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Strindberg's Star

by Jan Wallentin, Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator)

2.55 of 5 stars 2.55 · rating details · 245 ratings · 74 reviews

A multilayered international thrill ride at breakneck pace, reminiscent of The Rule of Four

The Arctic, 1897: Nils Strindberg crashes his hydrogen balloon during the mysterious Andrée Expedition to the North Pole.
Germany, 1942: Gruesome and inexplicable experiments are performed on concentration camp prisoners.
Sweden, present-day: Cave diver Erik Hall finds a dead body wear...more

Hardcover, 447 pages

Published May 24th 2012 by Viking Adult (first published 2010)

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May 08, 2012 Jillyn rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: maybe crime fans?

Shelves: first-reads

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Normally, this isn't my kind of genre. But the description for this giveaway boasted "Lisbeth Salander meets Robert Langdon!" A fan of the Millennium trilogy, as well as Angels & Demons, I decided to give this a shot. Instead, I was reminded why I steer away.

The writing is far from smooth. It switches between characters & plot lines like crazy, & I found it hard to follow. This is in addition to a far-fetched plot & characters th...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Atlanteans, and people looking for a more intelligent, morose Dan Brown

Recommended to Alan by: A message channeled from an ancient Atlantean

Shades of ancient astronauts...

An unlikeable loner descends into a flooded, abandoned copper mine in Sweden, hoping to out-dive his rivals, the Dyke Divers, and gain a moment of online fame. When he does, he comes face to face with a disturbingly well-preserved corpse, holding a mysterious artifact—an ankh, incised with undecipherable runes and made of a material Unknown to Modern Science. This discovery (or, more accurately, rediscovery) leads to the involvement of reluctant hero Don Titelman,...more Shades of ancient astronauts...

An unlikeable loner descends into a flooded, abandoned copper mine in Sweden, hoping to out-dive his rivals, the Dyke Divers, and gain a moment of online fame. When he does, he comes face to face with a disturbingly well-preserved corpse, holding a mysterious artifact—an ankh, incised with undecipherable runes and made of a material Unknown to Modern Science. This discovery (or, more accurately, rediscovery) leads to the involvement of reluctant hero Don Titelman, religious-symbols expert and relentlessly self-medicating psychiatrist... and sends Don, along with his attorney Eva Strand as companion, on a whirlwind European trek by helicopter, rail, ship and rattletrap Renault 5 to find the other piece of Strindberg's mysterious Star, and unlock the secrets to which the Star is the only key. Strindberg's Star is a grand thriller with a broad scope and plenty of action along the way.

It is also a stereotypically bleak Scandinavian novel—Jan Wallentin seldom, if ever, misses a chance to describe settings, people and events as dreary, gray, ghastly or some synonym thereof. Titelman himself is almost laughably grim, a self-hating junkie who most definitely does not get the girl. The novel is in fact almost entirely devoid of tender emotions... there's a certain amount of filial piety, an occasional lingering glance, but very little relief from the overall mood of misery and gloom.

And about those ancient astronauts... Wallentin's tale often strains credulity well past the breaking point in search of its story. UFOs don't actually show up as such, but over the years I've developed an aversion to the oft-repeated notion—which does crop up again here—that human beings are just too stupid to come up with our own science. In the real world, humanity's scientific discoveries are, for good or ill, our own, not merely the stolen leavings of conveniently absent superbeings. Duelling secret societies, Nazi mysticism, and a grand tour of almost every fad in the history of the occult appear in this book before we're through.

Despite all that, though, Strindberg's Star definitely maintains its momentum—it is a thriller, and a well-written one at that. Don Titelman comes across as a pagan Robert Langdon, penned by a Swedish Dan Brown with better prose technique (though that could be due at least partly to skilled translator Rachel Willson-Broyles's efforts. Hmm, there's a thought... maybe Brown just needs a translator!). Titelman does have some implausibly convenient areas of expertise, at least one unrealistically helpful relative, and a clichéd photographic memory, but he's usually up to the task at hand, whether that's analyzing a few lines from Baudelaire or home-brewing explosives.

