Another excellent thriller, 4.5 stars. Piet Hoffman fled Sweden after faking his death in prison to become an undercover agent for the DEA, insinuating himself with cartel enforcer, El Mestizo. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives is on a personal crusade to stop the import of drugs from Colombia, after the related death of his daughter. A bad decision to tour a drug kitchen site leads to the slaughter of his protective detail, and his kidnapping. The U.S. puts the entire cartel leadership on a kill list, including Hoffman, and politics preclude his removal. Circumstances compel Swedish detective Ewert Grens to help, in part because of his prior contact with Hoffman. Things get very dicey as Hoffman has to avoid getting killed by both sides and rescue his wife and two boys. ( )

Roslund och Hellströms böcker skiftar verkligen i kvalitet. Vissa berör mig starkt och jag blir både förbannad och upprörd. den här tillhör helt klart en av de sämre i serien. Historien berör mig inte helt enkelt. ( )

3 Minutes – A Fantastic Thriller

3 Minutes is the sequel to the bestselling 3 Seconds but this book can be read as a standalone thriller, you certainly do not need to know what went before. The Swedish writing duo of Roslund and Hellstrom really know how to grip the read and keep them all the way to the end on tenterhooks. This is a rollercoaster of a ride, well written, and shows what many of us already know, the United States ability of taking a sledgehammer to a Brazil nut and when its smash to bits, then ask why that happened, too much strength and not enough thinking.

Piet Hoffmann is on the run from Swedish justice, the one-time Swedish government agent, is thought to have been shot in prison, but not everything is as it seems. His handler managed to help him escape from Sweden and helped him gain a new identity for him and his family and a new country on a new continent.

Hoffmann in order to survive in Columbia is working as a bodyguard to a senior member of a Columbian cocaine mafia, while at the same time aiding the US DEA, with some high- profile drug seizures. He has learnt to live with the threat to his life and that of his family if the Columbians ever find out about his snitching on them.

Thomas D. Cruise is the Speaker of the House of Representatives who is also leading the war against drugs, when he witnesses the murder of a Columbian Army captain and his men, by a Columbian and his European looking bodyguard. He aims to hunt down this pair and bring them to justice and that means going to Columbia.

When Cruise is kidnapped, and Hoffmann is placed on the American kill list their lives depend on DCI Ewert Grens, a former enemy who ordered the shooting of Hoffmann, then he really is in trouble. With avenues of safety being slowly eroded Hoffmann comes to rely on Grens as he is the only person that can keep him and his family a live in a country where life is cheap.

Will Cruise be found safe, will Hoffmann survive being on the American kill list and will Grens, who has never been out of Europe be able to save them all without compromising the law? These are the questions that spring to mind as you read through, gripped by hope and fear.

This is an excellent thriller that will keep you hooked from beginning to end where you do not know what will happen in a country where life is cheap. Will Grens really become the only ally that Hoffmann can trust, there is only one way to find out. ( )