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    Red Wolf: A Novel
    Red Wolf: A Novel
    Red Wolf: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    Red Wolf: A Novel

    Written by Liza Marklund

    Narrated by Jill Tanner

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The inspiration for the hit film series, Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter, now available on Netflix.

    Beneath a dark winter sky. . .death waits patiently.

    A journalist is murdered in the frozen white landscape of a northern Swedish town. Annika Bengtzon, a reporter at a Stockholm-based tabloid, was planning to interview him about a long-ago attack against an isolated air base nearby, and now she suspects that his death is linked to that attack.

    Against the explicit orders of her boss, she begins to investigate the event, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders. Annika knows the murders are connected. At the same time, she begins to suspect that her husband is hiding something, and nothing can counteract the loneliness that has crept into her life.

    Behind everything lurks the figure of the Red Wolf, a cold-blooded killer with the soul of a lover. In the end, she must discover the truth not only about the murders but also about the lies that are destroying her own family.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateFeb 15, 2011
    ISBN9781442340978
    Author

    Liza Marklund

    Liza Marklund is an author, journalist, and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. Her crime novels, featuring the relentless reporter Annika Bengtzon, instantly became international hits and have sold millions of copies in thirty languages worldwide. Visit her website at LizaMarklund.com.

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    Reviews for Red Wolf

    3.5/5

    158 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Excellent story line, fascinating and didn’t want it to end!
    • 3/5
      Really enjoyed it. Read it really fast. Good page turner.
    • 3/5
      Thirty years ago, someone destroyed a plane at a secure military air base in Luleå. Though no one was ever tried for the crime, blame was assigned by the Swedish authorities to an anonymous Russian and the matter forgotten. Journalist Benny Ekland seems to have some new information so crime reporter Annika Bengtson flies to Luleå to meet with him. When she arrives she discovers he has been killed. After talking to a young eyewitness the police have missed, she discovers his death was the result of a deliberate hit and run. Eventually she learns the police did have a main suspect for the bombing back in 1969, a local left-wing activist known as Ragnwald. Annika wonders if Ragnwald has returned and if so, why?

      I've never read a book in this series but picked up Red Wolf, which turns out to be the fifth book. I liked Annika. She's a plucky heroine trying to cope with a demanding job, demanding young children, a possible cheating husband, and close friends with similar problems. She is definitely not perfect, and she can be devious and even hysterical at times. This is the type of series I usually enjoy, so when I get a chance I'm going to go back to the first book and see how Annika has held up over the years.
    • 4/5
      Newspaper journalist Annika Bengtzon has turned down a senior editor’s job so that she can continue investigative journalism. Having prepared a series of articles on terrorism she plans another on the anniversary of an attack during which a man died which happened in 1969 at an air force base in the far north of the country. No one has ever been convicted over the attack but local journalist Benny Ekland seems to have some new information so Annika flies to Luleå to meet with him. When she arrives she discovers he has died and she learns from speaking to an eye witness the police have not found that his death was the result of a deliberate hit and run. Through her connections at the highest levels of the police she also learns that their suspect for the ’69 attack was a local left-wing activist known as Ragnwald who, they believe, went on to become a ‘terrorist for hire’ in Spain and France. When Ekland is killed and other deaths follow everyone wonders if Ragnwald has returned and if so, why? It is Annika who joins the dots in this fast-paced story.

      I have to admit that this book isn’t really the best work of crime fiction you’ll read, in that the crime does not always take centre stage. Marklund is at least equally, if not more, concerned with using the crime and its investigation as a backdrop for the exploration of a range of social and political issues. Fortunately for me I found these utterly fascinating and so did not mind terribly that the crime was dealt with in a more perfunctory way than I might normally look for.

      One of Marklund’s ongoing themes, modern journalism and what’s happening to it, is explored in great depth here. As a news junkie who feels like her drug of choice has been almost eradicated these days I found myself nodding along with Annika when she lamented to her boss

      Anne Nicole Smith on the front page three days in a row last week…A boy who masturbated on a reality show on Saturday. The Crown Princess kissing her boyfriend on Sunday…Can’t you see what you’ve done to this paper?”

      And when he responds that there is investigative work still going on she continues

      That doesn’t stop me from regretting the way journalism is going. Along with the other tabloids we’re writing about reality television as if it was the most important thing going on right now. Now that can’t be right, can it?

