Fatal Gambit

A Novel

By: David Lagercrantz, Ian Giles - translator

Narrated by: Simon Vance

David Lagercrantz's detective duo, Rekke and Vargas, returns in a new installment of the internationally best-selling series that began with Dark Music (“A classic mystery . . . One Holmes himself would have loved to solve” —The Independent).

Dead women should not show up in photos fourteen years beyond the grave . . . But if anyone is likely to recognize Claire Lidman, it's her husband, Samuel. He brings the photo to Hans Rekke and Micaela Vargas. Their initial skepticism gives way to cautious belief—but where will this case lead them?

Meanwhile, Rekke's daughter, Julia, has a new boyfriend she's determined to keep secret. When word gets out, Micaela's world collapses around her, and Rekke is forced to confront a nemesis from his youth.

Plunging us back into the political upheaval and financial crisis of the 1990s, as the Iron Curtain is finally lifted, the second Rekke and Vargas investigation sees our heroes grapple with a fiendish case that affects them both in profoundly personal ways.

Critic reviews

“A shocking and spectacular work whose serpentine plot stretches from Stockholm’s meaner streets to the upper reaches of global politics." —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“Excellent. . . . Part of the fun is Lagercrantz’s deliberate use of Holmesian tropes. . . but he departs from Conan Doyle’s template with a complex, borderline-baroque mystery plot, to thrilling effect. By the end of the pulse-pounding denouement, readers will be breathless for the next installment.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Quirky and satisfying. . . . A distinctive Swedish duo returns. . . . Readers will enjoy hating this villain, who would have fit perfectly in a James Bond movie. . . . Tension builds to a crescendo in this well-crafted novel.” —Kirkus Reviews

Great accent

It seemed like everyone was jumbled together, like the characters were not introduced well.
The narrator was wonderful.

confusing

the plot was very complex and difficult to follow, especially because of the Swedish names which I could not recognize for the most part. I gave up about halfway through.

A Bit Confusing

It took me a while to get into this book as it is pretty confusing in the first quarter of the book. It gets better and the last quarter is quite good: engaging and engrossing. There are too many ancillary characters and this probably is the most significant cause of confusion in the beginning. The performance is excellent, consistent with all of the books he has read.
The detective team is unusual yet very interesting.

Not worth the time it took

Too many characters. Could not always follow narrator. Quite confusing. And we’d listened to Book 1 so we vaguely knew a few of the characters. We will not be looking for Book 3.