A great read.. I've read this author before and this did not disappoint, it is part of a series bur is a prequel so can easily be read as a stand alone.
I like the style of writing, there is a lot of detail and the characters are very well written. Some chapters can appear random and the reader is initially unsure where the characters fit into the main storyline but all becomes clear by the end of the book when it is all tied together. Leaving loose ends are a big negatives for me with a book but thankfully all is covered here.
I felt engaged from start to finish with this book and enjoyed following the police investigation as they followed leads, some of which worked and some which were dead ends.
I recommend it.

The first thing I read by this author and the truth is that I really liked the way he presents the story, his characters and the background he shows us about each of them. And how the story progresses.

I admit that there came a time when I felt mega lost with the characters because each chapter was new, a new character and I ended up not knowing who we were talking about, what we knew about that character and how I, with all that confusion, could face the chapter. . And I can't say that it has stopped happening to me, but that is also my fault because I am quite forgetful with character names.

The pace of the story is quite frenetic in parts, since from the beginning the author presents us with the tragedy, then little by little they introduce us to the characters and their story, which greatly enriches the story and that makes one delve deeper. more in the plot.

I liked the twists and turns, how nothing works out so well at certain points, the plot twists. Excellent.

This book is definitely part of a series that I intend to continue reading.

Thank you Random House UK for the copy I read through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After quiet eight years after Sweden's most notorious unsolved murder of two young boys happened, the similar circumstances happening at neighbouring Norway.
At both cases, the boys was abducted and murdered then their bodies brutally artistically arranged at field. As beautiful as twisted artwork.

The Wolf was my first read from the author and actually a prequel of his crime investigation series featuring veteran detective Holger Munch and his prodigy profiler, Mia Kruger. I dont know how this duo and their team perform at another books but at this book Mia still a trainee from Police Academy before Munch recruited her. The plot describes Mia as a young woman with uncanny ability to see beyond the facts. But she also battle her own demon and personal family problem. Her description remind me alot of Will Graham the criminal profiler from The Hannibal TV series.

Mia not yet reach her potential. Her logical thinking and clues reveals seem nothing special and easily can be found from brainstorming another team members. Her character so over glorification.
I enjoy the writing style. It is clear and very engaging. Although the investigation is slow burn type and each chapters will come from different PoV and massive number of characters. They could be the witness, members of the investigators or someone mysterious. The clues are dropped slowly through each POV.

It is always fun to found new series of my favourite genre, especially with different countries setting and background characters. So I wont give up with this series and would love to try another installment from the author.

Thank you To Netgalley, and Transworld Digital for providing a copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was my first Samuel Bjørk, so I went into it not knowing what to expect, but as I enjoy my crime thrillers, ‘The Wolf’ really surprised me!
I was intrigued by the plot which begins with the discovery of the bodies of two young boys in Norway. When it is revealed that this murder is somehow connected to a previous crime in Sweden, I was hooked. I was not aware (till after I finished reading) that ‘The Wolf’ is part of a series by Bjørk, so I am looking forward to reading the others soon and getting back into the Holger Munch and Mia Kruger world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of crime thrillers, I had high expectations for 'The Wolf' by Samuel Bjork, and I'm pleased to say that it delivered. The story centres around Mia Kruger, a police student with extraordinary talent tasked with solving the murder of two eleven-year-old boys in Norway. The case is further complicated by its connection to an unsolved crime in Sweden.

Throughout the novel, Bjork builds tension and surprises the reader with unexpected twists. I couldn't help but eagerly turn the pages, excited to see what would happen next. The characters are all well-developed, but I was especially drawn to Mia Kruger. As the complex central character, she struggles with her demons while working with a team of experienced and much older colleagues.

This book stands out because of Bjork's talent for bringing the setting to life. As I read, I felt I was right there with the detectives in Oslo's spring-cold streets. The author's descriptive writing style enabled me to vividly imagine the horrific crime scenes, adding another layer of terror to the tale.

