The Andalucian Friend

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Sophie Brinkmann had no idea her former patient was an international crime lord. Hector Guzman had a Latin charm and easy smile she couldn't deny, so she agreed to a date... Jens Vall is in Paraguay facilitating a delivery of very dangerous weapons when he's attacked by angry Russians. They think he stole their drugs... Lars Vinge is a beat cop with a nasty drug habit he thought he kicked. He's given an important assignment that soon turns into deadly obsession... All of their paths will collide in this turbo-charged, action-packed, highly sophisticated debut thriller that will set the world on fire.From BooklistStarred Review Get ready for another round of hype in which one more heavily promoted Scandinavian thriller will be touted as “the next Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” It’s a shame, really, because this gripping crime novel, the first in a trilogy, deserves to stand completely on its own. Yes, it’s set largely in Stockholm, and, yes, it stars a woman of remarkable strength and resiliency, but Söderberg, a veteran screenwriter, is a very different kind of writer than investigative journalist Larsson; this novel is much faster paced than Dragon Tattoo, and while the multiple characters are richly complex, the narrative rumbles ever forward without Larsson’s emphasis on backstory and research techniques. When we first meet Sophie Brinkman, an unassuming nurse and single mother, she seems the polar opposite of Lisbeth Salander. That changes slowly but inexorably after Sophie gets to know one of her patients, the suave Hector Guzman, a charming family man but also—as Sophie eventually discovers—the head of an international crime ring. (Comparisons to the Corleone family are also inevitable and not entirely unjustified.) Soon enough, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a gang war as Guzman’s family battles a rival Russian contingent. Throw in a gaggle of rogue cops and Sophie’s old boyfriend, who turns up out of nowhere with a history of his own, and you have a multistranded plot that holds together as exquisitely as finely wound silk. But, as with the Larsson trilogy, it’s the woman at the center who sparks the engine. By novel’s end, Sophie has realized that “she was bigger than she had dared to see.” We see it, too, and are ready to follow her anywhere. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Söderberg’s novel was the smash of the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair, and movie rights have already been sold. Promotion plans for the novel’s release will take full advantage of the book’s international success. --Bill Ott Review“Imagine The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets The Sopranos, then crank up the intrigue and rip off the knob. Alexander Söderberg has penned an awesome thriller you won’t want to miss.” —Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Black List “One of the many wonderful things about Alexander Söderberg’s novel The Andalucian Friend is how it upsets our expectations. His cops act like gangsters, while his gangsters (some of them) attain a startling sort of nobility. Söderberg has created an entertaining, engaging, and wonderfully bloody-minded world. He’s a great storyteller. It’s that simple.” —Scott Smith, author of The Ruins “The international cast is packed with compelling bad guys, the plot is intricate and urgent, and the dialogue is tense and true and sometimes even funny. A joyride of a read.” —Chris Pavone, author of The Expats “This summer’s page-turner.” —Fokus (Sweden) “A devilishly taut and fast-paced thriller.” —Café (Sweden) “The plot is skillfully constructed and intricate…. The suspense is maintained throughout, it’s pacy until the very last page…. The Andalucian Friend is an action-packed book.” —Bokhora (Sweden)“This book is practically made for a film adaptation with all the drama and action it contains. Even though it’s full blast from start to finish, the author succeeds in creating animated and credible characters. Excruciatingly suspenseful.” —DAST Magazine (Sweden) “An action thriller with staggering pace.” —Aftonbladet (Sweden)“Refreshingly free from black-and-white renderings…. [The Andalucian Friend is] a very good book. For several reasons. There is ease and authenticity in the language, which is best demonstrated in the dialogues…behind the language are thoroughly complex characters. Complex and interesting; in The Andalucian Friend the line between good and evil is often blurred…. This is a very smart move, because the result is police detectives that are liberatingly hard to predict—no matter how many crime novels you have devoured.” —Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)“A truly entertaining thriller debut…. Well-written action in a high pace, the settings are deliberate, the plot ingenious, and the characters surprisingly credible.” —Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)“A good story with a lot of action, narrative zest and a high pace.” —Östgöta Correspondenten (Sweden)“The Andalucian Friend is an unpredictable and breathlessly suspenseful, taut and well-written thriller on a high international level…. A timeless saga about the struggle between good and evil…. What makes The Andalucian Friend so captivating is Alexander Söderberg’s fine sense for milieus and psychological acuity…. Not least impressive is how effectively and elegantly he weaves together the many strands of the novel. It is a feverishly intense, immersive thriller. Utterly brilliant…Söderberg does it wonderfully well.” —Västerbottens-Kuriren (Sweden)“A suspenseful thriller with several ingenious twists that make it difficult to guess how it will end.” —Värmlands Folkblad (Sweden)“I’m thinking of this year’s big star, debut author Alexander Söderberg’s recently published The Andalucian Friend. Which I last week spent a long, long night with. I haven’t read such a captivating, relentlessly suspenseful thriller as The Andalucian Friend in ages.” —Dalarnas Tidningar (Sweden)“The next ‘next Stieg Larsson’ will be Alexander Söderberg with his The Andalucian Friend. I’ll bet my salary on it. Exactly the same thrilling, captivating and unputdownable quality as Stieg…. I will probably read dozens more crime novels this year, but it would surprise me if a single one outdoes [The Andalucian Friend].” —Bokboxen (Sweden)