Although it’s set in Sweden, this ripping thriller has more in common with mainstream American crime-fiction than the typical thoughtful, slow-burn Scandi crime. It’s all about the action and less about atmosphere – a fast-paced ensemble investigation, not a moody, windswept sonnet to the isolated solitude of the Nordic spirit. It’s certainly a lot more accessible than the quietly stylised literary thrillers, which can take understatement a little too far. That’s definitely not an issue with this series…

Almost every chapter in Eighteen Below ends with a ticking time-bomb of a cliffhanger. Some of these are sneakily defused a few pages later but others explode in utterly unpredictable directions that skew the storyline and confound expectations. Some of the plot convolutions stretched my credibility to snapping point, but I was enjoying it so much that my disbelief stayed suspended. Mostly.

There are at least half a dozen plotlines which reflect a spectrum of social issues – gang violence promoted on social media; institutionalised misogyny; homelessness; child abuse; identity theft – wrapped around a central story of a classical serial killer. We meet an almost untouchable sociopath with an unbeatable MO, so that even if the police have him in custody they can’t actually prove a thing.

This murderous romp centres on a police team of idiosyncratic investigators, almost all of whom have some kind of skeleton rattling around in the background. The team leader is an alcoholic, the central character’s marriage is collapsing, there are out of control offspring and rogue officers refusing to be taken off the team. If you can think of a crime-fiction cliché then it’s likely to be lurking in here somewhere.

I’d read the previous book in the ‘Fabian Risk’ series so was vaguely acquainted with the characters. That was no obstacle to enjoying this story which can certainly be read as a standalone – you just have to pay attention to the snippets of back story scattered along the way.

Last time out I was less than impressed by the author’s tendency to throw every conceivable plot device into the mix. The central premise of Eighteen Below is so original and timely, however, that I forgave Stefan Ahnhem for the tedious sexual discrimination sub-plot and his tendency to chuck absolutely everything into the mix. I do think this could’ve been a better book if the misadventures of disgraced Detective Dunja were downplayed, mind.

Ahnhem wraps up this storyline with a satisfying finale… but has been sneakily sowing the seeds for the next story all along. When I came to the final page I would’ve instantly bought the next book in the series, had it been available. Instead, I’m going to have to delay that gratification!

7/10

This novel is set in Bridgeland - the north of Denmark and the southern tip of Sweden. A team of detectives led by a dysfunctional alcoholic investigates a series of murders where the purpose is identity theft of rich men so that their assets can be disposed of; their death is then made to look like suicide or accident. Alongside is a series of assaults on homeless people which is investigated by a disgraced officer who is struggling to cling on to her job. The plot is ingenious but for me the book was spoiled by it being edited into too many very short chapters with an improbable cliffhanger at the end of many. The murders come thick and fast and the villains are highly ingenious and resourceful. If you like Val McDermaid you'll probably like this

This novel is ingenious. The plot is well developed and engaging.
It is a crime story and utilizes criminal investigation procedures, knocking on doors, interviews and so on. But, the author has inserted a second story and a few character side bars that make this novel well rounded and entertaining.
It did have some shocking and frankly terrifying areas , those were necessary for the plot and do not seem to be there just for show.
I would happily read more from this author

Dark Scandic-Noir psychological thriller - another in the Fabian Risk series ( I didn't realise this when I read the book as I hate to read series out of order!). Fabian Risk is a troubled detective (aren't they all in Scandis!) and he's faced with a serial killer who is always 10 steps ahead of the police. Whilst dealing with his failing marriage and an alcoholic boss, he tries to catch the killer whilst the world is against him. Running alongside Fabian's story is another troubled detective doing her best to survive ..... Highly recommended - I'm now going to buy the previous books in the series!

This book is the third stand alone thriller in the Fabian Risk series. Despite the fact that the previous books have sold millions of copies, I was very disappointed in this book. The main plot about serial killers and identity theft just didn't ring true for me. There seemed to be several unnecessary sub plots. The chapters didn't necessarily follow in chronological order and the ending was unsatisfactory, leading one to suspect that the story will continue in the next book. All the characters appear to have issues of one kind or another. The Head of the Crime Squad, Astrid Tuvesson is an alcoholic, one of the detectives in her team, the main protagonist, Fabian Risk is struggling with his failing marriage and his troublesome teenage son Theodore, who becomes involved with 'happy slappers', a group of teenagers who randomly and gruesomely assault people. The serial killings are also extremely nasty.
All in all a disappointing experience. However, having said that I would like to read another of Stefan Ahnhem's books in the series before I completely dismiss this.

