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Bellman Noir-trilogy #1
The Wolf and the Watchman: 1793
Best Debut, The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award 2017
The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries, and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound.
A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer.
The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.
The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries, and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound.
A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer.
The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2017
About the author
Niklas Natt och Dag
8 books673 followersNiklas Natt och Dag (“Night and Day”) debuted as an author with the historical literary novel 1793. Natt och Dag himself has an undeniable connection to Swedish history, being a member of the oldest surviving noble family in Sweden. When he isn’t writing or reading, Natt och Dag enjoys playing the guitar, mandolin, violin, or the Japanese bamboo flute, shakuhachi.
Niklas Natt och Dag lives in Stockholm with his wife and their two sons.
Niklas Natt och Dag lives in Stockholm with his wife and their two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,776 reviews
January 20, 2019
This is an award winning Swedish historical horror fiction set in 1793, a period overshadowed by the recent events that resulted in the French Revolution sparking paranoia amongst Royal Houses throughout Europe, including King Gustav who unleashed a horde of spies to report on any who voice thoughts of overthrowing him. Gustav was assassinated, and Stockholm's people live in penury, struggling to survive in the stinking dark, dirty and cold streets riddled with cruelty, death, disease, enslavement, corruption and injustice. The disillusioned and crippled watchman Mickel Cardell fishes out the torso of man, heinously tortured and butchered, from Lake Larder. Cecil Winge, an esteemed rational and incorruptible lawyer, haunts the space between the living and dying, is suffering from consumption, not long for this world, and has left his pregnant wife. He is appointed to investigate the murder by the police chief at Indebetou House.
Winge, the wolf, and Cardell, join forces, determined to identify the dead man, knowing that the powerful and wealthy elites, such as the Eumenides group with their debauched, depraved and delinquent sexual desires, will do all they can to obstruct their investigation. As they mingle amidst the sordid and criminal underbelly of the city, a young man, Kristofer Blix, departs countrylife for the charms and excitement of Stockholm, with the desire to become a surgeon. His letters to his sister document his wild times and his desperate horrors. Anna-Stina is at the end of malign and judgemental forces when she is unjustly accused of being a whore. This results in her being incarcerated in a workhouse run by a truly sadistic man, where the life expectancy of those within is limited, pressured by unreasonable expectations of the amount of strings they must produce. Blix and Anna-Stina's stories come to connect with Winge and Cardell's case.
I should warn readers that there were numerous occasions when the narrative is so hard to stomach with the levels of inhumanity and gruesome horrors. The novel is arrestingly atmospheric, and vividly vibrant in its rich descriptions of the period that make you feel as if you right there in Stockholm, often nauseatingly so. This piece of Swedish historical fiction seems to emulate the horrors often attributed to present day Scandi-Noir. The highlight for me is the developing of the close and trusting relationship between the chalk and cheese characters of Winge and Cardell, the way they represent the humanity and hope when everything seems so much unrelieved darkness and bleakness. This is a brilliant read, but it really is not for the faint of heart. Many thanks to John Murray Press.
Winge, the wolf, and Cardell, join forces, determined to identify the dead man, knowing that the powerful and wealthy elites, such as the Eumenides group with their debauched, depraved and delinquent sexual desires, will do all they can to obstruct their investigation. As they mingle amidst the sordid and criminal underbelly of the city, a young man, Kristofer Blix, departs countrylife for the charms and excitement of Stockholm, with the desire to become a surgeon. His letters to his sister document his wild times and his desperate horrors. Anna-Stina is at the end of malign and judgemental forces when she is unjustly accused of being a whore. This results in her being incarcerated in a workhouse run by a truly sadistic man, where the life expectancy of those within is limited, pressured by unreasonable expectations of the amount of strings they must produce. Blix and Anna-Stina's stories come to connect with Winge and Cardell's case.
I should warn readers that there were numerous occasions when the narrative is so hard to stomach with the levels of inhumanity and gruesome horrors. The novel is arrestingly atmospheric, and vividly vibrant in its rich descriptions of the period that make you feel as if you right there in Stockholm, often nauseatingly so. This piece of Swedish historical fiction seems to emulate the horrors often attributed to present day Scandi-Noir. The highlight for me is the developing of the close and trusting relationship between the chalk and cheese characters of Winge and Cardell, the way they represent the humanity and hope when everything seems so much unrelieved darkness and bleakness. This is a brilliant read, but it really is not for the faint of heart. Many thanks to John Murray Press.
March 16, 2023
“Tell me, Mr. Winge, does the expression homo homini lupus est mean anything to you?Autumn 1793, Stockholm. For those of you who like to time travel on vacation, if you are thinking about visiting late 18th century Stockholm, you might want to reconsider. Not a garden spot. Still recovering from a great fire that laid waste to vast swaths of wooden buildings, it is a place of dire poverty, epic corruption, and nose-piercing filth, featuring a hill constructed largely of excrement. A bit tough on the sensibilities. Makes Dickensian England seem a stroll through a sculptured garden. But if you decide to wander there through the pages of The Wolf and the Watchman, be forewarned. Wear heavy boots and bring something to mask the moral and olfactory effluvium.
“Plautus wrote it during the Punic Wars: ‘Like a wolf is man to other men.’…What kind of wolf are you, Mr. Winge? A good wolf? A skilled hunter?”
“No wolf at all, I’m afraid. What I do, I do not undertake in order to satisfy my bloodlust.”
“…Now I have helped you pick up the scent, all you have to do is follow it out into the forest and find your mark. I see how your expression is changed. You can’t fool me! You are indeed a wolf after all. I’ve seen enough to know, and even if I am wrong, you will soon become one. No one can run with the wolf pack without accepting its terms. You have both the fangs and the glint of the predator in your eye. You deny the blood thirst, but it rises around you like a stench. One day your teeth will be stained red and then you’ll know with certainty how right I was. Your bite will be deep.”
Niklas Natt Och Dag - Photo from Bokförlaget Forum
Jean Michael Cardell is a watchman (not like the type in graphic novels). A watchman here is a low-end police sort, usually a damaged war veteran, set to the task of harassing prostitutes and others whose presence is considered offensive. He is summoned by local urchins to come see what they spotted floating in the area’s lake. The floater is incomplete, missing all four limbs, eyes and more. No chance he fell off a boat. Cardell drags the carcass out and sends the lads off to fetch proper police. Slogging into the muck was not exactly a no-brainer for Cardell, a large, brawny sort, otherwise employed as a bouncer in a local pub. He still has nightmares of his military experience, losing a close friend when his ship was hit, along with a host of fellow sailors, and his left arm. His lost mates visit him in dreams, along with the devil welcoming them into the briney deep. He drinks to silence the memories.
Cecil Winge is not exactly an employee of the local PD, but is called in on a case-by-case base, so, a consulting detective, with characteristics not unlike those of another in that line of work a bit later and southwest of here. He is the proud owner of an exceptional mind and an exceptionally damaged set of lungs. Winge is dying of consumption. And solving this case is something good he can do before, you know, the clock runs out. Who would do this to another human being, and why? And the game is afoot. The odd couple of Winge and Cardell do their best impression of Holmes and Watson, each bringing to the investigation a diverse set of skills and experiences.
The pair work together, but also separately. Clues are followed, which, of course, lead to other clues. Pavement is pounded, locals are questioned, documents are examined, and so on. We get a look at the Stockholm of the time, and move closer to finding out what happened. Then jump back to Summer, 1793. A young man (16), one Kristofer Blix, who had been a surgeon’s apprentice in the military, has come to Stockholm to continue his education and make a place for himself in the world. Unfortunately, he falls in with some unsavory sorts and soon finds himself in a terrible bind. We learn of his adventures entirely via letters written to his sister back home, somewhere in Podunk, Sweden.
Skip back again, to Spring 1793. The third part of the novel follows Anna Stina Knapp, as working class as humanly possible. Dad long gone, Mom a washerwoman who becomes ill every Spring. Light on prospects. This Spring, Mom does not spring back. Add to this, on the very day of mater’s demise, a representative of the local church stops by to accuse her of whoring. Not true, of course, but without the connections to gain a presumption of innocence, or the cash to hire a good lawyer, she is in deep skit. Her experience reminded me of the silent film era serial The Perils of Pauiline, in which our heroine is constantly being placed in danger by evil-doers of diverse sorts. Ditto Anna, who makes us wonder, with each new page, geez, what the hell else can they do to her? It definitely helps that Anna is pretty tough cookie, with resourcefulness and wits to match her fortitude. Still. Kristofer has an amazing run of ill fortune too, but he was kind of a jerk, and had a fair bit of that coming. But poor Anna is pretty much full-on victimized by society and its lesser representatives.
Part four, back in the present of the story (autumn/winter, 1793) continues with Winge and Cardell pursuing the truth, and trying to arrange for a best outcome. So, there is the barebones of the story, which will definitely keep you flipping the pages, and occasionally stepping away to let that disgusted feeling settle, maybe take a bath. There are some very nasty things going on here. The place seems to breed folks of a sadistic bent. I have read some Scandinavian noir and this seemed to me beyond that. Åh ja. Not completely, of course. Winge is a smart cookie, applies his wits to see that justice is done, or at least attempted. But he does give us cause to question his judgment from time to time. Cardell is bent on doing right in the world, not necessarily the case with many in his line of work. But, he is also a bit of a ruffian, maybe a bit too fond of cracking heads. Anna, as noted above, is a dear girl, unfairly beset by the world. Very easy to root for her, even if it may sometimes seem we are keeping her going just so she can be done dirt yet again. Kris may generate a bit of ambivalence, as he makes his share of adolescent mistakes, acceding to his urges a bit too much, and not necessarily able to tell where the line between good clean (or bawdy) fun leaves off and recklessness mixed with criminality takes over, but he does have a moral core and is not a bad person.
One thing that threw me a bit is how Natt Och Dag plays with the image of Wolf and Watchman. Winge is clearly the wolf, but when we first meet him he is putting together a watch. Cardell, the watchman of the title, by trade, is referred to at one point as watching a rowdy group at the bar, where he works as a bouncer, “like a wolf.” So one may be forgiven for feeling a bit confused about which character is the wolf and which the watchman.
For the story alone this is a pretty engaging, interesting read. But Natt Och Dag (which translates, btw, to night and day) is offering three bites at this apple. The second level of The Wolf and the Watchman is the payload of local history. He certainly gives us a touch and feel (and scent) of the time, offering vivid descriptions of working and living conditions and letting us in, as well, on certain historical events of the era. The city had undergone a major fire not long before, which displaced thousands. The king had been assassinated recently, after leading the nation into a reckless war with Russia, done in not by a mob, but by upper class sorts who did not approve. The level of professionalism (or the absence of it) in the police force is made clear, as are the local political shenanigans. We are also made aware of the lively events in France, which was going through some challenges of its own. Headlines in Stockholm were very concerned about the treatment being given to French royalty, which resonates very considerably with the Swedish nobility, concerned about holding on to the best place to display their hats.
Finally, there is a third layer to be considered. Not only is Sweden going through changes, so is the world, shifting from what was to the Enlightenment. Winge in particular brings forth concerns that are looking to elevate reason over religion, science over superstition. He spends some of his time taking apart and putting together timepieces. In doing so, he thinks, for example
this is how the world should function; rational and comprehensible, where every part has its given place and the effect of its trajectory can be precisely determined.a scientific perspective, an enlightenment perspective. Sadly, the perversity and insatiable gluttony of the one-percenter sorts seems impervious to the advances in human knowledge, feeding the chaos of immorality that permeates the city. Winge is not alone, thankfully, in hoping for and acting to achieve better. His boss at the police department, Police Chief Johan Gustav Norlin, a classmate, a truly honest man, while for the most part able to maneuver the politics of the city, is determined to protect his friend from interference by corrupt upper-class sorts, who would like nothing more than to sweep this criminal outrage under the rug, and who are set to replace Norlin with a notoriously corrupt official.
Natt Och Dag took inspiration from several sources. Structurally, he was comfortable with a Quentin Tarantino-like reversal of narrative flow, but even more so by Cloud Atlas, with its brilliantly interwoven stories and commentary on cause and effect. Another was
Umberto Ecco’s The Name of the Rose, a medieval monastery murder mystery, in which the detective story was backed by historical information about the time, and enhanced further with a look at the roots of some Catholic doctrines.
Natt Och Dag was surprised that his book was given an award intended for crime novels. The book, which was a prize-winner in Sweden under its original title, 1793, is not quite a tight fit with the Nordic noir that has gained such popularity, but does contain elements of it. He was aware that gruesome murders were par for the course in the genre, and he was comfy writing that, but he says the violence here is meant to represent the unjustness of the sociopolitical system of the time. Some might find the depravity depicted here a bit beyond. Be forewarned.
I had disparate reactions to the book. It was engaging for sure, but I was feeling a bit beaten down by all the awful things that happen to his characters, particularly Anna and Kris, but as the story moved on so did that discomfort, as Winge and Cardell get back into the picture in the final part of the book. Picking up info about the time (all news to me) was a very welcome benefit, and, as often happens, once I began reading about the author, after having read the book, elements that might have slipped past came into clearer focus. While it may be a bit tough on those with tender sensibilities, The Wolf and the Watchman is, ultimately, a damned good read, one with narrative power and compelling substance. I was very pleased to learn that it is the first in a planned trilogy.
When she jolts awake in the darkness of the night, her heart beats with raging euphoria. The purpose of the workhouse is to teach her to spin wool and to imprint on her the city’s striving efficiency and productivity. But more than anything else, she is taught the art of hatred.
Review first posted – March 15, 2019
Publication date – March 5, 2019
December 5, 2019 - Literary Hub names The Wolf and the Watchman one of their 50 Favorite Books of the Year
December, 2019 - NPR names The Wolf and the Watchman as one of their Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2019
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s GR and Wiki pages
Interviews
-----Shelf Awareness - Niklas Natt och Dag: 'Humanity Is the True Villain in Every Story' - by Kathleen Gerard
-----PW - A Multilayered Detective Story: PW Talks with Niklas Natt Och Dag - By Lenny Picker |
-----BBC4-Radio - Meet the Writers – Niklas Natt Och Dag - by Georgina Godwin – Audio – 25:23 – This is a fantastic interview. If you want to know more about the author or the book definitely check this out
March 7, 2019
The Wolf and the Watchman is a 2019 Atria Books publication.
Morose and grisly- but morbidly fascinating!
Late 1700s- Stockholm-
A mutilated corpse is found in the lake- and by mutilated, I mean limbs, tongue, and eyes had been methodically removed, one at a time, the work mimicking that of a surgeon.
Cecil Winge, a lawyer, suffering through the last stages of consumption has been asked to look into the matter, which is the only thing that keeps him on his feet, fighting to stay alive long enough to solve the mystery.
Winge teams up with Mickel Cardell, a disabled former soldier, who discovered, then fished the body out of the water. Together they work to officially identify the body and discover who murdered the man in such a gruesome manner.
