HELGONET – THE SAINT

By Carin Gerhardsen

“God is kind. Tonight God is looking out for us”: that is the last thought that crosses Sven-Gunnar “Svempa” Erlandsson’s mind before he collapses underneath the majestic August moon, shot in the neck after an evening out with good friends.

It’s summer holiday season, but Conny Sjöberg still assembles his team that now includes two new additions: charming rocker Odd Andersson, famous from a TV docusoap, and dark horse Hedvig Gerdin, who has just returned to Sweden following thirty years abroad as a diplomat’s wife. Together they try to solve a seemingly impossible equation. Who would ever wish to kill Erlandsson? According to all sources a warm and generous human being, with a strong social pathos and a keen commitment to youth club football.

The investigation takes the team on a journey to terrifying places in the depths of the forest, to a hillbilly Sweden they have never previously encountered, to the other side of the world and to the darkest places of the human soul.

First published by Norstedts, Sweden, 2011
336 pages

Denmark, People’s Press
Estonia, Foorum Kirjastus
Finland, Minerva Kustannus
France, Fleuve Editions / Univers Poche
Germany, Lübbe
Norway, Bonnier Forlag
Sweden, Bookmark
World English, The Mysterious Press

Gradually she has raised the bar for herself; following the somewhat fumbling and traditional debut Gerhardsen has found the rhytm, both in the narrative flow, as well as in finding lifelike character portraits.
Cecilia Isberg, Kristianstadsbladet

What impresses me most is the plotting and the psychological pitch. Carin Gerhardsen has total command over her intricate and extensive construction of circumstances, connections and clues, which are often revealed through the inspectors’ acumen…During the read I sometimes find myself thinking about Henning Mankell, where there is a similar feeling for detail and thorough plotting…There is no doubt that Carin Gerhardsen has already qualified herself as a member of the Swedish crime elite.
Fredrik Borneskans, Norrbottenskuriren

With the fourth book about the Hammarby Police, Carin Gerhardsen has found her form and her characters.
Rolf Asmundsen, Östran

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