Frozen Tracks

I've read all of the Åke Edwardson novels that have been translated to english this far, so I'm always happy when a new one shows up at my library. Two story lines in one, the first being about brutal (and bizarre) attacks against young university students, the other told from the point of view of a man who, for no apparent reason (at least not at first), abducts young children from their nursery school playgrounds, only to return them several hours later, seemingly unharmed. Until the one time he didn't.... I'm confused at the review about the poor translation, I found this no more/less poorly translated than many translated books I've read. I think they dialogue he/she pointed out made perfect sense and went along with the personality of the characters. It's always weird to read translated books, especially when you're dealing with difficult languages, but I think Laurie Thompson has done a great job in any book I've read translated by him. Anyway, if you like Scandinavian thrillers, you wont be disappointed by Frozen Tracks. The only irritating thing about it is the first novel in this series has not been translated to english, so I'm still missing some of the background!

Ake Edwardson's "Frozen Tracks" is another noteworthy Scadinavian police procedural whose somber moods reflect the nature of the crimes being investigated and the psychological manifestations reflected in the characters. Where Edwardson shines is in his extensive character developement, imparting substance and making them significantly more than cardboard cutouts. The novel begins around the environs of Gothenberg and once again features Detective Chief Inspector Erik Winter. Winter and his team are probing a rash of assaults on male university students, who have been bludgeoned from behind suffering severe head trauma. Seemingly unconnected are a concurrent rash of abductions of 4 year old nursery school students. The children are lured into the car of a "mister" with the enticement of candy but then released unharmed. Winter in particular is alarmed by the danger as his daughter Elsa attends one of the hopelessly understaffed schools hit by this predator. Christmas time is approaching and Winter's plan for a holiday in the Costa del Sol with his partner Angela and daughter will have to be postponed until the crimes are solved. Members of his squad are portrayed to also be dealing with intense personal issues which affects their focus on the spate of crimes. The pedophilic predator is portrayed as an abused child, now grown up, fulfilling his unconsumated childhood. Interviews with a farm raised victim, lead Winter and his team to the bleak and desolate prairies of rural Sweden when a branding iron is considered as being the assault weapon. Winter and his sidekick Ringmar while interviewing possible suspects to the crime in the hinterlands have a foreboding that the unrelated crimes may somehow be connected. The plot slowly percolates until a young boy is kidnapped from a department store in the midst of the holiday shopping rush. Winter and his colleagues desperately try to learn the identity of the perpetrator before an even greater tragedy occurs. Edwardson does an excellent job in believeably delving into the psycholgical implications wrought by the crimes in the abused and abducted children and their tormented parents as well as the assault victims. His meticulous developement of the characters, particularly the investigators, allows us to appreciate the emotional toll they experience as they despondently do their jobs amid their own stifling personal problems.

Set in the gray December of Gothenburg, Sweden, Frozen Tracks is a wonderful find for those of us who enjoy psychological police procedurals. Four college-aged men are brutally attacked from behind, leaving them the awful sequela of severe head trauma. The victims seem unconnected in their day-to-day lives and acquaintances, but the attacks continue in spite of a careful investigation into the incidents. In a seemingly unrelated spate of creepiness, four-year-old children are returning home after preschool and reporting to their parents that they were enticed by an offer of candy to sit with a "mister" alone in his car. The children appear unharmed, but who lured them away and why becomes more and more important as DCI Erik Winter investigates. Erik Winter is a nice addition to the famous policemen we know and love--Kurt Wallander, Inspector Sejer, Morse, Rebus, and others. He is well grounded in intelligence and common sense, and he is without crippling vices or depression as are many enigmatic police-heroes. Ake Edwardson writes well and has a real forte in characterization. His detectives are likable, believable, and unique enough for the reader to be interested in their separate lives--and it makes us want to read more novels featuring Winter and his crew of police officers. And the atmosphere! Edwardson manages to expertly convey cold, gray autumn days turning into winter. The ever colder wind; the damp, rotting leaves; and the falling snow all contribute to the sense of escalating tension as more crimes are committed. Frozen Tracks' pace never flags; and although the resolution of the plot is not as fleshed out as it should be, the novel is deeply satisfying and clearly the work of an expert author in the genre.