Niklas Natt och Dag

1793

Niklas Natt Och Dag

Nick Bicko

Ein richtig gelungener historischer Roman, der im Stockholm des späten 18. Jahrhunderts spielt.
Erst im Nachhinein wird mir bewusst, wie akkurat die Schauplätze und Figuren größtenteils sind, aber auch während des Lesens war offensichtlich, wie wichtig dem Autor sein Setting ist, sodass es jedoch nie die Grenze zur Detailversessenheit überschritten hat.
Ein großes Plus war für mich zudem, dass unter den vier Hauptprotagonisten kein klassischer Held ist, sondern allesamt Antihelden sind, mit schlechten Eigenschaften, dunkler Vergangenheit oder schwerer Krankeheit ausgestattet. Allgemein ist es für Krimis eher ungewöhnlich, dass die Charakterbildung so tief geht.
Ohne zu viel zu verraten: Auch die Erzählstruktur hat mir gut gefallen.

Best Debut, The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award 2017 'Thrilling, unnerving, clever and beautiful' Fredrik Backman The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries, and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound. A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer. The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.

Pam Sartain

Nordic noir is a genre that I think of as being present day, but Niklas Natt och Dag has shaken that for me with The Wolf and the Watchman. 

Set mostly in 1793 in Stockholm, this is the investigation into a hideous discovery of a mutilated body in the water that sets watchman Mickel Cardell relucantantly off on an investigation with Cecile Winge, a lawyer and now a consultant for the police, dying of consumption.

We get flashes of the French revolution, and of Cardell's career in battle, when he lost his hand and his friends. We are shown the seedy underside of Stockholm, and of the people who prey off of each other.

This is quite a graphic book, and looks at how Cardell deals with his life after battle through alcohol and violence. It shows Winge's choices about how he is going to die, not in his home with his wife, but in a boarding house. It also looks at what lengths people can go to for revenge, and the joy of hurting others.

Definitely not a cosy crime novel, but, yes, nordic noir with a horror edge. It is a book that will make you keep turning the pages, and you'll be taken for a great ride!

The Wolf and the Watchman was published on 7th February this year, and is available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.

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1793

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