The Second Deadly Sin

by Asa Larsson

Overview

The novels that inspired Rebecka Martinsson: Arctic Murders - the major TV series

"Rebecka Martinsson: the new Scandi-noir heroine to rival Saga Noren and Sarah Lund" iNews

"In a television world now awash in female coppers, there aren't many as interesting and human as Rebecka" Wall Street Journal

At the end of a deadly bear hunt across the wilderness of Northern Sweden, the successful hunters are shaken by a grisly discovery.

Across in Kurravaara, a woman is murdered with frenzied brutality: crude abuse scrawled above her bloodied bed, her young grandson nowhere to be found. Only Rebecka Martinsson sees a connection.

Dropped from the case thanks to a jealous rival, she now stands alone against a killer who brings death to young and old, spawned by a horrifying crime that festers after one hundred years on ice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857389985
Publisher:	Hodder
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Series:	Arctic Murders Series
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	489,067
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Åsa Larsson was born and grew up in Kiruna, Sweden. She is a qualified lawyer and made her debut in 2003 with The Savage Altar, which was awarded the Swedish Crime Writers' Association prize for best debut novel. Its sequel, The Blood Spilt, was chosen as Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2004, as was The Second Deadly Sin in 2011. Her novels have been adapted for television and will be shown in the UK on More 4 from January 19, 2018.

Editorial Reviews

'The writing is of the highest quality. The confrontations with the bear are electrifying' Sean Farrell, Belfast Telegraph.—Belfast Telegraph

'One of the brightest stars in the current Nordic firmament' Barry Forshaw, Independent.—Independent

From the Publisher

06/16/2014
In Larsson’s compelling fifth Rebecka Martinsson thriller (after 2011’s Until Thy Wrath Be Past), the prosecutor travels to the far north of Sweden to investigate a murder victim’s troubling family history. Before Sol-Britt Uusitalo was stabbed to death, her son was killed in an unsolved hit-and-run, and her father’s remains were discovered inside a slain bear. The century-old murder of Sol-Britt’s grandmother in Kiruna, an iron mining town, also remains unsolved. Rebecka, sidelined by a conniving colleague, looks into the earlier deaths for a motive as the official investigation focuses more narrowly on Sol-Britt’s case. The murderer stalks the woman’s seven-year-old grandson, Marcus. Larsson excels at creating engaging, complex characters whose interactions and development provide as much forward momentum as the search for the killer. The settingalternates between the present and WWI-era Kiruna, with uneven pacing and a few holes. Depictions of brutality are unflinching, and readers should be prepared for scenes of animal cruelty. Agent: Astri von Arbin Ahlander, Ahlander Agency (Sweden). (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-07-02
Another heinous murder in the frozen north.In the tradition of modern Nordic crime fiction popularized by another Larsson, this is a stark, bloody book with strong female leads. There are two separate but related stories running parallel: the modern-day murder of a waitress and the tale of the victim's grandmother, who was murdered many years earlier. When a woman is found slain and her small grandson missing, Rebecka Martinsson, a prosecutor in cold, sometimes-barren Northern Sweden, once again teams up with detective Anna-Maria Mella to solve the crime. But when Martinsson crosses a vain and incompetent prosecutor who wants the case, he takes it over, and she goes on vacation. Though she's off the case, she hasn't quit looking into it. She thinks there's a correlation between the killings of several members of the same family: The woman, her son, her father and grandmother all died under mysterious circumstances. As Martinsson gets closer to the truth, she and the victim's grandson become vulnerable, bringing them closer to danger and the truth about all the killings. Larsson's writings have the same dark and bloody bleakness that readers of Scandinavian crime fiction crave, and the details of the twin cases prove compelling. Even more interesting than the crimes themselves, though, are the day-to-day details of life in both present-day and turn-of-the-century Northern Sweden, where winter's brutality is a normal component of life. One warning: Sensitive readers may find some aspects of the novel disturbing. The real draws here are neither the crimes nor the accompanying mysteries, but rather the deeply compelling atmosphere.The translation proves odd and stiff in places, veering between American and British colloquialisms, but this glimpse into Swedish life in the boonies is fascinating.

Kirkus Reviews