Prime Time. Liza Marklund.Ingrid Eng-Rundlow(Translator). Simom & Schuster UK Ltd (2002)

A very enjoyable Swedish crime story with a great central character and an clever plot. At the end of the filming of a series of television programes the shows host is found murdered. There are twelve possible suspects, the other people at the location and involved in the filming. Annika Bengtzon is a reporter for a struggling tabloid just returning to work after maternity leave and one of the suspects is a good friend of hers.  Annika has trouble with her partner and is being drawn into a power struggle at work while trying to pursue the story. The story twists and turns gracefully, the reveals are very well staged and the final revelation is superbly managed.
While the undoubted star of the book is Annika Bengtzon, she is spiky and uncertain as well as fiercely competent and determined, she is surrounded by a wonderfully developed supporting cast. Liza Marklund avoids cliches and stereotypes, the cast are full of vigor and each has the pulse of life within them. The three main threads of the story are cunningly juggled, they bump into each other rather than overlap, still they do not crowd each other and the book has a nice unity to it.
Thomas, Annika's partner is annoying, for a lot of the story he is awash with self-pitying frustration about the fat that the choices he made have not given him the life he wants. Liza Marklund pulls off the very difficult task of making it possible that such a strong woman as Annika would tolerate let alone feel grateful for the attentions of such a man. The dynamics of their relationship do develop in an interesting way across the length of the book, overall it remains the least appealing aspect of the story. The power struggle at the newspaper where Annik works is superbly staged, the newspaper is struggling due to incompetence at the top and frustration pushes a senior manager into action. The route he takes and the way he stages his battles is great, office politics rarely are described as well as they are here. The friction between personality and business requirements is subtly and effectively drawn out. The fight is not life or death, it is not any less intense however.
The core murder story is excellent, a great set up is not wasted in any way. A remote location, a clear list of suspects all of who had a reason to wish the victim ill, the mechanics are managed with considerably skill. The plot is unraveled at a considered pace, there are no explosive action scene, the final confrontation is as tense as any gun battle and prove that words can be dangerous.
All told, a very enjoyable read with a sharp edge of humor and a hefty punch, well worth reading.

Red Wolf. Liza Marklund (Writer), Neil Smith (Translator). Corgi Books (2010)

A Swedish thriller with a great plot and a very engaging cast lead by a intriguing protagonist. Annika Bengtzon is a journalist, recovering from a severely traumatic event, she becomes interested in the death of a fellow reporter. The dead reporter had been working on the story of the worst terrorist incident in Sweed that had taken place years before, the same story Annika was interested in. As Anniks takes a closer look at the death she discover it may not have been accidental and that the incident at the airfield may not be ancient history. The reveals are very well staged and the conclusion is sharp and satisfying.
Annika Bengtzon is a very engaging and somewhat unsympathetic character. She is struggling to regain her equilibrium after nearly loosing her life and her work and home life are coming under pressure. She responds in unexpected and dynamic ways to her circumstances, is never willing to give up or knuckle under. She is very willing to fight dirty to protect her interests and this adds depth and force to her character.
The context of the enthusiasm of a lot of young people in the early 1970's for both Russian and Chinese communism and the unexpectedly long shadow it would cast in their lives is carefully explored. One of the nice aspects to the book is that the honest idealism of the times is not undermined by the bitter aftermath and weary hindsight. The cast are allowed to managed their own choices and the fallout from them as individuals. Liza Marklund sidesteps any stereotypes or cliches by giving her cast such strong personalities, the story is unexpected because they are happily unpredictable. There is also a very strong and pointed thread in the book about the Swedish media and the steps its owners would go to to preserve their assets, it is backed up a nice afterword by Liz Marklund which shows how skillfully she created fiction out of fact. Great fun.