Eventually, Jeanette comes to her senses and informs her parents of the attack. The police are contacted and Chief Inspector Erik Winter sends Aneta Djanali and Frederik Halders to interview the Bielke family. Several other rapes had occurred and Winter suspects a serial rapist. Unlike the previous cases, however, the victim has survived and may be able to offer clues to jump start a stalled investigation.

What would really be helpful to the investigating officers is to discern similarities between the crimes. At present, the only commonality is that all the young women were recent college graduates. Jeanette is able to add that her assailant tried to strangle her with what appeared to be a dog leash. Although none of the women knew each other, Winter requests pictures of their graduation festivities in the hope of finding some person who appears in more than one of the groups of pictures. Winter believes that the first of the series of rapes occurred five years ago when he notices a picture in each collection of photos showing young women seated at what appears to be a bar with a brick wall as a backdrop. Brick walls are rather unusual in Gothenburg. It is hoped that the identification of the wall’s location will lead to other information that will eventually solve the case.

Chief Inspector Winter is a typical series cop. He has the usual vices. He smokes and drinks too much, is driven by his job to the exclusion of his family even though he loves his wife and young daughter passionately, and is impatient with anyone or anything that holds up his investigation. He does demonstrate the tedious process of conducting an investigation well even though it does tend to bog down the pace of the plot.

The book has been translated from its original Swedish by Laurie Thompson. It is difficult to discern whether the author writes in a terse simplistic way or the translator has altered Edwardson’s style to make the English translation easy to understand. The dialogue is conducted in short phrases or sentences with few words numbering over four syllables. This approach makes for a quick read but leaves little for the reader to ponder.

There is an interesting analysis of how audio tapes can be treated to enhance some sounds and eliminate others through the use of sophisticated computer programs to reduce or eliminate specific sound frequencies. This sidelight is a bit didactic, but certainly informative.

Two other books by Edwardson also featuring Erik Winter have been translated into English both by the aforementioned Laurie Thompson. Presumably, favorable sales of these three volumes may yield translations of his other novels. Though not written with the sophistication of Henning Mankell’s work, these books are a worthwhile addition to the growing number of mystery novels written by Scandinavian writers that are being translated into English, thus affording a look into the life and crime in this part of Europe.

--Andy Plonka