PEPPARKAKSHUSET – THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE
By Carin Gerhardsen
IT’S A LATE Monday afternoon in November. The darkness is closing in and wet snow is falling over Stockholm. A man sits down on the underground train with a newspaper in his hand. Seeing all the gloomy, pale faces surrounding him, he feels satisfaction. After all he’s successful, happily married and the father of three children. Things can only get better.
IN THE WINDOW reflection he catches the glance of a dishevelled-looking character – a character that seems to be staring right at him. Is his happiness that visible from the outside? Does that matter? If that’s the case, he can certainly live with it. The train pulls into the station and the man prepares to get off. He doesn’t notice that the rugged character also gets up from his seat.
IN A SHORT space of time, several bestial murders occur in central Sweden. When criminal investigator Conny Sjöberg at the Hammarby police begins to suspect that there’s a link between the murders, he grows completely cold. There is someone out there whose motives are very personal and who won’t allow anything to stand in their way…
The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen is the first part in The Hammarby Series, a new thriller series with taut, suspenseful plots and unexpected twists and turns. The novels are set in an urban environment and create strong portraits of authentic characters that will linger in the reader’s mind.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Ordfront, Sweden 2008
RIGHTS SOLD TO
Denmark, People’s Press
Estonia, Foorum Kirjastus
Finland, Minerva Kustannus
France, Saga Egmont
Germany, Lübbe
The Netherlands, Saga Egmont
Norway, Bonnier Forlag
Sweden, Bookmark
Sweden, Ordfront Ljud (audiobook)
UK, Penguin
REVIEWS
There is a presence here that brings brutality uncomfortably close.
– Katrineholmskuriren
[The Gingerbread House] succeeds in penetrating the stereotypes of what makes a criminal. Entertainment comes as a bonus.
– Borås Tidning
Carin Gerhardsen deserves praise for her depictions of Stockholm; anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of spending time in a dreary autumn capital city afflicted by acute pre-Christmas anxiety will recognise themselves in her writing.
– Hallands Nyheter
Extremely exciting social realism. She starts off strong, right on the mark, and the reader gets caught up in the social realist depictions of everyday life, where you get close to both the victims and Conny Sjöberg’s colleagues. […] The Gingerbread House is written with social pathos; Carin Gerhardsen empathises with the vulnerable, and one can understand how things can go so wrong for this murderer. The plot is oh so exciting.
– Norran
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