To the Top of the Mountain by Arne Dahl

To the Top of the Mountain by Arne Dahl, translated by Alice Menzies

Originally published as Upp till toppen av berget (2000)

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, August 2015

Intercrime book 3

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher

I’m a fan of this book about a big, major, complicated set of crimes that sees the A-Unit of the first two books in the Intercrime series back together again. Compared to what I’ve been reading lately, it’s bigger, more brutal, and full of characters, as the A-Unit is made up of a large number of investigators. To the Top of the Mountain is in part a police procedural focusing on the elite A-Unit that deals with big crimes of an international nature and in part a sort of conspiracy thriller. It begins with Paul Hjelm and Kerstin Holm investigating a killing in a crowded bar and soon becomes a much larger investigation into drugs and child pornography. It’s difficult subject matter, but thankfully there are lots of plot threads to give the reader a break from the more harrowing parts of the story.

So far my favorite of the series is still the opening book, Misterioso. The investigation and the novel felt brisker than this one, and the crimes weren’t as hard to read about.  I also think it’s best to start the series from the beginning instead of reading this installment first. There is too much backstory about the detectives and about the A-Unit itself to make this a good starting point.