Loved this book..
Astrid Tuvesson is a complicated detective with an alcohol problem and is involved in the action from the very start.
The discovery of Peter Brise’s body and the fact that it had been frozen takes the story in a different direction and adds a level of complexity to the story..
The murder team then try to solve subsequent murders which are really completely different from anything I have read before.
The subsequent involvement of Fabian Risk’s family in the story is very clever.
His team come across as dedicated and real people with faults..
Fabian’s son Theodor’s story is heartbreaking , trying to fit in with people and struggling.. He becomes involved with a teenage group attacking and killing people.
The backstory of Hugo Elvin’s death / suspected suicide adds to the ending and possibly sets up the story for the next book.

I just could not get into this Nordic Noir thriller. I put it down and returned to it, but for me, there are too many characters and I could not relate to any of them. The story line is a good one, a car plunges into the sea and when the driver is pulled from the sunken car, it turns out he has been dead for two months.
I gave up after chapter 4, but this could be a thrilling read for somebody else if you like it gloomy, complicated with sexual overtones. Thanks to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for this ARC,

The prologue of this book takes place in 2010 with an assault by an experienced predator who quickly in turn becomes the assaulted victim. Who, why and what is not explained. Two years have elapsed when the first chapter, involving an off duty chief of police in the middle of a domestic crisis becomes involved in a thrilling and complex police chase involving a driver whom we are told was apparently dead at the wheel. The story then introduces us to the Risk family. A modern professional couple, she an unfulfilled artist, he an overworked preoccupied policeman and two teenage. children struggling with unresolved problems and busy parents unable to give the time and energy to help them avoid the looming cliff edge In their lives. The threads of the story are difficult to understand or comprehend by the police with investigations raising more questions than answers. A serial killer is at large, body count slowly rises, the criminal involved appears to be cleverer and more astute than the exhausted detectives struggling to understand and apprehend before any further casualties ensue. Running parallel to this investigation is a series of increasingly violent attacks on homeless vagrants which is equally as confusing and distressing to those charged with solving these crimes. The investigation is complicated by a previous altercation between a high ranking police officer and a young and talented policewomen and his absolute determination to interfere in her actions in order to ruin both her career and her life. So we the reader travel through murder and mayhem, with no idea why the protagonist is killing people, how it is being carried out so efficiently and if answers can be found before even more carnage occurs. A thoroughly satisfying book on all levels.

Eighteen Below is absolutely wonderful, thrilling, chilling and bloody frightening! Everything you could want out a Scandinavian thriller. 4 out of 5!

Not having read the previous books in the Fabian Risk series and not realising it was nordic noir, this was a brutal introduction. This was The Big Heat with the dial turned up to 11!

When Peter Brise, a millionaire IT entrepreneur, commits suicide by driving into the harbour after a car chase involving the Chief of Police it's odd enough. When a second autopsy reveals that he had been for some time before his car went into the water, before he was last seen alive, the nightmare really begins. How can this be when he was seen a few days earlier? Meantime Dunja's exhile to uniform and ritual humiliation continues, frustrating her investigation into the latest, deadliest incarnation of happy slapping.

Stefan Ahnhem is a screenwriter and the narrative structure of Eighteen Below reflects this. Rapid intercutting between scenes, locations and storylines hold the attention and keep the pages turning.

I'd recommend starting with book 1; dropping into this world, cold was a shock to the system! Unless you are familiar with the characters and the back story the storytelling seems off balance, like watching an episode of a soap opera in isolation.

ARC courtesy of Netgalley.

Solid multi stranded police procedural...the Scandinavians seem to be particularly adept at these, and this is no exception! The only minus point was the sheer amount of characters, both police, victims and supporting cast...it didn't so much detract from the story, just meant that concentration needed to be kept at all times!

We have become accustomed to Sweden being the home of murder stories and this is another,dragging Denmark into it too. The story is an exaggerated tale of mass murder,identity theft and childhood abuse. It is not clear what is gained by dragging in the detective Fabian's wife and son,particularly when the son's involvement is not relatedness to the main case. The whole story is totally unbelievable.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

Inspector Fabian Risk and his wife Sonja who is an almost famous artist are having problems in their marriage. In addition to that it seems he hardly knows his teenage son and daughter anymore.

Risk's team of miscreants include an immediate boss who suffered a recent divorce and has a major drinking problem, his semi-disruptive ones and a pathologist named “Braids” who is never wrong – according to him.

