Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Soon to be divorced, attorney Nora Linde is finding her way as a single mother, and even falling in love again, when she’s asked by her childhood friend Detective Thomas Andreasson to help in a disturbing investigation. Marcus Nielsen, a university student, has apparently committed suicide, but it’s what he’s left behind that’s so suspicious and damning: his research into the Coastal Rangers, an elite military group where, in 1976, a young cadet died under questionable circumstances, a sadistic sergeant went free, and a case went cold.

When two of Nielsen’s contacts are also found dead—and diaries of their torturous training turn up missing—Thomas and Nora are certain that whatever happened three decades ago is unforgivable. And for someone who wants to keep those secrets buried—unforgettable. Now they must fight against time to expose a cover-up that hasn’t yet claimed its last victim.

I RECEIVED THIS AS A GIFT. THANK YOU.

My Review: Much more Thomas-centered than the previous book. The crime here, in the present day, is deceptively simple...a suicide by hanging that a grieving mother cannot bring herself to imagine is what it seems.

Surprise! It isn't what it seems.

Nora's main involvement is to be asked by Thomas to look into the some aspects of the modern case as there's a personal connection to her. As her divorce approaches finalization, she's still playing nice with the family she's almost escaped from when her son's got a birthday party coming up. On the plus side she's got someone new in her life (who's actually also her tenant). The main item that contains what we all need to know about this tragedy's historical roots is, again, a found diary with deeply relevant clues. This repetitive trope would normally be grounds for a whole-star deduction in my rating schema. The reason it isn't? The sociology of military service subplot grabbed me hard. Not incidentally, in this entry Thomas and his partner Margit come more together as a detecting team for me, relying more on each other than in the last book. I'm not all the way sure why it happened now, but their previously slightly tenuous working relationship became more solidly grounded in pursuing the sadistic, evil killer.

Thomas's last-book accidental dousing, to undersell its seriousness, and subsequent loss of toes, his stint in rehab after the accident, and his reunion with self-centered Pernilla-the-ex, all make this entry in the series much more in his focus than last time. I'm still in the camp of thinking these are more Scandicozy than Nordic Noir stories, though the awful, sadistic murderer...serial killer, actually...is matched for ferocity by the "unexpected" addition of another guilty party. I won't at all say the existence or identity of the second party was surprising. It was believable, inasmuch as any mystery story's believable.

What beggared my belief was Thomas, near the end of the book (though not the story, see below), doing something that NO rational person would do who had all the information he possessed. It was stupid of him to risk so much for no commensurate possibility of gain. As it turned out, the result of his risk-taking was...tidy...but only for now, or I miss my guess. (In other words, I don't really believe it is what I read on these pages.)

The end of the book isn't an ending so much as a stopping place. There's obviously a lot more to the life-stories I'm invested in; but I am also reasonably sure there's more of the entanglements that came to light in this book to come in future entries. They're just too temptingly dangling loose for those strands not to lead somewhere new.

Again, don't start here but don't skip this one...Thomas and Pernilla have a BIG surprise for us that you won't want to miss out on. ( )

Cuando el estudiante Marcus Nielsen es encontrado muerto en su apartamento, todo indica que se ha suicidado, pero la madre de Marcus está convencida de que fue asesinado y le ruega a la policía de Nacka que investigue más.
Cuando la policía investiga el caso, las pistas conducen a la base militar de Korsö, en las afueras de Sandhamn, donde los inflexibles cazadores costeros tuvieron su base durante décadas. Poco después, muere otro hombre relacionado con Korsö. ¿Hay algo en el pasado que no debe salir a la luz?

Un étudiant en psychologie est retrouvé pendu dans son foyer; près de là, un homme handicapé meurt noyé dans sa baignoire. Un roman policier qui entraîne le lecteur dans le monde dur et violent des chasseurs-côtiers de l’armée suédoise, au cœur des brimades et des humiliations. Sans doute le meilleur opus de la série d’une auteure qui se démarque de plus en plus de Camilla Läckberg, et avec succès. ( )

This is the 4th in the Sandhamn Murder series.

Detective Thomas Andreasson is called to investigate what looks like a routine suicide by a graduate student. But something niggles at him, and against his superior’s wishes, he decides to dig a big deeper.

He is led to the student’s research project: an elite group of Coastal Rangers who trained in the 1970’s on one of the Sandhamn Islands. Following up on phone contacts, Thomas finds there are mysterious deaths within the group from one particular year.

Chapters of the current investigation are interspersed with a diary from one of the Rangers written in the ‘70’s while in training. It’s an effective technique that shows how fifty year old events effect current affairs. This is a technique Sten has used before, including in her third novel.

I enjoyed the writing, the setting, the twists and turns, and especially the ongoing development of characters. Thomas’s longtime friend and resident of Sandhamn, Nora, had a smaller but necessary part to play in this mystery, but we do see her life progressing, too. ( )

Thomas, now reunited with his former wife following the incident concluding the previous installment, returns to work and investigates murders in the present-day which seem to be linked to Coastal Ranger training on the island of Korsö during the 1970s. A student's death while researching sociological aspects of military service prompts Thomas and Margit to investigate what went on there as a pattern involving them emerges. Laundry detergent plays a part in many of the murders. The author offers a few glimpses at Nora Linde's life as the waiting period for her divorce draws to a close. Unfortunately these feel like interruptions for readers because her importance to the story line is minimal. I enjoy this series, but this one was a little less captivating. ( )