Blood Song by Johana Gustawsson, David Warriner

The action swings from London to Sweden, and then back into the past, to Franco's Spain, as Roy & Castells hunt a monstrous killer ... in the latest instalment of Johana Gustawsson's award-winning, international bestselling series. ***Longlisted for the CWA International Dagger*** 'Historical sections highlight, in distressing detail, the atrocious treatment of mothers-to-be in Franco's Spain ... A satisfying, full-fat mystery' The Times 'Assured telling of a complex story' Sunday Times 'Gustawsson's writing is so vivid, it's electrifying. Utterly compelling' Peter James _________________ Spain, 1938: The country is wracked by civil war, and as Valencia falls to Franco's brutal dictatorship, Republican Therese witnesses the murders of her family. Captured and sent to the notorious Las Ventas women's prison, Therese gives birth to a daughter who is forcibly taken from her. Falkenberg, Sweden, 2016: A wealthy family is found savagely murdered in their luxurious home. Discovering that her parents have been slaughtered, Alinor Lindbergh, a new recruit to the UK's Scotland Yard, rushes back to Sweden and finds her hometown rocked by the massacre. Profiler Emily Roy joins forces with Alinor and soon finds herself on the trail of a monstrous and prolific killer. Little does she realise that this killer is about to change the life of her colleague, true-crime writer Alexis Castells. Joining forces once again, Roy and Castells' investigation takes them from the Swedish fertility clinics of the present day back to the terror of Franco's rule, and the horrifying events that took place in Spanish orphanages under its rule. Terrifying, vivid and recounted at breakneck speed, Blood Song is not only a riveting thriller and an examination of corruption in the fertility industry, but a shocking reminder of the atrocities of Spain's dictatorship, in the latest, stunning instalment in the award-winning Roy & Castells series. _________________ 'French novelist Johana Gustawsson writes novels of startling originality. Blood Song [is] truly horrifying' Sunday Times 'Her sleuths tracking a monstrous killer, transporting us from modern-day fertility clinics in Sweden to the abuses of Spanish orphanages under the brutal rule of General Franco ... a truly European thriller' Financial Times 'Gritty, bone-chilling, and harrowing - it's not for the faint of heart, and not to be missed' Crime by the Book 'A relentless heart-stopping masterpiece, filled with nightmarish situations that will keep you awake long into the dark nights of winter' New York Journal of Books 'Emotional and atmospheric' New Books Magazine 'Intricately plotted, visceral and emotional the author ramps up the tension and the unfolding keeps the reader guessing to the very end. Scenes are raw, vivid and gripping' Promoting Crime 'I don't think there's a crime writer who writes with such intelligence, darkness and deep sadness as Johana Gustawsson. This was extraordinary' Louise Beech 'Blood Song caught and has held onto my thoughts, it is clever, provocative, and a seriously good read' LoveReading 'A fascinating and engrossing read, but also one that I found intensely harrowing, deeply intimate and which made me cry' Live & Deadly 'A real page-turner, I loved it' Martina Cole 'Cleverly plotted, simply excellent' Ragnar Jnasson 'A must-read' Daily Express 'Bold and audacious' R. J. Ellory Editorial Reviews 01/27/2020 The prologue of Gustawsson's disappointing third crime thriller featuring profiler Emily Roy and true crime author Alexis Castells (after 2018's Keeper) suggests that the atrocities of Franco's Spain will be a prime plot element, as does a scene set in 1937 Spain, but these prove incidental. Instead, the focus is on the stabbing murders of three members of the wealthy Lindbergh family in Falkenberg, Sweden, in 2016. When Alinor Lindbergh, who's interning with the Metropolitan Police in London, learns of the deaths of her parents and sister, she returns home to Sweden, accompanied by her friend Emily, who was teaching her criminal profiling. There Alexis joins Emily in investigating the killings. The search for answers leads the pair to look for a connection to a fertility clinic operated by Alinor's parents that boasted an improbable success rate. Readers should be prepared for stock characters and predictable plot twists, as well as distracting flashbacks that promise more than they deliver. Crime fiction fans can safely pass on this one. Agent: Yolande Rochet de la Valee, Bragelonne (France). (Mar.) - Publishers Weekly Gustawsson is back after terrifying us with her internationally acclaimed bestseller, Block 46, this time with an equally terrifying story of past and present. . . . Gustawsson captures Victorian London with all its seediness, stench and crime as graphically as Dickens did its poverty and despair. The juxtaposition of the past and present are seamlessly accomplished, in mesmerising, short, incisive chapters. Roy and Castells are terrific original characters, whose longevity is guaranteed, but watch out for new kid on the block, Swedish Detective Karla Hansen. Keeper is a relentless heart-stopping masterpiece, filled with nightmarish situations that will keep you awake long into the dark nights of winter. --New York Journal of Books on Keeper A terrifying tale. -- Mystery Scene This one's bound to keep you glued to the page till the last line!--CrimeReads - From the Publisher 2020-01-26 When a Swedish recruit working for Scotland Yard learns that her rich and prominent family has been murdered, she cannot imagine that events from different decades and countries will come into play during the investigation. During Franco's brutal regime in Spain of the 1930s, women were imprisoned, raped, and forced to give up their children. In the Spanish orphanages of the following decades, a group of young girls banded together as best as they could against the abuse of the adults in charge. But Alinor Lindbergh, a Scotland Yard recruit, knows none of this, or how it might affect her, when she hears the news about her family in 2016. She returns to Sweden with Yard profiler Emily Roy and true-crime writer Alexis Castells, and soon the search for answers goes in myriad directions. The Lindberghs ran a fertility clinic, and unsettling rumors about their practices are rife; meanwhile, Alexis is supposed to be planning a wedding--will it be able to proceed? The author of this series (Keeper, 2017, etc.) frequently assumes that readers have read the earlier novels; several references to partnerships, etc., are uncertain to new readers, and even the author's talent for creating vivid characters gets lost in this convoluted tale. Readers new to this series will find it hard to get engaged in the coincidence-laden story. - Kirkus Reviews