Book blurb...
ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY.
The police chase a speeding car through the streets of Helsingborg. When they reach the quay, the driver keeps going, straight into the cold, dark water.

A TRAGIC ACCIDENT.
The body recovered from the wreck is Peter Brise, a wealthy tech entrepreneur. Fabian Risk and his team are confident this is a suicide. Young, rich, successful, Brise just didn't know how to ask for help.

TURNS EVERTHING A LITTLE COLDER...
But then the autopsy reveals something unexpected. Brise was already dead when his car crashed. He'd been brutally murdered two months ago. His body was frozen in perfect condition, at eighteen degrees below zero…



My Thoughts…
I would like to thank Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the review copy of Eighteen Below.

This appears to be the third novel to feature Fabian Risk and I have not yet read either of the first two so I will track them down. Thank you.

It appears Eighteen below is a stand alone novel, and therefore the story and plot line was not affected. The story was enjoyable and the plot quite complex.

I would be happy to recommend this book to readers of this genre.

A Nordic noir crime thriller, if you loved The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, you’re going to adore this dark, fiendishly clever book, the third in Ahnhem’s Fabian Risk series. A Swedish detective on the murder squad, Risk is a clever man dealing with trauma within his own family as well as holding it together on one of the toughest jobs in the world, all while covering for his slowly unravelling boss’s alcoholism.

Eighteen Below details two crimes, both equally brutal, in two different countries, Sweden and Denmark. In one, teenagers have taken ‘happy slapping’ (brutal attacks on the unsuspecting which are recorded on phones and uploaded to the internet) too far, murdering homeless victims to create snuff films. The other crime is much stranger; someone is stealing not just the identities but the very lives of their wealthy victims, aiming for a goal nobody can comprehend and leaving a trail of long-frozen bodies in their wake. Apparently unrelated, the two investigations slowly converge until at the final, shocking climax, they collide in Fabian Risk’s own home.

I couldn’t put this book down. There are quite a few characters in it, but they all have critical roles to play even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time, apparent red herrings suddenly becoming important clues later in the book. I could absolutely see this playing out as a TV series - there’s too much complexity for a movie - and since Ahnhem is a screenwriter best known for working on adaptations of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander series, I really hope Ahnhem is selling the TV rights to this book too. It’ll make absolutely gripping viewing.

The book ends with not one but TWO incredible hooks for the next book in the series, but at no stage did I feel I was missing out on something in the story by not having read the earlier ones. I’d love to go back and read them, actually, but at $14.99 each in the US Kindle store (yes, really) I’m just going to have to put them on my wish list for now!

Five stars for a fantastic read, but pricing ebooks so high is frankly just rude. I’d strongly suggest to the publisher that they fix that or chance losing a lot of readers who don’t particularly like being conned out of their cold hard cash.

Sadly this book was not for me, I couldn't connect to any of the characters. There are two storylines running thorough it, that initially seem quite unrelated but the more you read the more the stories converge. I found the twist on identity theft quite intriguing but not enough to draw me in. If you enjoy Nordic Noir then I'm sure you will enjoy this one.

This book was a real let down big time.


I couldn't follow the plot. Yhe characters were hard to like and follow.

It was so slow I didn't finish it, sorry.

I had heard many great reviews about this book; so was slightly disappointed when the book was not a lightening bolt of drama.
It did however improve and I give out praise to the author.. The book takes a little to get into but boy; once you get half way you are addicted.... Great read

Well this was certainly a completely different read for me, first time reading a book set in Sweden/Denmark and I found it a little too difficult. I found myself spending more time figuring out how to pronounce names and places that I felt I wasn't given the story enough attention. It probably would have been better if places weren't so well described (with streets included!) so less for us English reading folk to try and understand/pronounce.

I did like the story line though, once you get passed the fact the majority of the book isn't readable at all to us English people, it was completely different to what I'd read before but it lacked the 'umff' it needed to distract you from the difficult parts.

Close to the end, there is one major flaw in the story, a contradiction that's hard to get passed. Sonja was placed somewhere and yet in the next scene she was somewhere completely different. You'll understand what I mean when you read it as I don't want to spoil it for other readers.

A great story but difficult for non-swedish people to read. Just my opinion.

This is the third in the Fabian Risk series which I have read from the beginning. As so often in the Scandi-Noir tradition, the body count is gruesomely high with Fabian's entire family having a storyline. Fabian and his wife, Sonja, head ever closer to divorce, Sonja's art work is displayed in an exhibition, and she accepts a commission from the wealthy Alex. Theodor, the son, deals with the family upheaval by becoming ever more remote, focusing his attention on Alexandra, a girl he has a heavy crush on. Matilda becomes closer to her friend, Esmaralda, and joins her in her interest in the occult, and the ouija board. Fabian is getting better at shooting after his inability to use his gun in critical incidents previously. It all begins with Astrid, struggling to cope with her divorce and turning to drink, chasing a car that drives off a quay. The presumed suicidal driver turns out to be Peter Brise, a rich IT entrepreneur. However, it turns out Brise has been dead for two months, and the body kept in a freezer.