This novel has generated a bit of publicity, and as such, has already garnered a bit of a reputation- clueing me in on its violent nature. However, I was still unprepared for the lurid content I encountered in this story!! So, even if one has a high tolerance for graphic violence and gore, this novel will test your limits and boundaries. So- consider yourself warned.
The plot is intricate, and very absorbing, with several interesting character studies rounding things out. The dark and macabre underbelly of Stockholm provides an unsettling and nerve-wracking atmosphere which never allowed one to relax or exhale, even for a moment. There is also an urgency to the solving the crime as Winge’s health progressively worsens, adding an even heavier quality to an already depressingly grim tale.
Although there are very few rays of light in this dreary mystery/thriller, the sun does break through the clouds from time to time, offering some modicum of relief, but not for very long. I needed a respite from this one a time or two, but did find the story very compelling, with moments of real brilliance, although, the grit still overshadowed the finer nuances.
I can see why this book has captured the attention of its publisher, and why they hope a marketing push will steer it into the mainstream. But, despite the impressiveness of it, I’m not sure it’s ready for prime time, which is an audience trained to absorb bland, contained, polished, and watered down content. I'm not convinced this novel is suited for mass consumption.
Perhaps it would work better with a cult following, which is a far more intriguing, enduring, and even flattering thought, appealing to a specific audience capable of giving it the credit it is due…. Without feeling a little blue or green around the gills.
Morose and grisly- but morbidly fascinating!
Late 1700s- Stockholm-
A mutilated corpse is found in the lake- and by mutilated, I mean limbs, tongue, and eyes had been methodically removed, one at a time, the work mimicking that of a surgeon.
Cecil Winge, a lawyer, suffering through the last stages of consumption has been asked to look into the matter, which is the only thing that keeps him on his feet, fighting to stay alive long enough to solve the mystery.
Winge teams up with Mickel Cardell, a disabled former soldier, who discovered, then fished the body out of the water. Together they work to officially identify the body and discover who murdered the man in such a gruesome manner.
This novel has generated a bit of publicity, and as such, has already garnered a bit of a reputation- clueing me in on its violent nature. However, I was still unprepared for the lurid content I encountered in this story!! So, even if one has a high tolerance for graphic violence and gore, this novel will test your limits and boundaries. So- consider yourself warned.
The plot is intricate, and very absorbing, with several interesting character studies rounding things out. The dark and macabre underbelly of Stockholm provides an unsettling and nerve-wracking atmosphere which never allowed one to relax or exhale, even for a moment. There is also an urgency to the solving the crime as Winge’s health progressively worsens, adding an even heavier quality to an already depressingly grim tale.
Although there are very few rays of light in this dreary mystery/thriller, the sun does break through the clouds from time to time, offering some modicum of relief, but not for very long. I needed a respite from this one a time or two, but did find the story very compelling, with moments of real brilliance, although, the grit still overshadowed the finer nuances.
I can see why this book has captured the attention of its publisher, and why they hope a marketing push will steer it into the mainstream. But, despite the impressiveness of it, I’m not sure it’s ready for prime time, which is an audience trained to absorb bland, contained, polished, and watered down content. I'm not convinced this novel is suited for mass consumption.
Perhaps it would work better with a cult following, which is a far more intriguing, enduring, and even flattering thought, appealing to a specific audience capable of giving it the credit it is due…. Without feeling a little blue or green around the gills.
April 21, 2020
”A great calamity has befallen us. A thousand rumors abound, and one more preposterous than the next. It is impossible to obtain any trustworthy information, for even travelers have differing accounts and all seem to me somewhat poetical in what they relate. The atrocity of the crime, as it has been related, is too great, such that I do not know how I should think thereof.”---Carl Gustaf Af Leopold 1793
The night watchman, Mickel Cardell, has seen enough death to last several lifetimes. He has lived through an ill conceived war by his Swedish king, and every time he reaches to rub the ache out of an arm no longer there, he is reminded by his scarred stump of the terrors that haunt his dreams.
When he fetches the bundle from the water, he at first thinks that it must be parts of an animal, leavings from the butcher. As he pulls it to shore, it becomes evident that the gristle of horror he holds in his hands is what remains of a man.
This battle hardened man, this pub brawler, this man who fights bloody night terrors every night...hurls up the beer and gruel from the day before and the bile that follows.
I would describe the state of the body so that all of you, fair readers, would understand the true dread that Cardell saw, but given that it provides clues for the ongoing investigation, I will leave the details for you to discover for yourself. I will say that your imagination might already be conjuring up thoughts of what madness could have been perpetrated, but you will be... wrong.
Cecil Winge is dying of consumption, but once he realizes the details of this murder most foul, he summons what reserves he has to pull himself from his sweat stained sheets to lead the investigation. ”He always had his nose stuck in his Rousseau. Winge was a prodigy of a kind that hasn’t been seen since Rudbeck. The man has a memory such that he can produce each word he has read as if he’s got the book in front of him. Maybe that’s where things went wrong. Certain people read too much and get strange notions in their head.”
You like him already, don’t you? Aye, I have to say that short description was enough to rouse my sympathies for the man, but as Niklas Natt Och Dag reveals Winge’s backstory, you learn that tragedy has so many faces, so many nuances. Cardell and Winge are an unnatural pairing, but sometimes fate has a way of throwing lost souls together. Can they both be so lucky to perform one last service for humanity before Cardell drinks himself to death and Winge coughs up the bloody spume of his last breath?
Winge is the ghost of the Indebetou.
Kristofer Blix has the flowing blonde curly locks of the genetically gifted, but his looks are where benefaction ends and the misadventure of his life begins. He learned the most rudimentary skills as a surgeon on a King’s ship, and those skills will prove his means of entry into a world of nightmare.
Anna Stina Knapp has lived within the cold grasp of hunger her entire life. She is so far below the poverty line that achieving even that modest goal would make her believe she is in the lap of luxury. She can believe that her life can get no worse, but then when the church inserts a sanctimonious nose into her bleak future, she finds that things can most assuredly get worse. She is accused of being a whore, but evidently being a virgin has nothing to do with the truth of the matter. She finds herself under the vile control of a perverted specimen of a man, who, to feel anything, must inflict unmitigated levels of pain on others.
All four of these people are on a collision course to each be a cog, some unwillingly and unknowingly, into the investigation of what could be the most heinous crime that Stockholm has ever seen or heard about. The revolution in France provides the backdrop; news from the fires of that country are creating dangerous restlessness among the disadvantaged of Sweden. The margins between the haves and the have nots have become so vast that it is most accurate to think of Sweden as a powder keg simply waiting for an errant spark.
The characters are a motley bunch, but so poignantly drawn that my appreciation of them continued to grow with each turning of a page. The essence of what it means to be human and the depravities that some of us are so unfortunate to experience are so deftly written by Niklas Natt Och Dag that it is as if he has slid those ordeals beneath our own skins. The hopelessness, the streets of noir, the nightmares, the gray clouds, and yes, even those few rays of hope that break through the darkest skies were felt as strongly by me as if I too were mired in this mystery.
This was a read I won’t shake off any time soon.
Highly recommended to people who enjoyed Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and The Alienist.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
The night watchman, Mickel Cardell, has seen enough death to last several lifetimes. He has lived through an ill conceived war by his Swedish king, and every time he reaches to rub the ache out of an arm no longer there, he is reminded by his scarred stump of the terrors that haunt his dreams.
When he fetches the bundle from the water, he at first thinks that it must be parts of an animal, leavings from the butcher. As he pulls it to shore, it becomes evident that the gristle of horror he holds in his hands is what remains of a man.
This battle hardened man, this pub brawler, this man who fights bloody night terrors every night...hurls up the beer and gruel from the day before and the bile that follows.
I would describe the state of the body so that all of you, fair readers, would understand the true dread that Cardell saw, but given that it provides clues for the ongoing investigation, I will leave the details for you to discover for yourself. I will say that your imagination might already be conjuring up thoughts of what madness could have been perpetrated, but you will be... wrong.
Cecil Winge is dying of consumption, but once he realizes the details of this murder most foul, he summons what reserves he has to pull himself from his sweat stained sheets to lead the investigation. ”He always had his nose stuck in his Rousseau. Winge was a prodigy of a kind that hasn’t been seen since Rudbeck. The man has a memory such that he can produce each word he has read as if he’s got the book in front of him. Maybe that’s where things went wrong. Certain people read too much and get strange notions in their head.”
You like him already, don’t you? Aye, I have to say that short description was enough to rouse my sympathies for the man, but as Niklas Natt Och Dag reveals Winge’s backstory, you learn that tragedy has so many faces, so many nuances. Cardell and Winge are an unnatural pairing, but sometimes fate has a way of throwing lost souls together. Can they both be so lucky to perform one last service for humanity before Cardell drinks himself to death and Winge coughs up the bloody spume of his last breath?
Winge is the ghost of the Indebetou.
Kristofer Blix has the flowing blonde curly locks of the genetically gifted, but his looks are where benefaction ends and the misadventure of his life begins. He learned the most rudimentary skills as a surgeon on a King’s ship, and those skills will prove his means of entry into a world of nightmare.
Anna Stina Knapp has lived within the cold grasp of hunger her entire life. She is so far below the poverty line that achieving even that modest goal would make her believe she is in the lap of luxury. She can believe that her life can get no worse, but then when the church inserts a sanctimonious nose into her bleak future, she finds that things can most assuredly get worse. She is accused of being a whore, but evidently being a virgin has nothing to do with the truth of the matter. She finds herself under the vile control of a perverted specimen of a man, who, to feel anything, must inflict unmitigated levels of pain on others.
All four of these people are on a collision course to each be a cog, some unwillingly and unknowingly, into the investigation of what could be the most heinous crime that Stockholm has ever seen or heard about. The revolution in France provides the backdrop; news from the fires of that country are creating dangerous restlessness among the disadvantaged of Sweden. The margins between the haves and the have nots have become so vast that it is most accurate to think of Sweden as a powder keg simply waiting for an errant spark.
The characters are a motley bunch, but so poignantly drawn that my appreciation of them continued to grow with each turning of a page. The essence of what it means to be human and the depravities that some of us are so unfortunate to experience are so deftly written by Niklas Natt Och Dag that it is as if he has slid those ordeals beneath our own skins. The hopelessness, the streets of noir, the nightmares, the gray clouds, and yes, even those few rays of hope that break through the darkest skies were felt as strongly by me as if I too were mired in this mystery.
This was a read I won’t shake off any time soon.
Highly recommended to people who enjoyed Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and The Alienist.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
April 16, 2023
Pues sí, francamente, me recuerda a dos obras maestras del género. Por una parte, a “El nombre de la rosa” de Umberto Eco, y por otra, y aquí incluso las similitudes son mayores, a “El perfume” de Patrick Süskind. “1793” vendría a ser una compilación de ambas, esta con Estocolmo y la fecha mencionada en el título de protagonistas.
Y quede bien avisado el lector que no la haya leído todavía, pero que piense hacerlo, que hablamos de una novela muy dura. Por definirlo en pocas palabras, esta sería una novela “poco higiénica”, como la ciudad y las gentes que describe. Esas mismas descripciones, unidas a los olores de la época, casi obligan a su lectura sin quitarnos las mascarillas que en estos tiempos convulsos nos acompañan.
Aparece un cuerpo desmembrado en un lago de Estocolmo. Mickel Cardell, veterano de guerra venido a menos, se une a Cecil Wige, abogado tuberculoso que está a un paso de cruzar la laguna Estigia en la barca de Caronte (a pocas palabras bastan), para tratar de hallar al culpable de semejante carnicería.
Atmósfera asfixiante en una trama bien construida y con una prosa de muchos quilates. Son los tiempos de la Revolución Francesa, que están también llamando a las puertas de Suecia. Abrumadora documentación histórica, que destaca muy por encima de la investigación policial (de ahí mis 4 estrellas, y no 5). Las partes correspondientes a las narraciones de Kristofer Blix y de Anna Stina destacan tanto por su crudeza como por su calidad, no así la resolución del caso, que me dejó cierto aire de insatisfacción.
En definitiva, un relato de la sordidez cotidiana que nos hace congratularnos de haber nacido tantos años después. Con nuestra Sociedad del Bienestar y nuestra Salud Pública. “1794” deberá esperar hasta haber repuesto mi sentido del olfato y haber restablecido mis papilas gustativas a un mínimo acorde con la tarea de deglutir otro producto de las mismas características. Porque como dijo el Marqués de Sade, que viene muy a juego con esta novela, “siempre es por dolor que uno llega al placer”.
4 🌞🌞🌞🌞
Y quede bien avisado el lector que no la haya leído todavía, pero que piense hacerlo, que hablamos de una novela muy dura. Por definirlo en pocas palabras, esta sería una novela “poco higiénica”, como la ciudad y las gentes que describe. Esas mismas descripciones, unidas a los olores de la época, casi obligan a su lectura sin quitarnos las mascarillas que en estos tiempos convulsos nos acompañan.
Aparece un cuerpo desmembrado en un lago de Estocolmo. Mickel Cardell, veterano de guerra venido a menos, se une a Cecil Wige, abogado tuberculoso que está a un paso de cruzar la laguna Estigia en la barca de Caronte (a pocas palabras bastan), para tratar de hallar al culpable de semejante carnicería.
Atmósfera asfixiante en una trama bien construida y con una prosa de muchos quilates. Son los tiempos de la Revolución Francesa, que están también llamando a las puertas de Suecia. Abrumadora documentación histórica, que destaca muy por encima de la investigación policial (de ahí mis 4 estrellas, y no 5). Las partes correspondientes a las narraciones de Kristofer Blix y de Anna Stina destacan tanto por su crudeza como por su calidad, no así la resolución del caso, que me dejó cierto aire de insatisfacción.
En definitiva, un relato de la sordidez cotidiana que nos hace congratularnos de haber nacido tantos años después. Con nuestra Sociedad del Bienestar y nuestra Salud Pública. “1794” deberá esperar hasta haber repuesto mi sentido del olfato y haber restablecido mis papilas gustativas a un mínimo acorde con la tarea de deglutir otro producto de las mismas características. Porque como dijo el Marqués de Sade, que viene muy a juego con esta novela, “siempre es por dolor que uno llega al placer”.
4 🌞🌞🌞🌞
August 19, 2019
This one is such a dark and disturbing book. The author does not refrain from describing grotesque and disgusting descriptions. This book is not for everybody but it was definitely for me. I love dark and disturbing. There is lots of cruelty and violence.
The beginning had a slow burn to it and it was very confusing. I think I probably would of DNF it, if I did not read this with my buddy Julie in The Traveling Friends Group but then it made a complete u-turn and turned into an awesome story. I loved every minute of it. This book is a thriller, a mystery and historical novel. It took me on a journey into late 18th century Stockholm and I felt like I was there.
The characters were so well done and I loved Darrell and Winge. I felt so sorry for Anna Stina. Nothing went right for her. I felt so sorry for Dragon also who was a mean girl but she did not deserve the torture that she went through. Blix had a rough time too. I couldn't believe what he was forced to do.
