THE SPIRIT IN THE MACHINE

ANDEN I MASKINEN – THE SPIRIT IN THE MACHINE

By John Ajvide Lindqvist

SWEDEN IS SHAKEN by a horrific attack. During the intermission of Hamlet at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, a female suicide bomber kills over 40 people, and injures even more. 

A NATIONAL TRAUMA is a fact. 

JULIA MALMROS HAS returned to the police force due to writer’s block, and she is assigned tasks vaguely connected to the bombing. Soon, she finds herself getting closer to the centre of the investigation. 

KIM RIBBING IS having the mansion that once belonged to his sadistic grandfather converted into a refugee center. The building is attacked and when he starts his own investigation he finds links to the bombing.

THEN: ANOTHER ATTACK. This time, a mosque is blown up during evening prayers, with even more victims than at the theatre. Emotions run high and mutually hostile groups are formed. Sweden becomes a divided country, where true Swedes and Islamists incite each other. 

THE SPIRIT IN THE MACHINE is a tender yet action-packed suspense novel about polarisation and radicalisation, deeply rooted in the present.