Mixed feelings. While I love the 2 sleuths here - Sherlock-like male professor Hans Rekke a hard-working policewoman Micaela Vargas, toughened by her immigrant background - I do not like the political thrillers which are not set in the homeland of the heroes. Here we are solving the murder of football referee with the ties to Afghanistan and religious repressions there, peppered with the bad, bad American CIA and their dark torture practices (ah, and some historical links to Soviet Union, too). All is well with these subjects, if they were told and solved with the native persons! But Mr Lagercrantz is Swede and his novel is played out in Sweden. Why can not we have a Scandi noir, a Swedish crime? Then the author would be an authority on all things Swedish. I find the political references being a bother in general, but I would be willing to learn something new about the politics there.
But having said that, I would read the next novel based on the fact that I like the Micaela-Rekke duo. Hopefully they can get a good domestic crime case without all the ornaments of the author’s political leanings!

The narrator was not bad (especially when voicing Rekke), yet I would love more energy in his reading. He could enhance the narration with more energetic reading, as the story itself is a bit heavy. But overall a not bad job.

An immigrant football referee was murdered after a fractious end to the match he was in charge of. There is a clear suspect, the drunken father of the star player who was fouled at the end of the match so causing the fracas. A seemingly simple case but the police are struggling to get a confession out of the prime suspect. Then a case review instigated by the assistant commissioner provides another angle of approach, they will involve Professor Hans Rekke to improve their interrogation technique. Rekke reviews the available video footage a demonstrates they have clearly got the right man. Back to square one. They are now looking for an older middle eastern looking man.

The investigation stalls and when Vargas refuses to set up her criminal brother for an easy collar on another case she is sent back to community policing work. Another suspect is eliminated for the murder, and it becomes clear the police are getting nowhere with it, so the investigation is shelved.
Some months later a chance meeting between Vargas and Rekke results in her saving him from one of his self-destructive urges. This act cements a strange relationship between them. Now working together, they are determined to solve the case.

The two principal characters are the classic set up of opposite leads. Professor Rekke is mature man, wealthy, privileged, sophisticated, musical, and cerebral. Officer Vargas is a younger woman, from a poor family living in one of the social housing projects on the outskirts of the city. Her background means she is resourceful and possesses street smarts, she is also honest, hardworking, and determined to do good. Much of the novel revolves around the interactions between the two as they develop a working relationship and start spark off each other. They also need each other; Vargas wants to learn from Rekke and he needs her to save himself from his own self-destructive streak.

Elements of Rekke are drawn from Sherlock Holmes, he is governed by logic and possesses acute observational skills and he ability to make deductions from what he notices. Holmes famously dabbled with recreational drugs, here Rekke is hooked on a series of prescription drugs which are slowly destroying him.
Vargas has the makings of being a great character a feisty and smart young woman.

The plot centres on the aftermath of the 2003 war on terror. The case is of a murdered refugee who has a mysterious past. The authorities in the form of the Swedish government and the CIA want a quick and easy solution to the crime for their own reasons. The digging into his back story by Rekke and Vargas unearths a tale radicalisation, torture and rendition that won’t stay buried.

The pacing is variable with activity coming in spurts, but at other times it is slow, ponderous, and perhaps a little dull. The set up for a new novel series can be difficult, trying to judge the right amount of background and this coupled with the complex switching around as true identities are revealed have left it a little unbalanced. Overall though it works and is an entertaining read if you stick with it.

The plot involves murder and corruption and is made up by two main protagonists. The writing is quirky and edgy. Unfortunately the mystery element and central theme didn't work for me and I couldn't connect with the style.
Overall a good read. Many thanks to Netgalley and the author for the chance to read and review.

Very well written and translated as the whole process is seamless leaving a quality piece of crime and fiction! Thoroughly absorbing and entertaining with twists a plenty and deep characters throughout, Read it

Was so impressed by the authors work in continuing the Millennium series after Stieg Larson died that I couldn’t wait to start this book. Struggled to get going, tried five times and only got 35% way through before abandoning it. The writing is so woolly and although tackling topical themes like immigration and terrorism I couldn’t get into it. Maybe because the story is set in Sweden yet the narration is in English accent? Maybe I was already invested in the characters and plots from millennium? I can’t spend any more time on it. So very disappointing. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and MacLehose Press for providing the free audiobook in return to the honest review. I loved the actual book of this which I also had opportunity to read pre-release. Personally, I think I preferred the book than the audiobook but I still enjoyed listening to this and re-living the story again.