      If it hurts me as a reader to see the drivel that a significant percentage of news media content has turned into, I can only imagine how deeply it must affect a journalist like Annika (and Marklund who is herself a journalist).

      The other aspect of this novel that had me gripped was its insight into Swedish political history, a subject about which I am woefully ignorant (now maybe slightly less so). I had always known vaguely that Sweden’s political environment was a more left-leaning one than I am familiar with, but I had no idea just how this had played out over time. The use of an attack in the 60′s gives Marklund the chance to explore her country’s political environment at that time, something done deftly via the character of Berit who is Annika’s mentor at the newspaper. She has been involved with left-wing politics for much of her life so able to provide interesting background. Australia’s political scene is largely tame and centrist so I am always intrigued by societies that have a different kind of political history.

      As always Annika Bengtzon is a troubled character and, as always, I spent a good portion of the book not liking her actions. I have never found her dull or unbelievable though, even when I’ve been disappointed in her behaviour. She is still dealing with the mental fallout from the events in the previous book in the series* which manifests itself in a variety of ways including anxiety attacks and the voices of kind angels in her head. Now there are rumblings from her boss that she may not be able to continue working on the kinds of stories she wants to do. On top of that she encounters yet more marital problems and it was her handling of this aspect of her life that I found objectionable, though I repeat it was entirely credible. The author’s note at the end of the copy of the book I read made particular mention of this in that Marklund was widely exploring the theme of people abusing their power and she wondered if Annika would also do so in the right circumstances. Would we all?

      For me the best crime fiction does what Marklund has done here: combine a compelling plot with insight into some aspect of politics, history or society in general. While finding out ‘whodunnit’ is interesting, it is never as satisfying as finding out why. When this is played out against a backdrop of general social commentary it is the most satisfying of all.

