DARK MUSIC : A TERRIFIC COMPLEX POLITICAL THRILLER

David Lagercrantz (1962 –  ) is a Swedish journalist and author, internationally known as the author of I Am Zlatan IbrahimovićThe Girl in the Spider’s WebThe Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice. The latter three of these works are the fourth, fifth and sixth instalments respectively in the Millennium series originated by Stieg Larsson. He is a board member of Swedish PEN.

His latest book ,DARK MUSIC , is set in Stockholm, Sweden. It is of medium size and thickness and consists of thirty eight chapters .While set in 2003-4 , it could be happening right now. It is a darkly disturbing story of murder and intrigue, top government level politics , corruption , hidden information , and crushing religious morals enforced under the Taliban .

In DARK MUSIC readers are introduced to renowned Stanford psychology Professor Hans Rekke who is regarded as a world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of astonishing feats of logic and observation. He was born into wealth and power and has an apparently ideal wife and daughter. He apparently has it all – wealth, reputation – but also a tendency to throw it all away with a delicate psyche that falls apart under pressure. Rekke perhaps rivals Sherlock Holmes with his deductive and observational capabilities but has become a shattered, heavily medicated person who now is barely able to function and maintain family life.Another way Rekke is similar to Holmes is that he has a brother, Magnus ,working in the top echelons of government .

And then there is Micaela Vargas, a street-smart police officer, the daughter of Chilean political refugees, who grew up in the projects on the outskirts of Stockholm and has two brothers on the slippery side of the law. She is determined and persistent, anxious to prove herself to her colleague and has to deal with misogyny and sexism at work.Micaela  requires Rekke’s exclusive , eccentric mind to enable her to solve the case of a murdered , asylum-seeker from Afghanistan ,in some ways becoming Rekke’s Watson . Hans Rekke needs Micaela to save him from himself. Their stories are interwoven as together, they strive to find the killer , racing to uncover a murky international conspiracy before they’re both supressed for good .

Micaela is assigned to the murder squad as she knew the prime suspect of old, in a case where a referee of a junior football match was found stoned to death shortly after the match, and just outside the stadium. Beppe,( Giuseppe Costa ) the suspect, was drunkenly antagonistic to the ref ( known as Jamal Kabir) during the closing minutes, but refuses to admit anything, through days and weeks of intense interrogation. It is a story of changed names and identities and secret music playing.A lot goes back to what really happened in April 1977 when the Taliban ruled in Afghanistan and how this affected Kabir , with the banning of music. Rekke picks up on the fact that Kabir’s refereeing movements were at times like conducting – is this important or not ? (yes )

The intricate , multi layered plot encompasses the CIA and mentions of the horrors of the Salt Pit prison and Abu Ghraib.

A terrific complex geo-political post Cold War political thriller/murder mystery and I look forward to the possible sequel .

ISBN: 9781529413182
ISBN-10: 1529413184
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 400
Available: 16th August 2022
Publisher: Quercus Books
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.7  x 3.1
Weight (kg): 0.51
Edition Number: 1

https://www.hachette.com.au/david-lagercrantz/dark-music-the-gripping-new-thriller-from-the-author-of-the-girl-in-the-spiders-web

Featured image : Author David Lagercrantz