Nathan LarsonCritiques

This is one of those books that is perfect for what it is - A violent romp through a futuristic New York after it has been hit by terrorism and disease. Our Anti Hero, a man of mystery, even to himself, with a severe case of OCD is a man who can make people disappear. When this gets him involved with Ukrainian Gangsters and missing religious artifacts, he gets beat up, shot at, beat up again, all while surviving a city of New York that is more refugee camp than bustling city.

As for the story itself, as I said, its fun, but violent. You aren't going to find a book of literary value. However, its written well, Dewey is an interesting character, what with his "system" and pills that he needs just to survive. It really is the perfect beach read.½

Full Review

Not at all what I through it will be. What I got is a crime busting thriller. The writing is fast and to the point. At times the writing works well with the fast-past action and other times it feels choppy. Especially when transferring from scene to scene.

The story is set in a dystopian New York City. The way it describes make it feel hollow and empty. New York shouldn’t feel so eerie, which is done well.

It may be weird to say that I am a fan of dystopian near-future settings. I have a morbid fascination with bleak, sparse landscapes and crumbling infrastructure; I remain hopeful that I will never have to live in such a world, but constantly wonder what type of person I would be if I survived in one.

In "The Dewey Decimal System", Larson creates an instantly engaging survivor as a protagonist, and a compelling city in ruins around him. Larson's staccato, fragmented style makes this a quick and brutal read with plenty of physical and emotional carnage. I only wished for more scenes in the New York Public Library, yearning for more details of this post-apocalyptic information age that seems entirely devoid of the 'net.

"Listen here; I fear no man, save myself."
p. 59

"*We* don't try to move in on each other's territories, sir, or poach each other's property; we're not like the Italians or the Russians, killing each other, lying to each other. This is a life thing, and a true family. The Sicilian thing, they're vain, spoiled children."
p. 115

erk -- confirmed: I really dislike 'dystopian fiction'

I have been reading a lot of Scandinavian Noir recently because there is such a depth of good literature in that genre, as well as reading this series of Akashic Noir. I was disappointed in this collection as there was only one author that I enjoyed reading and that was Ake Edwardson. I have found this Noir series to be uneven in quality, and I blame on the editing as there are plenty of authors out there that write high quality work.

Eeeuuuwww, too dystopian for me!

I won a free copy of this book through LibraryThing, and I originally requested it because I was excited at the chance to "see" the dark side of Stockholm, but the book wasn't entirely what I expected. To start, one of the stories wasn't really noir, but more fantasy/paranormal ("From the Remains" by Inger Edelfeldt). Another story, "The Wahlberg Disease", seemed, frankly, pointless; it was a reminiscence of the narrator's time as a nearly homeless young man, which could have been interesting, but it focused too much on photography history and technicalities and not enough on plot (I couldn't really figure out the turning point in the story, even after rereading it). I also really wanted to like "Death Star", but the characters (especially the villain) felt too flat to me, even for a short story. However, the other stories were enjoyable and some were even brilliant; "Horse", "Black Ice", and "Nineteen Pieces", especially, crawled under my skin. And each story, even the ones I didn't like, made you smell and feel Stockholm. I will definitely take a look at other anthologies in this series. Overall, a good read.

Forget the superficially shiny side of Scandi crime. This high-class anthology set in Sweden’s capital city exposes the queasy realities of social inequality, soul-diminishing isolation, bigotry and brutality in thirteen separate stories. This is midnight noir – but the editors skilfully balance these previously unpublished, contemporary tales with slices of satire, sardonic observations and even a sprinkling of supernatural whimsy. So it’s not all relentless misery…

Stockholm Noir is divided into three topics – crime and punishment, fear and darkness, and the brutality of beasts – which explore extensive territory in the landscape of crime fiction. The anthology includes paranoid psychological chillers, police procedurals and gangland justice alongside a couple of tales of the unexpected which twist brilliantly in the final lines.