'The Wolf' is a beautiful example of complex storytelling with some slow parts that can, at first glance, look like nonsense extra chapters to make the book longer, but I can assure you that everyone plays a crucial role in the story.
The ending was very satisfying, and all the loose ends were neatly tied up. Overall, 'The Wolf' is a captivating and well-written thriller that kept me engaged until the end. If you're a fan of procedural crime stories, I highly recommend reading this book.

Book 4 in the series. It’s been quite a while since the ludicrous story in book 3 but I was still intrigued to read more and interestingly this is a prequel and takes us back to a younger duo.

It’s very much Scandi-Noir that’s looking for shocks and scares, it’s written well and fir fans of the series it’s good stuff, but I did find it was a bit padded out and over long,

Will I continue the series, possibly not.

But it’s decent stuff if you like this kind of formulaic shock fest serial killer fare.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, some good twists and turns in it and some very likeable and relatable characters.

There's a downside to it too though. Occasionally it seemed to go off on a different tangent, almost like the author was just adding chapters in to make the book longer. A few times I found myself asking what or who that had anything to do with, and had the main characters and story not been so gripping I might have given up.

I'm glad a pushed through as I did enjoy this read, and thankfully the negative points were only little bits but they did leave me wondering at times.

The Wolf by Samuel Björk is No. 4 in the Munch and Krüger series.

Two Swedish boys, aged 11, are found murdered, their bodies brutally & artistically arranged. Eight years later, two Norwegian boys are found and it looks like the killer is back.

But Munch and his investigating team are struggling. So, he recruits a police trainee, Mia Kruger, who has a startling ability to see what others can’t.

The Wolf is a cracking addition to the series and should please Scandi Noir lovers who like their mysteries dark and atmospheric. A psychological tale of cat and mouse, the story twists and turns until its satisfying conclusion.

Out in the UK on 2 Nov. Thanks to Netgalley and Bantam for this arc to review in my own words.

Image: book cover features silhouette of a wolf head with pine trees and a lone figure.

Two boys are found dead, someone has killed them and now it´s time to find the killer.
Police have no leads, no clues, and out of pure desperation, they decide to hire a Police Academy student Mia, who is sort of a miraculous child/young adult.
To be honest I don´t buy this story. Not only hiring a student is totally unheard of, there is no law that I can recall that will allow this (I used to work in prison myself), however, I can´t tell that I know the law in every country. Also, Mia does not seem in the least as bright as the author tries to portray her. I don´t see anything special in her. All her questions and thinking are logical and standard, the fact that the other police officers did not come up with these basic thinking is somehow outrageous. I´m sorry, but intellectually speaking this is just weak.
One thing draws my attention. Among police officers, there is one female of Polish nationality. Her name is Anja Belichek. Well.... this is wrong! In Polish, there is no name Anja, but Ania (short i), and the sound ch is written as cz, so her name should be Ania Beliczek. Also at some point, Ania considers having a tattoo of a White Eagle, which is the national emblem. In the text the grammatical form is incorrect. It is: "I´m thinking an Orla Bialego the white eagle. Poland´s coat of arms." It should be: I´m thinking Bialy Orzel, the White Eagle. Poland´s national emblem. Now, because it is a national emblem it should be written with capital letters. When using foreign names, places, and so on, please be mindful next time. If you need an editor I´m up for the job.

Chilling story with a constant sense of foreboding that there is more to come yet not knowing from which direction. Sharply portrayed characters who will each have some sort of pivotal role in the plot make this a compelling read in a race to solving it.

Great police crime drama set in Norway
munch the head of a new homicide team attempts to solve the murder of two young boys whose bodies have been laid out in a macabre artistic way. The murders are similar to those of two boys 8 years earlier in Sweden. Is there a connection and why the gap between if the killer is the same?
Lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing.

Scandinavian noir with a serial killer, and some interesting detectives with their own personal issues. The relationships between the detectives were more engrossing than the murder-solving part. The police just seemed to jump from one incorrect assumption to another.
Enjoyable.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of The Wolf, a prequel to the Munch & Kruger series set in 2003, when Mia Kruger works on her first murder case for Oslo Police.