And so one is swept along, like an eremite who has stepped half-unwarily, half intending suicide, into the dark, rushing stream, to be carried out to the frozen sea of terrible knowledge, where all may yet at last be revealed...(less)

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May 19, 2012 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

The year was 1897. Nils Strindberg traveled with several companions. Their balloon crashed in the North Pole during the Andree Expedition. What they left behind to this day still has people searching.

Erik Hall was checking out pictures of other mine explorers. One that had Erik's attention was of two women who went cave diving near where Erik lives. Erik decided to go explore the cave for himself. He finds more than he bargained for with a dead body. The body is holding an ankh.

Don Titelman is a...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Ronald Roseborough rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, historical-fiction, mystery, mystery-adventure-thriller

I don't remember having this much fun reading an adventure story since first devouring the stories of Jules Verne. This is what an adventure story should be. It is loaded with action, exotic locals, deliciously evil villains, and a not too heroic, slightly neurotic, unsympathetic character who holds the parts of the story together. More specifically, he is holding the secret to Strindberg's Star, an otherworldly talisman shaped like an ankh surrounded by a star. This object of legend and desire...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Dieleserin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bei einer Tauchtour in einem längst vergessenen Bergwerk macht Erik Hall einen unglaublichen Fund: Eine Leiche hält ein ungewöhnliches Kreuz aus unbekannten Material in ihren Armen. Der Taucher entwedet das Kreuz und benachrichtig die Polizei. Natürlich bekommt die Presse davon Wind und plötzlich scheinen sich alle für den seltsamen Fund zu interessieren. Nur einer nicht – Don Titelman. Erik Hall versucht vergeblich sich mit dem Professor für Geschichte und Symbolik in Verbindung zu setzen. Als...more Bei einer Tauchtour in einem längst vergessenen Bergwerk macht Erik Hall einen unglaublichen Fund: Eine Leiche hält ein ungewöhnliches Kreuz aus unbekannten Material in ihren Armen. Der Taucher entwedet das Kreuz und benachrichtig die Polizei. Natürlich bekommt die Presse davon Wind und plötzlich scheinen sich alle für den seltsamen Fund zu interessieren. Nur einer nicht – Don Titelman. Erik Hall versucht vergeblich sich mit dem Professor für Geschichte und Symbolik in Verbindung zu setzen. Als Don Titelman endlich nachgibt und sich auf den Weg zu dem Taucher begibt, findet er nur noch seine Leiche. Und plötzlich beginnt eine heiße Jagd, bei der es um Leben und Tod geht …

Es fällt mir sehr schwer dieses Buch zu bewerten. Irgendwie liegt es zwischen Gut und Böse. Aber warum?

Erst einmal möchte ich ein Lob für die tolle Aufmachung aussprechen. Das war mal wieder so ein Buch, dass man sieht und einfach lesen möchte. Es handelt sich um ein Hardcover mit gut gestalteten Schutzumschlag.

Doch nun zum Inhalt. Ich habe schnell Zugang zu dem Buch gefunden. Der Anfang ist sehr vielversprechend und spannend, der Schreibstil schlicht und flüssig. Schnell wird klar, dass hier ein unfassbares Geheimnis im Mittelpunkt steht. Doch irgendwann kam der Moment, an dem ich mich das erste Mal gewundert habe. Eine der Hauptpersonen verfügt über übersinnliche Kräft. Das mag so gar nicht zu dem bisher so realistischen Buch passen. Allerdings kann man mit diesem kleinen Ausflug ins Fantastische noch gut Leben. Anders sieht es aus, wenn man zum Ende des Romans vordringt. Die Ereignisse überschlagen sich auf einmal und es wird immer fantastischer. Schließlich gab es den Zeitpunkt, an dem ich nur noch mit dem Kopf schütteln konnte. Jeglicher Sinn für Realität war verschwunden. Das passte einfach nicht zum Rest. Eine Auflösung um das große Geheimnis wird auch nicht gegeben. Es gibt nur schwammige Andeutungen, die alles oder nichts bedeuten könnten. Man schlägt das Buch zu und fragt sich, was man da gerade gelesen hat. So erging es jedenfalls mir.

