Crime author Liza Marklund is only the second Swedish writer (Steig Larsson being the first) to make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list for her novel The Postcard Killers, which she coauthored with James Patterson. It seems strange then that only one of her other novels (she's written more than a dozen) has been published here in the US (Red Wolf earlier this year). Apparently her books have been hugely successful in the Scandinavian countries as well as the rest of Europe, so when she was recommended to me I had to go in search of her books in out of the way places. Red Wolf is the fifth novel in an already established series featuring journalist Annika Bengtzen. I prefer to start at the beginning when it comes to mysteries, but I had a tricky time of it as not only have the books been translated out of order but they were also written out of order as well. How's that for confusion?
So I've started with Paradise, which while not the first chronologically seems to have been as good a place to start as any (though happily it is closer to the beginning of Annika's adventures). There's a lot going on in Paradise. Some of the plotlines are stronger than others, and while they meshed at the end I wondered if the story was "busier" than it needed to be, but that didn't really take away from the enjoyment of reading the story. Annika is an interesting character with a fair number of flaws but she has a lot of potential. Annika Bengtzon is a sub-editor for a tabloid paper called Kvällspressen in Stockholm where she works nights. She's not allowed to do much writing and considers herself in the deep freeze when it comes to getting her stories published. She mostly collects and checks facts, while the running of the paper and big stories are generally left up to the men. Obviously she's not happy about her situation and looks for her big break but she's in an uncomfortable position due to her unhappy recent past.
The victim of domestic abuse, Annika was convicted of killing her former boyfriend, though his death was accidental. It was decided she was acting in self-defense so she was given probation. The tragedy hangs over her head and she continues to carry the weight emotionally, however. She has trouble sleeping and in her current relationships with her mother and sister she gets little support. The only person she is close to is her grandmother who helped her get through the ordeal. Even her apartment reflects the unpredictable nature of her life. She lives in a building slated to be demolished in an apartment with no hot water or bathroom. In a word her life is something of a mess.
What Annika lacks in happiness and a sense of stability in her life she makes up in smarts and tenacity. When presented with a potential story, even if it may lack her own byline when published, she follows through. When a woman calls in looking for someone to write a story on an organization called Paradise, which helps abuse victims disappear, Annika is naturally curious. Paradise is something of a underground organization as it helps wipe clean the slate of victims of abuse in such a way that no one can track them down, including the perpetrator. Rebecka, the woman who runs the organization, is intensely secretive, so Annika must dig around looking for leads and information.
Paradise seems a godsend for another young woman who Annika meets in an unrelated case, but which serves as the spectacular opening for the story. As a hurricane rocks the coast of Sweden, two men are shot dead at one of Stockholm's ports. One woman was witness to the atrocity, a Bosnian refugee, who escapes by jumping into the sea. Her killer will not stop until he finds her, and when Annika crosses his path whilst aiding the woman her own existence will be threatened as well. So Annika sends the woman to Rebecka and Paradise thinking she is offering her the best refuge possible. Nothing in this story is simple, however.
Liza Marklund's Paradise is an ambitious story. Aida from Bijelina, the Bosnian refugee, is the key to the story and the reason everything will match up in the end. To get there, to get her story, Annika must find the connection between the Yugo mafia, a missing truck carrying cigarettes worth millions of dollars, massacres in war-torn Serbo-Croatia and the truth behind Paradise. And Marklund doesn't scrimp on Annika's personal life either. You get a good sense of her personality and relationships--how she lives and what she thinks and feels. What I liked most about the book, aside from Annika of course, is the way that Marklund comes at the crime. This is not your run of the mill detective story. There are no cops, or rather they are there in the background, but the crime and the solution are approached through the eyes of not only a journalist but a woman as well. All in all this was a fast paced, entertaining read. I'm now trying to get my hands on Studio 69, which is the story of Annika before what happened in Paradise.
There is an excellent Wikipedia entry on Liza Marklund (including the correct order of books for the Annika Bengtzon series). You can read more about the author and her books here and here. Thanks to Maxine for recommending Liza Marklund's books, she wrote about Paradise here. And I should mention the book is translated by Ingrid Eng-Rudlow.