The beginning had a slow burn to it and it was very confusing. I think I probably would of DNF it, if I did not read this with my buddy Julie in The Traveling Friends Group but then it made a complete u-turn and turned into an awesome story. I loved every minute of it. This book is a thriller, a mystery and historical novel. It took me on a journey into late 18th century Stockholm and I felt like I was there.
The characters were so well done and I loved Darrell and Winge. I felt so sorry for Anna Stina. Nothing went right for her. I felt so sorry for Dragon also who was a mean girl but she did not deserve the torture that she went through. Blix had a rough time too. I couldn't believe what he was forced to do.
February 21, 2019
It's 1793, and a mutilated body has been found floating in the city's lake. Mickel Cardell, an ex-watchman and crippled ex-soldier feels compelled to give the man a proper burial. Cecil Winge, an attorney and consultant for the Stockholm police, makes this case the last thing he will do as he is dying from consumption. He wants to solve the puzzle of the identity of the man who had no arms, no legs, no teeth, eyes or tongue. Who was he? Why was he tortured in such a manner? Who could have done this to him? The two men, Cardell and Winge, go on a mission to solve this case before time for one, or perhaps both, run out.
Kristofer Blix is the son of a doctor. He writes letters to his sister in which he chronicles his life, his conquests, his good times, his misfortunes, and the horrible path he finds himself upon.
Anna-Stina is a beautiful young woman who finds herself committed to a horrendous workhouse accused of being a whore after upsetting the local priest. Life here is horrific and she devises an escape plan.
If you haven't guessed it, this one is brutal folks. There are some scenes in this book which will not be for everyone. If you are squeamish, you may want to think twice. Whew! Hard core is all I can say! I found that, for me, my imagination was far worse than what was written. What was written was brutal but what I imagined in my head, after reading...shivers... For those who dare, this was a captivating and riveting book.
How are these stories connected? Who is the mutilated young man? How did he come to suffer such a fate? There is a lot of mystery here but there are also vivid descriptions (not just the brutal ones), scenes which detail what like was like in Stockholm during that time. The individual stories of the characters are interesting and detail each character’s motivation.
A brutal and chilling tale and glimpse into life in the 1700's that I found to be captivating, depressing, and revolting all at the same time. Boy, what a journey this was. I enjoyed how the men approached solving their case as the had to deal with some despicable people who were part of Sweden's underbelly.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Kristofer Blix is the son of a doctor. He writes letters to his sister in which he chronicles his life, his conquests, his good times, his misfortunes, and the horrible path he finds himself upon.
Anna-Stina is a beautiful young woman who finds herself committed to a horrendous workhouse accused of being a whore after upsetting the local priest. Life here is horrific and she devises an escape plan.
If you haven't guessed it, this one is brutal folks. There are some scenes in this book which will not be for everyone. If you are squeamish, you may want to think twice. Whew! Hard core is all I can say! I found that, for me, my imagination was far worse than what was written. What was written was brutal but what I imagined in my head, after reading...shivers... For those who dare, this was a captivating and riveting book.
How are these stories connected? Who is the mutilated young man? How did he come to suffer such a fate? There is a lot of mystery here but there are also vivid descriptions (not just the brutal ones), scenes which detail what like was like in Stockholm during that time. The individual stories of the characters are interesting and detail each character’s motivation.
A brutal and chilling tale and glimpse into life in the 1700's that I found to be captivating, depressing, and revolting all at the same time. Boy, what a journey this was. I enjoyed how the men approached solving their case as the had to deal with some despicable people who were part of Sweden's underbelly.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 24, 2020
I had to wait for my blood pressure and heart rate to calm down before writing a review on this Novel.
A vividly written, unusual, intriguing and atmospheric Scandinavian crime thriller / horror / historical fiction story that made for difficult reading in places due to its very graphic content and yet apparently an accurate portrayal of 1780 Stockholm and I came away from this one with a feeling of gratitude for not having lived in the late 1700s as I don't think I would have lasted 5 minutes in that barbaric squalor, depraved and diseased city. extremely well written and translated and a compelling read, this one kept me up well into the night and haunted my thoughts for a long time after. A real page turner for those who can stomach it. What an intriguing debut novel.
First a warning................This is not an easy read. It is not for readers who find graphic descriptions of injuries, Despicable characters, war or torture upsetting and Niklas Natt Och Dag doesn't shy away from graphic detail.
Stockholm 1793, King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, When night watchman Mickel Cardell pulls the remains of a man from a lake, the ex soldier is confronted with a corpse that has been subjected to prolonged torture , his arms and legs cut away, his tongue and eyes removed. What or Who is capable of such depraved torture and why?
Superb writing and vivid descriptions of a city and its inhabitants in the late 1700s. I read this one with my husband and we were completely engrossed in the story and the characters and while it is a little out of my comfort zone, I loved the historical element and mystery to this one, it has a strange eerie feel to it which I loved and the sense of time and place is excellent. The crime element of the story is very well crafted and executed.
I had a hard copy of this novel and the audio version as well and was lucky to be able to switch between the two, the audio was narrated by 3 narrators and their narration of this story was excellent. It was haunting and atmospheric and so much so that while out forest walking and I had to switch off as it was way too scary to listen to in a deserted forest.
This is a book you choose to read and not a book that should be chosen for you.
A vividly written, unusual, intriguing and atmospheric Scandinavian crime thriller / horror / historical fiction story that made for difficult reading in places due to its very graphic content and yet apparently an accurate portrayal of 1780 Stockholm and I came away from this one with a feeling of gratitude for not having lived in the late 1700s as I don't think I would have lasted 5 minutes in that barbaric squalor, depraved and diseased city. extremely well written and translated and a compelling read, this one kept me up well into the night and haunted my thoughts for a long time after. A real page turner for those who can stomach it. What an intriguing debut novel.
First a warning................This is not an easy read. It is not for readers who find graphic descriptions of injuries, Despicable characters, war or torture upsetting and Niklas Natt Och Dag doesn't shy away from graphic detail.
Stockholm 1793, King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, When night watchman Mickel Cardell pulls the remains of a man from a lake, the ex soldier is confronted with a corpse that has been subjected to prolonged torture , his arms and legs cut away, his tongue and eyes removed. What or Who is capable of such depraved torture and why?
Superb writing and vivid descriptions of a city and its inhabitants in the late 1700s. I read this one with my husband and we were completely engrossed in the story and the characters and while it is a little out of my comfort zone, I loved the historical element and mystery to this one, it has a strange eerie feel to it which I loved and the sense of time and place is excellent. The crime element of the story is very well crafted and executed.
I had a hard copy of this novel and the audio version as well and was lucky to be able to switch between the two, the audio was narrated by 3 narrators and their narration of this story was excellent. It was haunting and atmospheric and so much so that while out forest walking and I had to switch off as it was way too scary to listen to in a deserted forest.
This is a book you choose to read and not a book that should be chosen for you.
March 10, 2023
“[Mikel Cardell] grasps the body in the water once his kicking has carried him close enough. His first though is that he was correct. This cannot be a human being. It is a discarded carcass, tossed here by the butcher’s boys, made into a buoy as the gases of decomposition expand its innards. Then the lump rolls over and shows him its face…It isn’t rotten at all, and yet empty eye sockets stare back at him. Behind the torn lips there are no teeth. The hair alone has retained its luster – the night and the lake have done their best to dim its color, but it is without a doubt a mass of light blond hair. Cardell’s sudden intake of breath fills his mouth with water and causes him to choke…”
- Niklas Natt och Dag, The Wolf and the Watchman
In many ways, Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman is a an extremely typical crime thriller. It starts with a horribly mutilated body – missing arms, legs, eyes, and teeth – being discovered in a lake. The mystery draws in two mismatched partners who become obsessed with discovering the identity of the killer or killers. The murder seems connected to a conspiracy of shadowy groups and powerful men. The elements are all familiar to the genre.
Nevertheless, The Wolf and the Watchman works incredibly well despite a rather tepid ending, giving you a brutal vision of a world where the premeditated mutilation of a man is only slightly more horrifying than the day-to-day existence of thousands of people struggling to find shelter and food.
***
For me, the great accomplishment of The Wolf and the Watchman is its setting. It takes place in late-18th century Stockholm, a city of Dickensian slums and abject poverty, in a country reeling from costly wars and the assassination of King Gustav III. Stockholm is a character unto itself, and one of the chief joys here is simply traveling the city, entering dank bars and gilded homes, walking the streets, glimpsing the landmarks.
Natt och Dag vividly recreates this place, with a sure sense of geography, putting you in the spot and showing you what you’d see if you turned your head right or left. You enter into a bar near the headsman’s block, where the condemned are allowed a last drink, their names then chiseled into their glass and put on display; you are taken to a workhouse, where “fallen” women are made to spin cloth beneath the eyes of a deranged warden; you meet brawlers, grifters, corrupt officials, and a merciless priest. There is an executioner named Höss, a convict himself who has been spared so long as he is able to swing the axe. Not surprisingly, such employment leads him to tippling:
I will almost certainly forget the twists and turns of this plot, probably sooner rather than later. Far longer, though, will I recall Natt och Dag’s brilliant evocation of Stockholm.
***
The Wolf and the Watchman is also bolstered by a strong cast of characters. The two lead investigators are vividly drawn. The first is Cecil Winge, a meticulous and duty-bound consumptive who is on his last hunt. The other is Mikel Cardel, a one-armed, alcoholic watchman with a terrible temper. Together, the two of them attempt to recreate the trail that led to a man’s dismembered corpse ending up in a filthy bog known as the Larder. Pairing two opposites to solve a crime certainly doesn’t invent the thriller wheel. But both Winge and Cardel are given enough depth to rise about their archetypes.
Natt och Dag does not tell his story in a straight line. Rather, it is gradually revealed by three interlocking storylines. Winge and Cardel’s investigation is one storyline; the other two are inhabited by a young man just arrived to the city, hoping to climb the social ladder, and a young woman caught in the sexist snares of the church. Natt och Dag takes his time with each of these threads, spending a great deal of time on characterization and only slowly explaining their roles in the overarching puzzle. The structure is intricate, a bit complex even, but it all comes together in the end (partially due to a bit of over-explaining).
***
The Wolf and the Watchman is of that species known as Nordic Noir. It is not so much a whodunit as it is a bleak trip through a moral underworld, marked by graphic violence and shattered psyches. It was originally published in 2017 in Sweden, and appears now in English for the first time. As far as the translation goes, the best compliment I can give it is that I didn't dwell on the fact that it was a translation. It reads very smoothly.
More often than not, when I read a mystery-thriller, I am vaguely disappointed with the ending. This is often a function of an author attempting a twist too far, layering convolutions onto the plot until you are left scratching your head in confusion. In The Wolf and the Watchman, the climax fizzles a bit, as Natt och Dag ties up every last loose end in a manner that borders on the pedantic. I don’t think that matters overmuch, however, since this is a novel that does not wager everything on an explosive final page.
Instead, this is a story built upon an extremely solid foundation. The characters, the place, and the atmosphere are all so outstanding that figuring out the reason a body ended up in a lake seems almost secondary.
- Niklas Natt och Dag, The Wolf and the Watchman
In many ways, Niklas Natt och Dag’s The Wolf and the Watchman is a an extremely typical crime thriller. It starts with a horribly mutilated body – missing arms, legs, eyes, and teeth – being discovered in a lake. The mystery draws in two mismatched partners who become obsessed with discovering the identity of the killer or killers. The murder seems connected to a conspiracy of shadowy groups and powerful men. The elements are all familiar to the genre.
Nevertheless, The Wolf and the Watchman works incredibly well despite a rather tepid ending, giving you a brutal vision of a world where the premeditated mutilation of a man is only slightly more horrifying than the day-to-day existence of thousands of people struggling to find shelter and food.
***
For me, the great accomplishment of The Wolf and the Watchman is its setting. It takes place in late-18th century Stockholm, a city of Dickensian slums and abject poverty, in a country reeling from costly wars and the assassination of King Gustav III. Stockholm is a character unto itself, and one of the chief joys here is simply traveling the city, entering dank bars and gilded homes, walking the streets, glimpsing the landmarks.
Natt och Dag vividly recreates this place, with a sure sense of geography, putting you in the spot and showing you what you’d see if you turned your head right or left. You enter into a bar near the headsman’s block, where the condemned are allowed a last drink, their names then chiseled into their glass and put on display; you are taken to a workhouse, where “fallen” women are made to spin cloth beneath the eyes of a deranged warden; you meet brawlers, grifters, corrupt officials, and a merciless priest. There is an executioner named Höss, a convict himself who has been spared so long as he is able to swing the axe. Not surprisingly, such employment leads him to tippling:
Despite his stupor, Höss is experienced enough to know he now has to finish the job or face the wrath of the mob. The sobs [of the condemned man] escalate into a howl that causes even the excited crowd to simmer down. The atmosphere shifts to anticipation… Höss spits into his fists, raises the axe, and lets it fall onto the man’s wrist with a wet thud. Accompanied by the man’s scream of anguish, an assistant picks the severed limb out of the mud and tosses it out into the crowd. The fingers and hand of an executed criminal bring good luck – the thumb in particular promises protection from the law when a theft is undertaken, and thieves are both numerous and superstitious. The hand will be cut up and sold by the street urchin who manages to wriggle out of the grasp of his competitors. Höss staggers out to deliver the death blow as the young man is screaming himself hoarse. It is no longer a human sound…It takes Master Höss several attempts to cleave the head from the body…
I will almost certainly forget the twists and turns of this plot, probably sooner rather than later. Far longer, though, will I recall Natt och Dag’s brilliant evocation of Stockholm.
***
The Wolf and the Watchman is also bolstered by a strong cast of characters. The two lead investigators are vividly drawn. The first is Cecil Winge, a meticulous and duty-bound consumptive who is on his last hunt. The other is Mikel Cardel, a one-armed, alcoholic watchman with a terrible temper. Together, the two of them attempt to recreate the trail that led to a man’s dismembered corpse ending up in a filthy bog known as the Larder. Pairing two opposites to solve a crime certainly doesn’t invent the thriller wheel. But both Winge and Cardel are given enough depth to rise about their archetypes.
Natt och Dag does not tell his story in a straight line. Rather, it is gradually revealed by three interlocking storylines. Winge and Cardel’s investigation is one storyline; the other two are inhabited by a young man just arrived to the city, hoping to climb the social ladder, and a young woman caught in the sexist snares of the church. Natt och Dag takes his time with each of these threads, spending a great deal of time on characterization and only slowly explaining their roles in the overarching puzzle. The structure is intricate, a bit complex even, but it all comes together in the end (partially due to a bit of over-explaining).
***
The Wolf and the Watchman is of that species known as Nordic Noir. It is not so much a whodunit as it is a bleak trip through a moral underworld, marked by graphic violence and shattered psyches. It was originally published in 2017 in Sweden, and appears now in English for the first time. As far as the translation goes, the best compliment I can give it is that I didn't dwell on the fact that it was a translation. It reads very smoothly.
