House at the Edge of the World
House at the Edge of the World
Åke EdwardsonAfter ten novels featuring Detective Inspector Erik Winter, Åke Edwardson left him lying at the bottom of a swimming pool in a tourist resort in Spain, Nueva Andalucía. We didn’t know if he was dead or alive. But now we know. Erik Winter survived, but all his years as a detective inspector with the Gothenburg police had taken their toll. He was very close to an irreversible brain haemorrhage and had to resign and take a break.
After two years, Erik Winter is back on duty, somewhat recovered but with incurable tinnitus as his constant companion. Aneta Djanali is there, Fredrik Halders is there, Bertil Ringmar is there, everything is almost as usual. But he has barely started work again when that all too familiar unease creeps into his thoughts.
The first case he is assigned is a particularly unpleasant murder case on an island in southern Gothenburg. A woman and her two small children are found brutally stabbed to death in a house on the island, in a house at the end of the world. But miraculously, a baby is found alive in one of the rooms of the house, suffering from dehydration but otherwise unharmed.
Who murdered the family so ruthlessly? And why was the baby spared? Was it so that the child could live, or so that it would die a prolonged and painful death?
‘An incredibly intelligent plot, and a language that is a pleasure to read.House at the Edge of the World is without a doubt the highlight of this year’s crime fiction.’ Marita Johansen, Nerikes Allehanda
’As usual, Edwardson is a skilled plotter. Slowly and methodically, with discreetly placed red herrings, the solution is unravelled. […] Once again, his greatest asset is his linguistic craftsmanship. It is impressive how, with such limited means, he gets under the skin of his battered hero and captures his feverish mix of guilt, obsession, addiction and vulnerability.’ Magnus Persson, SvD
‘Edwardson has honed his character to perfection, the language fits him like a precious glove, keeping the reader in almost the same stranglehold as Winter keeps himself when he fights his demons and his alcohol cravings. The cliché that the detective hero always is – and must be – is handled with impressive elegance and skill. The story of the eerie goings-on in and around the house by the bay on the more affluent side is so neatly tied up that all you can do is tip your hat and congratulate the author! What a comeback!’ Liv Beckström, Kommunalarbetaren
Rights sold
Dutch: AW Bruna
German: Ullstein
Polish: Virtualo
