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Last Will: A Novel (Annika Bengtzon) [Hardcover]

Liza Marklund
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 10, 2012 Annika Bengtzon
HOW FAR WILL A MADMAN GO TO ATTAIN THE ULTIMATE PRIZE?

In the midst of a brutal Scandinavian winter, a member of the Nobel Prize committee is gunned down in the city of Stockholm.

Reporter Annika Bengtzon, who made eye contact with the killer just seconds before the shots were fired, is the key witness. Because of the sensitivity of the crime, police issue a gag order on her immediately—and she is forced to figure out on her own why an American assassin known only as “the Kitten” ordered the hit. With her marriage falling to pieces and her job on the line, Annika quickly finds herself in the middle of a violent story of terror and death, the roots of which date back centuries. The research all leads her to the same man: a rich and famous industrialist responsible for one of the world’s most coveted gifts, who died a tragic and mysterious death. If Annika wants to learn the truth, she risks uncovering secrets that some will do anything to protect.


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Last Will: A Novel (Annika Bengtzon) + Red Wolf: A Novel
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the most popular crime writers of our time" PATRICIA CORNWELL "No one tells a story like Liza Marklund" KARIN SLAUGHTER "Edge-of-your-seat suspense" HARLAN COBEN "Dynamic plots with suspense throughout" KATHY REICHS "Liza Marklund is in a league of her own" HENNING MANKELL --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Liza Marklund is the author of ten previous novels, including The Postcard Killers, a team effort with James Patterson. She lives in southern Spain.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books; 1 edition (April 10, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451606923
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451606928
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

The ending is great. Bookreporter  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
The blending of Annika's personal life into the plot adds to the richness of the novel. Anthony Spawton  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
If you enjoy a good read and a thriller, this is an author not to miss! Barryface  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars If this is the last dance, it's my last chance. May 22, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Written by one of the leading writers in Scandanavian literature, "Last Will," opens with investigative journalist Annika Bengtzon attending the ball that followed the Nobel Prize award ceremony.

We see events through her eyes and contrast them to the killer as she stalks her victim.

Annika becomes witness to the murder of Caroline von Behring who was the chair of the committee to select the prize for medicine. Initially, there doesn't seem any reason to kill her.

As a reporter, Annika can't wait to get back to her office but police put her on a disclosure ban. She's prohibited from reporting of what could have been the story of a lifetime - in case she reveal something vital to solving the murder.

Also wounded in the shooting is an Israeli, Aaron Wiesel, who shared the prize in medicine with an American. It was for work in adopting stem cells for theraputic cloning. Police begin their investigation thinking that Wiesel was the true target.

Frustrated in not being able to do her job and with a husband who doesn't seem to appreciate her, Annika continues to investigate. She interviews other people who were part of the Nobel Committee and discovers that all is not what it seems on the outside.

Markland knows how to create suspense. She also has a talent for prose as we read the character's words and see people in the story reacting to the scenes before us. The reader becomes emotionally supportive of Annika's efforts as she searches for answers and becomes a target.

Not only is the plot well developed and the characters interesting but the author gives us a work with substance and something to think about.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
All the excitement of the cutthroat world of modern scientific research. I know that statement sounds silly, but Liza Marklund through her investigative journalist Annika Bengtzon brings the tension of the world alive. When you are talking millions of dollars of research grants floating around, you are going to bring out the worst in a lot of people.

The mystery was solid, Nobel prize committee member is assassinated during the after party of the awards ceremony. Who did it and why? Annika, who was literally dancing next to the victim, was the best eyewitness. Immediately she receives a gag order from the police, but that doesn't stop her from digging into the case.

I do not think most people realize how much money is floating around the research world if your work is successful, and more importantly, first. Put any random group of people in a situation wherein being first is the difference between wealth and poverty, you are going to see some dirty tricks. Watch any reality show like Survivor and you will see the same behavior. Having a PhD. will not make you play any nicer at all. It makes you all the more nasty because you at least understand exactly what is at stake.

Liza Marklund has given us another solid Nordic Noir series featuring a compelling heroine. Waiting for these books to be translated is sheer torture, it almost makes me want to give a try at learning Swedish.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly great May 14, 2012
Format:Hardcover
I am perplexed at my own reaction to LAST WILL, Liza Marklund's latest novel to be translated from her native Swedish (with the able abilities of Neil Smith) and published in the United States. I found the book to be wonderful.

