Another fantastic book from my bookshelves.
The Andalucian Friend by Alexander Söderberg was published already in 2012 (in Swedish, 2013 in English). While reading, I realised it is the first part of a trilogy. I remember it got excellent reviews when it was first published, although I did not realise it was such a long time ago. This is one of the best thrillers I have read. Quite different from anything else in this genre. Once finishing the first book I downloaded the following two e-books from the library;
The Other Son and
The Good Wolf. I read them both in two days. Simply could not put them down.
"When Sophie Brinkmann meets Hector Guzman, she knows everything that she needs to: he’s handsome, he’s charming and he makes her happy. But what she doesn’t know is that Hector has some nasty friends, some even nastier enemies, and an unscrupulous police operation relentlessly following his every move. With her house under surveillance by the law and her life under threat from drug traffickers, gangsters and hitmen, Sophie must decide who she can trust – and whose side she really wants to be on."
It might be difficult to understand how an ordinary nurse like Sophie falls in love with a criminal type like Hector Guzman. I think this is the reason why Söderberg's novels have a certain appeal. The characters are well-drawn. They are not categorised into bad people being bad, and good people being good. Both sides have good and bad streaks. Nothing is black and white in this account of what is happening when an innocent nurse, by chance, is entering into the world of international crime.
One can have a doubt about how someone like Sophie can handle all the criminal elements she meets. It is a violent story. Once you have seen a brutal murder would you not call the police? Once you realise that your boyfriend is the leader of an international criminal gang, would you not, at least, try to get out of it? There are questions here that do not get an answer. Once you are on the train, maybe you just have to continue.
The tempo is extremely high through all of the three books, and I, at least, found myself holding my breath. Constantly moving forwards, even when there seem to be quiet moments. We meet gangsters, thugs, and both honest and corrupt policemen, and women. In all of this, Sophie has to balance on a tight-rope to be able to come out of this alive, as well as protecting her son.
As the story unfolds, the plot is becoming more complicated, as the international gangs are taking the stake higher and higher. The more complicated the plot is becoming, the more you ask yourself how this will end. Well, the end came quite as a surprise. Considering there really are no winners in this story, I think it was all right.
It seems the first book will be filmed, but no further details available. It will be interesting to see who will play Sophie, Hector, and Albert, and all the other characters. I can't wait to see what the movie producers will make of it.
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