Ganz anders sind dagegen die Passagen, in denen der Protagonist über die Vergangenheit seiner Großmutter berichtet. Weil sie Jüdin war, wurde sie im 2. Weltkrieg in ein Konzentrationslager verschleppt und musste Höllenqualen durchleiden. All das schildert Don Titelman realistisch und nüchtern. Man merkt, dass ihm die Geschichte seiner Großmutter tief bewegt. Hier liegt auch der Grund für sein Medizinstudium und seine späteren Forschungen über das Dritte Reich. So erfährt man auch an den entsprechenden Stellen wichtige Fakten über die Nazis, ihre Ideologie und Organisationen. Diese Passagen sind wirklich gut geschrieben und sehr informativ – sie bilden einen krassen Kontrast und holen die Handlung wieder auf den Boden.
Diese nüchternen Beschreibungen und die absolut fantastischen Elemente wollen in meinen Augen einfach nicht zusammen passen. Dabei hat das Buch durchaus großes Potenzial und einen gelungenen Spannungsboden.

Was mir beim Lesen außerdem aufgefallen ist: Parallelen zur Millenium-Trilogie von Stieg Larsson. Man nehme eine verrückte Hackerin, die Presse und ein großes Geheimnis und schon hat man das Rezept für einen tollen Thriller! Oder nicht? Das muss jeder Leser für sich selber entscheiden.

Fazit:
Strindbergs Stern von Jan Wallentin ist ein Roman, der zwischen Realität und Fantasie verloren geht. Das Buch hat viel Potenzial und durchaus seine Daseinsberechtigung, aber das abstruse Ende lässt den geneigten Leser verzweifeln. Für mich ist es ein Buch zwischen Gut und Böse. (less)

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Jun 19, 2011 Marie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Strindbergs Stern" von Jan Wallentin erzählt die Geschichte zweier mystischer bzw. schon magischer Objekte – Kreuz und Stern.
Erik Hall findet das Kreuz während seiner Tauchexpedition am Grund eines Bergwerkstollens neben einer Leiche. In dem kleinen Ort in Schweden ist das natürlich eine Sensation, die auch schnell die Medien auf den Plan ruft.
Einige Tage später wird Erik Hall tot aufgefunden. Erschlagen mit einer Flasche. Vom Kreuz fehlt jede Spur.
Einige Tage später wird Don Titelman von der...more "Strindbergs Stern" von Jan Wallentin erzählt die Geschichte zweier mystischer bzw. schon magischer Objekte – Kreuz und Stern.
Erik Hall findet das Kreuz während seiner Tauchexpedition am Grund eines Bergwerkstollens neben einer Leiche. In dem kleinen Ort in Schweden ist das natürlich eine Sensation, die auch schnell die Medien auf den Plan ruft.
Einige Tage später wird Erik Hall tot aufgefunden. Erschlagen mit einer Flasche. Vom Kreuz fehlt jede Spur.
Einige Tage später wird Don Titelman von der Polizei festgenommen, da er im alkoholisierten Zustand in der Nähe der Leiche war und somit der mögliche Mörder. Während er sein Verhör aufgrund von Medikamentenmissbrauch und Abhängigkeit kaum besteht, kommt Eva Strand dazu. Die Rechtsanwältin ist neben Don Titelman eine der wichtigsten Protagonisten im Buch.
Beide werden praktisch aus dem Polizeigewahrsam entführt und finden sich in einer Villa einer Stiftung wieder. Hier hört Don das erste Mal davon, dass es neben dem Kreuz auch noch einen Stern gibt, und erfährt die Hintergründe, was es mit beidem auf sich hat.
Der Leser begibt sich mit Don und Eva auf eine Spurensuche, die spannend und mysteriös ist, bis sich ihnen schließlich die letzten Geheimnisse von Kreuz und Stern offenbaren.
Der Stil des Buches ist durchaus gradlinig, man könnte ihn schon fast als wissenschaftlich bezeichnen. Jan Wallentin erzählt die Geschichte von Anfang bis Ende und doch gelingt es ihm nicht, den Leser die ganze Zeit an das Buch zu fesseln. Hin und wieder entstehen immer wieder Längen, durch die man als Leser schwer hindurch kommt. Dennoch finde ich das Buch nicht als Ganzes schlecht, sondern allenfalls etwas komplexer als hätte sein müssen. Durch die Komplexität entstehen nämlich besagte Längen, die dem Leser im Verlauf von rund 500 Seiten immer wieder aus dem Lesefluss bringen.
Thematisch beschäftigt sich das Buch mit der europäischen Geschichte und Mythologie seit 1895. Die Kombination aus Thriller, Geschichte und Mythologie ist selten, passt aber auch in diesem Fall nicht in Gänze zueinander. Der Autor vermischt Realität und Fiktion gekonnt miteinander und doch fühlt sich der Leser an manchen Stellen allein gelassen.
Fazit: Für wissenschaftlich und geschichtlich interessierte Leser bietet dieses Buch eine gute Abwechslung, wenn man sich nebenbei auch noch für Mythologie und das Lesen eines Thrillers interessiert. Für alle anderen ist dieses Buch nur bedingt geeignet, da die Längen in dem Buch nicht unbedingt zum Weiterlesen motivieren. Die Protagonisten bleiben flach und eindimensional, als Leser lernen sie nicht wirklich kennen.
(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: archeological-thriller