It is a mesmerizing story about a dangerous, borderline psychotic assassin who is targeting members of the Nobel Prize Committee and seemingly anyone else who gets in her way. I find the main character, Annika Bengtzon, a bit difficult to deal with. I cannot imagine spending more than five minutes talking with her on any real-world situation; she is impulsive, clueless (a description confirmed by her husband Thomas, who, admittedly, isn't exactly a prince among men, either) and exercises horrible judgment. However, she is tenacious, loyal to a fault (even when not in her best interest, which is more often than not), and, as demonstrated inarguably by the book's conclusion, courageous.

LAST WILL is the second of the Annika Bengtzon novels to be published in the U.S. (the first being RED WOLF, in 2011). There are a number of volumes in the series that precede RED WOLF; LAST WILL picks up, more or less, where RED WOLF left off. It's a tantalizing mystery, made more so by the murderous assassin, known as The Kitten, at the book's core. The murder that she commits at a celebratory party in Stockholm on Nobel Day leaves Bengtzon as the best witness to identify The Kitten and, ironically, under a police gag order. This causes a bit of a strain with her employer, a popular tabloid newspaper that is in the process of transforming itself for the electronic age and is kind of looking for an excuse to get rid of her anyway.

The situation puts Bengtzon at loose ends. Placed on what the Europeans call a "garden holiday," she begins investigating the murder on her own, consumed not only by the question of The Kitten's identity but also by the issue of who, or what, sent the assassin on her mission. The answer goes back in time and hinges on a complex (but, thanks to Marklund's narrative skills, easy-to-follow) trail that goes back in time to an unexpected but plausible incident that is now coming back to bite the doers on the posterior, and fatally so.

But Bengtzon's professional life is nowhere near as tough as her personal one. She and her husband buy a house in the suburbs and encounter a series of difficulties, both internally and externally. At the same time, Bengtzon's relationship with Thomas is complicated, to say the least. Having previously caught him in an affair, she has forgiven him, but not forgotten the betrayal, and it comes back to rear its head in LAST WILL. Additionally, Thomas has started a new and most important position, one in which he is setting policy that has the potential to butt up against Bengtzon's own principles. These elements come to a head here, even as The Kitten discovers that Bengtzon can identify her and begins taking steps to clean up that loose end.

As one can imagine, LAST WILL has the potential for an earth-shattering conclusion. Marklund takes that potential and cubes it. The ending is great. Stunningly great. It is deadly and explosive, and by the time the dust settles and the smoke clears, everything changes, or has the potential to do so. Swedish readers already know what has happened, and one can only hope that we here in the U.S. will not have to wait a year to feast upon the next installment.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Author!
To date I have read every English book from this great author that I discovered ~3 years ago. Her thriller do not have to be read in chronological order and this was great for me... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Barryface
2.0 out of 5 stars Not much of a thriller
Starts off good, but plods along until the ending, which is quite weak. Too many pages spent on Annika's family problems.
Published 1 month ago by mizzou-rah
5.0 out of 5 stars another fave series
Love this writer and the characters... I want the whole series on kindel please - only some of them are there now - reading backwards through time
Published 1 month ago by Pamela Erickson
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
This is the first Marklund novel I have read as I've been trying authors in the Scandinavian mystery genre. I enjoyed this book. I did see the episode on Netflix. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Marlys Ebersviller
2.0 out of 5 stars not good enough
I gave up on this when the senior detective in a triple murder case calls the journalist heroine into his office and tells her everything about the case for no other reason than he... Read more
Published 2 months ago by ross
5.0 out of 5 stars Lisa Marklund knows how to structure a thriller!
The 'Annika Bengzton' series of novels by Liza Marklund are excellent examples of how an author can weave a cliff-hanger of a mystery around a character who is a journalist and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ron Chicaferro
5.0 out of 5 stars last will
Liza is an authentic writer who creates real characters and stiches them into her rich storylines. I have really enjoyed every book of hers . Last will is up there with the best
Published 2 months ago by mike frickel
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Written with great insight and a storyline that keeps the reader riveted from start to finish. Cant wait for the next book.
Published 2 months ago by Justin Immelman
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good Sweden adventure!
Liza Marklund is an excellent writer and is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. Scary adventures in Stockholm and the swedish countryside make me want to visit soon.
Published 3 months ago by unclebob55
3.0 out of 5 stars Biotech Murder
Last Will begins with a spectacular scene as the reader follows the assassin dramatically murder the chairwoman of the Nobel Prize committee, while she's dancing at the Nobel... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Roslyn Abell
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