Two eleven year old boys have been found dead and the posing of the bodies suggests a link to an eight year old unsolved case in Sweden. There are no clues and no links so Holger Munch turns to a Police Academy student, Mia Kruger, who has the ability to see links and patterns no one else can.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Wolf, which is a straightforward police procedural in the sense that the endpoint is to catch a killer and the novel follows the investigation to get there. After that all bets are off. There are several characters who give their point of view, but there is no immediate or obvious link in it to the investigation, then it follows some of the detectives into their private life with some unexpected twists, but it mainly follows Mia Kruger in her first attempts at investigation, none of which are by the book and are populated by flashes of insight. She is the driving force that propels the novel forward. It is interesting than Munch is happy to act on the hunches of a rookie, not quite standard procedure.

When I could pick the novel up (too many other commitments) I found it compulsive reading. There are blind alleys, tricks and suspects that don’t pan out and I fell for most of them. The author knows how to arouse the reader’s curiosity and keep them hooked. I wasn’t as enthusiastic during the read about the random character perspectives, but thoroughly enjoyed the way they became integrated as the novel progressed, especially at the end when one of them takes a starring role. There is really nothing not to like about this novel that offers both a deep, compelling read and the background to how the two detectives come to work together.

The Wolf is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Samuel Bjork has already written three books in the Munch and Kruger series. This book is a prequel to the series and the first I have read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pace gradually builds up with many false turns and surprises. There are a wide cast of characters that are well-developed and provide an interesting array of suspects. The plot is complex and well-written. I highly recommend this book and now I'm off to read the other books in the series.

I’ve enjoyed the previous books by Samuel Bjork featuring veteran detective Holder Munch. In this excellent Scandi thriller Munch is tasked with solving a murder in which two boys are found dead, posed artistically, in a case which mirrors a case from several years ago.
In order to solve the crime, Munch recruits a young woman fresh from the Police Academy. Mia Krüger. She’s a person who relies very much on her intuition, and seeing patterns, and she’s quickly able to put forward some interesting theories about the case.
This is a twisty tale. At times I worried it was wandering off into really confusing territory but Bjork is very good at setting things back on track.
Very enjoyable.

Oh I'm so clever I'd worked out whodunit by halfway through. Oh no I hadn't.

This is one of those books that makes you think that the detectives might just be idiots and the truth is staring them in the face. So much so that you actually tell them. However you're wrong. As usual.

So this latest in the Munch and Kruger series follows the discovery of the bodies of two boys carefully posed in a field. The team discovers this is the second such discovery, the first being in Sweden eight years previously. The Swedish murders remain unsolved.

For this outing Munch has recruited a young woman straight from the academy. Mia has her own demons but an insight into the crime scenes that Munch needs to harness and exploit if he is to crack this case before more lives are lost.

There are twists, turns and red herrings aplenty in this latest, gripping episode. Munch is his usual driven self while his team runs exasperatedly around in his wake. Mia is an interesting addition and her character is an intriguing one - full of intelligence but so new to the job that mistakes are made.

I have missed out the middle two books for some reason but I loved this as much as I loved I Always Travel Alone. Frode Oien writing as Samuel Bjork writes immensely readable, devour-in-one-sitting books that you simply can't put down.

Loved it. Highly recommended.

Thankyou to Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I have read Samuel BJØRK previous books and have really enjoyed reading them and have been waiting impatiently for the next and it arrived and i got stuck in.

So this book is a prequel and liked going back to the start when Mia arrived and how she arrived and what she brings to the team.

The murders are graphic and most of the time they do involve children so this might not be for everyone.

The story is intense and fast paced and does keep you gripped .

However the scenes change fast and sometimes i did loose track and had to go back a little this was a little annoying but it did not stop me reading this book.

I will look forward to reading this author again but hopefully will not have to wait to long next time.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy for an honest review.