‘From the Remains’ is maybe the odd one out here; it appears to echo the themes of ‘Let The Right One In’ and then takes an extremely sinister turn. ‘The Splendors and Miseries of a Swedish Crime Writer’, although an amusing interlude, didn’t quite hit the same high as the other stories.

Nathan Larson finishes this literary collection with a dramatic depiction of the nature of hate in ‘10/09/03’. The pages almost drip with small-minded spite, as a convincingly chilling extremist masterminds an appalling hate crime. Superb storytelling: horrible subject matter. It’s a fitting end to a mature ensemble of suspense, violence and intrigue, one which leaves the reader entertained, yes, but also educated and somewhat sobered.

8/10

There's a more detailed review over at:
https://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/stockholm-noir-swedens-slea...

Stockholm Noir edited by Nathan Larson and Carl-Michael Edenborg a recent addition to the globally minded Akashic Noir Series this collection features 13 gripping stories exhuming the darker aspects underlying Sweden's capital city. Each tale is set in a different Stockholm neighborhood or outlying suburb and the book even includes a map of the area marked by the bodies of the innocent and not so innocent victims. The book opens with an introduction from the editors and is divided into three sections Part I: Crime & Punishment, Part II: Fear & Darkness, and Part III: The Brutality of Beasts. I was pleasantly surprised by the wide range the authors demonstrated with stories evoking a variety of fiction types including detective, satirical, police procedural, thrillers, and even fairy tales while remaining true to the darkness promised by having 'noir' in the title. All the stories are good while for me highlights included 'Black Ice' about an elderly woman increasingly gripped by fear and paranoia and 'The Splendors and Miseries of a Swedish Crime Writer' which satirizes the mania for reading and writing crime fiction in prosperous low crime Sweden.

The book concludes with photos and brief descriptions of all of the contributors including the authors and translators. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys taking a vicarious walk on the dark side of town in our global village.

Set in Sweden’s capital city Akashic’s noir series yanks back the curtain on Stockholm’s underbelly-revealing a strange, savage, corrupt side of this upscale cosmopolitan city. A few of the authors are familiar to Nordic crime readers, such as Ake Edwardson and Johan Theorin, but many have been translated into English for the first time offering a gritty introduction. The stories reference common social and political issues from economic disparity to immigration with a Scandinavian twist. Affordable housing, the war on drugs, human relationships, politics, and the failures of social planning wrapped up in terror and suspense. The nice thing about an anthology is that you find new authors, hopefully a few offered up in this series will continue to be translated.

There is an old joke that says, “Swedes are only happy when they are depressed.” The stories in this anthology are testaments to that belief. In his introduction, Larson emphasizes that most tourists see Stockholm as a “shimmering dream” and refugees see it as a well-run and welcoming social democracy. The ring of truth in these perceptions notwithstanding, he points out that “the city is . . . a gaping maw ready to devour your soul should you wander down the wrong alley . . . Everywhere is noir.”

Like all anthologies, this collection has some remarkably good stories that are worth the price of admission, but it also has and others that are just average. The authors come from various writing backgrounds—some detective noir, while others fantasy or horror. The stories seem to have been selected to highlight the failings of Sweden’s ambitious attempts at social engineering—housing shortages, suburban sprawl, tolerance of drugs and extremely liberal immigration policies. All of the characters portray the tendency for dark moods that the joke seems to emphasize.

The 13 stories are grouped under 3 headings: crime and punishment—classical detective noir; fear and darkness—horror; and the brutality of beasts. The settings depict dark moods with jaded characters, who tend to be in hopeless situations. All of the authors have an uncanny ability to slowly develop suspense and mystery in their writing. Some of the more noteworthy contributions are: Johan Theorin’s “Still in Kallhäll.” It tells of the housing shortage that exists in the inner, more desirable, but expensive section of Stockholm and the length to which a person might go to live there instead in the more affordable but distant suburbs. “Black Ice” demonstrates Inger Frimansson’s superb ability to slowly build a mood of terror. Once again, the story is driven by the unusual ways people might cope with Stockholm’s housing shortage. Martin Holmén’s “The Smugglers” is more of a conventional crime story, but its threatening mood is palpable. In “From the Remains,” Inger Edelfeldt takes advantage of another dreary setting to tell a more classical vampire story. Similarly, Unni Drougge’s tells of a grim neighborhood that serves as body dumping ground in “Death Star.”

