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The Steel Spring

Per Wahlöö Sarah Death

$22.99

Paperback

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English
Vintage
02 April 2012
A chilling dystopian classic crime story from the godfather of Scandinavian crime fiction and author of the Martin Beck series.

'The godfather of Scandinavian crime fiction' Jo Nesbo

Chief Inspector Jensen is a policeman in an unnamed European country where the government has criminalised being drunk, even in private at home, and where the city centres have been demolished to devote more space to gleaming new roads.

Recovering in a hospital room abroad after a liver transplant, Jensen receives a note instructing him to return home immediately, but when he reaches the airport he discovers that all flights home have been cancelled and all communication from within his homeland has ceased. One of the last messages sent requested urgent medical help from abroad and when Jensen is piloted across the border it soon becomes clear that an epidemic has ravaged the country.
By:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Vintage
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 14mm
Weight:   151g
ISBN:   9780099554752
ISBN 10:   0099554755
Pages:   208
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Born in 1926, Per Wahloo was a Swedish writer and journalist who, alongside his own novels, collaborated with his wife, Maj Sjowall, on the bestselling Martin Beck crime series which are credited as inspiring writers as varied as Agatha Christie, Henning Mankell and Jonathan Franzen. In 1971 the fourth novel in the series, The Laughing Policeman, won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Per Wahloo died in 1975. Sarah Death has translated the work of many Swedish authors from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, including Alexander Ahndoril, Steve Sem-Sandberg and Carl-Johan Vallgren, and Norwegian Linn Ullman (A Blessed Child was named Translated Novel of the Year by the Independent). She has twice won the triennial George Bernard Shaw Prize, for Kerstin Ekman's The Angel House, and Ellen Mattson's Snow. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Academy's Translation Prize.

Reviews for The Steel Spring

The godfather of Scandinavian crime fiction -- Jo Nesbo A vigorous and powerful mind...there is no doubt about the originality of his talent * Sunday Times * [Sarah Death's translation] seems to catch the bleakness perfectly... Wahlöö's solo work deserves to be considered in the same context as Zamyatin, Capek, Orwell, or Durrenmatt...high praise indeed -- Michael Carlson * Irresistible Targets * They are economical and move with great pace... Two unique novels have been restored to the canon of European crime fiction in English. Don't miss. -- Bob Cornwell * Crime Time * The premise is intriguing... The themes are topical * Independent on Sunday *


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