This week, I’m looking to be entertained by people who know how so I’ve picked out to promising thrillers. One is a Scandie Noir thriller, the other is a high-energy British spy drama. Both feature strong female leads and fearsome assassins.

I’m hoping for books I can lose myself in, books with lots of energy and a little originality, books I don’t want to put down but that I don’t have to think about in any depth.

---

‘Cry Wolf‘ by Hans Rosenfeldt (2021)

I haven’t read a Hans Rosenfeldt novel before but I’m I’ve enjoyed his TV series. especially ‘The Bridge’ which managed to have a good plot and two strong and unusual main characters.

One of the things that I liked about ‘The Bridge’ was that the Swedish and Danish police officers investigating the crime felt so different from the ones I’m used to seeing in American or British shows. They were relatively low key. They were thoughtful. Their conflicts with each other and their struggles with themselves were emotional without being melodramatic. I’m hoping that these attributes carry over to ‘Cry Wolf’.

The premise seems promising. The action takes place in a densely wooded area in the north of Sweden, close to the Finnish border. There are dead wolves, massacred drug traffickers and an assassin on a mission. In the middle of it all is Hannah Wester, an ordinary Swedish police officer in a quiet little police station. All that’s missing is the haunting soundtrack that series like ‘The Bridge’ come with.

---

‘Winter Rising’ by Alex Callister (2019)

‘Winter Dark‘,the first book in this series, was one of my top five reads in the first three months of 2022. Winter, the main character, is violent, unpredictable, addicted to risk-taking and rule-breaking and she’s the ‘good guy’. The story was twisty, action-packed and spanned multiple countries.

‘Winter Rising’ carries straight on from the first book, carrying over not just the GCHQ characters who are Winter’s colleagues but the charismatic crime boss that she spent the first book hunting. This time, someone is hunting Winter. Personally, I’m certain he’s doomed and that I’ll be cheering when he finally realises it.

I’m going to listen to the audiobook version, narrated by Ell Potter, who won an Audie for ‘Winter Dark’. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear her at work.