’The Sleepwalker’ still No. 1 in the Netherlands
Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker, the tenth book in the bestselling Joona Linna series, remains at the top of the crime list in the Netherlands for the second week in a row.
    Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker, the tenth book in the bestselling Joona Linna series, remains at the top of the crime list in the Netherlands for the second week in a row.
    Everyone here is lying…
Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.
Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.
When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…
With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari’s own life, too…
SON is the first installment in Thomas Enger & Johana Gustawsson’s Kari Voss series.
    Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker was the most sold translated fiction title for the Czech book-retailer Knihcentrum in 2024 and has been awarded the Český Bestseller Award for its achievement.
    Two weeks after its premiere, the Russo brothers’ adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s narrative art book, The Electric State, remains the No. 1 English-language film on Netflix worldwide, surpassing 47.7 million views.
The film follows a young woman (Millie Bobby Brown) on a dangerous journey through a robot-ravaged America, accompanied by a mysterious toy robot and a rogue smuggler (Chris Pratt). Together, they’ll unravel a mechanical conspiracy at the center of the American heartland.
    Jørn Lier Horst’s Dry Land, the latest installment in the bestselling William Wisting series, debuts at No. 2 on this week’s paperback list.
            Photo: Pia Bråthen
    Thomas Enger (b. 1973) is a former journalist and number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series.
Johana Gustawsson (b. 1978) is known as the Queen of French Noir, and similarly has a journalistic background. Gustawsson is a highly regarded, award-winning author, notably of the internationally bestselling Roy & Castells series.
They have each been published to great acclaim in twenty-odd languages. SON, originally written in English, kickstarts their first joint crime collaboration revolving around psychologist and police consultant Kari Voss.
    The Finnish film Little Siberia based on the bestselling novel by Antti Tuomainen premiers globally on Netflix today.
Little Siberia, directed by Dome Karukoski and starring Eero Ritala, Malla Malmivaara, Martti Suosalo, and Tommi Korpela, follows the residents of the small village of Hurmevaara, whose quiet lives are upended when a meteorite crashes through a car roof one night. According to the town’s mayor, the meteorite is very valuable for the future of the slowly dying village. Joel, the village priest, and a veteran peacekeeper, ends up guarding the meteorite in an old museum before it is sent to London for a more detailed evaluation. But a precious meteorite gets a lot of attention… While Joel protects the meteorite from both amateur and professional criminals, he tries to unravel an even greater mystery surrounding his own life. Joel’s wife has recently revealed that she, finally, is pregnant. Great news, but unfortunately, Joel is unable to have children due to his war injury. He just hasn’t told his wife…
The film is produced by Ina Sohlberg for SF Studios and Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari for Bufo.
    The shortlist for the 2025 Riverton Prize has just been announced in Norway, with Jo Nesbø’s Blood Ties and Jørn Lier Horst’s Dry Land among the five novels nominated for the prestigious crime writing award, which is presented annually to the best Norwegian crime story
The jury commends Jo Nesbø’s Blood Ties with the following motivation: “Love, power struggles, rural life, intrigue and murder are woven together into an intense suspense novel. Nesbø brings the gallery of characters to life in an enjoyable way, in a project that oozes excess.”
Dry Land, the latest installment in Jørn Lier Horst’s William Wisting series, is praised by the jury as follows: “Horst’s finely tuned murder mystery is stripped down to the bone, with a sober, calm language where the relentless, almost fate-driven plot takes center stage. With an exquisite sense of place and character dynamics, the puzzle pieces are laid out, and the threads come together in a slow-burn page-turner.”
The winner will be announced on April 10.
    Lars Kepler’s The Sleepwalker, claims the No. 1 on the hardcover list this week. Lisa Ridzen’s When the Cranes Fly South secures the No. 2 spot in the paperback category, and comes in at No. 5 on the hardcover list. Meanwhile, Martin Widmark dominates the children’s list, with The Space Mystery at No. 1, The Football Mystery closely followed at No. 2 and the Diamond Mystery at No. 5.
    Just published in Iceland, Annette Bjergfeldt’s Mr Saito’s Traveling Cinema claims the No.1 spot on the bestseller list for all books and formats at largest book retail chain Eymundsson. Meanwhile, Sofi Oksanen’s Same River Twice – Putin’s War Against Women, leads the non-fiction list and ranks No. 2 on the overall bestseller chart.
Spain, Duomo
Closed by Linda Andersson
UK, Bloomsbury
Closed by Josephine Oxelheim
Korea, Dasan
Closed by Emma Granberg
Netherlands, De Geus
Two-book deal closed by Tor Jonasson
Hungary, Libri/Helikon
Closed by Emma Granberg
Croatia, Znanje
Closed by Emma Granberg
            Those who have read and appreciated The Crow Girl trilogy will find the same creeping sense of unease in The Peacock Man. Erik Axl Sund excels at creating that unsettling atmosphere. The authors also have a remarkable talent for portraying wounded, broken individuals in a way that feels authentic. /…/ The greatest reward lies in the depiction of Mauritz Möller—pitiful, even repulsive, yet utterly fascinating to follow.
– Gefle Dagblad
            Rosenfeldt is undeniably a talented writer of suspense. I find Harvest Child a step above its predecessor.
– Göteborgs-Posten
            – Senioren
            – Västra Nyland
            The author duo writes with a constantly turned-on drive and creates scenes that are difficult to shake. /…/ [SON] is a book you’ll struggle to put down and once you finally do, you’ll have to pick your jaw up from the floor following an ending that hardly anyone saw coming.
– Göteborgsposten
    
    
    
    
    
    
                                
                                                        Diamonds and Rust is a story about wounds that never heal, about envy, betrayal and revenge, and about a crime so well and thoroughly thought out that it may never be solved. Not unless Hanne Wilhelmsen gets a chance to try.