More often than not, when I read a mystery-thriller, I am vaguely disappointed with the ending. This is often a function of an author attempting a twist too far, layering convolutions onto the plot until you are left scratching your head in confusion. In The Wolf and the Watchman, the climax fizzles a bit, as Natt och Dag ties up every last loose end in a manner that borders on the pedantic. I don’t think that matters overmuch, however, since this is a novel that does not wager everything on an explosive final page.
Instead, this is a story built upon an extremely solid foundation. The characters, the place, and the atmosphere are all so outstanding that figuring out the reason a body ended up in a lake seems almost secondary.
March 26, 2019
Corrosiveness
A dark and gruesome Gothic thriller, which reveals a formidable and disturbing portrait of Stockholm during the tumultuous period of the late 18 century. The Wolf and the Watchman is at times horrifying, often captivating and always brilliantly written. I love the title and from that alone, there is a sense of anticipation and danger. Often the most corrupt are those tasked with upholding the law.
The characters are brilliantly developed where the personalities and demeanour of each character have such wonderful depth and variation. Each character faces hardships, struggles with their place in this unforgiving society, and battles personal demons and impediments. This ensures the novel is a fantastic depiction of life during this fearful revolutionary period in European history.
A body is found in the lake and recovered by a watchman, Mickel Cardell. The body is missing arms, legs, eyes, teeth and its tongue, and strangely the person didn’t die of those injuries, as they were healed long before death. Someone has brutally dismembered this person and kept them alive – what deranged reason lies behind this and who could be driven to this evil. Cecil Winge is a lawyer, dying of consumption but determined to see this last case through. He works with watchman Cardell, to uncover the motivation and the perpetrators of this crime. Winge is recognised as an honest man who will use evidence from all sources, particularly permitting defendants an opportunity to speak for themselves.
Kristofer Blix was an apprentice surgeon during the war and finds himself in Stockholm playing a carefree game with other people’s money until it all collapses and he is left destitute. The consequences are dramatic and hopeless, and his debt is bought by a cruel ruthless man, who now owns Blix until his debt is paid. When the story is told through Kristofer’s eyes it is done using letters to his sister and he relates his ambitions to the despondent reality he now endures.
Anna-Stina is a young woman who finds herself accused of being a whore and committed to the workhouse on the word of a spiteful priest. She finds life in the workhouse unbearable and run by a vicious sadistic man. Anna-Stina concocts an escape plan that will surely mean her death if she fails.
Each thread comes together in this captivating and chilling tale. The gruesome and uninhibited brutality is shocking but difficult to resist. While carefully written, I felt the balance between descriptive elements and plot, to be slightly unbalanced, mainly with the sections devoted to Kristofer and Anna-Stina. I love reading beautiful vivid imagery and truly enjoyed that aspect of this book but at times I started anticipating the prose while the plot faltered. The story is, however, brilliantly drawn to an end, an end that signals deception and danger, with a few surprises still to play out.
I would rate this book 4.5 stars and inclined to round up because it is such a unique, dramatic and powerful book. I would highly recommend it and I would like to thank John Murray Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC version in return for an honest review.
A dark and gruesome Gothic thriller, which reveals a formidable and disturbing portrait of Stockholm during the tumultuous period of the late 18 century. The Wolf and the Watchman is at times horrifying, often captivating and always brilliantly written. I love the title and from that alone, there is a sense of anticipation and danger. Often the most corrupt are those tasked with upholding the law.
The characters are brilliantly developed where the personalities and demeanour of each character have such wonderful depth and variation. Each character faces hardships, struggles with their place in this unforgiving society, and battles personal demons and impediments. This ensures the novel is a fantastic depiction of life during this fearful revolutionary period in European history.
A body is found in the lake and recovered by a watchman, Mickel Cardell. The body is missing arms, legs, eyes, teeth and its tongue, and strangely the person didn’t die of those injuries, as they were healed long before death. Someone has brutally dismembered this person and kept them alive – what deranged reason lies behind this and who could be driven to this evil. Cecil Winge is a lawyer, dying of consumption but determined to see this last case through. He works with watchman Cardell, to uncover the motivation and the perpetrators of this crime. Winge is recognised as an honest man who will use evidence from all sources, particularly permitting defendants an opportunity to speak for themselves.
Kristofer Blix was an apprentice surgeon during the war and finds himself in Stockholm playing a carefree game with other people’s money until it all collapses and he is left destitute. The consequences are dramatic and hopeless, and his debt is bought by a cruel ruthless man, who now owns Blix until his debt is paid. When the story is told through Kristofer’s eyes it is done using letters to his sister and he relates his ambitions to the despondent reality he now endures.
Anna-Stina is a young woman who finds herself accused of being a whore and committed to the workhouse on the word of a spiteful priest. She finds life in the workhouse unbearable and run by a vicious sadistic man. Anna-Stina concocts an escape plan that will surely mean her death if she fails.
Each thread comes together in this captivating and chilling tale. The gruesome and uninhibited brutality is shocking but difficult to resist. While carefully written, I felt the balance between descriptive elements and plot, to be slightly unbalanced, mainly with the sections devoted to Kristofer and Anna-Stina. I love reading beautiful vivid imagery and truly enjoyed that aspect of this book but at times I started anticipating the prose while the plot faltered. The story is, however, brilliantly drawn to an end, an end that signals deception and danger, with a few surprises still to play out.
I would rate this book 4.5 stars and inclined to round up because it is such a unique, dramatic and powerful book. I would highly recommend it and I would like to thank John Murray Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC version in return for an honest review.
September 30, 2021
Tengo el corazón dividido con esta novela. La primera parte y la última son muy buenas. Los personajes de Mickel Cardell y Cecil Winge son extraordinarios. Cuando ellos entran en escena, la novela coge un ritmo diferente. Sus historias, sus vidas, su fortaleza y su debilidad.
Pero a la parte central de la novela le sobran una cantidad de páginas aberrante. El escritor se recrea demasiado en las penurias de Kristopher Blix y Ana Stina Knapp. Necesita demasiadas páginas para llegar a algo que sea relevante para darle sentido a la novela. Repite mucho el mismo esquema de sufrimiento de los dos personajes. Vale, OK, de acuerdo. Ya me he enterado de que tienen vidas desgraciadas, no me lo repitas más, por favor. Estas partes me han aburrido muchísimo. Entiendo que es necesario conocer estas vidas para darle sentido a la investigación de Winge y Cardell, pero se ha pasado un poco.
Tiene cierto punto de novela histórica porqué nos relata la vida (dura también) en Estocolmo y un poco de la guerra entre Suecia y Rusia, sobre todo, en lo que se refiere a las batallas navales en las que luchó Mickel Cardell. Aunque no es el tema principal, está bien logrado y le aporta rigor histórico.
Decepcionado a medias porqué la novela empieza muy bien, decae mucho en la parte central y se rehace al final.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My heart is divided about this novel. The first part and the last part are very good. The characters of Mickel Cardell and Cecil Winge are extraordinary. When they enter the scene, the novel picks up a different pace. Their stories, their lives, their strength and their weakness.
But the middle part of the novel has an aberrant amount of pages left over. The writer dwells too much on the hardships of Kristopher Blix and Ana Stina Knapp. It takes too many pages to come up with anything relevant to make sense of the novel. He repeats too much of the same outline of the suffering of the two characters. OK, OK, all right. I've already heard that they have unhappy lives, so please don't repeat it any more. These parts bored me to death. I understand that it's necessary to know about these lives to make sense of Winge and Cardell's investigation, but it's a bit overdone.
It's a bit of a historical novel because it tells us about life (hard too) in Stockholm and a bit about the war between Sweden and Russia, especially about the naval battles in which Mickel Cardell fought. Although it is not the main theme, it is well done and adds historical rigour.
Half-disappointed because the novel starts off very well, falls off a lot in the middle and picks up again at the end.
Pero a la parte central de la novela le sobran una cantidad de páginas aberrante. El escritor se recrea demasiado en las penurias de Kristopher Blix y Ana Stina Knapp. Necesita demasiadas páginas para llegar a algo que sea relevante para darle sentido a la novela. Repite mucho el mismo esquema de sufrimiento de los dos personajes. Vale, OK, de acuerdo. Ya me he enterado de que tienen vidas desgraciadas, no me lo repitas más, por favor. Estas partes me han aburrido muchísimo. Entiendo que es necesario conocer estas vidas para darle sentido a la investigación de Winge y Cardell, pero se ha pasado un poco.
Tiene cierto punto de novela histórica porqué nos relata la vida (dura también) en Estocolmo y un poco de la guerra entre Suecia y Rusia, sobre todo, en lo que se refiere a las batallas navales en las que luchó Mickel Cardell. Aunque no es el tema principal, está bien logrado y le aporta rigor histórico.
Decepcionado a medias porqué la novela empieza muy bien, decae mucho en la parte central y se rehace al final.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My heart is divided about this novel. The first part and the last part are very good. The characters of Mickel Cardell and Cecil Winge are extraordinary. When they enter the scene, the novel picks up a different pace. Their stories, their lives, their strength and their weakness.
But the middle part of the novel has an aberrant amount of pages left over. The writer dwells too much on the hardships of Kristopher Blix and Ana Stina Knapp. It takes too many pages to come up with anything relevant to make sense of the novel. He repeats too much of the same outline of the suffering of the two characters. OK, OK, all right. I've already heard that they have unhappy lives, so please don't repeat it any more. These parts bored me to death. I understand that it's necessary to know about these lives to make sense of Winge and Cardell's investigation, but it's a bit overdone.
It's a bit of a historical novel because it tells us about life (hard too) in Stockholm and a bit about the war between Sweden and Russia, especially about the naval battles in which Mickel Cardell fought. Although it is not the main theme, it is well done and adds historical rigour.
Half-disappointed because the novel starts off very well, falls off a lot in the middle and picks up again at the end.
January 4, 2024
My thanks to Atria books, and Netgalley. It's funny, but when I heard about this book, I thought this is something I would love. It was certainly bloodthirsty enough. A man is fished out of the Larder in Sweden. No eyes, no tongue, no limbs. At all. Great, I thought. I love gruesome! Turns out that gruesome is not even half as bad as everything else going on in this hair-raising book! I think my whole disconnect with this story was the year..1793, and the location. I know absolutely nothing about Sweden. It's just a fact. I don't know, nor do I care. Don't get me wrong, because I love reading about modern day Stockholm. 1793 Stockholm? Ugh. No. Filthy, reeking, place. Polluted waterways. Workhouses? What the hell is this? No, no and no. This world is unfathomable to me. I know it's true, but I couldn't even picture this seething cesspool. I have the wonderful ability to see a moving picture in my mind when I read books. This never formed solid. I could picture a few scenes, but not most. That seldom happens. I think that everything was just so repugnant. Honestly, for me the mystery was a good one, and I probably would have enjoyed it 200+ years in the future. As.it was, everything was too bleak for me. There is a reason why I don't read most stories from this time. I do think that most people who read mystery books from this time period would enjoy this. For me though everything was so freaking bleak. Hopeless.
This was originally a 3 star review, but I've never stopped thinking of this freaking story. It got under my skin.
This was originally a 3 star review, but I've never stopped thinking of this freaking story. It got under my skin.
March 21, 2019
So glad I stepped a bit out of my reading comfort zone to give this one a try. I don't normally read very many books set in the 1700s but the premise for this one sounded intriguing. Turned out to be a really good read!
Mickel Cardell, a former soldier, is living in Stockholm when he finds a mutilated body. Together with Cecil Winge, a consulting detective for the police, they set out to determine the identity of the deceased and the circumstances behind his death. The story also travels back in time to earlier in the year and follows Anna-Stina, a young woman wrongly accused of being a whore by the local priest and committed to a workhouse with absolutely horrendous conditions, and Kristofer Blix, a man training to be a surgeon who finds himself on a dangerous path. Bit by bit you will learn how everything is connected which makes for a fascinating read.
This is definitely a dark, disturbing, brutal, and graphic novel so don't go into this read thinking this will be some run of the mill type mystery. However, it really is the strength of the novel as you actually feel like you are right there on the streets of Stockholm with the characters. I absolutely loved how the author chose to tell the story by setting the stage first with the men investigating and then going back and showing how certain characters were connected in some way to the case, and finally the last part featuring Cardell and Winge piecing everything together. The alternating timelines is more of a modern and trendy way to tell a story but when you add in the 18th century setting, it just felt like a unique combination.
My favorite parts of the book involved Cardell and Winge as they made for an interesting duo but I did enjoy Anna-Stina's storyline as well. Really glad I took a chance on this one as the time period of the late 1700s is not something I know that much about, particularly what was going on in Europe so it was also nice to get a mini history lesson while reading as well. Definitely recommend as a good read!
Thank you to Atria Books for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Mickel Cardell, a former soldier, is living in Stockholm when he finds a mutilated body. Together with Cecil Winge, a consulting detective for the police, they set out to determine the identity of the deceased and the circumstances behind his death. The story also travels back in time to earlier in the year and follows Anna-Stina, a young woman wrongly accused of being a whore by the local priest and committed to a workhouse with absolutely horrendous conditions, and Kristofer Blix, a man training to be a surgeon who finds himself on a dangerous path. Bit by bit you will learn how everything is connected which makes for a fascinating read.
This is definitely a dark, disturbing, brutal, and graphic novel so don't go into this read thinking this will be some run of the mill type mystery. However, it really is the strength of the novel as you actually feel like you are right there on the streets of Stockholm with the characters. I absolutely loved how the author chose to tell the story by setting the stage first with the men investigating and then going back and showing how certain characters were connected in some way to the case, and finally the last part featuring Cardell and Winge piecing everything together. The alternating timelines is more of a modern and trendy way to tell a story but when you add in the 18th century setting, it just felt like a unique combination.
My favorite parts of the book involved Cardell and Winge as they made for an interesting duo but I did enjoy Anna-Stina's storyline as well. Really glad I took a chance on this one as the time period of the late 1700s is not something I know that much about, particularly what was going on in Europe so it was also nice to get a mini history lesson while reading as well. Definitely recommend as a good read!
Thank you to Atria Books for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
May 9, 2019
If you've ever been curious about Stockholm in the 18th century, then this is your book.
...aka this wasn't my book.
The writing is exquisite and so atmospheric that I had no problem conjuring up images and smells, yes, smells from the setting of this story. However, the storyline itself failed to hold my attention, especially the middle section.
Comparisons to The Alienist are undeniable. So if that book scratched your itch for a gruesome murder mystery, then, again, this is your book.
...aka this wasn't my book.
**my goodreads friend Katie B sent me this book. Hi Katie 👋**
...aka this wasn't my book.
The writing is exquisite and so atmospheric that I had no problem conjuring up images and smells, yes, smells from the setting of this story. However, the storyline itself failed to hold my attention, especially the middle section.
Comparisons to The Alienist are undeniable. So if that book scratched your itch for a gruesome murder mystery, then, again, this is your book.
...aka this wasn't my book.
