Even as a standalone, I found myself a little bit lost by who all the characters were. It didn't really change my enjoyment of the overall story though. There's no one who writes crime drama like the Scandi.

The already prescribed crime. The rape and murder of a young girl 25 years ago. Who did it? And what do you do, once you know?

This presumably is a standalone novel, but obviously there is 7 another novels starring the main characters (or side characters) of this novel. Can´t wait to get my hands on them!

WONDERFUL. The best of nordic crime novels I have ever read (and I have read a pretty number of them). This one is both superb mystery novel and brilliant psychological novel, asking the old yet still anew question of good and evil, and how do you stay and behave like an decent person when facing all the evilness.

Retired top detective Lars Martin Johansson has suffered a stroke. When on hospital, his dector asks him about the old, unsolved rape and murder of young Yasmine. Having nothing better on his hands, haunted by the horrible crime and owning a brilliant mind, Lars Martin starts to investigate. By the old Sherlock/Mycroft Holmes style, thinking when recuperating and using a couple of sidekicks - his best friend, also a retired cop Bo Jarnebring, young helper Matilda and another young helper, Russian lad Max. When one is both a brilliant detective and a genuine, trustworthy person, the clues and the deductions are never away. But what to do with all of the knowledge? And how to cope with the pain, the pain so much people are facing, burdened with the questions like: if I realized/acted, could Yasmine be alive? Could the crime be solved sooner?

There is so much that I love about this book! First - it is first-class mystery novel. True finesse and I am not saying this lightly, being a mystery novel reader from the very young age, starting straight with the Agatha Christie novel and never bothering with the lesser quality than the queen of crime has taught me to look for. This one is that good.
Second - this is as good psychological novel. Maybe even better! I came to love the main characters and came to appreciate all the questions the novel is asking, mainly - how to stay an actively good person? By this I mean the genuine kindness, when one goes the extra mile just because of the good heart, not out of what he could get for it. Lars Martin is that character. Yes, he has his faults, too. But this genuine heart is so believable and so relatable, that I would love to know him, to have him in my life so much. His young friends Matilda and Max, both hurt by life, may start to heal just because there is this person with both the mind to see straightly into their hearts and the heart to make them feel heard and valued.
My heart goes out mainly for Max, and I hope I can meet with him on the another novel in the future.

As for the crime - yes, there is evil going amongst us. The evil with nice face, so that they can charm the unsuspecting, normal people. And the hurt stays.
This crime is one of the worst - paedophile rape and murder. And now the crime is prescribed. But it can not stay unsolved! And it won´t. But when you know, what do you do? There is no small amount of hands willing to pay eye for eye. But is this the way?

This novel is to be read slowly - to savour enjoy every page, every fine sentence, every smart insight and emotion.

RECOMMENDED READ.

Shortlisted for the Petrona Award 2017 and winner of the CWA International Dagger 2017, there's not much to add to that. I loved this book. Borrowing from a tradition (I think) begun with Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, our ailing detective Lars Martin Johansson is laid up and asked to investigate a cold case from his sick bed - incidentally a case messed up by one Evert Backstrom. He must find the killer of a little girl. As the statue of limitations has passed what can they do if they do find the murderer? One of the many questions pondered by Johansson.