The Living and the Dead

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On a cold, snowy winter's night in 1999, Sander and Killian leave a house party together, in a small town in rural Sweden. The very best of friends, they imagine they will remain so forever.

The next morning, each is a key suspect in a murder. Each has something they want to conceal from the police. And from the other.

The hunt for Mikael Söderström's killer will take over twenty years. It will see a detective leave the force forever. And it won't end until a second body is found, and the tight-knit community's secrets are finally brought to light...

Carlsson twines together national and personal trauma to devastating effect . . . What I most loved is how Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations . . . how familial love can blind people to difficult truths, and how 'closure' often never happens.
New York Times

Here's a thriller to break your heart: a magnificent new novel, epic but immediate, menacing yet moral, that assembles some of the most beloved tropes of recent years - the frostbitten danger of Scandinavian crime; the small-town intimacy of Broadchurch - and charges them with fresh dark energy. And if you think international fiction isn't for you, The Living and the Dead proves that fear needs no translation.
AJ Finn, #1 bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

About Christoffer Carlsson

Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986 on the west coast of Sweden. He holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s leading crime experts. Carlsson is the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, voted by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy, and has won the prestigious Glass Key award for The Living and the Dead, given to the best Scandinavian crime novel of the year. He's also won the Best Swedish Crime Novel twice.

Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 02/12/2025
ISBN: 9781405980548
Length: 400 pages
Price: £7.99

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The Living and the Dead

Format:

Pre-order:

Carlsson twines together national and personal trauma to devastating effect . . . What I most loved is how Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations . . . how familial love can blind people to difficult truths, and how 'closure' often never happens.

I just don't know anyone else who writes quite like this. All the makings of a page-turning thriller, but with an emotional depth that is truly rare. Carlsson is far and away my favourite Scandinavian crime writer at the moment, and The Living and the Dead is among his very best.

The finest crime writer we have in Sweden.

A tender and beautifully written novel about a crime that rocks a small community. But really it is about the people involved, the impact of violence and the danger of keeping secrets. Atmospheric and thought provoking, I became totally immersed in this cold, fractured world.

Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western . . . If you read crime fiction, you’ll find yourself gripped by the ingenious plotting. If you read literary fiction, you’ll find yourself moved by the gorgeous writing.

Carlsson has a knack for psychological procedurals, as his latest proves, with numerous characters and motives to keep readers guessing. . . . A must for Nordic noir and psychological mystery fans.

The Living and the Dead deserves to reach readers worldwide

About Christoffer Carlsson

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