Gillar Arne Dahls böcker om A gruppen. Härliga omaka karaktärer och med en skönt underliggande humor. Det är välskrivet men intrigen i denna bok är lite väl otrolig. ( )

Ein toter Nobelpreiskandidat und eine bis zur Unkenntlichkeit verstümmelte Leiche in einem Stockholmer Freizeitpark – haben sie etwas miteinander zu tun? Fieberhaft suchen die Sonderermittler um Paul Hjelm und Kerstin Holm nach dem Verbindungsglied in einer bizarren Mordserie. Der Fall führt sie nicht nur durch halb Europa, sondern auch in die Vergangenheit, bis hin zu einem monströsen Verbrechen vor langer Zeit.

There’s good Nordic noir. And there’s excellent Eurocrime. And there’s outstandingly accomplished crime writing which uses the genre to illustrate greater human truths, to bend perceptions, to shine light on subjects most folk would rather leave unseen in silent shadows. The Intercrime / A-unit series of police procedurals does all of the above.

Europa Blues is eloquent, entertaining and insightful. It’s also witty and gripping, not scared to blindside the reader with ugly truth and gruesome details. Sweden’s international crime investigation unit are confronted with a series of strange murders. They must find the links between a Mafioso being eaten by wolverines; a mugger who comes off much worse than his mark, and a Jewish concentration camp survivor who’s killed in an unusually weird way.

Arne Dahl uses his familiar cast of characters to add multiple dimensions which layer through the story, lifting the narrative beyond its immediate morality and into something much broader. He touches on the very nature of time, or how free market capitalism is the thin end of the fascist wedge, and Sweden’s unspoken guilt over the Holocaust. If this book wasn’t categorised as ‘crime’ then you’d find it on the ‘modern literature’ shelves.

Yet Europa Blues is never stuffy, never stifling. The interactions between the members of Intercrime are perfectly pitched; rolling banter which turns serious in a syllable. It’s all beautifully observed, from a personal to a political level, with a sprawling cast of generously developed characters. The author has a fine eye for the detail of an ensemble police procedural where the intertwining plot-lines are all skilfully controlled. He also demonstrates a blistering ability to portray the gruesome alongside the mundane so that it feels as if it might actually happen.

So I can just about forgive Dahl’s inclination to suddenly convert one of his characters into an unlikely version of Jason Bourne for a chapter of death-defying derring-do. The action-packed finale goes a bit boy’s own adventure and felt more than a little out of place.

That small snag aside, Europa Blues is a hugely satisfying novel on every level.
8/10

There’s a longer review over at https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2015/10/26/europa-blues-swedish-brilli... ( )

Rechercheurs van het A-team krijgen te maken met een gruwelijke moord op een onbekende man, vrouwenhandel en de moord op een oude joodse geleerde. Ze ontdekken dat de misdaden met elkaar te maken hebben, maar tasten in het duister omtrent de redenen. De ontdekking van een oud dagboek werpt meer licht op de zaak. In dit verhaal leidt het onderzoek door heel Europa, de geschiedenis van Zweden komt in een ander daglicht te staan. Het verhaal is bijzonder spannend en het zeer verrassende einde maakt dat je het boek met spijt weglegt. Vierde deel in een serie over een 'speciale eenheid van de rijksrecherche voor geweldsdelicten van internationale aard', het A-team.

EUROPA BLUES is the first of Arne Dahl's books I've been fortunate enough to read and it definitely won't be the last. A combination of a slightly eccentric, dedicated and very determined investigation group full of strong individuals, who work as a team; and a confrontational and some very pointed crimes and their backgrounds, perpetrated for very believable reasons made this novel a stand-out read.

When an unknown Greek gangster is murdered and then disposed of in the wolverine enclosure of a local zoo, the likelihood of even identifying him, let alone resolving the questions of why or who killed him seems pretty remote. As does the likelihood of working out any possible connections between his death and the disappearance of a number of Eastern European women from a refugee centre outside Stockholm. When an elderly science professor is then murdered in extremely bizarre circumstances, in the centre of a Jewish cemetery, this really does seem like a series of disconnected and extremely odd occurrences.

The Intercrime unit (or A-Unit as they are known) is a special unit put together to investigate violent crimes with international aspects. Which is a wonderful creation as whilst the unit might feel feasible, there's much in it's management structures and membership that is most unexpected. And many of the members seem particularly comfortable in that sort of working environment. They are, however, a ruthlessly efficient bunch of cynical, analytical and experienced cops who are not at all afraid to follow a hunch.

Well balanced within the strong characterisation, there's an intricate plot that falls into place seamlessly, incorporating questions and observations about many societal questions along the way. The disappearance of refugee women, the increasing problem of women from struggling economies being lured into sex-trafficking, and the gangsters and organised crime behind it are part of the current day problems explored, as are aspects of more recent European history and connectivity that seem to be an ongoing discussion in many of the Scandinavian Crime Fiction books this reader has been fortunate enough to encounter.

There's a lot to catch up with if you're starting out with this series at EUROPA BLUES as this reader did. It doesn't create a problem in getting into the style and tone of the writing, nor in picking up on the personalities and working relationships of the A-Unit. It may, however, create a stacking problem as there are other books available in this series, with the very distinct possibility that they'll be creeping to the top of the reading pile very soon.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-europa-blues-arne-dahl ( )