Stockholm Delete - Jens Lapidus

Jens Lapidus is a Swedish criminal defence lawyer so he knows what he’s talking about in this Scandi crime novel, Stockholm Delete. The courtroom scenes maintain an authenticity one would expect from a writer of his profession. Much credit , too, must go to the translator, Alice Menzies, who’s done a fine, seamless job here.

This novel is fairly typical of its genre. Lots of action, a tight plot full of twists and turns that can be hard to keep up with sometimes. The Swedish underworld with all its tangled machinations, corruption abounds and brutality is the answer for many of these characters.  A liberal splattering of goodies and baddies, some where the line between good and bad is not so clearly defined. In so many ways it’s predictable not in the sense that you can second guess what’s specifically going to happen but in the execution of character and plot. That said it is a gripping, gritty read with much to commend it. It’s good but it’s not great in my opinion.

I sometimes feel that the book blurb can offer people unfair expectations of what they are about to read. This is compared with Stieg Larsson. Why I don’t know. Perhaps simple because it is a Scandinavian crime novel. But if you’re hoping that Emilie Jansson is going to be another Lisbeth Salander you will be disappointed. But if you enjoy Scandi crime as a genre this will satisfy to a large degree.

Thanks to Readers First for a copy of this book.