Professor Hans Rekke is a world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of dizzying feats of logic and observation. He was born into wealth and power and has a picture-perfect wife and daughter. But he also has a fragile psyche that falls apart under pressure.

Micaela Vargas is a street-smart police officer, daughter of Chilean political refugees, who grew up in the projects on the outskirts of Stockholm and has two brothers on the wrong side of the law. She is tenacious and uncompromising, and desperate to prove herself to her fellow cops.

Micaela needs Hans's unique mind to help her solve the case of a murdered asylum-seeker from Afghanistan. Hans needs Micaela to save him from himself. Together, they need to find the killer before they're both silenced for good.

The story itself is worth a four star for me, David Lagercrantz perfectly builds a plot of suspense and intrigue, the characters have depth and the story focuses on hot topics such as the Taliban, corruption within the CIA and other controversial topics in an entirely believable way. Similar to Lagercrantz continuation of the Millennium series, the protagonists in this story have peculiarities and idiosyncrasies which are endearing and lead the meandering plot in a Sherlockian investigation.

With thanks to the author, publishers Quercus Audio, and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The premise of the story was interesting and the first few chapters quite engaging, but after that for me it became a bit too slow moving and even tedious, and a little hard to follow in places. I don’t know if this is down to the style of writing or the translation as I have not read this author previously, but I found myself losing interest and my mind wondering quite a few times while listening to the audiobook, and had to go back and relisten to sections to try to understand what was going on.

I enjoyed Micaela’s character and some of the idiosyncrasies of Professor Rekke, but apart from them I didn’t find any of the other characters particularly engaging. I also sometimes found it hard to relate some of the Afghan names to the characters and storylines they were tied to, although perhaps this was more of a factor because this was an audiobook, and the names would have been more memorable to me if I was seeing them written down while reading the book.

Some toxic views of depression in this book and well as depictions of torture, violence, abuse and addiction. If that is something you are sensitive about then perhaps it’s not for you.



It’s an interesting story, but choc full of clichés and a bit hard to follow in places. I didn’t really find any off the characters appealing and found it a bit of a drawn out slog - not really to my taste to be honest. Probably because I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing of the writing, as I am usually a fan of crime thrillers.



The narrator was fine, neither terrible nor great. 


2.5 rounded up

I was expecting great things after reading the reviews on Amazon but it must be me as I just couldn't get into this I listen to chapters 1-14 twice before I got the gist of the story
I had to listen to a few chapters again throughout the book and certainly did not find it a thriller I just thought it was a dark ,depressing listen and not to my my taste at all.
I missed the who dunnit and had to listen to the last few chapters again
This looks like it will be a series

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for allowing me to listen to this book for an honest review

A police procedural based a lot on the intuition of determined police officer Micaela Vargas who managed to enlist the help of manic depressive Professor Hans Rekke, an authority on interrogation techniques, as she attempts to solve the murder of Jamal Kabir. With themes including music, drug addiction, torture, murder, politics and religion there was plenty going on, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to hold my attention. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Music was the first book I read by this author so wasn’t sure what to expect. The characters were interesting and well drawn out but the story unravelled so slowly that by the middle of the book I lost my interest. I am not sure if this was the writing or translation. I listened to the audio version and my attention kept wondering off, although the narration was decent.

Dark Music by David Lagercrantz

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Professor Hans Rekke is a world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of dizzying feats of logic and observation. He was born into wealth and power and has a picture-perfect wife and daughter. But he also has a fragile psyche that falls apart under pressure.

Micaela Vargas is a street-smart police officer, daughter of Chilean political refugees, who grew up in the projects on the outskirts of Stockholm and has two brothers on the wrong side of the law. She is tenacious and uncompromising, and desperate to prove herself to her fellow cops.

