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Praise for Helene Tursten

“As good as Louise Welsh’s similarly creepy tour of Glasgow.”
   --- Entertainment Weekly

“These days Scandinavian crime writers are thick on the ground.... It’s nice to see that the women can be just as bloodthirsty as the men.”
   --- The New York Times Book Review

“Remarkable.... An absorbing, intelligent mystery that holds its own alongside the best feminine hardboiled novels currently being written by Englishwomen Val McDermid and Liza Cody, and our own Sara Paretsky.... It’s the more ambitious investigation of a world gone wrong (to quote Raymond Chandler’s immortal phrase), rather than the murder plot, that lingers here. The picture Tursten provides of Sweden’s growing anti-immigrant resentment --- embodied in Huss’s own skinhead daughter --- imbues this novel with a chill of dread that can’t be attributed only to the sub-freezing temperatures of Göteborg in winter.”
   --- Maureen Corrigan, NPR, “Fresh Air”

“The gore in Torso is plentiful but not gratuitous, and Tursten’s writing style propels the story beyond blood and guts. She’s a master at setting the scene, detailing a foreign milieu until it feels familiar. She juggles a large cast of characters with aplomb, weaving in red herrings in every chapter.”
   --- Time Out Chicago

“[Tursten] imbues this novel with a cold chill of dread that can’t be attributed only to the subfreezing temperatures of Göteborg in winter.”
   --- Chicago Sun-Times

“Add the voice of Helene Tursten to the list of mystery writers who know how to craft a truly satisfying police procedural.... Captures all of the comradeship, antagonism, frustration and tension of the best.”
   --- Philadelphia Inquirer

“Tursten’s second novel in English is less concerned with shock value than with solid police procedural, character development and motivation, and how one woman’s actions affect the lives of many others.... One of the better examples of the Swedish crime fiction invasion.”
   --- Baltimore Sun

“Outstanding.”
   --- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Does a fine job of showing not only the teamwork, frustrations, and drudgery of much police work but also the persistence and intuition that lead to solutions. The shocking ending questions the very nature of justice and evil.”
   --- Library Journal, Starred Review

“An intriguing portrait of the workings of a murder squad as well as modern Swedish life.”
   --- Portsmouth Herald

“Readers will enjoy the complex Irene Huss who is a competent woman working in a male dominated profession.”
   --- Charleston Post and Courier

“Like other memorable mystery writers, Tursten does more than create a central character whom we can easily embrace and a mystery that keeps us guessing almost to the end. She surrounds Irene with a team of fully-fleshed out compatriots.”
   --- St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Society’s dark underside --- a staple of the modern crime novel --- is a definite threat to the warm culture of mainstream Sweden, but it’s a danger that Tursten is willing to confront.... Irene Huss...is a 40-something wife, mother, cop, detective and judo expert. She doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of her job, but neither does she exactly embrace them. She’s a metaphor, in fact, for Tursten’s vision of modern Sweden.”
   --- January Magazine

“Huss is quickly becoming one of the most satisfying lead characters in the thriving world of Swedish crime fiction.”
   --- Booklist

“One of the most likeable female cops around.... Another fine Swedish mystery.”
   --- Deadly Pleasures

“Tursten’s grim, subtle shocker more than delivers on suspense, atmosphere, and character.... A challenging yet riveting read.”
   --- Mystery Scene