      My rating 4.5 stars
    • 3/5
      When investigating a murder, a reporter discovers a greater conspiracy.Very readable, though Marklund is definitely not my favourite Swedish crime author. It takes some time before the story really starts to unfold, and I personally don't like Marklund's characters very much, especially the main character, Annika Bengtzon, I find very annoying, which takes away from enjoying the book.
    • 3/5
      Another capable Swedish woman, albeit one more conventional than in the Millennium Trilogy. This book should be require reading for Journalism 101 as it details the intuition, research, and leg work a good investigative reporter puts in to get a story. And our heroine has a dandy: the nexus of terrorism and a serial killer that extends up to the ministerial level of the government. In the background, via her best friend, is an American multinational seeking to create a dominant new digital network. Meanwhile, the journalist's husband--she's also a great mother of two and wife--is having an affair and her panic attacks have returned. As a description of first-world hyper-competitive middle-class life and stress, the book succeeds. But its staccato rhythm is annoying (a bad translation?), and her nemesis seems a bit too Bondish to be believed. Other aspects seem unreal as well: for example, her immediate access to the Justice Minister, and her lack of psychological insight about herself. Yet, the book is entertaining and compelling to a degree.
    • 2/5
      I enjoyed the characters more than the story. I also enjoyed the descriptions of rural Sweden. Some of it reminded me of Stieg Larsson's work.
    • 3/5
      Red Wolf is the fifth book in Swedish crime fiction writer Liza Marklund’s series featuring reporter Annika Bengtzon. (It was originally written by the author in 2003 but only translated into English in 2010.) It is the first in the series for me, and is probably a series I won’t pursue.Bengtzon is troubled but not in the usual way of male crime book protagonists. She not even an alcoholic! Instead, her demons are inside her head, and include a chorus of singing angels who assail her in times of stress. She is, however, like so many others in this genre, a flouter of authority, who follows her own instincts contrary both to direction and to considerations of safety.Much of the story is concerned with the recent political and social history of Sweden; controversy over the influence of the United States; and the future of the telecommunications industry. The crime is clearly a secondary concern of the author. To me, this is unfortunate, because Swedish sociopolical issues are very complicated and consume most of the book, while I was hoping for a nice [sic], edge-of-your-seat read about a serial killer. The premise is that Bengtzon is preparing a story on the anniversary of a [fictional] terrorist attack in 1969 at the F21 Swedish Air Force base in Lulea in northern Sweden. A fighter plane exploded and one man died of his wounds. No one was ever apprehended, although there were a variety of home-grown terrorist groups operating at the time.Bengtzon travels to the north to interview a reporter who supposedly has dug up some new information, but it turns out he was murdered the night before she arrives. More bodies, presumably related to the old incident, start piling up. Moreover, Bengtzon’s investigation is complicated by personal matters: her job is in jeopardy, her best friend Anne is going through a hard time, and Annika suspects her husband of having an affair. And of course, Annika herself becomes a target for the murderer as she gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened thirty years before.Evaluation: I can see why Marklund is called “the next Stieg Larsson." She writes about a muckraking reporter and fills her book with details about the political system and the social agenda. Unfortunately, she has no Lisbeth to spice up the story, and so to me it seemed just a bit plodding.
    • 3/5
      I laboured through this one, as I did her previous. Just not in the same league as those other, and wonderful Swedish writers, Larsson, Nesser, Mankell, Alvtegen and the likes, if that comparison can be made. 2.5 out of 5 my star rating.
    • 3/5
      Cover: Scary cool!First Sentence: He had never been able to stand the sight of blood.Annika Bengtzon is a reporter and mother of 2 who is writing a series of stories on domestic terrorism. On the hunt for an inside scoop on the F21 terrorist attack, she travels to Lulea to meet with Benny Ekland, a fellow reporter. By the time she gets there, Ekland has been struck and killed by a hit-and-run automobile, and the teenager who saw the attack is afraid to go to the police with the information. Annika suspects that he knows who the attacker was, but he never tells her so.Soon Annika is on the trail of a man nicknamed Ragnwald (Geran Nilsson), a suspect in the F21 attacks who left Sweden years ago and is purported to be an assassin-at-large. As more people are murdered, Annika uncovers secrets that appear to involve the highest levels of government, and makes herself a target as well.This is the fifth in a series, and I think I would have done better with it if I had read the first. In that book, it appears that Annika was taken hostage by a serial killer known as the Bomber, and she still suffers some sort of anxiety and/or panic attacks as a result. Because this is a translation from the Swedish, it might have helped me as an American reader to have more nuances available in the translation, as I often felt disconnected from the action and dialogue - for me, there were many incongruous statements with no filler. The politics of Sweden and it's history didn't transfer well for someone not familiar with it.Otherwise, the writing was good and there were some twists that I didn't see coming. With the dual storylines (Annika's hunt for the terrorist as well as her suspicions of infidelity on the part of her husband), the reader not only becomes involved in the mystery, but in a familial relationship as well.I was not bowled over by this book. I can attribute much of it to unfamiliarity with the country and it's politics and the nuances of the Swedish language and culture; however, I found myself more attracted to finding out what was going to happen in Annika's relationship with her husband and her friend Anne's relationship with her daughter's father than to the actual mystery that was supposed to be the main theme of the book. I also couldn't figure out what the heck Anne was doing, and it didn't get explained until almost the end of the book.QUOTESMaybe she knows I'm coming, he thought. Maybe she's trying to fool me into thinking she doesn't know, even though she knows everything. Maybe she'll pretend to be asleep when I go in and then kill me in my sleep.Sven Mattsson who loved her more than anything else in the world, Sven who worshiped her so much that no one else could get close to her but him, couldn't even talk to her, and she wasn't allowed to think about anyone else but him, actually, nothing else but him. Anything else would be punished, and he punished her, he punished her and punished her until the day he stood before her by the furnace in the Halleforsnas works with the hunting knife in his hand."There'll never be any revolution. Humanity has bartered it for Coca-Cola and cable television."