Micaela needs Hans's unique mind to help her solve the case of a murdered asylum-seeker from Afghanistan. Hans needs Micaela to save him from himself. Together, they need to find the killer before they're both silenced for good.

My Opinion

A couple of years ago I read and enjoyed 'The Girl in the Spider's Web', so I was looking forward to seeing what Lagercrantz would do with his own series. Dark Music has an intriguing plot that to me seemed to be unpredictable. In places I found it difficult to follow the plot and found myself having to re-read sections, but overall this is an enjoyable thriller and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next with this series.

Rating 4/5

My thanks to Quercus Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Dark Music’ by David Lagercrantz. The audiobook was narrated by Matt Bates.

This crime thriller was originally published in Sweden as ‘Obscuritas’ (2021). It was translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles. I have read and enjoyed two of David Lagercrantz’s continuations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, so was interested in reading more of his work. ‘Dark Music’ marks the start of a new series of mysteries inspired by Sherlock Holmes.

Professor Hans Rekke, a world authority on interrogation techniques, is capable of impressive feats of logic and observation. In the course of the novel he is paired with Micaela Vargas, a community police officer whose parents are Chilean political refugees.

While Rekke comes from a privileged background, Vargas had grown up in a tough suburb and her two brothers are involved in shady activities; causing problems for her with her supervisors. I found both leads intriguing and accessible characters.

‘Dark Music’ is set in 2003 and its central case involves the murder of Jamal Kabir, a refugee from Afghanistan, who has been beaten to death following a junior football match where he was referee. At first it is believed that he had been attacked by an angry parent, who had objected to a call he had made during the game.

However, it soon becomes apparent there is far more going on. No further details to avoid spoilers. Some chapters flash back to past events in Kabul during the Russian occupation and later after the Taliban take control.

‘Dark Music’ was a slow burn with an emphasis upon character development as well as social and political issues, which is very much in keeping with Scandinavian crime fiction. I have been enjoying ‘Nordic Noir’ in translation for over a decade so was prepared for this type of pacing and themes.

As the title suggests, music is an important aspect of the narrative, which highlights the Taliban’s suppression of music and persecution of musicians, especially those trained in classical music by the Russians.

With respect to the audiobook, while this is the first time I have listened to an audiobook narrated by Matt Bates, I was impressed with the confidence, warmth, and depth of his voice. It was a pleasure to listen to his reading throughout.

Overall, I found ‘Dark Music’ an intricately plotted mystery-thriller that incorporates complex themes. After this promising start I will be interested in reading the future cases for Professor Rekke and Micaela Vargas.

Overall I liked the idea and the story but I found the audiobook very heavy going. The narration was very ponderous, I listened to most of it at higher than normal speed. The voices were not very distinctive, particularly the women. I liked the character of Reikke as a Holmes like psychologist assisting the police but his reliance on drugs, deep depressions and tired demeanour became very wearing after a while. His ‘Watson’, a female police officer Mikaela was quite fun and kept the story moving along. The plot, the murder of an Afghan immigrant, led to all sorts of intrigue and secrets, connections to government and the CIA. I liked the musical connections and the investigative technique but felt it needed moments of tension to quicken the pace as it was quite slow going and a bit of humour would have been good. I am not sure if this was the narration or the translation but I had to rewind several times as my attention drifted on more than one occasion. I would probably have enjoyed it more to read rather than as an audiobook. It was hard work to finish it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy.

A brilliantly engaging new detective duo, Rekke - from upper class society, a self-destructive manic depressive who sees so much and can’t keep quiet about it and Vargas - an observant, looked over, young police Detective from the wrong side of the colour and social class divide, but fiery, compassionate and bullish with her search for the truth. Add in Afghanistan, music and a major brush with the Swedish and American authority and you get a wonderfully intricate mystery thriler. I look forward to see where the author takes the duo next! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine freely given.

Thank you Quercus Audio, MacLehose Press and Netgalley for this audio copy.

It waa a mix of mystery and action, fighting against others and specially your self. Maybe a little too mucg for me but certanly great for people that like going deep inside of the soul. Overall I liked this music vibes and will be reading or listening the next book, I think there will be a sequel.