Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of Swedish author Larsson's stunning fourth crime novel (after The Black Path), the ghost of 17-year-old Wilma Persson describes how she was murdered during a dive beneath the ice of far-north Lake Vittangijarvi while looking for a downed Nazi airplane. Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson, psychologically fragile from previously killing three men in self-defense, and Insp. Anna-Maria Mella, badly shaken when her impulsive actions nearly killed herself and her detective partner, inexorably uncover old passions and vicious crimes in their search for Wilma's killer, but the real allure of Larsson's meticulously crafted narrative lies in her unflinching dissection of human needs and desires. As doom-filled as Larsson's leitmotif of ravens (in old Scandinavia the messengers of Odin, god of poetry and berserker fury), this remarkable tale of twisted love and vengeance and redemptive nonjudgmental devotion resounds, like its epigraph from the Book of Job, with all the pain of human existence. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The fourth Rebecka Martinson novel finds the young lawyer settled into her life in her grandparents' northern Swedish village and enjoying her work as a district prosecutor. When the body of a missing teenager, Wilma, appears in an ice hole in a local river, most are willing to dismiss it as a diving accident. But after she dreams of Wilma telling her she did not die in the river, Rebecka convinces both the pathologist on the case and Inspector Anna-Maria Mella to keep searching for clues. Soon they are also convinced that much more is going on. Little do Anna-Maria and Rebecka realize that they are not just investigating the death of two teenagers but, rather, are digging deep into the murky past of a small village strongly implicated in WWII, when Nazi German business was welcomed by neutral Sweden, and local companies got rich trucking supplies to the Eastern Front in nearby Finland. Narrated by Rebecka and the wraith of Wilma, this may be Larsson's best book so far. The supernatural elements are worked seamlessly into a complex and engaging mystery, resulting in a thoroughly compelling reading experience. Make sure to suggest this one to fans of James Thompson's Finnish mysteries and those who enjoy Scandinavian crime fiction with strong female leads, such as Ann Lindell (Kjell Eriksson's The Demon of Dakar, 2008) and Detective Inspector Huss (Helen Tursten's The Glass Devil, 2007).--Moyer, Jessica Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Adventurous Wilma and Simon make a terrible mistake: diving in the icy waters of Vittangijarvi in search of a plane that crashed during World War II. Neither makes it back to the surface alive. But while Wilma may be dead, she is not really gone. So begins Larsson's fourth entry in the Swedish crime series featuring Inspector Anna-Maria Mella and prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson. Like the author's previous book (The Black Path), this layered thriller is at once sad and violent. There isn't much mystery regarding the identities of the villains; the mystery comes from when and where they will finally unravel and the secret that compelled them to trap two young people beneath the ice. Verdict The clunky title may deter some, but dedicated fans of atmospheric Swedish thrillers will be absorbed in a haunting work with multiple points of view, where the investigators don't automatically have the last word.-Sally Harrison, Ocean Cty. Lib., Waretown, N.J. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
