Niklas Natt och Dag

ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 “It’s early to be pegging the year’s best books, but The Wolf and the Watchman, Niklas Natt och Dag’s stunning debut, is sure to be one of them.” —The Washington Post “What's better than an ornate period piece with style to spare? One that includes a murder mystery. Oh, and boy is it a riveting mystery....A bit of Patrick Süskind’s Perfume and a bit of Sherlock Holmes, this wolf has some bite to it.” —NPR “Reads like a season of ‘True Detective’...anchored by a powerful sense of place and a memorable cast of characters....You won’t soon forget it.” —USA TODAY Named Best Debut Novel of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers One morning in the autumn of 1793, watchman Mikel Cardell is awakened from his drunken slumber with reports of a body seen floating in the Larder, once a pristine lake on Stockholm’s Southern Isle, now a rancid bog. Efforts to identify the bizarrely mutilated corpse are entrusted to incorruptible lawyer Cecil Winge, who enlists Cardell’s help to solve the case. But time is short: Winge’s health is failing, the monarchy is in shambles, and whispered conspiracies and paranoia abound. Winge and Cardell become immersed in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams. From a farmer’s son who is led down a treacherous path when he seeks his fortune in the capital to an orphan girl consigned to the workhouse by a pitiless parish priest, their gruesome investigation peels back layer upon layer of the city’s labyrinthine society. The rich and the poor, the pious and the fallen, the living and the dead—all collide and interconnect with the body pulled from the lake. Breathtakingly bold and intricately constructed, The Wolf and the Watchman brings to life the crowded streets, gilded palaces, and dark corners of late-eighteenth-century Stockholm, offering a startling vision of the crimes we commit in the name of justice, and the sacrifices we make in order to survive.

A Novel

The Wolf and the Watchman

Colleen

3.5 Stars
 
*An intriguing but extremely graphic historical mystery*
 
 
I’ve read several Nordic Noir type stories, but The Wolf and the Watchman caught my eye because of its historical setting rather than modern day setting. And I love discovering new authors particularly when it involves wandering away from the NYTimes best sellers list.
 
The story is written in present tense (not my favorite). Nevertheless, there was something almost hypnotic about the writing. It’s impressive both because this is a debut work and because it is a translation.
 
The Wolf and the Watchman is set in Stockholm in 1793. I’ll admit that most of what I know about that time period has to do with the French Revolution. So when the story kept mentioning the war between Sweden and Russia, I totally had to look that up. It was interesting to explore both the aftereffects of the Russo-Swedish War and the far-reaching effects of the French Revolution. It was certainly interesting that the story discusses so many anti-nobility sentiments considering that the author’s bio touts that he is a member of “the oldest surviving noble family in Sweden.” I have to wonder if he was making a point about classism and how blatant that criticism was meant to be.
 
Niklas Natt och Dag certainly cannot be accused of romanticizing the past. This is a grisly and bleak story. It is vulgar, graphic, and very blunt. From the beginning, there are many blatant discussions of bodily functions. If you are one of those people who complains about novels never discussing characters having bowel movements, well, dig in because there is lots and lots of shit in this book! And yes, I mean that literally. On the one hand, this is historically accurate. Things relating to bodily functions didn’t become taboo to discuss openly until around the Victorian era. Prior to that – well, everybody poops and there was no privacy about it. When toilets enabled bodily functions to become more secretive, it became vulgar to mention bodily functions in conversation. (Thus leading to those words becoming swearwords, FYI.) On the other hand, just because that is historically accurate, doesn’t mean I enjoyed the constant mentioning of feces. And when that vulgar bluntness extended to sexual acts, it was off-putting. More on that later.
 
It starts out along the standard lines of many investigation type mysteries. You have the hyper-observant investigator with an eidetic memory and his stalwart sidekick. (These two characters make up “the wolf” and “the watchman” in the title.) But the story is actually split into four parts. The first part mentions the start of the investigation. But then parts two and three each introduce a new character and back up a bit to follow those characters in the events leading up to the discovery of the mutilated body. Part four is when all of those storylines merge.
 
It was a little confusing at times because the story seems to go off on long tangents to explain these separate storylines. Part three was particularly disconnected. While that sub-story was compelling, it had little to do with the main mystery. The setup of the story weakened the overall plot because it gave it a start-and-stop feel. But on the other hand, I was captivated by the characters.
 
While the story does have a mystery in it, overall this felt like a character-driven story of suspense. That still worked for me because I was engaged in the storylines. But I’ll admit that the ending felt anticlimactic. The last part dragged on with too little payoff. After all that build up, I expected a bit more bang at the end. It was a satisfying ending but lacked that “wow” factor. The thing about suspense is that if it doesn’t build towards a crescendo, it starts to feel a bit flat.
 
I can see why people are comparing this to The Alienist. They are both crime procedural stories with historical fiction settings. And they are both slow stories with a bleak style and graphic content. Which lead me to my Content Warning for sexual assault, rape, incest, pedophilia, torture (both physical and psychological), body mutilation, false imprisonment, and misogyny. Some of these things are only mentioned in passing. Others are described in great detail. A prime example is that a person has all of their limbs cut off, tongue removed, is blinded and deafened, then forced to perform oral sex. If that is too disturbing, then definitely avoid reading The Wolf and the Watchman because those acts are described in detail. I would say it compares to Karin Slaughter in terms of gratuitous violence and crudeness.
 
This definitely is not a book for everyone, mostly due to the graphic content. I did find the story engaging even if some of the content was overdone and parts of the story were extremely bleak and depressing particularly regarding the treatment of women. But the author shows a lot of potential, so I probably would give him another try at some point in the future.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Michelle Miller

“The Alienist set in eighteenth-century Stockholm: Brawny, bloody, intricate, enthralling—and the best historical thriller I’ve read in twenty years.” —A.J. Finn, #1 bestselling author of The Woman in the Window “Thrilling, unnerving, clever, and beautiful.” —Fredrik Backman, #1 bestselling author of A Man Called Ove “Chilling and thought-provoking. Relentless, well-written, and nearly impossible to put down.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) One morning in the autumn of 1793, watchman Mikel Cardell is awakened from his drunken slumber with reports of a body seen floating in the Larder, once a pristine lake on Stockholm’s Southern Isle, now a rancid bog. Efforts to identify the bizarrely mutilated corpse are entrusted to incorruptible lawyer Cecil Winge, who enlists Cardell’s help to solve the case. But time is short: Winge’s health is failing, the monarchy is in shambles, and whispered conspiracies and paranoia abound. Winge and Cardell become immersed in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams. From a farmer’s son who is lead down a treacherous path when he seeks his fortune in the capital to an orphan girl consigned to the workhouse by a pitiless parish priest, their investigation peels back layer upon layer of the city’s labyrinthine society. The rich and the poor, the pious and the fallen, the living and the dead—all collide and interconnect with the body pulled from the lake. Breathtakingly bold and intricately constructed, The Wolf and the Watchman brings to life the crowded streets, gilded palaces, and dark corners of late-eighteenth-century Stockholm, offering a startling vision of the crimes we commit in the name of justice, and the sacrifices we make in order to survive.

The Wolf and the Watchman A Novel

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