the Stasi and Cold War 2.0 being part of the plotting. We have an agent Karla who is obsessed with a terrorist who has never been caught, Grandmother Agneta and her story, and then Sara, who has a personal connection to the victim and works as a cop in the sex crimes division.

I really liked Agneta. I don’t want to say too much about her in case I spoil anything, but she is one tough dame and even though she’s a senior, she is dangerous. Sara felt a little cartoonish, and she’s our lead character really. (The book is marked on Goodreads of being book one in a series named after her) Sara was an ex model, also some kind of black belt, and also a rebellious cop who wants to change the world AND a mother. On the whole, she worked and I liked her, but she was a bit over the top. She seemed a bit like a cop in an American movie, like Lethal Weapon or something. Good fun though.

The book does get a little dark, with themes of murder, blackmail, prostitution and pedophilia. Since these themes seem to be everywhere at the moment in books of the crime and thriller genres, it seems like par for the course, really. That said, this book feels a little lighter and less bleak in tone than a lot of books I’ve read recently, and it’s an entertaining ride. I hope it does get made into a film. I think it would be quite entertaining.

Read It If: you like a bit of action and spies in your thrillers and crime stories set in Scandinavian regions. This was an exciting ride and such a great opener.

Thank you to HBG Canada for the copy of this book for review.