The Bomber
Liza Marklund
Atria
<p>The sensational and utterly unforgettable thriller that exposes the soul of a culture...the heart of a people...and the mind of a killer...</p><p>With more than half a million copies sold, The Bomber is the most successful book ever published in Sweden. Now Liza Marklund's extraordinary writing, bone-chilling plot, and irresistible heroine have created an international phenomenon as explosive as the Bomber's devastating blasts.</p><p>Journalist Annika Bengtzon is asleep next to her husband when the call comes in at 3:22 A.M. It is the weekend. She's busy with two kids and has Christmas shopping to do. But within minutes she is standing in a frozen December night looking at a nightmare scene of police tape and rubble, and trying to get the best possible picture of it for tomorrow's edition of her newspaper. </p><p>A bomb has not only destroyed Stockholm's new Olympic arena just months before the Summer Games, it has blown someone to pieces. Putting a city on edge with fears of a terrorist on the loose, the Bomber will become Annika Bengtzon's biggest story -- or the final nail in her coffin. </p><p>As the only woman editor at a Swedish tabloid, Annika is gutsy, she gets stories that others don't, and she takes risks. Fighting for the respect of her colleagues, she finds herself increasingly consumed by her job, maybe losing her family in the process. Now, she has a hunch -- and a secret source inside the police department -- telling her that the Olympic stadium blast isn't terrorism. It's much more personal than that. And Annika knows that the odds are, if she closes in on the truth, she will end up on the Bomber's list of victims.</p><p>Set against the breathtaking landscape of the Swedish winter, The Bomber draws readers in like the dark and edgy eye of a TV camera at a nighttime crime scene, delivering a climax that's a blasting cap on a short fuse, ready to detonate a reporter's world.</p>From Publishers Weekly<p>The problem with a lot of thrillers is that the main characters seem to exist in a world in which thriller novels don't exist, so suspicious actions that send off loud alarm bells in the average reader's mind are invariably rationalized or ignored by the protagonists. So it is in this by-the-numbers tale, in which Annika Bengtzon, crime editor for the Stockholm tabloid Kv„llspressen, investigates the bombing of the Olympic venue at Victoria Stadium, where the body of Christina Furhage, head of the committee organizing the Stockholm Games, has been literally blown to bits. Balancing the demands of her family and those of her job, pumping her police contact for information and trying to decide how much of it to publish while barely holding her own in the petty squabbles that flare up daily in the newsroom, Annika digs into Christina's past to find death threats, a hidden marriage and the underhanded way in which she got her job. And when a second bomb goes off, you can bet that Annika will be targeted by the killer, whom readers will have no problem recognizing. The translation by Kajsa von Hofsten is smooth and precise, and while there's an interesting examination of what women like Christina and Annika go through in a world run by men, it's undercut by backlash if the female characters aren't neglecting their families or snapping at their children, they're insane. And while Marklund draws an accurate picture of the pressures and responsibilities of a reporter's job and life, except for the Stockholm setting and a series of unattributed first-person essays whose provenance is deliberately misleading, there's little that makes this Swedish bestseller special. (May)Forecast: This international hot property is already a bestseller in Denmark, Finland and Norway, and will soon appear in Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan and Spain; international film rights have been optioned by Sweetwater. But despite European raves, the title may get lost in the shuffle on this side of the Atlantic. </p><p>Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.</p>From Library Journal<p>A bomb explodes in the recently constructed Olympic village in Stockholm just months before the Summer Games are set to begin. Annika Bengtzon, recently promoted to crime editor for Kvallspressen, isn't convinced that this is a terrorist act. Her sources indicate that the bombing, which caused the death of an unidentified woman, is more likely the work of one individual. Like many intrepid reporters before her, Annika shrugs aside carping from her underlings and complaints from her husband to pursue the story. The author's background as a journalist is evident in Annika's fascinating search, which is artfully interspersed with chapters that delve into the mind of a mysterious other. The Bomber is touted as having been on the best seller list for a year in Sweden. Whether the novel will be a hit with American readers remains to be seen, though it will definitely appeal to fans of Patricia Cornwell and Jan Burke. Recommended for all public libraries. Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI <br />Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>