In Bad Company

Sandhamn Murders, Book 9

By: Viveca Sten, Marlaine Delargy - translator

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Sandhamn Island’s archipelago is a beautiful place to visit. For a mother on the run, it’s the only place to hide in a novel of escalating suspense by Viveca Sten, bestselling author of Still Waters.

Building a case against Andreis Kovač is a risky strategy for prosecutor Nora Linde. A violent key player in Stockholm’s drug trade and untouchable when it comes to financial crimes, he has the best defense money can buy. To topple Andreis’s empire, Nora’s working a different angle. It’s personal. Nora’s critical witness is Andreis’s wife, Mina - if she’ll testify.

Mina has suffered her husband’s rage too long. It’s nearly cost her her life. Still carrying the traumas of the Bosnian War, Andreis can be triggered like an explosive. He must be taken down. And as the trial looms, Mina and her infant son must disappear. The police have found her a safe place to hide on Runmarö Island in Sandhamn’s archipelago. But there’s no shelter from a man as powerful and merciless as Andreis. Especially when he’s being crossed.

His campaign of terror has just begun. He’s prepared to crush anyone who stands in his way: Mina, Nora, and everyone they know and love. Andreis is coming for them. This time, Nora is on the defense.

©2018 Viveca Sten. Translation © 2021 by Marlaine Delargy. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

This one tackles a sensitive topic, and does it well

An abused wife just happens to become part of Nora’s case against a crime boss. Thomas is torn between his exhausting job and his broken family. Good story.

Love the series but...

Love the series but feel like this one was just phoned in so to speak. This might be my last book from this series as the story lines are getting too far fetched. I hate to be critical given I’m not a writer myself but I would thought her editor at least
could have helped her on some of the more obvious plot holes.

Not her best

I've really been enjoying this series, especially the last two books. This book, however, was a big disappointment. How many terrible decisions can every character in this book make? Even Nora and Thomas seem to have lost their common sense. Many of the characters in the other book were absent and it almost seemed like this book was written by someone else.

Angela Dawe is incredible with the variety of voices she can do so well. She's one of the best I've heard. My only complaint is that she read to fast for my ears. I'm glad I can adjust the narration speed because she is perfect at 85% speed.

Not the best of the series

This was one where you find yourself asking the characters if they are just stupid a number of times through the story. The story relied upon the ill thought actions to carry the plot when I felt more clever options were available

Stupid People doing Stupid Things,

A weak entry in an otherwise excellent series. The plot heavily relies on the characters making incredibly stupid decisions, It gets to the point where your eyes roll up in disgust knowing that a decision made is going to lead to something bad happening. Mild spoilers ahead: You have a violent abusive psychopath searching for his wife hiding with you and you leave and realize you left your cell phone behind charging on your desk. At this point in the book the reader should Instantly know what is going to happen. Another example, Said psychopath confronts you in your home wanting to know where his wife is hiding. You don't seem to consider lying. You may be killed anyway but at least a lie gives you a chance as the psycho cannot know you lied until he goes to where you said she is. Worst of all is when the wife "escapes" the abused women's shelter to return home to get nicer clothes and infant toys than the shelter can provide her. The shelter allows the women to shop on the island for new nicer things, but no, go home and maybe encounter the husband who beats you nearly to death.
At this point you lose even more sympathy for the poor woman.
This book also is a deprture in the series as it is not a murder mystery. There is no murder investigation to draw you in.
The reader is excellent and made the effort to properly pronounce the Swedish names and places.

Series getting tired

Women making bad decisions rescued by men . . . Some interesting facts about why abused women stay.

Weak attempt at trying for a "big picture" story

I have enjoyed the Sandhamn stories so far, but this one is a bit of a klunker. Bosnians, Serbs, gangsters, and more, all of which seems to be a flimsy architecture to hang a weak story on. The first few were great, so maybe this is an anomaly.