Peder
Well-Known Member
This thoroughly modern novel -- perhaps best described as hybrid between thriller and police procedural, and coauthored by a (well-known) journalist and an ex-criminal, for authenticity -- is a complex story of the efforts by Swedish prosecutors, police and prison officials to combat the flow of drugs from a factory in Poland directly into the Stockholm prison system. Key figures include an informer who is trying to infiltrate the cartel supply line in danger to his llife, and several police personnel who are separately trying to track down the shooter in a drug deal gone bad. The informer plot line provides genuine suspense and thrills in an eventful story involving himself and his handlers. The police work and general narrative are told in great and methodical detail, which leads to slow reading for about 150 pages as numerous characters are introduced and the procedural background for the main story is laid out. Subplots involving the characters' private lives add to the roster of characters who appear at one time or another.
The overall complexity of the story interacts poorly with the narrative manner of its telling, to produce a story that is difficult to read, at least for me. The story is told in numerous small time slices, frequently covering only a page or two each, as the focus of the narrative shifts from character to character, event to event or place to place to develop the actions of the multiple plot lines more or less simultaneously. And it seems that the authors are loath to provide clear markers for the transitions, leaving the reader to figure things out for himself. In particular, many paragraphs begin with "he," where the person being spoken of is only identified much further down the page; identification of speakers in dialogue is similary sketchy. I would call it a very noticeable author's tic. But worst are paragraphs in succession where both are talking about a "he," but where the author changes in mid-stream who the "he" is, across the paragraph break and without warning to the reader. Noticeable repetitions of narrative description might also disrupt a reader's attention. It seems likke sloppy writing or editing, but I suspect it is deliberately the way the author chooses to write.
In short, continuity and narrative flow are not smooth, and frequently difficult to follow, but, if one perseveres, there is a very suspenseful and interesting story to be read.
for story, 
for narrative.
PS: The authors are also apparently using the story as a vehicle to illustrate issues of police power in a free society, as they conclude with a separate afterword where they explicitly highlight the issues. If you like your stories with a political agenda, this is one of them.
The overall complexity of the story interacts poorly with the narrative manner of its telling, to produce a story that is difficult to read, at least for me. The story is told in numerous small time slices, frequently covering only a page or two each, as the focus of the narrative shifts from character to character, event to event or place to place to develop the actions of the multiple plot lines more or less simultaneously. And it seems that the authors are loath to provide clear markers for the transitions, leaving the reader to figure things out for himself. In particular, many paragraphs begin with "he," where the person being spoken of is only identified much further down the page; identification of speakers in dialogue is similary sketchy. I would call it a very noticeable author's tic. But worst are paragraphs in succession where both are talking about a "he," but where the author changes in mid-stream who the "he" is, across the paragraph break and without warning to the reader. Noticeable repetitions of narrative description might also disrupt a reader's attention. It seems likke sloppy writing or editing, but I suspect it is deliberately the way the author chooses to write.
In short, continuity and narrative flow are not smooth, and frequently difficult to follow, but, if one perseveres, there is a very suspenseful and interesting story to be read.
for story, for narrative.PS: The authors are also apparently using the story as a vehicle to illustrate issues of police power in a free society, as they conclude with a separate afterword where they explicitly highlight the issues. If you like your stories with a political agenda, this is one of them.
