What happens when a tough FBI-agent from New York is forced into a witness protection program and ends up in a small town in Sweden? That’s the premise for the nerve tingling first part of the John Adderley-series.; The Bucket List.
When Swedish-American FBI-agent John Adderley wakes up in a hospital bed in Baltimore with extensive gunshot wounds he knows he’s lucky to be alive. Just a few beds away is the man who twenty-four hours ago pointed a gun to his head.
Ten years earlier in Karlstad, Sweden, Heimer Bjurwall goes searching for his missing teenage daughter Emelie. Since she’s the sole heiress to the clothing empire Ackwe, he and his wife Sissela fear she’s been kidnapped. When local police find blood and semen on a cliff they arrest a teenage boy from the poorer part of town. He denies the charges and since the body is never found he can’t be prosecuted.
When this cold case file is sent to John Adderley ten years later, his curiosity peaks. He’s set to testify in a trial against the drug cartel he infiltrated and has been granted witness protection. Having grown up in Sweden and since he has a special interest in Emelie’s disappearance, John demands to be transferred to the Karlstad police to work with their Cold Case Group which just re-opened the case. At the same time he knows that the drug cartel has a prize on his head, the punishment for his betrayal is death.
THIS IS THE classic Scandi-noir series with a fresh new take that we have all been waiting for. The novel has an intense plot and a masterfully crafted character gallery. Readers will be surprised by the book’s many twists at the same time as it is moving; raising questions about origin, ethnicity and the moral obligations that come with one’s roots. Like many of us, John seeks his freedom while simultaneously trying to find his context. The characters we meet are multifaceted with deep emotions and realistic portrayal. The storyline is an intricate puzzle, a real page-turner that is impossible to stop reading until you have all the answers, at the same time as the characters’ inner journeys stay with you for a long time.
“A brilliant new crime series from Sweden – I love everything about it, the characters, the set-up, the writing. I am thrilled that we get to publish the amazing Mohlin & Nyström.”
– Heide Kloth, Editorial Director, HarperCollins Germany