Books Reviews

The Hand that Trembles – Book Review

By Angela Youngman Feb 6, 2012, 15:23 GMT

"Kjell Eriksson\'s crime novels are among the very best.? -Henning Mankell A Swedish county commissioner walks out of a high-level meeting and disappears. Many years later, one of the town\'s natives is convinced that he\'s caught a glimpse of the missing man while traveling in Bangalore, India. When the rumors reach his hometown, a veteran police officer stumbles across a seemingly unrelated case. Ann Lindell, Eriksson\'s series detective, must investigate a severed ...more

When Sven-Arne Persson suddenly walks out of a business meeting and disappears, he leaves behind many unanswered questions.  Many years later, an old friend is convinced he has seen Persson in Bangalore, India.  Is there any truth in the sighting? 

Back home in Sweden, a dismembered female foot is found washed on a beach in an area where almost all the inhabitants are single men.  Whose body does it belong to?  And what is the link with the unsolved mystery of a man beaten to death long ago?  Above all, just where does Sven-Arne Persson fit in to the jigsaw?  Eriksson is another of the Scandinavian mystery writers who have sprung up in recent years and is definitely one of the better ones.

Eriksson knows how to write concisely and keep the story flowing, with plenty of action and interest throughout. The only problem is that it can get confusing, as the story line swops from one time to another and it is not always clear just which section of the story is being covered.