Holger Munch and Mia Kruger #4

‘It’s a full moon tomorrow. I’m scared of the wolf’

In 1993, in Fagerhult, Sweden, two boys are brutally murdered and arranged with the white hare between them. Despite an extensive investigation, the case is never solved. In Norway in 2001, a father and son are flying a kite when the son finds two bodies remarkably similarly posed to the Swedish murders. Oslo homicide detective Holger Munch assembles his team, which includes Police Academy trainee Mia Kruger full brought in for her outstanding incisive profiler abilities. The disparate but driven team work incredibly hard to try to solve this seemingly impossible case.

First of all, I love this series and this prequel can easily be read as a standalone before reading “I travel alone“. The cast of characters are fascinating especially Mia, whose insights often lead to progress. She has a lot of baggage but this just makes her more interesting. Munch is a workaholic which must try his wife’s patience and that of his boss with whom it’s fair to say he doesn’t see eye to eye. The rest of the team are all well fleshed out as lawyer Anette Goli smooth paths, sartorially elegant and bit of a ladies man, Fredrik Riis and not forgetting “Sporty Spice” Katja van den Burg who work diligently to try to catch a break.

The plot is complex and contains multiple layers, with mystery piling on mystery deepening the puzzle and eventually intertwining the various strands. It does feel a bit disjointed at times but via these threads you do often get a little nugget to piece together to eventually form the big picture. The team are really up against it here as suspect after suspect is ruled out.

The psychology/profiling part of the story is especially compelling. There’s plenty of tension, the pace builds and there are some good suspenseful chapter endings to keep you reading on. The atmosphere feels brooding and claustrophobic at times, especially in the deeply forested areas outside of Oslo, which adds to the intensity of the storytelling. The ending is a tad abrupt, but all the strands come together well.

Overall, this another good addition to the excellent series and I look forward to reading number five.

With thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld, for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

A twisty thrill ride of a book that I found difficult to put down.
There was an equal mix of inspiring male and female characters throughout which is something I usually find lacking within this genre, especially by male authors. There were no awful descriptions of men judged by their clothing and age compared to women judged by their physical attributes and how attractive they are or were in the past, such a breath of fresh air!
I will definitely be reading more by this author and his balanced and intelligent writing.

Two crime scenes, eight years apart, in two different countries. At each scene, the bodies of two eleven year old boys. The only clue;- the diary entry of one boy, the night before he disappeared; ‘I’m scared of The Wolf’.
Mia Kruger, an ambitious and unconventional police trainee, is plucked from her studies to assist the team handling the homicides in Oslo. As she gets drawn deeper into each crime scene through the study of the police photographs, can she spot the link between each murder scene which help them identify the killer? And what if the killer is about to strike again?

I started this book, convinced that I’d already read ‘I’m Travelling Alone’ by the same author. It turns out that I haven’t – I believe it’s one of those books that there was so much buzz about at the time that I feel like I’ve read it. If you’re like me, and this is the first Samuel Bjork novel that you actually have read (rather than have imagined so), don’t worry – although this is the third in the Mia Kruger series, it’s actually a prequel and therefore can easily be read in its own right.

The Wolf is a great piece of crime writing. One of its strengths is the intertwining elements of the plot which succeed in not being too complex, but just complex enough to be clever and engaging. It also creates an excellent sense of place, bringing an overall unease and unsettling feel to the storyline.
Having said that, there were a couple of small moments in an otherwise strongly plotted story which felt, to me, that they could have benefitted from a little more context. Notably, the scene where Mia is given an apartment by her grandmother – from out of nowhere - feels slightly forced for the benefit of the plot; an intro and outro to the rationale behind the gift would have added authenticity. However, I can’t fault the detail the author has gone into on the actual flat – if you check it out on Google Maps, it’s actually a real place!

I really enjoyed this book; it’s a recommended read. And yes, I am going to go back and actually read I’m Travelling Alone, as soon as I can.