"Grouped under three headings, the 13 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series capture the gloomy underside of Sweden's capital, portraying the hopelessness of those trapped in what Larson and Edenborg in their introduction call the city that devours your soul."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred review
"Akashic's multivolume Noir series returns to Scandinavia, focusing this time on the capital city of Sweden, a country that is famously neutral in time of war but is also a large-scale dealer in arms....Another worthy entry in this globe-trotting mystery series."
--Booklist
"Larson and Edenborg manage to unearth a dark side to a city that is verdant, clean, and surrounded by crystalline water....Stockholm may not be Marseille, but Larson and Edenborg's contributors show that even a verdant place with socialized medicine can have its seamy side."
--Kirkus Reviews
Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.
Brand-new stories by: Unni Drougge, Inger Edelfeldt, Carl-Michael Edenborg, Åke Edwardson, Torbjörn Elensky, Inger Frimansson, Carl Johan De Geer, Martin Holmén, Nathan Larson, Malte Persson, Anna-Karin Selberg, Johan Theorin, and Lina Wolff.
From the introduction by Nathan Larson sCarl-Michael Edenborg:
"To the tourist, the city of Stockholm appears a shimmering dream. Laid out on a series of islands, it is verdant, clean, and surrounded by crystalline water. On paper, Stockholm is paradise. And in some respects, it truly is. But in most respects, it is anything but...
In Stockholm Noir, the city is presented as a gaping maw ready to devour your soul should you wander down the wrong alley...Everywhere is noir. Even, and especially, in a paradise like Sweden, where the citizen is given every tool to go out and become a great success but is paradoxically held to an almost subliminal expectation to fall in line...and never shine so brightly that you disturb your neighbor...
In this anthology it's our aim to showcase the darker, grittier, more intense world of Swedish noir fiction. Here the dangers lurking beneath the IKEA lifestyle are given free rein, and words are given to the ambivalence and despair of a model society."
