It is in early October and the moose hunt has started in Hudiksvall. Slaughterer Hans Larsson makes a macabre discover early one morning when he finds a human body suspended in hooks in the slaughterhouse's ceiling. Johan Rokka and his colleagues at Hudiksvall Police gets the case on their table. There is no doubt that the victim has been subjected to torture, and soon it turns out that this is only one the first in a line of bestial murder. The police are looking for the truth behind the crimes and it turns out to be crueler than they ever imagined. The butcher is a story about greed and vengeance, with a fast pace and several parallel stories that merge together.

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The Butcher is book four in the Murders in Hudiksvall series, but the books can be read without difficulty as stand alone. I have only read book two, the Errand Boy, before I read this one. However, I'm glad that I have two books left to read because the Butcher is really good. I really like the strong beginning of this book, with a man being attacked in the woods after a moose hunt. You do not know why, but that event is the starting point for all the brutal murders. Murders that John Rokka and his colleagues must solve. Someone is after revenge, but why? What do these murdered men have in common?

The Butcher is a book that really impressed me, at first the story seemed to just have a lot of loose threads. Murders are committed, but what is the common factor? There are also sidetracks, including a digging journalist, but it is only at the end that you begin to realize the truth of what's going on, and I have to admit that I was surprised when I realized how everything was connected.

The Errand Boy is good, but the Butcher is awesome!

Thanks HarperCollins Nordic for the review copy! ( )