The Black Path [Paperback]

Asa Larsson (Author), Marlaine Delargy (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2008

A grisly torture-murder, a haunting northern Sweden backdrop, and a dark drama of twisted sexuality collide memorably in Åsa Larsson’s masterpiece of suspense—a tale of menace, hope, longing, and darkness beyond imagining.

The dead woman was found on a frozen lake, her body riddled with evidence of torture. Instantly, Inspector Anna-Maria Mella knows she needs help. Because the dead woman—found in workout clothes with lacy underwear beneath them—was a key player in a mining company whose tentacles reach across the globe. Anna-Maria needs a lawyer to help explain some things—and she knows one of the best.

Attorney Rebecka Martinsson is desperate to get back to work, to feel alive again after a case that almost destroyed her. Soon Rebecka is prying into the affairs of the dead woman’s boss, the founder of Kallis Mining, whose relationship with his star employee was both complex and ominous. But what Rebecka and Anna-Maria are about to uncover—a tangled drama of secrets, perversion, and criminality—will lay bare a tale as shocking as it is sad…about a man’s obsession, a woman’s lonely death, and a killer’s cold, cold heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In Swedish author Larsson's superb, gut-wrenching police procedural, Insp. Anna-Maria Mella and her longtime partner, Sven-Erik Stålnacke, investigate the brutal torture-murder of Inna Wattrang, head of information for Kallis Mining, whose body is found in an ark, a small cabin on runners, on a frozen lake. The paucity of clues leads the inspector to take the unconventional step of recruiting a new prosecutor, Rebecka Martinsson, to the team. Martinsson's single-minded devotion to her work is of great benefit to Mella, whose inquiries into the self-made founder of Kallis as well as the victim's brother lead her to believe that the motive for the brutal crime stems from Kallis Mining's unscrupulous business practices. While the plot offers little mystery, this intelligent thriller carries tremendous emotional heft and makes Swedish society easily comprehensible to an American reader. Larsson's debut, Sunstorm (2003), was named Sweden's Best First Crime Novel of the Year. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* In Larsson’s third American publication, former lawyer Rebecka Martinsson is recovering from shocks suffered at the end of The Blood Spilt (2007), continuing to live in her family home near Kiruna, and avoiding her old colleagues and boss. On the advice of her therapist, she takes a job as a part-time prosecutor in the same police precinct as Anna Maria and Sven-Erick, the police involved in her previous misadventures, making more plausible Rebecka’s continued involvement in their cases. The body of the local mining company’s second in command is found in an ice-fishing shack, and Rebecka is gradually drawn into Anna Maria and Sven-Erick’s investigation, using her knowledge of corporate law and accounting to good advantage. As usual, Larsson does not limit the point of view to her series characters, this time drawing in the mining company’s founder and his Sami-raised half sister, who believes that she can remember the future. Black Path is at least as good as Larsson’s previous entries, with fully fleshed characters, a complex and well-paced plot, and her usual outstanding use of the atmosphere and environment of northern Sweden. Essential reading for all Scandinavian crime fans. --Jessica Moyer

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Delta; 2nd edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385341016
• ISBN-13: 978-0385341011
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, September 11, 2008

By 

Wickie L. Bowman "operalovr" (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Black Path (Paperback)

As a reader who has read all of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender mysteries, Karin Fossum's Conrad Sejer mysteries, Kjell Eriksson, Arnaldur Indridason, and Mari Jungstedt, and the best of the British, Peter Robinson, Reginald Hill, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, etc., I have to say that the discovery of the books of Asa Larsson are exceptional. The psychology, motivations, and plot devices are so riveting. I have read the first 3 books, in what I understand is to be a series of 6, and they are truly, "I can't put them down" reads. The darkness of the books is in keeping with the Scandanavian tradition, but there is so much more subtlety. The descriptions, the little surprises of language, and the occasional dark humor, are totally involving. I recommend reading the first, second, and third in order, if possible. 'The Black Path', the third of the septet, have left me eagerly awaiting the next three. The intelligence of writing is astonishing.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing series of novels -- but I wouldn't call them police procedurals, November 3, 2008

By 

jenmoocat (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Black Path (Paperback)

This is the third book in a series of novels set in northern Sweden. I originally found the first one, Sun Storm, while looking for foreign police procedurals, which I consume voraciously. However, I wouldn't really put these books into that genre -- which might be why some people gave them low ratings.

Yes, there is a central mystery. Yes, there are police people searching out clues. Yes, there is CSI-like pathology stuff. But, by the third book, The Black Path, it is almost secondary.

Asa Larsson and her interpreter have an AMAZING way with words! The images conjured up are amazing and breathtaking. And she builds incredibly rich characters that you watch grow and change and evolve throughout the story. And they are so unforgettable! Rebecka and Sivving and Nalle and Mans and Swen-Erik....

There is a distinct structure to the novels that I am really enjoying, but that is very different from other police procedurals (like those of Mankell) -- so be warned.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cautionary tale, January 18, 2009

By 

time traveler (McLean VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Black Path (Paperback)

This book is the 3d in a crime series focused on Sweden's northernmost town, Koruna, the author's birthplace. In particular, it addresses the fates of girls and boys from difficult backgrounds there who seem to have 'made it' in the greater world - be that capital Stockholm or, in this book, even Africa, in which Swedish mining firms do operate. That greater world may bring money status and money. Butit also may bring murder and bloody violence. The `Black Path' turns out to be both material and metaphorical. Rebecka, the female Stockholm lawyer from Koruna,is still with us, but the focus is now on a Koruna boy who has risen to the top of the worldwide mining industry. A terrible murder, wrought from that industry, pops up back home. Our familiar Koruna woman-man detective team must deal with it. This device still roots the book as a local police procedural. A potential reader of this series best do so in order, beginning with the first, `Sun Storm.' She or he should have an interest in differing environments, but also be on the lookout for the constants in human nature. The series' perspective is woman's, but the action is as violent as any man would require. The series' main axis, however, remains moral, as befits the Swedes.