So begins a complex case for Risk and the police team. Brise has been seen at least two days before his car ending up in the water. As the team dig deeper, they begin to slowly understand Brise's death is not the first but part of a series where wealthy individuals have their identity stolen, and their bodies left in freezers. Their assets are sold off with the money put into accounts overseas and laundered prior to being returned to Sweden. The police are up against highly intelligent and ruthless individuals willing to kill anyone that stands in their way. Honing in on their identities is a difficult task, and keeping them in custody even more so. Dunja Hougard, a police officer in Denmark returns as a uniform cop with Magnus as her partner at Helsingor police. Finding a job has been made difficult by her previous boss, Kim Sleizner, determined to revenge himself on Dunja and destroy her career. Dujna tries to get to the bottom of the killing of a homeless man despite all the obstacles she faces. Her investigation connects with Fabian as she uncovers the murderous deeds of a group of young people being posted on the dark net.

Ahnhem writes a fast paced story with short chapters that raise tension and suspense. Within the messy dynamics of Risk's dysfunctional family, we find the ambitious Sonja getting involved with her client, Theodor in a situation where he finds himself out of his depth and Matilda finding solace in Greta, a presence from beyond the grave. The beginnings of the next investigation for Risk is laid out in this novel with the suicide of a colleague. This is an enjoyable and entertaining series with a wide array of characters that shows no sign of fizzling out. I look forward to the next in the series. Many thanks to Head of Zeus for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Heads of Zeus for a review copy of Eighteen Below, the third novel to feature detective Fabian Risk now working in Malmo and former Copenhagen detective Dunja Hougaard, now a patrol officer in Helsongør.

When IT millionaire Peter Brise drives into the harbour after a car chase the police assume it's suicide until the pathologist reveals that he was dead and had been for a while when he went into the water. How can this be when he was seen a few days earlier? In the meantime Dunja's investigation of a homeless woman seen covered in blood leads her to a case of happy slapping and the derision of the detectives.

I thoroughly enjoyed Eighteen Below. I was hooked by the unusual premise and gripped by the slow, well paced release of information. I couldn't wait to get back to it and see what was coming next. Much of the plot, notably the Swedish murders, stretched my credulity but I soon forgot to wonder about it as I got caught up in the plot and, almost as importantly, the private lives of the characters. I like the way Mr Ahnhem is able to weave all these strands together so easily when the two main plotlines are completely separate and at no point converge except tangentially.

There is much about Fabian and his family in this novel. He and his wife, Sonja, are moving closer to divorce and his kids are dealing with it in their own ways, troubled Theodor has transferred his affections to Alexandra, a girl at school, and Matilda is dabbling in the occult with a ouija board. Dunja is trying to get her career back on track but is constantly sabotaged by the malevolent Kim Sleizner. I found all these personal storylines as fascinating as the main plots and can't wait to see how they play out in the next novel along with the hints about Fabian's next investigation.

I expected to find the novel a bit of a disjointed read given the various points of view and plotlines but while it does jump about I found it an easy and absorbing read. It should also be noted that there is a high body count and while the violence is not overly graphic it may not be for the squeamish.

I have no hesitation in recommending Eighteen Below as a good read.

Having read the other two books in this series I had high hopes for this one but sadly I didn’t find this one to be quite as good as its predecessors and it took me almost a week to finish, whereas the others only took days to read.

I don’t know if it was because the format of the writing structure changed slightly or that it was due to the fact this one is more of a slow burner I’m not sure. But saying all that I would still read this one again!

The book has 2 storylines running through it which at first seem completely unrelated but as you get deeper into the book lines started to become crossed. When a homeless man is brutally beaten to death, Dunja can’t stop herself from starting an investigation of her own. Before long the clues take her to Sweden and Helsingborg, where Risk is investigating the peculiar case of the frozen millionaire.

Risk’s family play a big part of this one and it certainly takes the story down a path I wasn’t expecting! Fabian’s young daughter explores the supernatural with the help of a friend and Ouija board whilst his son finds himself entangled in a group of youths playing their own version of happy slapping. Onto of that Risk’s marriage seems to be coming to an end as his wife Sonja is commissioned by a wealthy art collector to produce an installation for his home.

All in all this book has a lot going on, all separate but interconnecting in a rather unique way. As i said earlier it is a fairly slow burner of a book but it is worth a read.

It can be read as a stand alone novel but I would recommend reading the other 2 books as it fills in the details of the bits of back story that come up but there are enough details for this to all make sense by itself.

It ends with a few unanswered questions which I am hoping will all be answered in his next book. I cant wait to see what the future holds for Fabian, the Risk family and Dunja.