Red Wolf

A Novel

By: Liza Marklund

Narrated by: Jill Tanner

The inspiration for the hit film series, Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter, now available on Netflix.

Beneath a dark winter sky. . .death waits patiently.

A journalist is murdered in the frozen white landscape of a northern Swedish town. Annika Bengtzon, a reporter at a Stockholm-based tabloid, was planning to interview him about a long-ago attack against an isolated air base nearby, and now she suspects that his death is linked to that attack.

Against the explicit orders of her boss, she begins to investigate the event, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders. Annika knows the murders are connected. At the same time, she begins to suspect that her husband is hiding something, and nothing can counteract the loneliness that has crept into her life.

Behind everything lurks the figure of the Red Wolf, a cold-blooded killer with the soul of a lover. In the end, she must discover the truth not only about the murders but also about the lies that are destroying her own family.

Fewer words pronounced correctly

The story was good but would have benefitted from being slightly more concise. The characters were well developed and interesting. I didn’t know why a few of them were in there because they just served to be another thread to keep track of but that’s a Nordic noir thing I guess.

I have mixed opinions about narration. It was performed very well. Jill Tanner is a fine actor and has a lovely voice. The pronunciation of Swedish place names could have been worse, but not by much. She nailed what Å sounds like. But honestly, I will never understand why narrators don’t just ask a native speaker, find a newsreel, or radio station in Swedish. They’re abundantly available! The consulate in any capital likely has an elderly assistant that would LOVE to help with pronunciation just to relieve their boredom and feel useful!

One of the reasons I chose this title was because I used to live near Stockholm and I just spent a beautiful winter in Luleå. I enjoyed the description of the landscape because they’re real places. It was difficult to decipher what place was being named even the names I know very well.

will there be more translations to english?

I enjoyed this book very much. So disappointed more of this author's novels are not in English. Enthusiastic (maybe at times a bit too enthusiastic) narrator. Annika Bengtzon, reporter, wife, mother and friend, is the protagonist, and is a believable and well thought out character. The story is a bit choppy at times, this could be the translation, but its a book I'll listen to again.

Only 1 of the 8 novels is in English. Hope there will be more. Its always a bit joyful to find an new Audible recommendation whose backlist is available. But that's not the case here. The books are there, but not available. why is that? sorry to be so peevish about this.

I tried.

I enjoy Henning Mankell and Stieg Larson was also good. I was excited to hear there was another fabulous Swedish crime writer. Unlike the other reviewer I cannot recommend this book - at least in this format. The story takes some time to gel and the narrator seems shrill to me. I tried and finally gave up at the end of Part I., perhaps I'll try again, but I was really not enjoying this. At least listen to the trial audio before you spend any money.

Booooring

I stuck with this book for way too long. The story never really seemed to get going or catch my attention. Can honestly say that I've only not finished 3 books (out of thousands) due to poor storyline and this is one of them. A real snoozefest