A wild car chase through the streets leads to the car hurtling into the water off a wharf. But the surprising part is that the supposed driver of the BMW, one Peter Brise, has been dead for two months and was in someone's deep freeze for all that time. A police investigation, including Fabian Risk determines that the famous man who was supposed to have died in the crash was not who they thought he was. His banker and others claim to have seen him just two days before. He was said to have sold his fabulously wealthy software company. Now other people at the company are going missing and Chris Dawn a famous musician. What is going on? Some kind of identity theft?

Two officers Dunja and Magnus respond to a call of a woman covered in blood. When they track her down, she takes their guns and lands them in all kinds of trouble. A determined Dunja attempts to track her down again and finds a body instead. The man has been beaten to death.

These two main story lines drive the book, but with the addition of Risk's children's separate stories as well. The book races to an exciting conclusion with everything going wrong or happening at once.

There is much going on in this book. It is driven by several separate stories and can be a little confusing/tiring at times. It is well written and it plotted in a linear fashion. The premise is especially interesting and very timely. There is a lot of violence. I liked Risk, even though he seemed hard to get to know. I'm not so sure I cared for his wife. His children – well the daughter was a typical teen, while the son was just plain weird. This is my first Stefan Ahnhem book and I believe that I'll try another. I enjoyed reading this novel.

I want to thank NetGalley and Head of Zeus for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review.

Very good. I enjoyed the thriller which was fast paced with well developed characters. There are numerous different storylines and this should definitely appeal to readers who enjoy Scandi thrillers. I would definitely recommend reading this.

I did enjoy this book but probably not as much as if I’d read previous Fabian Risk mysteries; the frequent reference to the past left me hanging. Because I did like the style, I will now start from the beginning of the Fabian Risk stories.

I enjoyed the twisted storyline about the twins and the unfolding detections. The side plot with his son is also worthwhile but I felt that beyond that there were too many side distractions. On this showing, I do think Stefan Ahnem potentially rates towards the higher end of crime writers but I need to read a few more before confirming.

I am sorry but I found this book too sexually violent to continue reading with any commitment. Not one for me.

3.5 Stars from me

Fabian Risk is an unusual 'lead' in that he doesn't always fit the standard 'profile' of the crime thriller lead cop. He seems more vulnerable somehow than most.

Dunja Hougaard seemed more interesting to me and I enjoyed her elements of the books - much more grit and determination in her belly!

I loved Braids character the most from this book and actually believe this would possibly work better as a TV series than as a novel. For me, some of the characters blurred a little and I found myself having to work hard to place people and their relevance - which side tracked from enjoying the story. I think if it were televised it would come across better and I know it's the type of thing I'd love to watch.

Overall, it's a clever storyline.

Sysnosis: A high-speed chase ends in tragedy when a car crashes into Helsingborg harbour. In the front seat is one of Sweden’s most affluent IT entrepreneurs. Initially all signs point to an accident, but a closer examination of the body shows that it has been frozen. Stranger yet is the time of death: two months before the crash.Two years have passed since the events of Victim Without a Face. Fabian Risk has taken advantage of the quiet at work to focus on patching things up with his family, while across the strait Dunja Hougaard has donned the uniform once more, this time as a police officer. When a homeless man is brutally beaten to death, Dunja can’t stop herself from starting an investigation of her own. Before long the clues take her to Sweden and Helsingborg, where Risk is investigating the peculiar case of the frozen millionaire.Gritty and chilling, Eighteen Below Zero is the third stand-alone thriller in the internationally bestselling Fabian Risk series.

I loved this. It is a very complex story about a serial killer but it has huge depth and complexity. At times it was so complicated that I had to review the latest chapter but I thoroughly enjoyed it and was desperate to get back to it.
It was difficult to manage the Scandinavian names though and the character list is very long.
The story is very much of today, using modern technical developments but also relies on police thinking and deductions.
Thoroughly recommended

The characters in this series aggravate me to no end. They constantly make the wrong decisions and can be brilliant cops who mess up monumentally. I kept yelling at them. How can Fabian Risk still be part of the team when he nearly derailed the previous investigation? How on earth is Dunja not a national heroine? Why am I giving this novel 5 stars? Well, because I could not put it down. The twists were unexpected, the baddie as creative as he is ruthless and the plot could give anyone a heart attack. Some of the questions I had from the previous novel (#1, I haven't read the prequel yet) are answered and new issues are hinted at. And even if I didn't like all of the characters (am I wrong for rooting against one of them?), I still wanted to find out what was going to happen and Risk, who has grown on me, to solve the mystery and stop the crimes. I can't wait for the next volume.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Head of Zeus!

I loved this Nordic noir mystery of which I’m a huge fan of. I loved the setting and characters and felt this book had a fast paced plot
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book