Excellent compilation of noir fiction set in Stockholm, Sweden. 13 very well-written stories that provide the reader with an excellent understanding of the dark side Stockholm.

Our setting: post-apocalyptic New York. "2/14" has supplanted "9/11," although we don't know exactly what happened or why, just that most of the bridges are destroyed and the City is now a sparsely populated ruin of its former self.

Our protagonist: Dewey Decimal. So named because he plans to spend the rest of his days re-organizing the books in the New York Public Library. He gets his supplies from the DA, a recoil-inducing opportunist who sends Decimal out to get rid of inconvenient characters. Librarian-hitman hybrids aren't common characters in dystopian fiction, but Decimal is more than just that. He's paranoid like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory, he's a germophobe constantly thinking about using Purell, and he can speak Serbian, Ukrainian, and who knows how many other obscure languages. He also ascribes a mysterious importance to "the System," (thus completing the title's play on words). The System -- which mandates, for instance, that he make only left-hand turns before noon -- makes Decimal's life pretty difficult, but he believes it keeps him safe.

This book is written like a pulp detective novel, but set in the dystopian future.

That pulp cliché, the oldest of the old, the most tired of all tired phrases comes to me. But I dig the truth at its core. When in doubt, look for the girl. Cherchez la femme.

That dystopian-pulp combination, like the OCD-librarian-hitman, took some getting used to, but it kept me entertained and was unlike anything I've read before. Neither of those is my favorite genre, but if one is yours, I recommend you check this out.

One of the many things I like about the Akashic noir series is the introduction. Nathan Larson and Carl-Michael Edenborg do an excellent job laying the groundwork for the stories included in Stockholm Noir and provide a good definition of noir fiction. The stories in this compilation are good quality, often surprising, and gave me what felt like an authentic feel for the many sides of Sweden’s capital.

Who knew that Stockholm Sweden had such a bad side? With Stockholm Noir, which is edited by Nathan Larson and Carl-Michael Edenborg, you get 13 tales that show the darkside of the capitol of Sweden. The 'Noir' series by Akashic Books has been extremely popular. This book fits right in with the mood and style of a classic noir and doesn't disappoint.
The short stories are amazing and filled with powerful writing by Swedish writers. Within each story, you get a dark and gritty look into the land of IKEA and show you that under the surface, things are bad and disturbing and just not right.
Even if you are not familiar with Stockholm or Sweden, that's fine, these stories will immerse you into the city. I love Sweden and Stockholm, even though I've never been there so I'm not entirely familiar with the layout of the city, but the stories are filled with excellent descriptions that I didn't feel lost or confused with the landscape of the city.
I'm also new the 'noir' genre. I won a copy of Stockholm Noir with the hope that I would leave an honest review. Once they said that the book was on its way, I was excited to start reading it since I love Sweden. The book was excellent. Was I reading it with blue and yellow glasses on? No. I'm critical of books and will put them down if they aren't any good. With that said, I was hesitant and how these stories would be since I'm not a big reader or noir and mystery, plus I never heard of any of these authors. But I was impressed. The stories in the book were translated from Swedish to English but came across natural and easy to read. I want to start looking up some of the authors to see if they have some 'English' work out there.
If you have read any of the other Akashic Books in the noir series, I'm sure you'll find cliches, similar stories, and themes that have been beaten to death, but I'm sure these will feel different with the Scandinavian angle. I was lost in the stories and had a hard time putting the book down.

