Cover Image: Top Dog

Top Dog

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Member Reviews

Really complicated and complex Swedish noir. This has multiple threads that at times seem unrelated but they all come together in the end. I'd not read the first book and suspect having done so might have eased my way into this but no matter - it's a terrific read. Emilie and Teddy are quite a pair. She's an attorney and he's a reformed criminal. Together they find themselves looking at the topical issue of trafficking, human and drugs, and the conflict in a city undergoing generational and cultural change. Well written and translated but hard to describe in a review, this is one to settle into. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of Scandinavian novels.

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Thought that Jens Lapidus would follow most Scandinavian authors and write in the noir fashion but no he didn't. He was like most of the headlines to date writing about immigrants, the me too movement, and why criminals kill and go to jail. Jens started out writing out about Irains, Syrians, and people in Dubia but mainly people from the mideast who speak some form of Arabic. Roksana and Z had a party that was cool. The next day Roksana found some drugs in a hidden compartment at the back of a closet. Which lead to her visit to her cousin in Iran. Because she needed $800,000 to get out of debt to the owners of the product. Then we have Teddy who was the uncle of Nikola. This is another story which is how to get out of jail. Emelie is another story which coincides with Teddy as lovers and workers in a law firm. Emelie set up her own firm and was contacted by Katja, who was raped by a group of men, this was Emelie's main focus. All these stories were really involved and were for the most part separate but they came together in the end. We have mad police involved in the ending. Jens tends to solve all the problems and even get people to change there ways. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars,

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Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an unbiased review.
Having read the first in this series I was really looking forward to the second in this series set in Stockholm and following on from Stockholm Delete.
All the main characters return and this publication certainly didn't disappoint as it delivered big time.
Although it follows on from the first book, it could in theory be read as a standalone as the back story is covered.
Paints a grim picture of crime in Stockholm (or indeed pretty much any city in the world) and has left me longing for the third installment.

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Thank you NetGalley and Vintage Crime/Black Lizzard for the eARC.
This was one heck of a ride through the surprisingly dark underbelly of Stockholm and my first book by Jens Lapidus.
At first I was sorry I hadn't read the previous book, although things became clearer as I continued with the story.
Emily and Teddy haven't seem or spoken to each other since they were involved in a child pornography case which was peopled by the higher echelons of the business world; dirty old men taking advantage of very young girls, sexually assaulting and humiliating them. One of these girls has come to Emily for legal help, and reluctantly tells her story, but gets murdered before Emily can do anything for her. Not willing to give up, she contacts Teddy. They never got the pedophiles, but decide to go after them again. Teddy's nephew Nikolas' best friend ends up being murdered and despite trying to go straight, he's consumed by such fury, he decides to take revenge by any means. During this time, he meets Oksana,a naive young woman, who, because she finds a cache of drugs and ends up using and selling them, runs afoul of some very dangerous men who want their money back.
This was quite a nailbiter and I did like the 4 main characters, despite their histories and actions. The ending was good, tied up nearly and left me feeling happy.

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