Overview

In this brilliant Swedish thriller and sensitive coming-of-age story, a traumatic event shatters the summer of two boys in love with their young teacher. Sweden in the '60s. Erik and his friend Edmund spend their vacation by a forest lake daydreaming about Ewa, a young substitute teacher with an uncanny resemblance to the actress Kim Novak. The boys are having the time of their lives until a shocking discovery disrupts their world. Twenty-five years later, Erik comes across a newspaper article about unsolved crimes and is overwhelmed by memories and questions from that summer of his youth. What actually happened back then? The Summer of Kim Novak has all the tension and mystery of Nesser's world-famous thrillers, combined with a coming-of-age tale of remarkable psychological precision. 'At the start of this moving elegy for lost innocence from Nesser (the Inspector Van Veeteren mysteries), 49-year-old Erik, the book's narrator, promises to tell the reader about 'a terrible and tragic event' that occurred the summer he was 14. In 1962, as Erik's mother is dying of cancer, his grieving father sends the boy to the family's ramshackle lake cabin with 14-year-old Edmund, a fellow student Erik hardly knows, and Erik's older brother, a reporter who intends to write the Great Swedish Novel that summer. After a lazy month of swimming and fantasising, handball champion Berra Albertsson is found dead in a gravel parking spot near where the boys are staying, his skull caved in, and his fiancée, Ewa Kaludis, the boys' substitute teacher and the object of their dreams, is a suspect. Erik and Edmund embark on a protracted murder investigation that leads them into the mysteries of sex. Nesser sensitively probes the agonies and ecstasies of adolescence, making this an exquisite example of Nordic noir's ability to reveal the darkest emotional depths beneath a cloudless summer sky.' ― Publishers Weekly, starred review

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9781642860191

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Reviews

Nesser has a penetrating eye for the skull beneath the skin. New York Times A deft anatomist of character. O, The Oprah Magazine One of the foremost Swedish crime authors. The Times Nesser is one of the best of the Nordic Noir writers, unafraid of moral ambiguity and excellent at building a brooding atmosphere. The Guardian Haakan Nesser brings a light touch to tales of appalling crime. Daily Telegraph Not all Scandinavian crime fiction is gory and gloomy; it can also be lyrical and delicate, soaked in sunshine and surrounded by beautiful welcoming nature, yet with a touch of suspense gently simmering underneath the idyllic surface. Especially when it's written by Haakan Nesser, one of the Swedish masters of Nordic Noir. Crime Review A haunting and evocative novel, beautifully written to draw you into another place and time--a true coming-of-age tale with added mystery. Liz Loves Books Nesser captures the awkwardness of adolescence beautifully. A Life in Books Swedish kids have it good: this beautiful book is in their curriculum! Brigitte Not only a brilliant thriller, but also a sensitive and atmospheric portrayal of a coming-of-age adventure. Frankfurter Neue Presse Nesser writes very emphatically, very clearly and even wittily. A first-class thriller. Frankfurter Rundschau Every line smells of summer, becoming an adult, and the loss of innocence. Focus A must-read. RTL

Nesser sensitively probes the agonies and ecstasies of adolescence, making this an exquisite example of Nordic noir's ability to reveal the darkest emotional depths beneath a cloudless summer sky. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Nesser's novel gains in power as it raises difficult questions about memory and morality. --Kirkus Reviews Nesser has a penetrating eye for the skull beneath the skin. --The New York Times A deft anatomist of character. --O, The Oprah Magazine One of the foremost Swedish crime authors. --The Times Nesser is one of the best of the Nordic Noir writers, unafraid of moral ambiguity and excellent at building a brooding atmosphere. --The Guardian Hakan Nesser brings a light touch to tales of appalling crime. --Daily Telegraph Not all Scandinavian crime fiction is gory and gloomy; it can also be lyrical and delicate, soaked in sunshine and surrounded by beautiful welcoming nature, yet with a touch of suspense gently simmering underneath the idyllic surface. Especially when it's written by Hakan Nesser, one of the Swedish masters of Nordic Noir. --Crime Review A haunting and evocative novel, beautifully written to draw you into another place and time--a true coming-of-age tale with added mystery. --Liz Loves Books Nesser captures the awkwardness of adolescence beautifully. --A Life in Books Swedish kids have it good: this beautiful book is in their curriculum! --Brigitte Not only a brilliant thriller, but also a sensitive and atmospheric portrayal of a coming-of-age adventure. --Frankfurter Neue Presse Nesser writes very emphatically, very clearly and even wittily. A first-class thriller. --Frankfurter Rundschau Every line smells of summer, becoming an adult, and the loss of innocence. --Focus A must-read. --RTL

Nesser has a penetrating eye for the skull beneath the skin. --The New York Times A deft anatomist of character. --O, The Oprah Magazine One of the foremost Swedish crime authors. --The Times Nesser is one of the best of the Nordic Noir writers, unafraid of moral ambiguity and excellent at building a brooding atmosphere. --The Guardian Hakan Nesser brings a light touch to tales of appalling crime. --Daily Telegraph Not all Scandinavian crime fiction is gory and gloomy; it can also be lyrical and delicate, soaked in sunshine and surrounded by beautiful welcoming nature, yet with a touch of suspense gently simmering underneath the idyllic surface. Especially when it's written by Hakan Nesser, one of the Swedish masters of Nordic Noir. --Crime Review A haunting and evocative novel, beautifully written to draw you into another place and time--a true coming-of-age tale with added mystery. --Liz Loves Books Nesser captures the awkwardness of adolescence beautifully. --A Life in Books Swedish kids have it good: this beautiful book is in their curriculum! --Brigitte Not only a brilliant thriller, but also a sensitive and atmospheric portrayal of a coming-of-age adventure. --Frankfurter Neue Presse Nesser writes very emphatically, very clearly and even wittily. A first-class thriller. --Frankfurter Rundschau Every line smells of summer, becoming an adult, and the loss of innocence. --Focus A must-read. --RTL

Author Information

HAKAN NESSER worked as a secondary school teacher in Uppsala before becoming a writer full-time. One of Sweden's most beloved authors, his crime novels have been extremely successful in both his home country and internationally, and have resulted in several films. Nesser was the first author to be awarded the prize for Best Swedish Crime Novel three times, and is the only writer ever to win the Danish Palle Rosenkrantz Prize twice. He was also awarded the European Crime Fiction Star Award in 2010. Nesser's books have been translated into more than thirty languages and have sold over twenty million copies worldwide. SASKIA VOGEL was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in its sister city, Berlin, where she works as a writer and Swedish-to-English literary translator. Her translations include work by leading female authors, such as Katrine Marcal, Karolina Ramqvist, Lina Wolff, and the modernist eroticist Rut Hillarp. Her debut novel Permission was published in four languages in 2019.

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