This was great! The stories encompassed a variety of settings, time periods, characters, and situations, all with the central theme of Stockholm. They were well-written and engaging, and I will be seeking out more by some of the authors.

The short stories in Stockholm Noir are organized into three sections with themes of Crime and Punishment, Fear and Darkness, and The Brutality of Beasts. Each part offers four or five stories by leading Swedish authors. The book begins with a good introduction by the editors, illuminating the reader on Swedish culture and the popularity of Swedish crime stories. The introduction sets a background for the reader to enter the mind of the Swedish citizen and the conflicting reality of their relatively crime-free existence, and the lure of crime fiction.

My favorite stories were in the Part I: Crime and Punishment, but each section has stories that I enjoyed. The anthology moves through a nice succession of crime plots that progress to the dark and eerie side of the noir genre. I recommend the book for anyone interested in the crime, noir genre. My interest in Swedish crime fiction drew me to the book, and I appreciate the opportunity to review the book for LibraryThing.

A collection of mystery and suspense stories that explore the darkest of dark underbellies in the otherwise so picturesque City of Stockholm. I've read a few Akashic books before and, like the other ones, this one has a few great stories, a few good ones, and a few I didn't care for. A couple of these authors have been favorites of mine for a long time, Edelfeldt and Theorin, so unsurprisingly I liked their stories the best, but I was happy to find a couple of new potential favorites as well: Persson's story is quite solid, Edenborg's story was very creepy and had a surprising protagonist, and Frimansson's story just broke my heart (after having creeped me out, of course). I have to say that this one is edited really well and the stories in this collection are all noir, whether they are mysteries or not.½

In this clever and thought provoking selection of short stories one is sure to find the dark side of Stockholm. Normally, when I think of Sweden I think of something modern, light, airy and beautiful but, this collection shows that there is another side altogether. It's dark, shadowy, gritty and full of disillusionment.

Some of my favorite stories included The Splendors and Miseries of a Swedish Crime Writer, in which the main character gets more than he bargained for with his writing career. Still in Kallhäll, shows that no matter how hard Klas tried, he couldn't find a way to his dream location. In Black Ice, the children who want a parent to move to a retirement home for selfish reasons, have no idea of the harm they will cause in the end. There are many more stories included that will show the reader a darker, edgier side of life to Stockholm than they have probably seen before. Overall, its an engaging look at what lurks under the surface when the veil is pulled back from the beautiful facade.

Thanks to Akashic Books for allowing me to read an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, in truth, this is not a book I would pick up on my own since dystopias aren't my thing. On the other hand, I met the author [a:Nathan Larson|4559308|Nathan Larson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1301338353p2/4559308.jpg] at Odyssey Books and have enjoyed some exchanges with him on Facebook so I am inclined in favor of it. So *I* liked it enough to give it five stars. Your mileage may vary :-)

Okay, in truth, this is not a book I would pick up on my own since dystopias aren't my thing. On the other hand, I met the author [a:Nathan Larson|4559308|Nathan Larson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1301338353p2/4559308.jpg] at Odyssey Books and have enjoyed some exchanges with him on Facebook so I am inclined in favor of it. So *I* liked it enough to give it five stars. Your mileage may vary :-)

Okay, in truth, this is not a book I would pick up on my own since dystopias aren't my thing. On the other hand, I met the author [a:Nathan Larson|4559308|Nathan Larson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1301338353p2/4559308.jpg] at Odyssey Books and have enjoyed some exchanges with him on Facebook so I am inclined in favor of it. So *I* liked it enough to give it five stars. Your mileage may vary :-)

Fun engaging read. Well written. Charismatic Characters add to the reading enjoyment. Intriguing plot with good flow. This book went over very well with the patrons at our library. A request has been put in for the rest of this series. Fingers crossed!

Fun engaging read. Well written. Charismatic Characters add to the reading enjoyment. Intriguing plot with good flow.