Don't do it! I think something was lost in translation. When the book first started, it describes Don, the main ctharacter, as withered with grayish cheeks, and then it turns out he's in his mid-40s. What? None of the characters are really likeable. Except Hex. I'd like to read more with her as a main character. But written by another author. The whole interesting ankh part never really gets explained to my satisfaction about where it came from. And I love origin stories. (view spoiler)...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Kristin Lundgren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: artifact-thriller, megalomaniac

This is a slightly unusual entry into the DaVinci Code type thriller that I call artifact thrillers. It's about the story of a man who found pieces of an ancient device, buried in the sands in a city lost in the desert in Southern Russia/Mongolia. When the star shaped it is placed within the ankh shaped cross, they come together to form a celestial map to something. What that is, and how it is found then and again now, is the exciting part. It's a race against time, and several competing interes...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Erin Cataldi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, goodreads-giveaway

LOOOOVED it! I've been reading like a billion romances lately and this was an AWESOME break from that. Picture Indiana Jones? Pretty awesome right? Well this book is just like "The Lost Ark" so definitely give this a try!! There are un-explainable and highly sought after objects that Don, a history scholar must find and figure out the power of. Little does he know that these objects have a big history in the arctic (19th century), Sweden, and in Nazi Germany (I told you this was like Indiana Jon...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Ape rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scandinavia

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Jag visste inte vad boken handlade om när jag köpte den - lite dumt egentligen. Men men... nu har jag läst boken. Det känns som om den försöker vara en blandning av Da Vinci Koden och Fröken Smilla på sätt och viss. Den här boken är mycket bättre än Da Vinci Koden, men den är inte alls lika bra som Fröken Smilla.

Jag har sett att några som har läst den på engelska gnäller att den inte likna Stieg Larsson. Den här boken är inte alls samma styl som Män som hatar kvinnor... men bara för att en bok I...more Jag visste inte vad boken handlade om när jag köpte den - lite dumt egentligen. Men men... nu har jag läst boken. Det känns som om den försöker vara en blandning av Da Vinci Koden och Fröken Smilla på sätt och viss. Den här boken är mycket bättre än Da Vinci Koden, men den är inte alls lika bra som Fröken Smilla.

Jag har sett att några som har läst den på engelska gnäller att den inte likna Stieg Larsson. Den här boken är inte alls samma styl som Män som hatar kvinnor... men bara för att en bok INTE liknar Larsson betyder inte alls att den inte är värt att läsa. Vad irriterar mig är att numera bokförlag tycker att det är bra att anonsera vilken bok som helst från Skandinavien som den nästa Larsson, oavsett om den liknar Larsson eller inte. Bara så att de får sälja fler böcker. Folk blir besvikna för att de inte får vad de hade förväntat sig.

