THREE SECONDS

This dark Swedish crime novel has narrator Christopher Lane pulling off a startling transition in tone as doting father and police informant Piet Hoffman is thrust from family life to fending off murderous prisoners when he goes undercover for the cops. The distinctive Northern and Eastern European accents Lane gives to thugs, guards, police, and politicians add to the story’s suspense as Hoffman takes hostages in prison to ensure his own survival. The gruff Swedish police superintendent, Ewert Grens, is a haunted figure with a tough job to do: solve a murder and resolve a prison crisis created by members of his own department—members who are eager to bury their own complicity. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2011]