This is an absolute gem!!! I’ve been so excited about this book and it hasn’t disappointed.absolutely will be recommending this book to anyone who will listen to me.

Unfortunately the format of the document I received for Cry Wolf made the story unreadable. One continuous flow of paragraphs, no breaks or headings or chapters. Just sudden unexpected jumps between characters and locations and nothing to signify the change. If there are headings or chapters or anything to break the single stream of words in the final copy of the book then I suspect it will make for a good read.

In the format I received the document it was entirely detrimental to enjoying the authors work. What I struggled through was promising but let down entirely by a lack of document formatting. Sorry

I don't think I've ever read a novel before where the main character was going through menopause and that wasn't the main point of the story. I'm feeling validated. Middle aged women, severely underrepresented in books! Who knew!!
Anyway, back to the actual storyline. This has a great start to the book, very original, told from the POV of a mother wolf. It's different, it's impactful. It sets the tone for the rest of the book.
This did take me a little while to get into, there are a lot of characters and the writing style is a little different to what I'm used to but once I was a few chapters in I had a good idea who everyone was and I was used to the writing.
I always have high expectations of Nordic Noir, not sure why, maybe it's just that everything I've read and watched so far has been so good. And this novel was no exception.

I really struggled with this book 😩 , I just couldn’t get into it, I found it extremely hard to follow the storyline as it jumped around a lot

Hannah Wester, a detective in the remote northern Swedish town of Haparanda, finds herself on the precipice of chaos.
When human remains are found in the stomach of a dead wolf, Hannah knows that this summer won’t be like any other. The remains are soon linked to a bloody drug deal that went down just across the border in Finland. But how did the victim end up in the woods outside Haparanda? And where have the drugs and money gone? I thought it was well written, with absolutely flawlessly done characters.

Read a review that felt this book was 'almost a film turned into a book' and I have to agree. It felt more like the starting point for a script rather than a novel.

There was nothing bad in the book, plot, story line and characters were all fine. I appreciate it will be the starting point of a series however the ending just felt a bit weak, leaving too much for the next in the series.

I can also imagine that there will be a while before the next one, given the author's other commitments, as such I was left wanting more.

In the remote northern town of Haparanda dead wolves reveal a drug deal gone wrong. As police officer Hannah Wester ties to piece together what happened and find the drugs and money that have vanished a deadly female assassin enters the town; hired to locate the money chaos ensues.

I loved the small town setting and the twists and turns that kept coming. Hannah's character and troubled home life was really intriguing and I followed wanting to know more about her and how things would turn out. This was a dark and gripping crime thriller that I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review

Hans Rosenfeldt's Cry Wolf is a Scandi thriller that begins with human remains being discovered in the stomach of a wolf and takes detective Hannah Wester on a chaotic and brutal journey that leads her to confront truths about her own past that have lain hidden for years. Along the way we meet Katja, a deadly female assassin who I absolutely couldn't get enough of! Cry Wolf is brilliantly executed and although the middle felt a little bloated, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to crime fans looking for a wintry read this January.

I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an advance copy of Cry Wolf, the first novel to feature Detective Hannah Wester, set in the northern Swedish town of Haparanda.

When human remains are found in a dead wolf they are soon linked to a drug deal gone fatally wrong in Finland. The body is quickly found, but who robbed and killed him. Hannah and the department start to investigate, but unbeknown to them Katya, a deadly Russian assassin, has turned up in Haparanda looking for the drugs and money.

I found Cry Wolf to be a bit of a mixed bag. The plot is excellent, a series of poor decisions on the part of several characters leading inexorably to violence, but I didn’t like the execution, which has a multiple point of view format with little warning of the switches. It also flashes back to Hannah’s past with no warning. I can see why the author chose this approach, he is juggling multiple strands, characters and agendas but I couldn’t get invested and the novel didn’t hold me attention. I never thought about it when I put it down and I didn’t hear the siren call luring me back. And this is a shame because the novel has a lot to offer.

It is no secret to the reader who killed the dead drug dealer or why, just as Katya’s agenda is not disguised, but there are still mysteries to be uncovered, like who or what is Katya, what happened in Hannah’s past and what secrets is her husband keeping? I didn’t find any of these guessable and the solutions veer from the prosaic to the outright “really?”.

The characterisation is strong, but it takes a lot of detail for it to be so. This, I felt was a bit of a drag on the forward momentum of the novel, verging on psychological rather than the outright thriller events would suggest, notably a ruthless killer and a high body count.

Cry Wolf is an interesting read, but not as exciting as I hoped it would be. 3.5*

3.5 rounded up

Hannah Wester # 1

Location: Haparanda , Northern Sweden near the border with Finland.

This dramatic novel starts with a wolf that dies and a violent rival drug deal encounter that goes badly wrong. Human remains are found in the poisoned wolves, does it link somehow to the drug deal? Who is the victim? Hannah Wester of the Haparanda police team investigates and thus starts a brutal chain of events that turns life in Haparanda upside down forcing Hannah to reflect on much unhappiness that she has kept suppressed.

First of all, there is a cast of what feels like 5000 which makes it hard to follow who is who but that does eventually sort itself out. Additionally, there are a lot of subplots which also creates some brain chaos. However, they do all connect and you just have to be patient as it’s some while before you see where it’s going. The storyline is dark and there’s quite a lot of violence and there is one scene which is quite graphic. It’s written as if for television in a short, sharp, episodic format which eventually I grow to thoroughly enjoy as you become more familiar with it and it does add a lot of suspense into the equation. I really do like that the central protagonist of Hannah is a strong, flawed, middle-aged menopausal woman and she is extremely well portrayed. I enjoy the enigma and mystery of Katja who arrives in Haparanda much like a feral cat and a very focused one at that, who is intent on picking off the ‘rats’ and in the process creating some John Wick style destruction. Her part of the storyline is excellent and it raises numerous questions. The ending is really good, it’s very exciting, there are some unexpected twisty elements, it’s emotional and sets self up nicely for number two which I will definitely want to read.

Overall, the premise and plot of the book are really good, the pace is fast and once you settle into the manner in which it’s written it’s a very exciting read.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, HarperFiction for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I struggled to enjoy this Nordic Noir from Hans Rosenfeldt.

I felt this was almost a film turned into a book rather the other way around, and I found the characters hard to enjoy.

The plot is good, the storyline is good and I usually enjoy a Scandinavian thriller, but again from the opening pages this just feels like a scriptwriter writing a novel,

Russian Assassins, Drugs, Murders, Gun, It was all ok it’s just not a novel.