**my goodreads friend Katie B sent me this book. Hi Katie 👋**
January 19, 2019
4.5 stars
In chaos theory, there is something called the butterfly effect. The idea is that one small action can greatly affect the outcome of a later, seemingly unrelated event. This novel is full of little moments that show how one person’s decision can permanently alter the lives of others.
The year is 1793 & Stockholm is a city on edge. Rebellion by lower classes in countries such as France have made the Swedish elite a tad nervous, especially after the murder of King Gustav III. This is the backdrop for a story of 4 people living separate lives until a single event causes their paths to cross. All it takes is the discovery of a mutilated body.
Mickel Cardell returned from the war with shattered nerves & one less arm. Now he’s a watchman….when he can be bothered to get up off his barstool. That’s where 2 youngsters find him one night with news of a floater in the lake. But the body Mickel “rescues” is not exactly what he expected. In fact, it’s not even really a body. Just a torso….no arms, no legs.
Cecil Winge is a lawyer who works as a consultant with the Swedish police. He’s an intelligent & private man who has fought for progressive changes to the legal system. He’s also dying from consumption. So it’s no wonder he feels a sense of urgency about his latest case….to give a name to the unidentified torso & find a killer.
Kristofer Blix is a handsome farm boy who heads to Stockholm with dreams of becoming a doctor. He soon realizes how unprepared he is for life in the big city but could never have imagined where it will lead.
Anna-Stina’s young life has been full of poverty & struggle. And it’s about to get worse. If she wants something better she’ll have to be brave, smart & resourceful. Thankfully, she has those things in spades.
At its heart this is an engrossing murder investigation but as we meet & get to know the 4 MC’s, it becomes so much more. Their personal stories add depth & guarantee you become as invested in them as you are in solving the mystery surrounding the torso. The historical setting, political situation, class system & living conditions are so well rendered that sometimes it feels all too real.
I finished this a while ago & have been struggling to write a review that does it justice. Even the rating was a challenge. If I look at it purely as entertainment, I can’t say I enjoyed every part. There are passages that are difficult, even revolting to read. But here’s the thing. Life for many people at that time WAS difficult & revolting to our modern sensibilities. It was about survival. And the reason you feel these emotions so keenly is all down to the author’s skills as a story teller.
He has an extraordinary ability to write prose that completely envelops you. You feel everything as you follow these characters. Fear, anger, frustration, grief & scattered glimmers of hope. All your senses are engaged. Yes, there are scenes that made me want to look away but I couldn’t. I cared deeply for these people & carried the book with me to read every chance I got.
Soooo…by now you probably figured out this will not be found under “Cozies”. Sometimes when I’m asked about my last couple of reads, I struggle to remember names & plot details. This is a visceral & haunting story that has stayed with me. The ability to transport a reader to another time & place is a gift & I look forward to the author’s next book. But maybe I’ll have a wee beverage before cracking the cover 🍷.
In chaos theory, there is something called the butterfly effect. The idea is that one small action can greatly affect the outcome of a later, seemingly unrelated event. This novel is full of little moments that show how one person’s decision can permanently alter the lives of others.
The year is 1793 & Stockholm is a city on edge. Rebellion by lower classes in countries such as France have made the Swedish elite a tad nervous, especially after the murder of King Gustav III. This is the backdrop for a story of 4 people living separate lives until a single event causes their paths to cross. All it takes is the discovery of a mutilated body.
Mickel Cardell returned from the war with shattered nerves & one less arm. Now he’s a watchman….when he can be bothered to get up off his barstool. That’s where 2 youngsters find him one night with news of a floater in the lake. But the body Mickel “rescues” is not exactly what he expected. In fact, it’s not even really a body. Just a torso….no arms, no legs.
Cecil Winge is a lawyer who works as a consultant with the Swedish police. He’s an intelligent & private man who has fought for progressive changes to the legal system. He’s also dying from consumption. So it’s no wonder he feels a sense of urgency about his latest case….to give a name to the unidentified torso & find a killer.
Kristofer Blix is a handsome farm boy who heads to Stockholm with dreams of becoming a doctor. He soon realizes how unprepared he is for life in the big city but could never have imagined where it will lead.
Anna-Stina’s young life has been full of poverty & struggle. And it’s about to get worse. If she wants something better she’ll have to be brave, smart & resourceful. Thankfully, she has those things in spades.
At its heart this is an engrossing murder investigation but as we meet & get to know the 4 MC’s, it becomes so much more. Their personal stories add depth & guarantee you become as invested in them as you are in solving the mystery surrounding the torso. The historical setting, political situation, class system & living conditions are so well rendered that sometimes it feels all too real.
I finished this a while ago & have been struggling to write a review that does it justice. Even the rating was a challenge. If I look at it purely as entertainment, I can’t say I enjoyed every part. There are passages that are difficult, even revolting to read. But here’s the thing. Life for many people at that time WAS difficult & revolting to our modern sensibilities. It was about survival. And the reason you feel these emotions so keenly is all down to the author’s skills as a story teller.
He has an extraordinary ability to write prose that completely envelops you. You feel everything as you follow these characters. Fear, anger, frustration, grief & scattered glimmers of hope. All your senses are engaged. Yes, there are scenes that made me want to look away but I couldn’t. I cared deeply for these people & carried the book with me to read every chance I got.
Soooo…by now you probably figured out this will not be found under “Cozies”. Sometimes when I’m asked about my last couple of reads, I struggle to remember names & plot details. This is a visceral & haunting story that has stayed with me. The ability to transport a reader to another time & place is a gift & I look forward to the author’s next book. But maybe I’ll have a wee beverage before cracking the cover 🍷.
April 14, 2019
4 Stars.
Complex, Dark, Ominous and Intriguing.
It’s 1793 in Stockholm, the body of a mutilated man is found floating in Lake Larder by Mickel Cardell, (an amputee and former soldier of war and an ex-watchman). Both of the man’s eyes are missing and all of his limbs have been sawed off, one by one. Needing help with the investigation, Cardell gets attorney Cecil Winge involved, even though he is dying of consumption. Both desperately want to identify the man and discover the reasons for his macabre death. Easier said than done when he has no fingerprints and has no identification on his persons.
What is evident is that the murderer of the unidentified man wanted him to suffer in the most dreadful and violent of ways and suffer he did. The details of this man’s death are gruesome, painstaking and quite graphic. It is such that you want to cover your eyes and turn your head away and yet, you cannot. That being said, the characters of Cordell and Winge are determined to find out what happened to this man and thus, so was I.
Both the lives of Kristopher Blix and Anna Stina’s are intertwined with this unknown man. I mean, he had to end up this way somehow, right? Should blame be placed on them or are they as innocent as he is?
The mystery is complex, cunning, dark and yes, it is gory. I’d call it “cover my eyes and peak through my fingers gory.” Admittedly, I was, in fact wholly intrigued. What does that say about me?! The novel is atmospheric and so interesting that I wanted to know why. Simply put, the questions pushed me to read on!
“The Wolf and the Watchman” is a novel I truly enjoyed and am extremely glad I gave it a chance. If you like historical fiction - and fiction in general, I hope you will give this one a chance, just like I did.
Thank you to Venus at Atria Books and to Niklas Natt och Dag for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon on 4.14.19.
Excerpt to be published on Instagram.
Complex, Dark, Ominous and Intriguing.
It’s 1793 in Stockholm, the body of a mutilated man is found floating in Lake Larder by Mickel Cardell, (an amputee and former soldier of war and an ex-watchman). Both of the man’s eyes are missing and all of his limbs have been sawed off, one by one. Needing help with the investigation, Cardell gets attorney Cecil Winge involved, even though he is dying of consumption. Both desperately want to identify the man and discover the reasons for his macabre death. Easier said than done when he has no fingerprints and has no identification on his persons.
What is evident is that the murderer of the unidentified man wanted him to suffer in the most dreadful and violent of ways and suffer he did. The details of this man’s death are gruesome, painstaking and quite graphic. It is such that you want to cover your eyes and turn your head away and yet, you cannot. That being said, the characters of Cordell and Winge are determined to find out what happened to this man and thus, so was I.
Both the lives of Kristopher Blix and Anna Stina’s are intertwined with this unknown man. I mean, he had to end up this way somehow, right? Should blame be placed on them or are they as innocent as he is?
The mystery is complex, cunning, dark and yes, it is gory. I’d call it “cover my eyes and peak through my fingers gory.” Admittedly, I was, in fact wholly intrigued. What does that say about me?! The novel is atmospheric and so interesting that I wanted to know why. Simply put, the questions pushed me to read on!
“The Wolf and the Watchman” is a novel I truly enjoyed and am extremely glad I gave it a chance. If you like historical fiction - and fiction in general, I hope you will give this one a chance, just like I did.
Thank you to Venus at Atria Books and to Niklas Natt och Dag for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon on 4.14.19.
Excerpt to be published on Instagram.
March 28, 2019
DEEP and DARK - in 18th century Stockholm.
First up we have Jean Michael Cardell, a disabled veteran with a passion for strong drink and bar brawls....a former night watchman with haunted memories of war.
Then Cecil Winge enters the picture, lawyer turned consulting detective for Stockholm police, a notably skilled young man living on borrowed time....and together these two troubled men search the DARK and dangerous streets for a ruthless monster who tortures and maims before he kills.
Kristofer Blix also plays a significant role in the storyline as a young and bright, but struggling and tormented soul who gets a rude awakening of how he must pay the piper for past mistakes....and so hopes to atone for his sins.
And then there's the falsely accused Anna Stina who takes us to the torturous workhouses of the time where monstrous types brutalize the innocent.
This is just a sampling of what is to come in THE WOLF AND THE WATCHMAN....only some of the characters....many of whom are greedy, sadistic and just plain evil. The story is complex, at times bloody gruesome and unsettling, but a mystery that is cleverly plotted and assures the reader they would NOT want to live during this post war torn time in history.
Many pieces to this intricate puzzle and very DARK, but oh what a debut!
***Arc provided by Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
February 28, 2019
1793. War with Russia had left many structures in Stockholm, Sweden in ruin. "...the world itself: so much darkness, so little light". So much disparity between wealthy aristocrats and the abject poverty forced upon the common man. Mickel Cardell, ex-soldier and former watchman, knew only too well the deprivation and famine of war. He had lost an arm fighting.
Mickel Cardell had found a way to lessen his panic attacks and terrible nightmares by using strong drink, constant inebriation and bar brawls. An intoxicated Mickel was asked to retrieve a body from the lake. Was the carcass human? It was without limbs, eyes, teeth or tongue. He gives the corpse a measure of dignity by choosing to name him "Karl Johan" until the identity of the deceased could be determined. The only clue, the body was wrapped in expensive black fabric.
Cecil Winge, a very disciplined and well regarded lawyer is dying from consumption. He has found a distraction in order to remain forward thinking. Every night, he dismantles and reassembles his pocket watch. Winge has an agreement with Police Chief Norlin of Indebetou House. Norlin requests Winge's assistance in solving the grisly crime. "How often have we been placed before a wrong of a magnitude truly worth making right, that has also been in our power to correct? This is ...something of an order neither you or I have seen before." Winge recruits Mickel Cardell , hoping to work in tandem with him, since time is of the essence. First, Winge's consumptive cough is worsening and second, Police Chief Norlin will likely be succeeded by a corrupt Police Chief who will not sanction the investigation into "Karl Johan's" grisly demise.
A commentary on life in 1793 Sweden plays out with a glimpse into the lives of Kristofer Blix and Anna-Stina Knapp. Kristofer Blix, seventeen years old and son of a rural farmer, has aspirations of becoming a doctor. A night of gambling creates an enormous debt. A gentleman buys his debt and "owns" Blix until the debt is paid but, at what cost? Anna-Stina Knapp's plight is different. By refusing the advances of a suitor, the young girl who sells fruit baskets is accused of "whoring" and is sent to the workhouse where greater dangers lurk. "Like a wolf is man to other men". Man arguably looks for weakness in others in order to better himself.
"The Wolf and the Watchman" by Niklas Natt och Dag is a historical mystery novel of the finest caliber. A grisly murder, very disquieting, needs resolution within a limited time frame. Can the case be solved? Kristofer Blix and Anna-Stina Knapp were victims of the harsh realities of poverty existing in 18th Century Sweden. How will they fare? This was a richly detailed, at times disturbing, read from debut author Niklas Natt och Dag. An excellent tome deserving of a 5* star rating.
Thank you Atria Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Wolf and the Watchman".
Mickel Cardell had found a way to lessen his panic attacks and terrible nightmares by using strong drink, constant inebriation and bar brawls. An intoxicated Mickel was asked to retrieve a body from the lake. Was the carcass human? It was without limbs, eyes, teeth or tongue. He gives the corpse a measure of dignity by choosing to name him "Karl Johan" until the identity of the deceased could be determined. The only clue, the body was wrapped in expensive black fabric.
Cecil Winge, a very disciplined and well regarded lawyer is dying from consumption. He has found a distraction in order to remain forward thinking. Every night, he dismantles and reassembles his pocket watch. Winge has an agreement with Police Chief Norlin of Indebetou House. Norlin requests Winge's assistance in solving the grisly crime. "How often have we been placed before a wrong of a magnitude truly worth making right, that has also been in our power to correct? This is ...something of an order neither you or I have seen before." Winge recruits Mickel Cardell , hoping to work in tandem with him, since time is of the essence. First, Winge's consumptive cough is worsening and second, Police Chief Norlin will likely be succeeded by a corrupt Police Chief who will not sanction the investigation into "Karl Johan's" grisly demise.
A commentary on life in 1793 Sweden plays out with a glimpse into the lives of Kristofer Blix and Anna-Stina Knapp. Kristofer Blix, seventeen years old and son of a rural farmer, has aspirations of becoming a doctor. A night of gambling creates an enormous debt. A gentleman buys his debt and "owns" Blix until the debt is paid but, at what cost? Anna-Stina Knapp's plight is different. By refusing the advances of a suitor, the young girl who sells fruit baskets is accused of "whoring" and is sent to the workhouse where greater dangers lurk. "Like a wolf is man to other men". Man arguably looks for weakness in others in order to better himself.
"The Wolf and the Watchman" by Niklas Natt och Dag is a historical mystery novel of the finest caliber. A grisly murder, very disquieting, needs resolution within a limited time frame. Can the case be solved? Kristofer Blix and Anna-Stina Knapp were victims of the harsh realities of poverty existing in 18th Century Sweden. How will they fare? This was a richly detailed, at times disturbing, read from debut author Niklas Natt och Dag. An excellent tome deserving of a 5* star rating.
Thank you Atria Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Wolf and the Watchman".
February 11, 2019
The stench, poverty, and squalor of late 1700 Stockholm is vivid in this novel. A horribly mutilated body is fished out of a lake by a one-armed watchman. A dying man of reason and lawyer-cum detective becomes obsessed with solving the hideous crime. A penniless young man, no more than a teenager really, travels to Stockholm in search of his fortune. A young woman becomes orphaned and is subjected to her own personal set of struggles and strife. There are reasons for the disparate characters’ tales and reasons for the murder as well as the ghastly condition of the corpse. In some ways I was reminded of The Alienist and in other ways it’s a grotesque riff on Dickens. In all ways it is elaborately plotted, well written and quite surprising. It is graphic and not for the squeamish.
