Blindbock

Blindbock Blind Man’s Buff

Opcop #3

Europe in the midst of a heatwave. Europol receives intel that the groups who control and abuse Europe’s beggars have ties to even greater human trafficking networks. Since a few weeks back, Paul Hjelm and his Opcop group are conducting surveillance on the suspected leaders of the European begging and human trafficking rings. Hidden in a vacant Amsterdam flat, the Opcop group watch a building on the other side of the channel. Their seemingly hopeless stake-out will soon result in a dramatic breakthrough.

At the same time, the French EU commissioner receives a threat just as she’s about to present an international bill intended to save Europe. Paul Hjelm is forced to resort to unofficial – and unethical – methods to investigate the blackmail, and the evidence points to Europe’s right wing extremists. When Kerstin Holm discovers that Hjelm has assigned former A Unit member Gunnar Nyberg, now a resident of Greece, to a dangerous mission, it is already too late. Nyberg has already embarked on a journey towards the heart of darkness.

Blind Man’s Buff is the third stand-alone installment in the Opcop quartet.

Awards

Shortlisted for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award (Best Novel of the Year) Sweden 2013
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Reviews

  • “Once again Arne Dahl delivers a well-written and well-traveled police novel with elements of science fiction, without hampering his current and present political sting.”

    Politiken, Denmark

  • “As usual [with Arne Dahl] it’s wrapped in a subtle yet sparkling style of the kind that frequently makes you reread a sentence or dialogue in order to prolong the pleasure.”

    Jyllands-Posten, Denmark

  • “Arne Dahl’s Op Cop novels are suspenseful, clever and at times humorous. /…/ Blind Man’s Buff is an excellent crime novel that also encourages reflection.”

    Kristeligt Dagblad, Denmark

  • Blind Man’s Buff is one of those rare crime fiction experiences in which each part of the plot is presented to the reader with razor sharp precision, and where all the threads are elegantly gathered at the end. /…/ Blind Man’s Buff is a cornucopia from one of the best crime writers of our time, and I hereby highly recommend this book.”

    Weekendavisen, Denmark

  • “Arne Dahl’s books are quality crime novels – and that is true also of this third book about the European police unit Op Cop.”

    Ekstra Bladet, Denmark

  • “Dahl is an energetic and skilled writer with the kind of flexible imagination required for the creation of an effective crime novel, and he combines a social justice pathos with an obvious passion for writing. /…/ Blind Man’s Buff has an elegantly intricate plot. /…/ It is important, interesting and cleverly done, and anyone who appreciates intelligent crime fiction will not be disappointed by Blind Man’s Buff.

    Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden

  • “Dahl has never been closer to the acute reality than in in this, his fourteenth, crime novel. The two previous installments in the OpCop series also borrowed their titles from children’s games. But Blind Man’s Buff has beyond the plot – wherein Dahl artfully uses blindness as a leitmotif – an allusion that also includes the readers. We fumble around blindfolded, as unable to see reality as to perceive existing opportunities. Dahl rips off the blindfold.

    Expressen, Sweden

  • “In my view, Arne Dahl is one of the most important names within the contemporary crime genre, not least because he is a genuine narrator who constantly succeeds in conjoining pressing modern-day issues, such as financial crises, environmental crises and the black hole of the economy or, as in Blind Man’s Buff, crooked networks extending to virtually anything that generates a stable economy, a fast and hidden profit. /…/ Dahl’s strength lies within Blind Man’s Buff, and in his analytical orientation, rendering the novel constructions perfectly fitted, intrigues and ambience are bit by bit added to the plot and merged into a literary unit. Arne Dahl seems to have a particular penchant for giving kids games new meanings, as the previous Chinese Whispers and the current Blind Man’s Buff, in which the latter has become the most advanced story to date. It is a swift, and efficient novel with a style that drives forward, where the prose shifts from the poetically evocative to the simple and straight forward – one of Dahl’s most important novels to this date, a novel that can be read both for its language and its plot.”

    Norrköpings Tidningar, Sweden

  • “It’s raw, it’s violent and it’s unpleasant. At the same time, the combination of the gruesome and the warmth and humor of the narrative style create an atmosphere that makes you feel at home in the company of Dahl’s policemen. /…/ After having read Blind Man’s Buff in one go, I am excited to see whether, and if so how, Dahl manages to connect all the dots in the final part of the OpCop series.”

    Smålandsposten, Sweden

  • “Red-hot new crime novel from a master. Few can measure up to Arne Dahl’s authorship when it comes to contemporary, complex, and political suspense novels. /…/ Arne Dahl is a skilled writer who sparkles with both evocative and brilliant depictions.”

    LitteraturMagazinet, Sweden

  • “As usual in Dahl’s crime novels, several plotlines run parallel and ultimately form a collective weave. How he does it is hard to say, but it is incredibly skillful writing that joins together various societal problems to a single image. /…/ No matter how he does it, it’s elegant, very suspenseful, and creates a feeling of paranoia.”

    Kulturdelen, Sweden

  • Blind Man’s Buff is equally action-packed as the movie Bullit […] extensive and detailed tailing scenes are infernally suspenseful and more than once, I get the feeling of watching a movie. A good movie too. One of the reasons why I appreciate Arne Dahl’s authorship is his fearlessness of the hefty and intricate topics. The cases the former A-unit solved, and now Opcop, covers contemporary social happenings that renders him to be a real good example of the fact that crime novel as a form is very well suited as a social commentary, perhaps better than any other genre.”

    Folkbladet, Sweden

Author
Photo: Sara Arnald Arne Dahl
Published
2013
Genre
  • Crime
Pages
506
Reading material

Swedish edition

German edition

Rights sold

Denmark, Modtryk

France, Actes Sud

Germany, Piper

Netherlands, De Geus

Norway, Cappelen Damm

Poland, Czarna Owca

Sweden, Albert Bonniers

Film rights sold

Sweden, Filmlance International

More From Arne Dahl

The NOVA series

Berger & Blom

Opcop

Intercrime

Stand-alone