Sun and Shadow
An Erik Winter Novel
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3.9 • 52 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Like his fellow countryman Henning Mankell, Åke Edwardson is a successful figure on the international mystery scene and a brilliant discovery for lovers of intricate, psychologically charged, and stylish crime novels. With Sun and Shadow, Edwardson introduces readers to detective Erik Winter, the youngest chief inspector in Sweden, who wears sharp suits, cooks gourmet meals, has a penchant for jazz, and is about to become a father. He's also moody and intuitive, his mind inhabiting the crimes he's trying to solve. In this atmospheric, heart-stopping tale, Winter's troubles abound—and a bloody double murder on his doorstep is just the beginning.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cars from Sweden are known for being dependable and safe, but like this American debut from a celebrated Scandinavian crime writer, their stolid lines don't necessarily spark excitement. Erik Winter, a jazz-loving, gourmet-cooking detective, is a blaze of color amid the drab postwar apartment blocks of Gothenburg, a city reeling from a macabre double murder. Winter, whose normally secure battlements are assaulted by family tragedy and the impending birth of his first child, sets out to follow the dark drops of gore blooming in the snow. The path leads in any number of interesting directions through thickets of death metal enthusiasts and swingers, through winds of psychosexual trauma but these subjects never pierce the book's colorless atmosphere. Excessive exposition slows down an already unhurried plot, which Americans fond of glib investigators on CSI and Hannibal Lecter's piercing irony will find insufficiently suspenseful. The villain is comparatively bland, and the translation often awkward: Winters takes a "softly softly approach" so that his witness doesn't get "chary." Add in an insistence on mundane details, such as the particulars of a simple bank transaction, and the results smother any flame of personality. All the blocks that built this gothic ice cathedral are cut straight, but assembled without the design of a compelling thriller.
Customer Reviews
Great story-poor book
I really enjoyed the story, characters, and development. I frequently found myself lost in the story due to poor assembly of the ebook. At time there were changes of scene and character that happened without a page break or paragraph break. Added to this was the author's generous use of pronouns to the point of finding myself unable to know which "he" or "him" was being discussed, and just who and where was the center of action.
I don't know if this is caused by the author, the translator, or the shift from print to ebook, but far too many times it sure made it difficult to follow the story.
If not for those reasons I would have given it 5 stars.
Could have used a good editor!
While the plot is interesting, the writing style is terrible. It is as if the initial jottings of the author have been published without any thought to editing and crafting.
Rambling irrelevance coupled with insufficient depth on the essence of the story made this book a waste of money and time for me.
Another great one!
Another great Erik Winter case. I really like these mysteries, and the quality of them does not vary as much as other series. To me, every one of them knocks it out of the park. We start off with another tantalizing and vague episode, which usually ends up being from the viewpoint of the criminal or the victim. But, in this novel, more than most, these episodes jump around, and then start to include characters we know! Are these people presented significant to the building of characters and their lives, or the building of clues and suspense?
I normally just enjoy the narrative, if I can, but the tension was built so masterfully, that I kept turning back pages, or making little notes, and giggling with delight. I started to mistrust everyone, like I was on that same police force. So little was offered, not in a detrimental way, like the carrot before the mule, that you wanted to read it all in one sitting. I started to wonder if the culprit was indeed someone I knew in the books, or was it all a ruse?! And, despite my gushing, I still didn't realize the magnitude in which I was caught up in it all, until my suspicions of a person were revealed to only be a medical issue. When experiencing lesser mysteries, you would exclaim, "Gotcha" or "That threw me for a loop!" In the hands of this author, it was more like, "I'm glad he's OK!" You really care.
There is also more personal development of Erik, but this does not take away from the mystery. It's a great example of how one's personal life can help or hinder one's assessments of facts. Also evident is how the great cop qualities of paranoia, doubt and deception, can be detriments in one's personal life.
This was also another great translation, especially well-suited to Edwardson's spare style. There was a UK spelling or grammatical device, her or there, but nothing jarring. The language, and not just the events, built the suspense wonderfully. Three more mysteries to go, and I will sadly have to wait for his next one. So excited.