Midwinter Sacrifice is the first of a series of books featuring detective Malin Fors, set in the freezing environs of Linkoping, Sweden. Fors is investigating the case of a man found dead, hanging from a tree in the forest. In the process she tangles with a local family of outsiders whose daughter was raped and murdered, potentially by the victim.

As with all Scandinavian detectives, Malin's home life is portrayed as a mess. She is separated from her husband and her 13 year old daughter is blossoming into womanhood, something Malin is not ready for.

A strength of this novel is Kallentoft's description of the bleakness of the Swedish countryside in mid-winter. But the similarities between Malin and The Killing's Sarah Lund are unmistakeable, and that doesn't help the book. The plot is slow to develop and gets pretty clumsy towards the end. I thought Kallentoft's practice of inserting commentary by the victim from betond the grave did nothing for the book either.

On the whole, this is a mostly unexceptional Scandinavian crime novel. ( )

En la pequeña ciudad sueca de Linköping, Malin Fors, una joven comisaria de policía, debe hacerse cargo de un espantoso caso de asesinato. Un hombre ha aparecido colgado de un árbol, con signos evidentes de haber sufrido una terrible tortura. La identificación del cadáver permite revelar que la víctima es Bengt Andersson, un personaje marginal que sobrevivía gracias a las ayudas sociales. Malin Fors descubre que la víctima sufría el acoso y las burlas de sus vecinos en una de las zonas más deprimidas de la ciudad. Bengt Andersson no contaba con ningún apoyo familiar ya que su madre murió, su hermana Rebecka fue dada en adopción y él mismo atacó a su padre con un hacha tras años de maltrato. A lo largo de su investigación, la joven comisaria tendrá que barajar varias pistas: la de un antiguo y cruel ritual vikingo, la de dos adolescentes conflictivos que maltrataban a Bengt Andersson y la de la familia Murvall, cuya familia fue presuntamente violada por el primero.

A very confusing style, multiple narrative voices including the dead victim. A lot of skimming through unnecessary descriptions etc.. Not happy about the ending which seemed a bit rushed and incomplete Still giving the second book in this series a try ( )

Great! Loved the characters and really enjoyed the plot and the setting. ( )

For once the lead character in a Scandinavian crime novel is female, and one who, I think will grow on us as more books are translated. In sub-genre terms this is a police procedural. The writing, as translated, flows well, despite the occasional jarring when the narrative voice changes. I thought at first I would be irritated by the ongoing voice of the victim, but I grew used to it.
The plot is a little laboured and requires an intervention to resolve it; I know one thread is left unresolved but this isn't critical.
I will be looking out for "Summertime Death" ( )