Thriller with the good, the bad and the ugly

Bad Blood,

by Arne Dahl (Harvill Secker, RRP $37):

For years the “Kentucky Killer” managed to elude the FBI, leaving a trail of victims with terrible injuries that haunted the agents looking for him.

With a method of highly specialised method of torture secretly developed during the Vietnam War, the Kentucky Killer had an easily recognised signature when it came to killing. And the one comfort for the agents hunting him was the belief that the killer was now dead. But all that is about to change: the body of a Swedish literary critic is found at Newark Airport and police realise the killer has boarded a flight to Stockholm using the victim’s ticket and identity.

Swedish Detective Paul Hjelm and his team are called in to try and catch the American serial killer who is now on the loose in Sweden.

There are plot twists galore, plenty of gruesome detail, satisfyingly flawed good guys and, of course, an equally satisfying evil bad guy in this full speed thriller.

I won’t say too much more about the plot because I don’t want to spoil the surprises, except to say this is yet another cracking read from yet another awesome Scandinavian author.

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