After the Monsoon: An Ernst Grip Novel

Karjel’s excellent sequel to 2015’s The Swede finds Ernst Grip, a member of Sweden’s security police, attached to a raid on a suspected Somali terrorist cell in an immigrant Stockholm neighborhood. Normally an agent on the bodyguard detachment, the unenthusiastic Grip and a gung ho SWAT team break into an apartment, where they apprehend three men. The only piece of intel they glean happens later, under interrogation: a cryptic reference that one of the three makes to a terrorist known only as Yuhuudi (the Jew). Meanwhile, an army lieutenant with Swedish forces in Djibouti is shot dead at a shooting range, and Grip is dispatched to the Horn of Africa to investigate. His mission there is complicated by the kidnapping of a Swedish family from their sailboat by Somali pirates. Grip faces a host of dangers large and small before arriving at the morally complex solution to the lieutenant’s killing. No surprise, Yuhuudi turns out to have a role in Grip’s adventures. With its realistic characters, sophisticated plotting, and assured prose, this entry puts Karjel at the top of the thriller pack. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Literary. (July)