    • 4/5
      Annika Bengtzon is a crime reporter for Stockholm's Evening Post newspaper. Mere months prior to the opening of Red Wolf Annika was held captive in a tunnel by a crazed serial killer known as The Bomber. She's back to work, but is suffering some pretty spectacular symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, not least of which is the chorus of angels that sings in her head at moments of overwhelming stress.Annika has frequent moments of overwhelming stress. But she's a reporter, and she gets the job done. A grim anniversary is approaching--thirty years since the bombing by home-grown Maoist terrorists of a plane at an Air Force base up near the Arctic Circle--and Annika, working the story, has an appointment to meet with a local reporter who may have new information on the unsolved case. When she gets there, she learns he's been killed in a hit and run accident that she quickly determines to be suspicious in nature. Then a young witness she uncovers is killed.Next a local farmer-politician.And finally, an elementary school art teacher.The only connection among all four victims, who've each been killed in a unique manner, is that several days later family members receive an anonymous letter in the mail with a pithy quotation from Mao's revolutionary writings.The action gets more intense as Annika uncovers more about the Maoist cell and its members; although the cell has been inactive since the bombing, its leader has been active abroad as a revolutionary assassin, and at least one former member is now a high-profile government minister.Liza Marklund has been a bestselling author in Sweden--and much of the rest of the world--for more than a decade. With the release of Red Wolf next month, her publishers at Atria Books are hoping that success translates to the American market. And, with the staggering success of that other writer from the far North (to whom, it would appear from this novel, at least, she is superior), and with her recent successful turn as one of James Patterson's many collaborators, it appears that American bestsellerdom may be imminent. (Marklund has been published here before, but--my guess is--in light of that other guy's gazillion copies sold Atria Books is giving her American career a reboot.)Liza Marklund deserves a reboot, and she will deserve bestseller status when it comes. Her writing is crisp and clear, and her characters are deeply and fully realized. Annika, her philandering husband Thomas, her friend Anne Snapphane who appears to be well along the road to alcoholism; each is portrayed unflinchingly but sympathetically, and even the villains are multi-dimensional. And oh, that frigid Swedish climate.
    • 4/5
      Ms Marklund is a welcome newcomer to the Scandinavian thriller market. Red Wolf is the first of this series to be available in English but The Bomber is going to be available in the Spring of 2011. This was an exciting read and I liked the character, Annika Bengtzon. The action moves back and forth from Stockholm to icy northern Sweden.
    • 3/5
      I was really hoping that this book would be engaging but I found the dialogue to be too extensive. There was a lot of foundation being built and it just did not work for me. I am not much of a fiction guy and was really anticipating for this book to be the exception. Alas, it was not.
    • 4/5
      Great story, good characters, scandinavian atmosphere, tension, well written-what more could one ask for!
    • 4/5
      When given the opportunity to read and review this book I jumped at the chance. Every now and then I have to read a good adult thriller. Although I had not read the other books in the series I was able to jump into this one fairly easy. I will need to find the others and catch up. Marklund has drawn some realistic events in the life of Annika Bengtzon. Ever on the look out for the story she stumbles into a ring of terrorism when she learns the journalist she was to meet is dead. She also learns it was not an accident. She must also deal with an unfaithful husband throughout all of this. Marklund does not portray the character as one of those that “everything turns out okay for them”. In this way we saw a realistic person with realistic problems we could identify with. I have been reading up on this author and have learned this series has been long in coming due to translating it. While we wait for the next one I will have time to read those that came before it.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this thriller, mystery which takes place in the frozen land of northern Sweden. Annika Bengtzon is an investigative reporter. She has two young children and an inattentive husband who is starting to stray. She is only barely recovering from being kidnapped and terrorized by a mad serial killer connected with a story she had broken last year. As she tries to readjust to her job and family, she finds herself questioning the usefulness of one and the stability of the other. A small town reporter, whom she was supposed to meet for a lead on a story about a terrorist attack on an air base many years ago, is killed in a suspicious hit and run. In the face of her editor's protestations to the contrary, Annika's instincts tell her there is much more to this story. As she begins to delve into the connection between the dead reporter and the old terrorist incident, she follows threads leading to a murderous terrorist and political corruption linking the past and the present. She finds she has to fight on her own for her life and her family. Annika is a complicated character. She has her strengths and her weaknesses. Although she does not always do the right thing, she is at least always trying to make a difference and not giving up. A good story in an exotic locale.
    • 2/5
      In this book, part of a mystery series, Swedish journalist Annika Bengtzon is looking into a terrorist attack that happened decades earlier, in 1969. Along the way, there are a few fresh murders, but everything is tied up cleanly by the end of the book. The last 50 or so pages were fast-paced and interesting. I wish I could say as much for the rest of the story.I thought that I would like this book, so when it didn't live up to my expectations, I refrained from just skimming through it until about the 200-page mark. The characters were mostly unlikeable, which is okay, but they were also mostly uninteresting, which is not. I really don't care exactly how Annika makes one of her endless pots of coffee, or how many meals she doesn't eat. Her angels talking to her was just weird. The personal relationships in the story were sad. Even a steamy affair, despite its explicitness, had all the titillation of a middle school sex education class given by people who don't know the grown-up terminology yet. The murders didn't have the emotional effect on me that I expect in a good mystery. The discussions of politics seemed endless.Perhaps the story lost something in translation. Perhaps the storyline just wasn't right for me. Perhaps other readers will love this book. For me, I wish I had spent my reading time on something else.I was given an advance reading copy of this book by the publisher for review.