Synopses & Reviews
In the tradition of Alan Furst, the #1 international bestselling author delivers his first stand-alone novel, a psychological thriller set in World War II Nazi Germany and 1970s England
British pilots James Teasdale and Bryan Young have been chosen to conduct a special photo-reconnaissance mission near Dresden, Germany. Intelligence believes the Nazis are building new factories that could turn the tide of the war. When their plane is shot down, James and Bryan know they will be executed if captured. With an enemy patrol in pursuit, they manage to jump aboard a train reserved for senior SS soldiers wounded on the eastern front.
In a moment of desperation, they throw two patients off the train and take their places, hoping they can escape later. But their act is too convincing and they end up in the Alphabet House, a mental hospital located far behind enemy lines, where German doctors subject their patients to daily rounds of shock treatments and experimental drugs. The pilots only hope of survival is to fake insanity until the war ends, but their friendship and courage are put to the ultimate test when James and Bryan realize they arent the only ones in the Alphabet House feigning madness.
Millions of fans around the worldand in this countryknow Adler-Olsen for his award-winning Department Q series. His first stand-alone, The Alphabet House, is the perfect introduction for those who have yet to discover his riveting work.
Review
"A sweepingly ambitious tale of corruption, injustice and revenge that ranges over three continents and 140 years....Breathtakingly bold in its scope." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[D]elivers plenty of suspense and a compelling protagonist....[Mankell] shows why he remains a must-read for anyone interested in the international crime novel." Booklist
Review
"Most compelling at the beginning and end, this sprawling novel becomes a leisurely examination of history's injustices and consequences....Mankell humanizes the earnest, even meddlesome Roslin, so that the reader can't help but wish her well." Library Journal
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"Fans of Mankell's earlier Kurt Wallander mystery series will enjoy the intellectual provocations of the new book....[T]he book cements Mankell's reputation as Sweden's greatest living mystery writer." Los Angeles Times
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"[T]he work of a writer with the imagination, brains, resources, and joinerly craft needed to make thoughtful, challenging, exciting, artistic novels....In its appalling, invigorating sweep, Henning Mankell's The Man from Beijing is flavored with the grating tang of time's passage itself." Philadelphia Inquirer
Synopsis
The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller.
January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjovallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene.
Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andrens, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andren family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andren ancestor — a gang master on the American transcontinental railway — that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjovallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.
The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States — a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjovallen murders.
Synopsis
What if you were arrested for a crime you didnt commit—but had to prove your innocence without revealing anything about the crime that you did? A thrilling new stand-alone novel from Norways Queen of Crime, “a truly great writer.” (Jo Nesbo)
Synopsis
Riktor doesnt like the way the policeman storms into his home without even knocking. He doesnt like the arrogant way he walks around the house, taking note of its contents. The policeman doesnt bother to explain why hes there, and Riktor is too afraid to ask. He knows hes guilty of a terrible crime and hes sure the policeman has found him out.
But when the policeman finally does confront him, Riktor freezes. The man is arresting him for something totally unexpected. Riktor doesnt have a clear conscience, but the crime hes being accused of is one he certainly didnt commit. Can he clear his name without further incriminating himself?
This is a gripping, mind-bending stand-alone novel from “a truly great writer” (Jo Nesbø).
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About the Author
Henning Mankell is the prizewinning author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, which were adapted into a PBS television series starring Kenneth Branagh. His novels have been translated into forty languages and have sold thirty million copies worldwide. He is the first winner of the Ripper Award (the new European Crime Fiction Star Award) and has also received the Glass Key and Golden Dagger awards. He divides his time between Sweden and Mozambique.