KANNIBALEN – THE CANNIBAL: FROM THE LION’S DEN
By Alexandra-Therese Keining
RUMOURS HAVE ALWAYS circled around the isolated patient in ward 57 of S:t Clemens high-security psychiatric clinic. It is said that he committed a terrible murder of his girlfriend in the 1970’s but it is hard to imagine from his appearance and humble behaviour. Even so, many eye brows are raised when Carl Bengtson is considered to be well enough to be released from care after 40 years.
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MIRIAM Alba gets a case on her desk with links to S:t Clemens. She can’t shake the feeling that there is more to it than her colleagues think and despite her boss saying no, she can’t help but dig deeper.
BRUNO HAS SEARCHED for validation and belonging his whole life. With Malik and his crew he thinks he has found it. That’s why he says nothing of the others involvement when he is charged and sentenced to community service. He is given the job of escorting Carl Bengtson. Who is the old man and what was he guilty of over 40 years ago? Can he really be free of the violent urges that were once so strong?
IS THE DISAPPEARANCE of a seven year old girl close to Carl Bengtson’s apartment a coincidence or the start of something unimaginably dark?
THE CANNIBAL: FROM THE LION’S DEN is a crime novel that will give you nightmares, but that is completely impossible to put down. A terrifying page-turner that examines the darkest corners of the human mind, in the vein of Silence of the Lambs and Seven.
ABOUT THE BOOK
First published by Norstedts, Sweden 2025
RIGHTS SOLD
Denmark, Lindhardt & Ringhof
France, Editions Robert Laffont
Germany, DTV
Norway, Cappelen Damm
Sweden, Norstedts
REVIEWS
The shifting perspectives quickly establish a multi-layered and compelling fictional world, where a handful of well-drawn human fates are effectively interwoven. Alexandra-Therese Keining, who has previously written books for children and young adults, is perhaps best known as a film director. With the well-written and thrilling The Cannibal, she becomes a welcome new acquaintance for fans of suspense fiction.
– BTJ
Well-crafted suspense.
– Sydsvenskan
In her concentrated and beautifully written thriller, Alexandra-Therese Keining challenges both sympathies and antipathies, as well as ideas about crime and punishment, reintegration, vulnerability, responsibility, and guilt. […] Everything works and comes together into a fascinating whole, and I look forward to a sequel.
– Skånska Dagbladet
A spine-chilling and linguistically ambitious knockout that holds up all the way to the final cliffhanger.
– Dagens Nyheter
Keining […] makes a strong impression with her first adult novel, inspired by the brutal case of the Malmö Cannibal.
– Amelia Magazine
The Cannibal is a very bloody story, bordering on horror. Alexandra-Therese Keining tells it with great precision and skill, but also with a chilly detachment that heightens the horror. All these helpless people who don’t realise how easy it is to exploit them – or simply to trick them into looking the other way.
– Lotta Olsson
Alexandra-Therese Keining delivers a beautifully written story that is so much more than just a crime novel. I loved her prose, the way the plot is constructed, and, above all, how vividly she brings her characters to life. The investigative storyline leaves no room for unnecessary detours or digressions, adding to the relentless pace and sense of action that drive the novel.
– Tines blogg, Norway
A disturbing, harrowing and brutal thriller about the darkest corners of humanity. A novel you’ll devour in one sitting and find impossible to put down.
– Den kriminelle bokverden, Norway
A crime novel unlike any other.
– Adresseavisen, Norway
The Cannibal is a dark, intense and unsettlingly realistic crime novel that gets under your skin and stays there long after you’ve turned the final page. With precise, evocative prose, Alexandra-Therese Keining creates a world where nothing is as it seems – least of all who you can trust.
– Kmag.se
The Cannibal is a psychologically charged and disturbingly compelling novel that takes readers deep inside the mind of a man confined to a forensic psychiatric hospital after committing horrific crimes.
– Vox Vigor
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