|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
“Gritty and fast-paced.” -- TODAY show
"Americans are finally catching on to what thriller fans around the world already know — that the Swedish team of Roslund & Hellstrom is writing explosive crime novels as good, if not better, than those of Stieg Larsson …. Gun play, explosions, betrayals and the ingenious ways drugs and weapons are smuggled into prisons give this novel, Roslund & Hellström's fifth, an eau de testosterone level that's through the roof." –USA Today
“[A] sprawling and often gripping thriller…. The gritty details of drug dealing, of prison life and of the relations between cops and informants are all rendered with convincing authority.”--Wall Street Journal
“Thrill-a-minute cat and mouse game…a grimly amoral tale.” --Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
“Twisty plot makes for propulsive reading.” --Entertainment Weekly
“A complex and surprising novel… A riveting story that serious readers will find worthwhile and memorable. Three Seconds hits its target. It is a tour de force.” --New York Journal of Books
“It's like Traffic on the Swedish-Polish border, but everything from the weather to the criminals' hearts is a little colder.” --People magazine
“The action quickly draws you in and continues to grip you to the final chapters of the novel. The authors have something to say, and Three Seconds proves to be an excellent way of doing it.” --
Associated Press
“These guys are their own kind of writers and if you love crime fiction you owe it to yourself to check out this book. Mobsters, drug dealers, corruption and loads of action. This is pure straight up Crime Fiction, no chaser, no apologies.” ––Crimespree
"Piet Hoffman is a devoted husband and the father of two young sons. He’s also an ex-con who has been working undercover for the Stockholm police for nine years. Code named “Paula,” Piet has risen through the ranks of the Polish mafia and is chosen to lead the Poles’ effort to control the supply of amphetamines in Sweden’s prisons. To do that, Paula must get himself arrested and sent to a maximum security prison, wipe out the existing supplier, and keep himself alive until he has all the information needed for the police to move on the gang. Roslund, a former journalist, and Hellstrom, a former criminal, have concocted a brilliant thriller that posits a nearly literal invasion of Sweden by East European criminals allied with former state security agents. Combine that with a morally compromised police and Ministry of Justice effort to combat the invasion, and you have a genuine crisis. Piet’s growing fear of discovery or betrayal and his angst at his beloved wife’s ignorance of his work ratchet up the story’s tension page by page and make the novel extremely difficult to put down. Named the Swedish Crime Novel of the Year in 2009, Three Seconds puts Roslund and Hellstrom in the company of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. Crime fiction rarely gets as good as this." -- Booklist [*Starred Review*]
Book Description
The New York Times bestseller…now in paper!
Dark, suspenseful, and more riveting than any thriller at the local cineplex, Three Seconds is the latest novel from bestselling Swedish duo Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström--the new masters of Scandinavian crime.
Piet Hoffman, a top-secret operative for the Swedish police, faces his most dangerous assignment yet: after years spent infiltrating the Polish mafia, he's become a key player in their attempt to take over amphetamine distribution inside Sweden's prisons. To stop them from succeeding, he will have to go undercover, posing as a prisoner inside the country's most notorious jail.
But when a botched drug deal involving Hoffman results in the death of another cop, the murder investigation is assigned to the brilliant but haunted Detective Inspector Ewert Grens--a man who never gives up until he's cracked the case. Grens's determination to find the killer not only threatens to expose Hoffman's true identity, it may reveal even bigger crimes at the heart of the Swedish justice system. And there are players who will do anything to stop Grens from discovering the truth.
Winner of the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' 2009 award for Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year and a New York Times bestseller in the United States, Three Seconds captures a nefarious world of betrayal and violence, where a wise man trusts no one and even the most valuable agent can be “burned.”
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finished all the Stieg Larssons?,
By
This review is from: Three Seconds (Hardcover)
Scandanavian authors have just exploded on North American reading lists following the runaway success of Stieg Larsson's books.Finished that series and looking for another? You've got to try Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström from Sweden. This pair are Sweden's number one crime writers. Here's the interesting thing - Roslund is an award winning journalist and Hellström is a an ex con. The combination of their talents and viewpoints have made their books a hit. Three Seconds was the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year in 2009. Piet Hoffman is a police informant, deep undercover, having infiltrated the Polish mafia. One last mission and the cops will have what they want and Piet can 'retire' into anonymity with his family. The job - go into the worst prison in Sweden and take control of the drug trade. With assurances that they'll try to get him out if things go bad, Piet agrees. But once he's in - he's on his own... DI Ewert Grens is unaware of Piet Hoffman until his name comes up in a murder case. As Grens follows the threads of his investigation, it leads to more than just a simple murder. Ewert Grens is a character I want to read more of. He is an emotionally wounded man and very eccentric, but also terribly clever. Past cases are alluded to, but this never detracted from this book as a stand alone. I couldn't put this one down. It's a gritty, gripping read that delves into the shadowy underworld. An intense, intrically plotted story that kept me turning pages. The ending was very clever - loved it. Three Seconds is now on the New York Times bestseller list.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Is Justice?,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Three Seconds (Hardcover)
"Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth." -- Proverbs 8:14-16 (NKJV) I found Three Seconds to be one of the best suspense stories I've read in many years. If you like suspense stories, I recommend this one. Three Seconds delivers a most unusual anti-hero, Piet Hoffman, a criminal turned police informer who is rapidly climbing the ranks of organized crime in Sweden. You'll find yourself cheering him on, if for no other reason than appreciation for an underdog dealing with an impossible situation. Three Seconds is a suspense novel about crime. Some parts of this book are so intense that I had to put the book down until I felt calmer. The book's strong emotions are brilliantly portrayed, and you'll feel them. It's not all gut-wrenching, and parts may feel almost dull by comparison to the most vivid sections. Stick with the book and I think you'll feel like you've been on the world's scariest "amusement" ride before you're done. There's also a lot of food for thought here, starting with the intricate and fascinating plot . . . and ending with questions you'll ask yourself about what justice truly is. Bravo!
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
If only it went a bit faster,
By
This review is from: Three Seconds (Hardcover)
The story is well-written. Lots of details and a believable plot. Trouble is that it is VERY slow to get going. There are nearly 100 pages of setting up the story/characters which dragged on to the point where I wanted to skip ahead to when things actually started happening.It's not a North American setting (duh) so most of the place names/geography were not familiar so I had no idea if smuggling from Poland to Sweden is a long distance, or just a quick bus trip. The names are also foreign, which was confusing until the characters are more developed (ie page 100+). It is clear that the book is part of a series... there are "hints" around the main detective having a history that affects his current work/life but there are no details on this past so it's a bit confusing... we know he's troubled and that bad things happened to make him so, but we have no idea what or when. Is it interesting enough to go back and read the earlier books in the series? Perhaps, if you don't mind non-North American politics/criminal activities and/or enjoy mafia criminal activity stories. Personally I like a bit more action and fewer characters to figure out.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