Hursomhelst, är den en okej deckare-triller. Bra för sommarläsning. Boken och handling blev lite för löjlig för min smak till slut, och vissa delar av handlingen och figurerna kändes som om de hade skrivits utan att författaren hade spenderat lite tid för att tänka genom ordentligt.

Boken handlar om två mysteriösa historiska föremål, ett kors och ett stärjna av någon speciell slags metall, som hittades i Mongolia eller något sådant av en svensk resande-aventyrsman i 1800talet. Han skickade till August Stringberg, som skickade vidare till Nils Strindberg (var han systersson eller något?) som åker norra om Svalbad osv i luftballong och hittar något konstigt i snö och is.... eller gräl mellan tyskarna och norrmän över föremål, försvann dem.... tills vi kommer fram till idag och en svensk killar dyker i översvämmat koppargruv nära Falun och hittar de igen. Då kommer våra huvudsfigurer... Don Titleman, en trist och usel man som är totalt beroende på olika droger för att ta hand om depression, att vara för trött eller pigg eller nervös eller lugn... han klarar sig inte alls med livet kunde man säger, men på något sätt jobbar han på Lunds universitet som lärare. Han blandas in i historien, och så reser dem hit och dit över hela Europa för att lösa gåtan.

Så fort man har det övernaturliga i en handling, brukar det inte vara min smak - det måste vara en riktig bra bok för att jag skulle tycka om. Men den här är okej för något lätt att läsa. Om man vill läsa något som Da Vinci Koden, så är den här boken bättre. Men det finns bättre böcker som åker norrut, har luftballonger, gåta på Svalbad osv - testa Fröken Smilla eller Pullmans Nordsken trilogi. (less)

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May 29, 2012 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: giveaways-won

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

Similar in voice to Dan Brown, this novel is about a symbologist who is accused of murder and must go on the run across Europe from the police and a secret society to solve an ancient mystery in order to free himself. The similarities stop there, though.

Don, is a drug-addicted, Jewish professor. Once a doctor he was kicked out for abusing self-prescribed drugs and attacking a group of neo-Nazis. After a perverted diver finds an ancient artifact in a mine s...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Harpa Dis added it · review of another edition

engin stjarna frá mér.

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Jun 07, 2011 Stephanie from Books Paradise rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, historical-fiction, crime-mystery-suspense-thriller

Erik Hall ist Hobbytaucher und findet in einer verlassenen und gefluteten Mine nahe Falun ein altes Kreuz. Es scheint aus irgendeiner Art Metall zu sein, ist aber ungewöhnlich leicht und mit unbekannten Schriftzeichen überzogen. Er versucht das Interesse bei dem Geschichtsprofessor und Experten für altnordische Mythologie Don Titleman zu wecken. Als Titleman Hall aufsucht, findet er ihn Tod auf und von dem Kreuz fehlt jegliche Spur. Nur Wenige kennen das Geheimnis um das Kreuz und wissen, dass n...more Erik Hall ist Hobbytaucher und findet in einer verlassenen und gefluteten Mine nahe Falun ein altes Kreuz. Es scheint aus irgendeiner Art Metall zu sein, ist aber ungewöhnlich leicht und mit unbekannten Schriftzeichen überzogen. Er versucht das Interesse bei dem Geschichtsprofessor und Experten für altnordische Mythologie Don Titleman zu wecken. Als Titleman Hall aufsucht, findet er ihn Tod auf und von dem Kreuz fehlt jegliche Spur. Nur Wenige kennen das Geheimnis um das Kreuz und wissen, dass noch ein Stern dazu gehört. Titleman steht unter Mordverdacht und plötzlich befindet er sich mit seiner Anwältin Eva Strand auf einer atemlosen Jagd nach dem Kreuz quer durch Europa, verfolgt von einem deutschen Geheimbund, der ebenfalls das Kreuz und den Stern für sich haben will...

Meine Meinung:
Durch einen Zufall bin ich auf dieses Buch gestoßen. Das Cover und auch der Text klangen recht vielversprechend und der passende Buchtrailer (siehe oben) versprach einen grandiosen Thriller der Extraklasse. Meine Erwartungen waren demnach natürlich recht hoch, jedoch blieb die Erfüllung leider aus.