July 1, 2020
Suecia, finales del Siglo XVIII. Acaba de finalizar la guerra con Rusia, el Rey que la promovió, Gustavo III, acaba de ser asesinado. La crisis económica en el país es terrible, las epidemias acaban con amplios estratos de la población, la pobreza es acuciante, los ricos y los poderosos se aferran a sus privilegios mirando de reojo a los vientos revolucionarios que vienen de Francia, y oprimiendo más si cabe a aquellos que han estado siempre bajo sus botas. Los estados absolutistas se tambalean por toda Europa y la corrupción campa a sus anchas.
Es en este ambiente opresivo y oscuro, de personajes desgraciados acuciados por la pobreza, las secuelas de la guerra, la enfermedad y el alcoholismo, donde se desarrolla y tiene razón de ser la historia.
Novela Negra con trasfondo histórico, ingredientes que bien mezclados son garantía de éxito, por lo menos en mi caso.
Si alguien ha leído las novelas de Carmen Mola y le parecen fuertes, esta las sobrepasa con creces, y hay partes que rozan el gore, aviso para lectores despistados.
La historia está bien narrada, con saltos en el tiempo, pero sin dejar cabos sueltos, los personajes van apareciendo y las distintas historias se van tejiendo y confluyendo hacia un desenlace bien conseguido.
Puntos en contra:
La atmósfera opresiva, es demasiado deprimente, y va empeorando a medida que avanzamos en el Libro.
La magnitud y la crueldad del crimen que constituye el centro de la trama es excesiva para los motivos que lo desencadenan, por lo menos desde mi punto de vista. Se nos presenta un crimen de lo más original y bestial, para engancharnos a la trama, cuando la motivación es de lo más común, uno se esperaría otra cosa.
La cantidad de nombres de lugares de Estocolmo, agobian un montón. Al principio uno intenta situarse con el mapa que se incluye, pero al final acabas pasando.
Vuelve a repetirse uno de los temas recurrentes en la Novela negra nórdica: Abusos en la infancia que generan monstruos adultos. Está gente parece que está bastante tocada con estos temas.
En cualquier caso la novela está muy lograda y merece mucho la pena.
Autor a seguir que creo que ya ha sacado su siguiente libro; 1784.
Se lleva un 4/5. Recomendable.
Es en este ambiente opresivo y oscuro, de personajes desgraciados acuciados por la pobreza, las secuelas de la guerra, la enfermedad y el alcoholismo, donde se desarrolla y tiene razón de ser la historia.
Novela Negra con trasfondo histórico, ingredientes que bien mezclados son garantía de éxito, por lo menos en mi caso.
Si alguien ha leído las novelas de Carmen Mola y le parecen fuertes, esta las sobrepasa con creces, y hay partes que rozan el gore, aviso para lectores despistados.
La historia está bien narrada, con saltos en el tiempo, pero sin dejar cabos sueltos, los personajes van apareciendo y las distintas historias se van tejiendo y confluyendo hacia un desenlace bien conseguido.
Puntos en contra:
La atmósfera opresiva, es demasiado deprimente, y va empeorando a medida que avanzamos en el Libro.
La magnitud y la crueldad del crimen que constituye el centro de la trama es excesiva para los motivos que lo desencadenan, por lo menos desde mi punto de vista. Se nos presenta un crimen de lo más original y bestial, para engancharnos a la trama, cuando la motivación es de lo más común, uno se esperaría otra cosa.
La cantidad de nombres de lugares de Estocolmo, agobian un montón. Al principio uno intenta situarse con el mapa que se incluye, pero al final acabas pasando.
Vuelve a repetirse uno de los temas recurrentes en la Novela negra nórdica: Abusos en la infancia que generan monstruos adultos. Está gente parece que está bastante tocada con estos temas.
En cualquier caso la novela está muy lograda y merece mucho la pena.
Autor a seguir que creo que ya ha sacado su siguiente libro; 1784.
Se lleva un 4/5. Recomendable.
December 15, 2021
Un buen thriller histórico, con ciertas escenas no demasiado aptas para mentes sensibles.
La novela está dividida en cuatro partes, los capítulos son cortos y se lee muy rápida.
Arrancamos en Invierno, con el descubrimiento de un cuerpo en las aguas de un lago. Estamos a finales del siglo xxviii y las condiciones medioambientales, higiénicas y de salubridad eran las que eran, las aguas del lago están llenas de residuos y deshechos. ¡Bienvenido a los bajos fondos y a las inmundicias de la sociedad sueca! El autor no se corta a la hora de retratarnos las miserias de aquella época. Durante esta primera parte, mezcla en una misma frase las "glorias" y las "penas". ¿Ironía o recurso literario? A pesar de la dureza de lo que narra al terminar las frases con un par de palabras positivas suaviza la sensación de lo que cuenta.
La ambientación a lo largo de todo el libro es muy buena, te transporta, sientes el frío, la humedad, los olores, ... Las condiciones de vida son muy duras para la mayoría de la gente y el frío extremo empuja a la gente a refugiarse en las tabernas. Solo me ha faltado despertarme con resaca después de dormir leyendo el libro por la noche. ¡Anda que no beben algunos!
El cuerpo lo saca del agua un guardia avisado por unos niños, un tullido que perdió el brazo en la guerra. Y al que le encargan la investigación es un tuberculoso que ya ha superado la fecha de fin marcada por el médico, que todo el tiempo nos tiene en vilo pensando si podrá llegar hasta el final del caso. Una pareja peculiar: Cecil Winge, un intelectual adelantado a su época por querer escuchar la versión de los condenados frente a Mickel Cardell, un simple hombre llano, un hombre extremadamente flaco frente a un hombretón, ... Ninguno de los dos es policía, me ha resultado curioso que coexistan varios cuerpos de fuerzas del orden.
El cuerpo está mutilado. Le han ido cortando las extremidades poco a poco, dejando transcurrir el tiempo necesario entre una amputación y otra para que el cuerpo aguante. Le han extraído los ojos y le han cortado la lengua. Pocos datos de partida para descubrir su identidad y poder localizar al culpable.
La segunda parte se desarrolla en Verano. Está redactada en forma epistolar. En unas cartas dirigidas a su hermana que nunca recibirá, nuestro narrador nos cuenta como huyó a la ciudad y acabó viéndose obligado a mutilar el cuerpo. Dos inocentes pilluelos que creían que se iban a comer el mundo serán engullidos por la gran ciudad. Los tiburones se comen a los pececillos...
La estación asociada al sol, la luz, el calor, ... ha conseguido transformarla en una estación yerma, negra, fría.
En la tercera parte estamos en Primavera, la estación que asociamos a la vida, a dejar atrás las inclemencias del invierno. Pero para Ana, nuestra protagonista, no hay clemencia en esta estación. La palabra de un pobre no existe y menos si eres una honrada aunque humilde mujer. ¡Con la Iglesia hemos topado! Y no es la única retratada por la afilada pluma de este escritor. No podía dejar sin recoger la vida -y la muerte en vida- de las condenadas a trabajos en las prisiones de la época.
Y por fin llega el Otoño, la resolución del caso, conocer al instigador del asesinato y sus motivaciones. ¿Se puede crear a un monstruo? ¿Cuánta brutalidad puede soportar un niño?. Me ha gustado el último juego de naipes que ha hecho el autor, ¡me ha sorprendido! ¿Es justa esa nueva oportunidad? Ese arrepentimiento no me ha resultado muy convincente. Y ¿qué diferencia hay entre un juez ejecutor y un convicto cuando uno se toma la justicia por la mano?
Bueno, no sé si lo calificaría como el mejor libro del año -según la academia sueca-, pero tengo que decir que ha cumplido con creces mis expectativas y que a pesar de la crudeza de las escenas retratadas, aún me lo esperaba más duro, jeje. Una muy buena ópera prima. Espero seguir disfrutando de los libros de este autor.
Es un libro de esos que engancha. El estilo narrativo fluje, con capítulos cortos que agilizan el ritmo y te van liando para leer un capítulo más.
La ambientación es muy buena, no solo cuando se desarrolla en Suecia. Describe ese ambiente convulso de finales de siglo en Francia.
En la crítica social no se anda con rodeos, conviertiendo este libro en una buena novela negra donde no solo centra en las miserias de las clases pobres a través de unos personajes bien definidos y que van evolucionando. La corrupción y la depravación de las clases altas también queda recogida.
En varias ocasiones el autor juega con la dualidad a través de los personajes: uno se salva y el otro se hunde. Solo pequeños matices conllevan reacciones y consecuencias dispares. Y a pesar de toda la crudeza contemplada en estas hojas algunos personajes tendrán una nueva vida, una nueva oportunidad.
Lo que menos me ha gustado, ha sido algún hito en la investigación, que no es que esté mal, sino que dentro de todo el garimatias y la "acción" te sorprende un poco que resuelva ese paso para pasar al siguiente. Aunque hay que decir que ningún paso es en balde, cada paso está dirigido hacia algunos de los temas que trata en el libro.
Y como podéis imaginar, ahora..., ¡Me voy a por el siguiente! Espero que 1974 esté a la altura y no tardar mucho en tener disponible el último de la trilogía, que por cierto ya he visto publicado en otros idiomas.
Valoración: 9,5/10
Lectura: diciembre 2021
La novela está dividida en cuatro partes, los capítulos son cortos y se lee muy rápida.
Arrancamos en Invierno, con el descubrimiento de un cuerpo en las aguas de un lago. Estamos a finales del siglo xxviii y las condiciones medioambientales, higiénicas y de salubridad eran las que eran, las aguas del lago están llenas de residuos y deshechos. ¡Bienvenido a los bajos fondos y a las inmundicias de la sociedad sueca! El autor no se corta a la hora de retratarnos las miserias de aquella época. Durante esta primera parte, mezcla en una misma frase las "glorias" y las "penas". ¿Ironía o recurso literario? A pesar de la dureza de lo que narra al terminar las frases con un par de palabras positivas suaviza la sensación de lo que cuenta.
La ambientación a lo largo de todo el libro es muy buena, te transporta, sientes el frío, la humedad, los olores, ... Las condiciones de vida son muy duras para la mayoría de la gente y el frío extremo empuja a la gente a refugiarse en las tabernas. Solo me ha faltado despertarme con resaca después de dormir leyendo el libro por la noche. ¡Anda que no beben algunos!
El cuerpo lo saca del agua un guardia avisado por unos niños, un tullido que perdió el brazo en la guerra. Y al que le encargan la investigación es un tuberculoso que ya ha superado la fecha de fin marcada por el médico, que todo el tiempo nos tiene en vilo pensando si podrá llegar hasta el final del caso. Una pareja peculiar: Cecil Winge, un intelectual adelantado a su época por querer escuchar la versión de los condenados frente a Mickel Cardell, un simple hombre llano, un hombre extremadamente flaco frente a un hombretón, ... Ninguno de los dos es policía, me ha resultado curioso que coexistan varios cuerpos de fuerzas del orden.
El cuerpo está mutilado. Le han ido cortando las extremidades poco a poco, dejando transcurrir el tiempo necesario entre una amputación y otra para que el cuerpo aguante. Le han extraído los ojos y le han cortado la lengua. Pocos datos de partida para descubrir su identidad y poder localizar al culpable.
La segunda parte se desarrolla en Verano. Está redactada en forma epistolar. En unas cartas dirigidas a su hermana que nunca recibirá, nuestro narrador nos cuenta como huyó a la ciudad y acabó viéndose obligado a mutilar el cuerpo. Dos inocentes pilluelos que creían que se iban a comer el mundo serán engullidos por la gran ciudad. Los tiburones se comen a los pececillos...
La estación asociada al sol, la luz, el calor, ... ha conseguido transformarla en una estación yerma, negra, fría.
En la tercera parte estamos en Primavera, la estación que asociamos a la vida, a dejar atrás las inclemencias del invierno. Pero para Ana, nuestra protagonista, no hay clemencia en esta estación. La palabra de un pobre no existe y menos si eres una honrada aunque humilde mujer. ¡Con la Iglesia hemos topado! Y no es la única retratada por la afilada pluma de este escritor. No podía dejar sin recoger la vida -y la muerte en vida- de las condenadas a trabajos en las prisiones de la época.
Y por fin llega el Otoño, la resolución del caso, conocer al instigador del asesinato y sus motivaciones. ¿Se puede crear a un monstruo? ¿Cuánta brutalidad puede soportar un niño?. Me ha gustado el último juego de naipes que ha hecho el autor, ¡me ha sorprendido! ¿Es justa esa nueva oportunidad? Ese arrepentimiento no me ha resultado muy convincente. Y ¿qué diferencia hay entre un juez ejecutor y un convicto cuando uno se toma la justicia por la mano?
Bueno, no sé si lo calificaría como el mejor libro del año -según la academia sueca-, pero tengo que decir que ha cumplido con creces mis expectativas y que a pesar de la crudeza de las escenas retratadas, aún me lo esperaba más duro, jeje. Una muy buena ópera prima. Espero seguir disfrutando de los libros de este autor.
Es un libro de esos que engancha. El estilo narrativo fluje, con capítulos cortos que agilizan el ritmo y te van liando para leer un capítulo más.
La ambientación es muy buena, no solo cuando se desarrolla en Suecia. Describe ese ambiente convulso de finales de siglo en Francia.
En la crítica social no se anda con rodeos, conviertiendo este libro en una buena novela negra donde no solo centra en las miserias de las clases pobres a través de unos personajes bien definidos y que van evolucionando. La corrupción y la depravación de las clases altas también queda recogida.
En varias ocasiones el autor juega con la dualidad a través de los personajes: uno se salva y el otro se hunde. Solo pequeños matices conllevan reacciones y consecuencias dispares. Y a pesar de toda la crudeza contemplada en estas hojas algunos personajes tendrán una nueva vida, una nueva oportunidad.
Lo que menos me ha gustado, ha sido algún hito en la investigación, que no es que esté mal, sino que dentro de todo el garimatias y la "acción" te sorprende un poco que resuelva ese paso para pasar al siguiente. Aunque hay que decir que ningún paso es en balde, cada paso está dirigido hacia algunos de los temas que trata en el libro.
Y como podéis imaginar, ahora..., ¡Me voy a por el siguiente! Espero que 1974 esté a la altura y no tardar mucho en tener disponible el último de la trilogía, que por cierto ya he visto publicado en otros idiomas.
