Sun Storm

By: Åsa Larsson

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

On the floor of a church inNorthern Sweden, the body of a man lies mutilated and defiled - and in the night sky, the aurora borealis dances as the snow begins to fall.... So begins Åsa Larsson's spellbinding thriller, winner of Sweden's Best First Crime Novel Award and an international literary sensation.

Rebecka Martinsson is heading home to Kiruna, the town she'd left in disgrace years before. A Stockholm attorney, Rebecka has a good reason to return: her friend, Sanna, whose brother has been horrifically murdered in the revivalist church his charisma helped create. Beautiful and fragile, Sanna needs someone like Rebecka to remove the shadow of guilt that is engulfing her, to forestall an ambitious prosecutor and a dogged policewoman. But to help her friend, and to find the real killer of a man she once adored and is now not sure she ever knew, Rebecka must relive the darkness she left behind in Kiruna, delve into a sordid conspiracy of deceit, and confront a killer whose motives are dark, wrenching, and impossible to guess.

©2003 Åsa Larsson (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This is superior psychological suspense - think Minette Walters - notable for its strong female characters." ( Library Journal)

Great book, less than great narration

Åsa Larson's Sun Storm is a taut and suspenseful procedural that, interestingly, has a lawyer as a central character, instead of a detective. Rebecka Martinsson is a great character -- strong, prickly, determined -- and even though she's not a criminal lawyer, she finds herself mired in a murder that happened in her home town. The way that the past comes crashing back into the present pays off really well in this story.

My only quibble with this book is the narrator. It really isn't that hard to look up how to pronounce Swedish names and places, and the way she mangles them just DROVE. ME. NUTS.

I enjoyed Gabrielle Glaister narration much more

Asa Larsson, RM books are entertaining ploys that I look forward to listening to. I found Ms Huber had a bored tone in her narration. It was a distraction...I enjoyed Gabrielle Glaister narration much more.

Excellent Book!!! Great Narrator!!!

Very fine suspense, great character development. I loved the narrator. Highly recommended! Look forward to more from this author.

Great book

It is a gritty, unabashed look at a brave woman who has much anger stored up. She uses her anger to go back home to the place she had been ostracized. The author gets our attention and weaves a tale that keeps you interested and wanting more. A great read.

it was good the narration could have been better

the narrator doesn't differentiate between the female voices very well so it's hard to tell who's speaking and who's not some of the time. it took a little while for me to get into this book and for a while I didn't think I'd read it at all. but I'm glad I read it it was a good story in the end.

robotic narration

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I returned this book without finishing because I didn't like the narrator.
I would have liked to hear the rest of the story.

i cannot abide. violence to animals; esp dogs!

horrible graphic violence to a nice family dog who gave humans nothing but love. I knew it was coming as soon as the book main the dog a significant character in the story (like Damocle's sword hanging over my head) . I had hoped I was wrong, it way a cheap ploy I hoped the author would not use. WELL, after I finished other modern authors seemed too "fluffy" in comparison so I must admit, I purchased another by this author (with my fingers crossed no domestic animals (other than human) are featured. :) Bumped up my rating a star.

Great Story LIne

Even though there were a couple of loose ends at the end of the book, overall, the plot was very original and engaging. The reader's voice was not exactly suited to this type of book. She sounded like she would be better suited to reading bedtime stories for children.

Narration ran on hard to follow

Couldn’t keep track of the female characters as zero change in voice tone. And no pause for chapters. It’s would just run on and then you realize it’s a different scene and character.

Unlikeable characters

This book failed the test of having characters you would want to spend time with. The lead character was complicated and flawed, but showed neither charm nor insight. The mystery was somewhat interesting but the conclusion was forecast early on, and the resolution was unconvincing. Some loose ends left in limbo.