Will you have the stamina to keep up with this book?
The Swedish Minister for Justice vanishes during severe weather and Fabian Risk, a detective, is called in (unofficially) to conduct an investigation. As the body count grows he struggles to maintain a balance between the mounting pressure for justice and the ones he loves the most.
Malin Rehnberg is Fabian’s colleague and pregnant with twins. While making enquiries she comes into contact with a killer putting her life and that of her unborn babies at risk.
In Denmark, Dunja Hougaard a Copenhagen detective is investigating the bloody murder of the wife of a Danish TV star. It isn’t long before police in both cities start to draw the evidence together and draw closer to apprehending the killer/s.
Is there more than one killer in more than one city? Can one killer be so smart, have surgical skills and eat body parts taken from victims? What possible motive and connection could there be?
This is a spine tingling complex plot and I absolutely loved reading it. Story crackles in places with fear, suspense, wanting answers, don’t want to put down till I find out who the real killer is or I have some answers. At times I was almost holding my breath hoping a victim wouldn’t be killed.
The book is longer than usual but if you enjoy it as much as I did you won’t even notice. The author certainly knows how to write a great story and I am happy to confess that I thrived on it! Over the last few years I have become a fan of Nordic authors and their fiction and this book certainly reinforces that.
I was interested to discover that the author is a screen writer for TV and film. I am sure that this experience helps him to write this story in a very effective, interesting and exciting way. Even more remarkable to read he could barely string a sentence together when he was at school his (possibly undiagnosed) dyslexia causing him to struggle with reading and writing as he grew up.
The Ninth Grave is Stefan Ahnhem’s second novel in the Fabian Risk series and is set six months before events in Victim Without a Face. They can be read as standalone so I have placed the first on my reading list and cant wait to read it or at least till I’ve caught up with my reviews!
I highly recommend this book to fans of Nesbo and Larsson. Be warned some scenes are pretty graphic and might be too much for some.

A pair of brutal crimes in Sweden and Denmark lead two detectives into the bizarre world of two killers in this ambitious Scandinavian crime title. Billed along the same lines as Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo, yet closer in tone to TV series the Bridge, it’s a gritty and chilling read full of flawed characters existing in a far from perfect world.
Ahnhem throws a lot of threads up in the air early, and at times it feels like there is a little much going on. Unfortunately after a strong start, it settles into a much slower pace with a tendency to overwrite on unnecessary detail.
Readers who stick at it though will be rewarded with a shocking finale as the mystery is revealed but it can be a slog to wade through the lumbering middle third of the book.
Ahnhem shows enough that he has some serious story telling chops here, never showing his hand until the final pages, buts its uneven pace stops it from being a classic in the genre.
Still it’s worth a look and sure to appeal to fans of Nordic Noir and grisly crime fiction that doesn’t end wrapped up in a bow.

Book blurb...

TWO COUNTRIES IN THE GRIP OF WINTER.
On the coldest day of the year, Sweden’s Minister for Justice steps out of Parliament House and into a blizzard – and disappears. That same night, across the Baltic Sea, a Danish celebrity finds a stranger lurking in her snow-bound home.

TWO KILLERS STALK THE STREETS.
One is a surgeon who carefully dissects his victims. The other is a brutal predator who targets women. Police in Stockholm and Copenhagen are closing in on their suspects. But as winter darkens and more people die, their investigations begin to unravel.

SOMETIMES MURDER IS JUST THE BEGINNING...

My thoughts…

This story is a puzzle made from human suffering. So, if you like your books with brutal predators, this is one to read.

The Police who investigate these crimes work above and beyond the call of duty in order to find the perpetrator. The crimes are committed across two countries, with no definite links and with different investigations taking place.

I like to think I can guess who the perpetrator is in the books I read, but this plot stumped me. There was no putting the story together until the climactic ending.

This review will be posted on my Blog shortly.

I really enjoyed this book, it was well written and the story line was interesting and kept my attention all the way through to the end of the book. A solid 5 out of 5.