Valoración: 9,5/10
Lectura: diciembre 2021
October 30, 2021
Estocolomo, 1793, las monarquías tiemblan, la corrupción, la violencia y la agitación social se yerguen como las únicas y auténticas Reinas. Suciedad, enfermedad y un amanecer con olor a muerte. El cuerpo de un ser humano desmembrado flota en el agua. Un veterano de guerra y un genio agonizante serán nuestros Holmes y Watson a la sueca. Una historia que le hace los honores a la novela negra histórica (Sobre todo en la parte de "Negra") Niklas Natt och Dag no quiere lectores indiferentes y eso queda claro desde el principio: el trabajo del asesino ha sido meticulosamente cruel (no daré detalles por si ustedes no tienen tanta tolerancia como yo, que lo leí sin inmutarme 🤢) Desde aquí el autor se expande lentamente para incluir las historias de dos personajes aparentemente desconectados: un joven aprendiz de cirujano asfixiado por las deudas y una chica condenada a la cárcel, donde un sádico guardia obtiene placer sexual atormentando a las internas con un látigo y una danza macabra. Todo tendrá, al final, su espeluznante (¿Y decepcionante?) conexión.
Es al menos debatible si la resolución del caso justifica tanta crueldad y depravación. Nadie es tan ingenuo aquí: estos elementos pueden exponerse en una historia con los más diversos fines. Reflejar tanto sadismo puede ser fuente de diversión, curiosidad o excitación o puede llevarnos a una reflexión más profunda sobre los orígenes y los límites de la crueldad humana.
"...Una manada de lobos sedientos de sangre que no quieren otra cosa que despedazarse unos a otros en su lucha por el poder", dirá un personaje refiriéndose a los seres humanos. Y todo, o casi todo, en esta historia le da la razón.
Es al menos debatible si la resolución del caso justifica tanta crueldad y depravación. Nadie es tan ingenuo aquí: estos elementos pueden exponerse en una historia con los más diversos fines. Reflejar tanto sadismo puede ser fuente de diversión, curiosidad o excitación o puede llevarnos a una reflexión más profunda sobre los orígenes y los límites de la crueldad humana.
"...Una manada de lobos sedientos de sangre que no quieren otra cosa que despedazarse unos a otros en su lucha por el poder", dirá un personaje refiriéndose a los seres humanos. Y todo, o casi todo, en esta historia le da la razón.
March 7, 2021
"1793 o la novela gótica del siglo XXI”
1793 ( 2019 ) de Niklas Natt Och Dag ( 1979- ) me ha parecido una novela singular. Mezcla de novela criminal y cuadro histórico, 1973 está narrada en cuatro partes donde conocemos, en cada una de ellas, a distintos protagonistas del relato. La obra comienza in medias res para, a continuación, retroceder en el tiempo en las dos partes siguientes y, finalmente, volver en la última al momento posterior al crimen que desencadena la historia y a su resolución.
Con un estilo realista y un lenguaje descarnado (creo que no hay mejor adjetivo para definir esta obra) el autor nos introduce en una época convulsa, llena de abusos e injusticias que yo definiría con solo tres palabras: caos, enfermedad y miseria (tanto física como moral).
Las descripciones no pueden ser más explícitas y durante todo el relato subyace un efecto de realidad que consigue crear verdaderas imágenes góticas y de terror, así como algunas situaciones que son perfectos cuadros esperpénticos.
Digo esto porque, aunque parece obvio que 1793 tiene un argumento típico del genero negro (víctima, culpable, investigador e investigación como argumento), además de un crimen atroz, y de que Natt Och Dag nos regala, al puro estilo de intriga inglesa, unos originales Holmes y Watson, he creído descubrir también un homenaje a la narración gótica que precisamente estaba en auge en aquella época. La elección de lugares como la cárcel de mujeres o el palacio del noble, el cambio de punto de vista de tercera a primera persona epistolar en la segunda parte, la doncella en apuros y, sobre todo, ese empeño en la descripción realista de la época (evidenciado además por la elección del título o por toda una tercera parte que no aporta nada al argumento criminal) parecen guiños claros a la narración gótica aunque el tema fantasmal no esté presente. En mi opinión, esta descripción “costumbrista” sobresale por encima del propio argumento y la he apreciado sobremanera.
En cualquier caso, 1793, aunque sale airosa de esa mezcla de géneros, no llega a ser una novela redonda. He apreciado repeticiones, exceso de casualidades, pequeñas faltas de verosimilitud y exageraciones en el uso del causa-efecto. Todo ello a mi entender perfectamente perdonable en una opera prima que me ha parecido suficientemente original para prestar atención al autor en el futuro. No me cabe duda que continuará con la pareja protagonista y tengo curiosidad por cómo va a “mantener vivo” a uno de ellos (quién haya leído la obra lo entenderá).
1793 ( 2019 ) de Niklas Natt Och Dag ( 1979- ) me ha parecido una novela singular. Mezcla de novela criminal y cuadro histórico, 1973 está narrada en cuatro partes donde conocemos, en cada una de ellas, a distintos protagonistas del relato. La obra comienza in medias res para, a continuación, retroceder en el tiempo en las dos partes siguientes y, finalmente, volver en la última al momento posterior al crimen que desencadena la historia y a su resolución.
Con un estilo realista y un lenguaje descarnado (creo que no hay mejor adjetivo para definir esta obra) el autor nos introduce en una época convulsa, llena de abusos e injusticias que yo definiría con solo tres palabras: caos, enfermedad y miseria (tanto física como moral).
Las descripciones no pueden ser más explícitas y durante todo el relato subyace un efecto de realidad que consigue crear verdaderas imágenes góticas y de terror, así como algunas situaciones que son perfectos cuadros esperpénticos.
Digo esto porque, aunque parece obvio que 1793 tiene un argumento típico del genero negro (víctima, culpable, investigador e investigación como argumento), además de un crimen atroz, y de que Natt Och Dag nos regala, al puro estilo de intriga inglesa, unos originales Holmes y Watson, he creído descubrir también un homenaje a la narración gótica que precisamente estaba en auge en aquella época. La elección de lugares como la cárcel de mujeres o el palacio del noble, el cambio de punto de vista de tercera a primera persona epistolar en la segunda parte, la doncella en apuros y, sobre todo, ese empeño en la descripción realista de la época (evidenciado además por la elección del título o por toda una tercera parte que no aporta nada al argumento criminal) parecen guiños claros a la narración gótica aunque el tema fantasmal no esté presente. En mi opinión, esta descripción “costumbrista” sobresale por encima del propio argumento y la he apreciado sobremanera.
En cualquier caso, 1793, aunque sale airosa de esa mezcla de géneros, no llega a ser una novela redonda. He apreciado repeticiones, exceso de casualidades, pequeñas faltas de verosimilitud y exageraciones en el uso del causa-efecto. Todo ello a mi entender perfectamente perdonable en una opera prima que me ha parecido suficientemente original para prestar atención al autor en el futuro. No me cabe duda que continuará con la pareja protagonista y tengo curiosidad por cómo va a “mantener vivo” a uno de ellos (quién haya leído la obra lo entenderá).
March 21, 2019
Un-fucking-believable.
This was sick, depraved, gross, shocking, horrifying, depressing, dark, sinister...
And I loved every page.
I went into this with high expectations and am happy to report that it exceeded these by leaps and bounds. The tone and atmosphere was unrelentingly dark and at times I was reminded of the movie Se7en minus the religious overtones and if it was instead set in the late eighteenth century. The characters were amazingly written and I took an instant liking to the single-mindedly bullying purposefulness of Cardell and the no-stone-is-left-unturned tenacity of Winge. Not much good happens to anyone in this book and some of the scenes are down right distressing but against my usual nature (I'm a stone cold cynic since birth) I was actually wanting some nice things to happen and some happiness to be injected because seriously this shit is pitch black. The unique non-sequential presentation of the story was also pretty rad and drew me that much more into the narrative as it kept me on my toes and more engaged as a result. It is hard to believe this is the author's first book as it is mature and self-assured in the most pleasing ways and I hope he has more stories like this in store because I was very much impressed.
This was sick, depraved, gross, shocking, horrifying, depressing, dark, sinister...
And I loved every page.
I went into this with high expectations and am happy to report that it exceeded these by leaps and bounds. The tone and atmosphere was unrelentingly dark and at times I was reminded of the movie Se7en minus the religious overtones and if it was instead set in the late eighteenth century. The characters were amazingly written and I took an instant liking to the single-mindedly bullying purposefulness of Cardell and the no-stone-is-left-unturned tenacity of Winge. Not much good happens to anyone in this book and some of the scenes are down right distressing but against my usual nature (I'm a stone cold cynic since birth) I was actually wanting some nice things to happen and some happiness to be injected because seriously this shit is pitch black. The unique non-sequential presentation of the story was also pretty rad and drew me that much more into the narrative as it kept me on my toes and more engaged as a result. It is hard to believe this is the author's first book as it is mature and self-assured in the most pleasing ways and I hope he has more stories like this in store because I was very much impressed.
March 16, 2022
“[watchmen are], most often lame, maimed, or mangled in some way that makes them unsuitable for other positions within the city watch or the military. Night and day, they chase beggars, petty thieves, vagrants, and prostitutes—everyone who does not serve any purpose in the eyes of the city governance.”
In 1793 Stockholm the one-armed watchman Mickell Cardell drags a mutilated body out of the river. Cecil Winge is a lawyer and detective dying (in gory detail) from consumption. The police enlist the aid of Winge in identifying the dead man and he is assisted in his investigation by Cardell. The other characters include Kristopher Blix, a 17 year old who wants to become a doctor, and Anna-Stina Knapp, a young woman who winds up in a workhouse after she is orphaned. The lives of each of these characters eventually intersect in an intricate plot.
I like historical fiction, but this is the darkest book of its kind that I have read. And by “dark” I mean sickening and twisted. Every time I thought that things might be turning around for a character I was wrong and their life got even bleaker. Without giving away any major plot points, prisoners are stomped to death, insects are mutilated, someone literally climbs through a corpse, someone else defecates on a grave, there’s a perverse orgy and a botched beheading. And then there is the story of that mutilated corpse. Details of the treatment of the victim before his death were sadistic, sick, heartless and very disturbing. This was a good mystery, but I really think the author might have a problem.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
In 1793 Stockholm the one-armed watchman Mickell Cardell drags a mutilated body out of the river. Cecil Winge is a lawyer and detective dying (in gory detail) from consumption. The police enlist the aid of Winge in identifying the dead man and he is assisted in his investigation by Cardell. The other characters include Kristopher Blix, a 17 year old who wants to become a doctor, and Anna-Stina Knapp, a young woman who winds up in a workhouse after she is orphaned. The lives of each of these characters eventually intersect in an intricate plot.
I like historical fiction, but this is the darkest book of its kind that I have read. And by “dark” I mean sickening and twisted. Every time I thought that things might be turning around for a character I was wrong and their life got even bleaker. Without giving away any major plot points, prisoners are stomped to death, insects are mutilated, someone literally climbs through a corpse, someone else defecates on a grave, there’s a perverse orgy and a botched beheading. And then there is the story of that mutilated corpse. Details of the treatment of the victim before his death were sadistic, sick, heartless and very disturbing. This was a good mystery, but I really think the author might have a problem.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
March 7, 2019
4.5/5 Stars!
A gruesomely mutilated body is fished out of a local lake by a night watchman. So begins this dark mystery set in Stockholm in the late 1700's.
The main characters, the aforementioned night watchman, (Cardell), and a lawyer dying from consumption, (Winge), were fascinating and multi-layered. Winge hasn't much time left in this world, and he makes the investigation of this case his only reason for living. Cardell, an injured war veteran looking for self worth and coming up short, is turning to the bottle instead. This mystery provides a reason for him to stay sober. Mostly. Together, they wander the disgusting streets of Stockholm, hunting their murderer. Will they find him/her? Will Winge live long enough to see the perpetrator tried for the crime? Will Cardell be able to keep himself out of the bottle long enough to aid Winge in his only goal? You'll have to read this to find out!
I enjoyed reading about this time in Stockholm's history. Admittedly, I do not know much about the city or the country, but I learned a little bit reading this book. I learned that the city, much like others of its size around the world at that time, was a seething pit of disease. Piles of excrement lying around, chamber pots emptied out the window-I think you get the drift. Whenever I read about living in a city during this time period I wonder how humanity survived at all.
On top of the filth of the city, its inhabitants were often entertained by the worst society has to offer. Gambling, prostitution, and ruining the reputations of others just for fun-these were the popular habits of the day. A woman, left widowed, or worse yet? Impregnated before marriage? They were left in circumstances beyond dire. Combat veterans-especially those who lost limbs or those who were mentally impaired due to the harsh circumstances of war? They fared no better. Most people were so involved in their own survival, (no small feat!) there was no time or thought put into charity for others.
Regarding the solving of the gruesome murder, this book reminded me quite a lot of THE ALIENIST. Winge was especially interested in hearing the motives from the killers themselves in his past cases, and he wants to know what made this perpetrator tick as well. While THE ALIENIST was heavily involved with crime investigation techniques, Winge was much more interested in the psychological aspects of criminals. So am I, so this viewpoint worked perfectly for me.
The way this tale unfolded was intriguing-the first section involving Winge and Cardell, the others involving other people with whom we were not familiar. It kept me reading because I needed to see how all of this was going to tie together. I think the telling was my favorite aspect of this story-well, this and the main characters.
I finished up the book having developed a serious liking and respect for Cardell. Both he and Winge were men of honor, something which seemed to be in short supply during this time period. I wanted to know more about the Eumenides and a few other characters as well. I am really hoping for a sequel here, people.
I devoured this book as quickly as I could. As I said above, I was fascinated by how the author told the story, the pacing was excellent, and the mystery a good one. I especially liked the darkness of the tale and how the author did not shy away from the brutality of life at the time. I suspect that the gruesome nature of this story, and the author's unflinching telling of it, may turn some readers off. But for this reader, lover of dark fiction that I am, it was nearly perfect and left me wanting more. Please, bring on a sequel, sir!
Highly recommended! Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2H5S4uW
*Thank you to Atria and to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
A gruesomely mutilated body is fished out of a local lake by a night watchman. So begins this dark mystery set in Stockholm in the late 1700's.
The main characters, the aforementioned night watchman, (Cardell), and a lawyer dying from consumption, (Winge), were fascinating and multi-layered. Winge hasn't much time left in this world, and he makes the investigation of this case his only reason for living. Cardell, an injured war veteran looking for self worth and coming up short, is turning to the bottle instead. This mystery provides a reason for him to stay sober. Mostly. Together, they wander the disgusting streets of Stockholm, hunting their murderer. Will they find him/her? Will Winge live long enough to see the perpetrator tried for the crime? Will Cardell be able to keep himself out of the bottle long enough to aid Winge in his only goal? You'll have to read this to find out!
I enjoyed reading about this time in Stockholm's history. Admittedly, I do not know much about the city or the country, but I learned a little bit reading this book. I learned that the city, much like others of its size around the world at that time, was a seething pit of disease. Piles of excrement lying around, chamber pots emptied out the window-I think you get the drift. Whenever I read about living in a city during this time period I wonder how humanity survived at all.
