The Intruder (Inkräktaren)
Håkan Östlundh
Family photos with eyes punched out. Scary letters without a sender’s name. Henrik Kjellander and Malin Andersson, who just moved to the island of Fårö, are puzzled when facing the threats affecting them and their children. Who wants to harm them?
Fredrik Broman and his colleagues take the threats very seriously, but can still not rule out that it is all a tasteless joke. When the threats escalate and the couple’s daughter disappears, all doubts are gone. This is for real. And it is only the beginning …
When the police pressure Henrik, a complicated family history is revealed. What really made him return to Gotland after his successful career as a photographer in Stockholm and internationally? Is there really someone on the barren island in the Baltic Sea that wants to harm the family, or does the threat come from elsewhere?
The Intruder is an unusually thrilling and scary story about betrayal and dark secrets. For the fifth time we meet the Gotlandic policeman Fredrik Broman and as always Håkan Östlundh combines high literary quality with high end suspense and accurate personal portrays.
463 pages
Rights sold
Denmark: WAPI
Finland: WAPI
Germany: Piper
Israel: Dani Books
The Netherlands: Lantaarn Publishers, Lind & Co (audio)
Norway: Cappelen Damm
Poland: WAPI
Sweden: WAPI
USA: St. Martin’s Press
REVIEWS
“Fans of psychologically insightful Scandinavian crime fiction will relish this tale of betrayal, shame, and madness.”
Publishers Weekly / USA
“The hair in the back of my neck is standing right out! The Intruder is the fifth of Håkan Östundh’s crime novels dealing with the police Fredrik Broman on Gotland. The five books leaves a sense of loss, because it may be some time before you find something better.”
LitteraturMagazinet / SWE
“This crime novel is filled to the brim with the unthinkable horrors and the evilness that lurks in the corners eventually steps forward. It’s extremely thrilling and almost too good written for one to be able to put it away.”
Femina / DK
“This is excellent reading from beginning to end.”
Dagbladet / DK
“You can tell that Håkan Östlundh have experience from writing television scripts. He catches his readers and sets the scenes from the first page. In addition, he has an unusually well-developed plot. So it’s a joy to be back on Gotland with Fredrik Broman and the other policemen. This time it’s an unusually nasty case where a young family is being subject to harassment and may experience some of the worst things that can happen. The story get to you and you turn the pages feverishly further because you just have to find out how it will end. The language has self-confidence and has its’ own voice and the story develops very nicely through the book.”
Politiken / DK
“Thrilling beyond the regular/…/You’re breathless as you read and Håkan Östlundh lifts both language and intrigue way over the normal crime level.”
Dagens Nyheter / SWE
“He creates an atmosphere where inexplicable things require their solutions, but where he simultaneously makes us think that there might be hope. Then when he engineers the story and pulls us out of security it’s done with deadly sharpness – it hits the reader right in the solar plexus./…/You’re on the edge all through the story and once again I have to capitulate – The Intruder creeps beneath the skin and is definitely the best title in the crime series.”
Gotlands Tidningar / SWE
“A thrilling story with a creepy feeling of unease that grows stronger and stronger as the harassments escalate.”
Hallandsposten / SWE
“A well constructed story, cohesive from the first page to the last.”
Kristianstadsbladet / SWE
“As usual Håkan Östlundh has a light touch and writes very entertaining. The story moves forward in a neat way. The characters and the setting comes alive without excessive and boring details. The persons in the story are like most people, they carry both merits and defects. The policemen are no superheroes. Rather the contrary, they are like you and me. As a reader you feel comfortable around them. In addition, there is a strike of humor in the story that I really appreciate.”
DAST Magazine / SWE
“The setting is a plus in this cleverly constructed story which is really hard to put down.”
Gotlands Allehanda / SWE