Books: A Death In Sweden By Kevin Wignall

(Drivebycuriosity) - Some books are directly written for the movie screen. The novel "A Death in Sweden" by Kevin Wignall seems to be one  of them (amazon). The plot reads like a movie script. The book is advertised as an spy thriller, but has little in common with John le Carré´s secret service novels. The style reminds me of Dashiell Hammett`s hardboiled stories and the plot has some similarities to the Bourne movies (this is a spoiler free blog).

The protagonist is a free lancer who has once worked  for the CIA - and had hunted and killed people for them - but now he is hunted himself. The title is somewhat misleading. Just some pages are set in Scandinavia, the majority of the plot happens in France and other European places.

I didn`t care much about the plot that seemed unbelievable. Neither convinced me the characters. But I enjoyed the frequent elaborated action scenes which are meticulously developed and show Wignalls craftsmanship.

"Death in Sweden" is easy reading for a lazy vacation day or a long night flight.