The Wolf and the Watchman: 1793: A Novel
Written by Niklas Natt och Dag
Narrated by Matt Addis, Casper Rundegren and Clara Andersson
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
“What's better than an ornate period piece with style to spare? One that includes a murder mystery. Oh, and boy is it a riveting mystery....A bit of Patrick Süskind’s Perfume and a bit of Sherlock Holmes, this wolf has some bite to it.” —NPR
“Reads like a season of ‘True Detective’...anchored by a powerful sense of place and a memorable cast of characters....You won’t soon forget it.” —USA TODAY
Named Best Debut Novel of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers
One morning in the autumn of 1793, watchman Mikel Cardell is awakened from his drunken slumber with reports of a body seen floating in the Larder, once a pristine lake on Stockholm’s Southern Isle, now a rancid bog. Efforts to identify the bizarrely mutilated corpse are entrusted to incorruptible lawyer Cecil Winge, who enlists Cardell’s help to solve the case. But time is short: Winge’s health is failing, the monarchy is in shambles, and whispered conspiracies and paranoia abound.
Winge and Cardell become immersed in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams. From a farmer’s son who is led down a treacherous path when he seeks his fortune in the capital to an orphan girl consigned to the workhouse by a pitiless parish priest, their gruesome investigation peels back layer upon layer of the city’s labyrinthine society. The rich and the poor, the pious and the fallen, the living and the dead—all collide and interconnect with the body pulled from the lake.
Breathtakingly bold and intricately constructed, The Wolf and the Watchman brings to life the crowded streets, gilded palaces, and dark corners of late-eighteenth-century Stockholm, offering a startling vision of the crimes we commit in the name of justice, and the sacrifices we make in order to survive.
Niklas Natt och Dag
Niklas Natt och Dag (“Night and Day”) is a member of the oldest surviving noble family in Sweden. The Wolf and the Watchman: 1793, his first novel, was named the Best Debut of 2017 by the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers. It and the second book in the trilogy, The City Between the Bridges: 1794, are being published in thirty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and their two sons.
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Reviews for The Wolf and the Watchman
46 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible. And incredibly twisted. Great time piece. Made me feel cozy all the way through. Well, cozy and twisted of course.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very engaging book that keeps you enthralled throughout the time
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark and atmospheric. Beautifully descriptive writing that made it easy to feel transported to another time and place. Excellent narration as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was amazing; my elderly mom and I listened together straight through, only hitting pause so I could race to the kitchen to throw something together and skid back into her bedroom with dual plates so we didn't starve as a result of fascination. My mom's increasing dementia means fewer and fewer memories make the memory jump from short to long so when I say that the the workhouse storyline stuck around for us to keep riffing on certain brilliant but horrifying details like we used to (one of the characters had been there a long old time and the effects on her psyche were specific and indelible) is a testament to the power of the writing. Some things really stick in this one, and the staying power is impressive. Otherwise I assure you my mom would have let go of it 5 seconds later and it would spin away in gushing gutters of days go by. I'm grateful to the author for the vividly rendered experience of the place nobody wants to go ever,and which never would have existed on a planet in the care of a loving deity. Really. The workhouse makes Bleak House look like a polite picnic on the lawn. It takes good text to bite like that, and it's more than just deft rendering of a good plot, it has to capture something that rings true enough to human behavior as experienced by living it and paying attention to the details so that from the character on the page is how long ago and far away perforates here and now so that corollary resonating details form a harmonic, shivering through the air like a quick live thing, flashing silver trails through the permeable moment.
It occurs to me that maybe not everyone has been in a cathedral when the organ sets up a wave pattern that involves the building , I assume on purpose because it makes a huge harmonic that sounds exactly like one might imagine the voice of invisible angels coming fromeverywhere at once. I've only heard it twice, once in Guadalajara when the organist was practicing and once in France during a concert and I assume other people have too. My assumption being that the buildings are designed to do that in order to provoke awe and wonder. Pass the offering plate right about.....now. Presence of the lord and all that. Boosts the profits. I mean it's not just buildings full of humming air, there's that film of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in the 60's setting up a sympathetic wave in a high wind, waves running along it like it's a rope and cars flying off willy billy untill it just shatters. There's no sound it's an old super 8 film from a witness to the event too old for soundtracks. Bob, honey, how long is this detour?I dunno, Bob, I feel like we may be lost...didn't we start with a book review? In Sweden? Why are we in Tacoma? I'm pretty sure we're in the wrong place, far far from home
I guess it would have been simpler there has to be a butterfly in the net.
Before I went on a ride with harmonic resonance and fell off a bridge.
Now I remember why I don't write reviews.
Anyway, the workhouse was only part of the book and the rest of it is excellent too. The characters are interesting, their predicaments compelling, their intersections intricate but not Byzantine, we are never insulted with the improbable, no loose threads or characters who get introduced and left in limbo, in other words, there was probably the magic touch of a good editor that is so woefully lacking anymore and which offends me to no end. Because it disrespects the attentive reader. If that is you, rejoice. So, an easy 5 stars.
Read the book.Lay in some provisions because you aren't going anywhere til it's over. And you're going to sit there
for a while after like a stunned ox. You'll get over it eventually. I doubt you'll forget anytime soon though.3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book! The character development and imagery are outstanding. The story line kept my attention throughout. Twists and turns were wonderfully laid! It is very macabre and, at times, shocking. You have to like this type of story. I loved it and highly recommend.
1 person found this helpful