Roslund and Hellstrom, seen as true successors to Sjowal and Wahloo of classic detective Martin Beck fame, created this superbly complex thriller. Authentic, ingenious with strong characters and comment.
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Sent by my scandi-crime friend, but I'm not sure I want to start a series with book 5.

EDIT: Very well done, and such an interesting writing duo. ( )

This novel is divided into five parts, and the first two were rather slow going. There is a rather elaborate setup, necessary to the fast pacing of the last two parts, but I almost lost patience. I also haven’t read anything by these two authors, so the character development of their detective Ewert Grens was rather lost on me. I suspect fans wouldn’t find the first parts as tedious as I did. But by the third part, the pace picked up and the setup began to pay off.
I was a little disoriented by how seriously the Swedish legal system seemed to take the coverups required to use police informants. Then I was a little ashamed that we in the United States don’t give it a second thought. As the prosecutor says, “Criminals working for the police. Criminals’ own crimes being covered up and downplayed. One crime is legitimized so that another one can be investigated. Policemen who lie and withhold the truth from other policemen. Damn it, Grens, in a democratic society.” ( )

Piet Hoffman es el mejor informante de la policía sueca, pero solo un hombre sabe de su existencia. Después de que un caso de drogas saliera mal, el ex delincuente se enfrenta a su misión más difícil hasta el momento: infiltrarse en la prisión de alta seguridad más aterradora de Suecia.
El detective Ewert Grens está a cargo de investigar el asesinato relacionado con las drogas. Sin saber la verdadera identidad de Hoffmann, Grens cree que está tras la pista de un psicópata peligroso, pero no puede evitar sentir que le han ocultado o manipulado información vital relacionada con el caso. Hoffmann tiene grabaciones que implican a algunos de los políticos más destacados de Suecia en una conspiración altamente corrupta, pero encontraron en Ewerts Grens el arma perfecta para eliminarlo.

Three Seconds is an interesting look at how the Swedish police operate a criminal informant, and react to corruption related to the informant. It is an exciting book that builds suspense throughout the story.

I found it very interesting that things like the use of a criminal informant that would draw very little suspicion in the US, are taken very seriously in Sweden. Several times I found myself unable to understand why the Swedes were getting all upset about actions that most likely would not have raised any questions in the US. ( )