On top of the filth of the city, its inhabitants were often entertained by the worst society has to offer. Gambling, prostitution, and ruining the reputations of others just for fun-these were the popular habits of the day. A woman, left widowed, or worse yet? Impregnated before marriage? They were left in circumstances beyond dire. Combat veterans-especially those who lost limbs or those who were mentally impaired due to the harsh circumstances of war? They fared no better. Most people were so involved in their own survival, (no small feat!) there was no time or thought put into charity for others.
Regarding the solving of the gruesome murder, this book reminded me quite a lot of THE ALIENIST. Winge was especially interested in hearing the motives from the killers themselves in his past cases, and he wants to know what made this perpetrator tick as well. While THE ALIENIST was heavily involved with crime investigation techniques, Winge was much more interested in the psychological aspects of criminals. So am I, so this viewpoint worked perfectly for me.
The way this tale unfolded was intriguing-the first section involving Winge and Cardell, the others involving other people with whom we were not familiar. It kept me reading because I needed to see how all of this was going to tie together. I think the telling was my favorite aspect of this story-well, this and the main characters.
I finished up the book having developed a serious liking and respect for Cardell. Both he and Winge were men of honor, something which seemed to be in short supply during this time period. I wanted to know more about the Eumenides and a few other characters as well. I am really hoping for a sequel here, people.
I devoured this book as quickly as I could. As I said above, I was fascinated by how the author told the story, the pacing was excellent, and the mystery a good one. I especially liked the darkness of the tale and how the author did not shy away from the brutality of life at the time. I suspect that the gruesome nature of this story, and the author's unflinching telling of it, may turn some readers off. But for this reader, lover of dark fiction that I am, it was nearly perfect and left me wanting more. Please, bring on a sequel, sir!
Highly recommended! Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2H5S4uW
*Thank you to Atria and to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
February 18, 2019
By page 9 I new this was going to be good book when Ceil Winge 'Slowly undressed the Mechanism ' to describe taking a watch to pieces.
This has a surly after taste of a strong spiced pickled onion..I feel that gone back to 1990s when discovered Perfume. Not often do you find good Translation book this was Swedish & Tr by Ebba Segerberg coming out in 2017 called 1793.
A body is fished out of a local filthy lake a body that has no eyes or limbs thus grotesque hunt starts by police officer who has the Grim Reaper with his hand upon his shoulder the real one foot in the grave because has consumption. Ready to cough up his guts a race to find the murder before the White horseman rides out. This set in same period that George III is going mad, the French have chopped off heads; bad time of darkness, lawlessness & wars.
This outstanding performance from new author recently Translated into English with names that not all long winded which makes it easy to read.
The old saying its the not cough that carries you off but The coffin that carry off in really is true here. Dag gives you a history of the 18th century Consumption all its medical terrors.
I remember an auntie who had TB in 1950 it gave my mother at 18 her big brake she had move away to Whitley Bay were in 1951 she became youngster female report in the country.
Even in early 1950s when TB was a killer & like the plague everything she owned was burned so What hell was like in 1790s.this book shows you? It is rich in real horror but Not a 'horror' ghost style but True horror which far worse. That God medicine & Doctors have advanced technology from this.
The 2nd part of this book moves to another horror just as bad the horror of debt. what could happen if owned money to wrong people. This much darker than first part. It also provides that white slavery was live & kicking run by Jews. Load sharking at its worst. How far would you go to escape deters prison?
Lies & lust whores sins for the Bluecoats fun every bit as different as part 2 is part 3.
Then it's back to the conclusion .This like Q & A more than one story but interconnections a brilliant well written book.
The only down side is how do find another book that can follow this smasher.
Let's hope this not like Perfume in that it's one hit wonder. Never doing another, that would be real travesty..
This has a surly after taste of a strong spiced pickled onion..I feel that gone back to 1990s when discovered Perfume. Not often do you find good Translation book this was Swedish & Tr by Ebba Segerberg coming out in 2017 called 1793.
A body is fished out of a local filthy lake a body that has no eyes or limbs thus grotesque hunt starts by police officer who has the Grim Reaper with his hand upon his shoulder the real one foot in the grave because has consumption. Ready to cough up his guts a race to find the murder before the White horseman rides out. This set in same period that George III is going mad, the French have chopped off heads; bad time of darkness, lawlessness & wars.
This outstanding performance from new author recently Translated into English with names that not all long winded which makes it easy to read.
The old saying its the not cough that carries you off but The coffin that carry off in really is true here. Dag gives you a history of the 18th century Consumption all its medical terrors.
I remember an auntie who had TB in 1950 it gave my mother at 18 her big brake she had move away to Whitley Bay were in 1951 she became youngster female report in the country.
Even in early 1950s when TB was a killer & like the plague everything she owned was burned so What hell was like in 1790s.this book shows you? It is rich in real horror but Not a 'horror' ghost style but True horror which far worse. That God medicine & Doctors have advanced technology from this.
The 2nd part of this book moves to another horror just as bad the horror of debt. what could happen if owned money to wrong people. This much darker than first part. It also provides that white slavery was live & kicking run by Jews. Load sharking at its worst. How far would you go to escape deters prison?
Lies & lust whores sins for the Bluecoats fun every bit as different as part 2 is part 3.
Then it's back to the conclusion .This like Q & A more than one story but interconnections a brilliant well written book.
The only down side is how do find another book that can follow this smasher.
Let's hope this not like Perfume in that it's one hit wonder. Never doing another, that would be real travesty..
August 23, 2021
Estoy entre 3 y 4 estrellas, no estoy muy segura de la calificación final.
Le daría 4 estrellas por:
- La ambientación histórica en Estocolmo en los años inmediatamente posteriores a la Revolución Francesa, cuando el resto de las monarquías europeas tiemblan con los aires que llegan de Francia. En concreto en otoño de 1793 es guillotinada la reina María Antonieta, lo que acaba de certificar que la monarquía no es inmune a la ira del pueblo. Las calles de Estocolmo, las tabernas, las instituciones como la naciente policía, las prisiones, todo está retratado con abundante documentación y detalle que nos sumerge de lleno en la época.
- Los personajes principales, especialmente los dos investigadores. Cecil Winge es un abogado imbuido de los ideales de la Ilustración y víctima de una tuberculosis avanzada, pero quiere dedicar sus últimos esfuerzos a la búsqueda de justicia para un cuerpo mutilado que ha sido encontrado con signos de tremendas torturas. Para ello recluta a un guardia, Mickel Cardell, que es un veterano mutilado de la guerra contra Rusia. La relación entre ellos hace que la lectura sea interesante.
Le daría 3 estrellas por:
- La acumulación (innecesaria) de lo negativo. Vale que Estocolmo era sucio - como todas las ciudades de la época - vale que hacía frío y había enfermedades. Pero es que una página tras otra el autor va escarbando en todo lo que es oscuro, miserable y maligno (y maloliente) en la naturaleza y también en las personas. He leído en una entrevista, que de las dos visiones filosóficas de la época sobre la naturaleza humana - la perfidia innata de Sade y la bondad esencial de Rousseau - el autor abona la tesis de Sade. El panorama que pinta es tan desalentador y perverso - aunque haya algunos destellos de bondad y humanidad - que resulta desmesurado y algo cargante. Creo que un poco más de equilibrio y menos efectismo habría resultado en una novela más creíble y realista.
- La trama. A menudo cae en convenciones y patrones de bestsellers y thrillers al uso. Después de una primera parte interesante, en que se nos introducen unos personajes con atractivo, cambia a otro hilo narrativo y se introducen otros personajes completamente distintos. Al final se anudan todas las tramas y el desenlace es bueno, pero para mi gusto hay demasiadas digresiones, como por ejemplo todo el episodio de la cárcel, que se alarga mucho y te hace perder interés en la investigación.
En fin, una novela que no deja indiferente, la han comparado con El perfume. Historia de un asesino y El nombre de la rosa. Lo único seguro es que no es recomendable para espíritus/estómagos delicados.
Le daría 4 estrellas por:
- La ambientación histórica en Estocolmo en los años inmediatamente posteriores a la Revolución Francesa, cuando el resto de las monarquías europeas tiemblan con los aires que llegan de Francia. En concreto en otoño de 1793 es guillotinada la reina María Antonieta, lo que acaba de certificar que la monarquía no es inmune a la ira del pueblo. Las calles de Estocolmo, las tabernas, las instituciones como la naciente policía, las prisiones, todo está retratado con abundante documentación y detalle que nos sumerge de lleno en la época.
- Los personajes principales, especialmente los dos investigadores. Cecil Winge es un abogado imbuido de los ideales de la Ilustración y víctima de una tuberculosis avanzada, pero quiere dedicar sus últimos esfuerzos a la búsqueda de justicia para un cuerpo mutilado que ha sido encontrado con signos de tremendas torturas. Para ello recluta a un guardia, Mickel Cardell, que es un veterano mutilado de la guerra contra Rusia. La relación entre ellos hace que la lectura sea interesante.
Le daría 3 estrellas por:
- La acumulación (innecesaria) de lo negativo. Vale que Estocolmo era sucio - como todas las ciudades de la época - vale que hacía frío y había enfermedades. Pero es que una página tras otra el autor va escarbando en todo lo que es oscuro, miserable y maligno (y maloliente) en la naturaleza y también en las personas. He leído en una entrevista, que de las dos visiones filosóficas de la época sobre la naturaleza humana - la perfidia innata de Sade y la bondad esencial de Rousseau - el autor abona la tesis de Sade. El panorama que pinta es tan desalentador y perverso - aunque haya algunos destellos de bondad y humanidad - que resulta desmesurado y algo cargante. Creo que un poco más de equilibrio y menos efectismo habría resultado en una novela más creíble y realista.
- La trama. A menudo cae en convenciones y patrones de bestsellers y thrillers al uso. Después de una primera parte interesante, en que se nos introducen unos personajes con atractivo, cambia a otro hilo narrativo y se introducen otros personajes completamente distintos. Al final se anudan todas las tramas y el desenlace es bueno, pero para mi gusto hay demasiadas digresiones, como por ejemplo todo el episodio de la cárcel, que se alarga mucho y te hace perder interés en la investigación.
En fin, una novela que no deja indiferente, la han comparado con El perfume. Historia de un asesino y El nombre de la rosa. Lo único seguro es que no es recomendable para espíritus/estómagos delicados.
August 6, 2019
The farther I read, the harder it was to put down this bold and gritty historical fiction/thriller/horror (I’m not sure exactly what to call it). I have to admit, this gutsy story didn’t start that way, though. If I hadn’t been reading it as a Buddy Read, I might have given up and moved to something else. I’m glad I stuck with it!
Yes...it is dark, gruesome and vividly detailed, but so eloquently written! Given the fact it takes place in the 1700’s, I wasn’t expecting a sappy, glorified story.
A mutilated corpse is found in Larder Lake. Mutilated might not be the appropriate word to describe the dead body. I’m not sure there is a word that describes the vicious acts done to this unidentifiable individual. Thus begins the investigation by Winge and Cardell. I didn’t care much for either at the beginning of the book, but they soon became captivating and fascinating characters, in a book filled with monsters. Winge was a little harder to warm up to, but he became my favorite.
The book was split into four parts, and as hard as it was to imagine, each part was more macabre and horrific than the previous. Yet I was completely fascinated and couldn’t stop reading 😊! The author describes everything in such detail, you can almost smell the stench he describes, see the sickening filth and feel the freezing cold everywhere.
I was beginning to think this author must be the most depressed writer ever. He wasn’t willing to let anyone have a happy ending. Each time I thought things were as bad as they could possible get, he came up with more bad luck to bestow on the poor souls. But alas, when the ending came, I was quite happy and satisfied. The last sentence of the book was perfect!
All I have to do is read a few pages in this book to ward off any gloomy, feel-sorry-for-myself feelings I might have in the future!
My Rating: 4 ⭐️’s
Published: Published March 5th 2019 by Atria Books (first published September 13th 2017, titled: 1793)
Pages: 384
Recommend: Yes...if you have the stomach for gore!
Yes...it is dark, gruesome and vividly detailed, but so eloquently written! Given the fact it takes place in the 1700’s, I wasn’t expecting a sappy, glorified story.
“Men are shitting and pissing themselves where they stand and the excrement is mixed with the blood under our heels. Even sweat smells different in the face of death, did you know that? Mix it all with gun smoke and you end up with the devil’s own perfume.”
A mutilated corpse is found in Larder Lake. Mutilated might not be the appropriate word to describe the dead body. I’m not sure there is a word that describes the vicious acts done to this unidentifiable individual. Thus begins the investigation by Winge and Cardell. I didn’t care much for either at the beginning of the book, but they soon became captivating and fascinating characters, in a book filled with monsters. Winge was a little harder to warm up to, but he became my favorite.
“You are a cold one, Cecil Winge. No wonder you’re so at ease in the presence of the dead. Let me return your powers of observation with some of my own: You don’t eat enough. If I were you, I would try to spend more time at the dinner table and less on the latrine.”
The book was split into four parts, and as hard as it was to imagine, each part was more macabre and horrific than the previous. Yet I was completely fascinated and couldn’t stop reading 😊! The author describes everything in such detail, you can almost smell the stench he describes, see the sickening filth and feel the freezing cold everywhere.
I was beginning to think this author must be the most depressed writer ever. He wasn’t willing to let anyone have a happy ending. Each time I thought things were as bad as they could possible get, he came up with more bad luck to bestow on the poor souls. But alas, when the ending came, I was quite happy and satisfied. The last sentence of the book was perfect!
All I have to do is read a few pages in this book to ward off any gloomy, feel-sorry-for-myself feelings I might have in the future!
My Rating: 4 ⭐️’s
Published: Published March 5th 2019 by Atria Books (first published September 13th 2017, titled: 1793)
Pages: 384
Recommend: Yes...if you have the stomach for gore!
March 26, 2019
"Like a wolf is man to other men." - Plautus
Stockholm, 1793
When a mutilated body is pulled from a bog, a dying lawyer and a former soldier must work together to discover not only the murderer, but the identity of the victim.
Wow, wow, wow!
I opened this book not knowing anything more than the fact that it was a historical mystery, and what a fascinating, mesmerizing read it turned out to be: interesting characters, both likable, and loathsome, and an engaging plot with plenty of twists. Trigger warnings aplenty, though! There are graphic descriptions of torture, rape, and a horrific execution scene presided over by a drunken headsman. If you like your historical fiction on the gritty side, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
"No one can run with the wolf pack without accepting its terms."
Many thanks to Venus from Atria Books for sending a review copy.
Stockholm, 1793
When a mutilated body is pulled from a bog, a dying lawyer and a former soldier must work together to discover not only the murderer, but the identity of the victim.
Wow, wow, wow!
I opened this book not knowing anything more than the fact that it was a historical mystery, and what a fascinating, mesmerizing read it turned out to be: interesting characters, both likable, and loathsome, and an engaging plot with plenty of twists. Trigger warnings aplenty, though! There are graphic descriptions of torture, rape, and a horrific execution scene presided over by a drunken headsman. If you like your historical fiction on the gritty side, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
"No one can run with the wolf pack without accepting its terms."
Many thanks to Venus from Atria Books for sending a review copy.
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