Der Anfang des Buches ist leider etwas mühsam und ich konnte keinerlei Bezug zu der eigentlichen Geschichte feststellen. Das gelang mir erst im Nachhinein und dennoch fand ich es eher unwichtig. Mit dem Erscheinen des Don Titlemans wendet sich das Blatt jedoch. Als schließlich die Jagd beginnt wird der Leser ebenfalls vom Jagdfieber ergriffen und es geht spannungsgeladen weiter.

Nach einigen spannenden Kapiteln und kurz vor dem erwarteten Höhepunkt kommt allerdings eine rasante Talfahrt. Wirklich Schade. Der Kreuz bildet zusammen mit dem Stern den Schlüssel, das sogenannte Tor in eine 'andere' Welt - um hier nicht zu viel zu verraten. Mit dem Durchschreiten dieses Tores verlor sich auch der letzte Hoffnungsschimmer auf den grandiosen Thriller. Wo Jan Wallentin ansonsten mehr als ausführlich auf ein Thema eingeht, liegt dieses jedoch weiterhin im Schatten und was sich nun speziell hinter der 'Tür' befindet wird nicht gelüftet. Das Ende schien mir eher einem Abbruch gleich zu kommen.

Das Themenspektrum, welches Jan Wallentin mit Strindbergs Stern aufgreift ist für meinen Geschmack einfach zu viel und reicht von Nils Strindbergs gescheiterten Ballonfahrt, über die Gasangriffe aus dem 1. Weltkrieg, den wahnhaften Vorstellungen der Nazis, im Besonderen auf das Leben und Tun des Heinrich Himmlers bis hin zu einer Art okkultischen Sekte, beruhend auf dem Erbe des Karl Maria Wiliguts. Das alles wird mit einer gehörigen Portion nordischer Mythologie, diversen Saagen und natürlich mit reichlich Fiktion vermischt.

Abschließend möchte ich die Grundidee, sowie Ansätze und die gelungene Vermischung von Tatsachen und Fiktion loben, dennoch war die Story viel zu überladen mit all ihren Facetten.(less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Michael Wilkerson rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one!

I couldn't put this book down because I wanted to finish it and get it over with. It's very rare indeed that I don't finish a book but I can't justify the time I spent reading this one. The characters are less than realistic, the plot was convoluted and not in a twisty, mystery way. There were so many things that were just out of synch with my thought processes. After I slogged through this book to the end I had hoped that something worth while would have happened, but no. Even the ending left t...more

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May 04, 2012 Naomi rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have to say that I was hoping that this book was going to be more Nordic Noir than it was. To be honest, I almost felt the writing style of this author was almost Americanized compared to other Scandanavian authors I have read. There were aspects to it that I felt like I could have been reading a Vince Flynn novel with historical aspects thrown in. It was good but coming from its' country of origin, I know I expected more. And the book did start of incredibly strong, but then it kind of tapere...more

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May 13, 2012 Nita rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, arc, read-2012

I liked the historical aspects of this book the most. I was a little worried when the description mentioned Nazis, because they are overused when it comes to stories with secret artifacts, but I thought Wallentin used them cleverly in her story. I liked the multiple voices as the story goes back and forth through time. The story of the ankh and star is revealed at a nice pace and that is what kept me reading this book. The history of the ankh and star, from their discovery to present day, I foun...more I liked the historical aspects of this book the most. I was a little worried when the description mentioned Nazis, because they are overused when it comes to stories with secret artifacts, but I thought Wallentin used them cleverly in her story. I liked the multiple voices as the story goes back and forth through time. The story of the ankh and star is revealed at a nice pace and that is what kept me reading this book. The history of the ankh and star, from their discovery to present day, I found very inventive. That being said -

The most disappointing part of this book is the actual secret - what the ankh and star actually lead to. I can't really go into detail without major spoilers, but I couldn't really understand the connection on how the foundation ends up using this secret and and what the secret actually is. At first I thought it was the secret that wasn't grandiose enough for me, but I realized it was actually the reaction of the people who discover it and how they use it. Some of the what they discover from this secret is used for awful things, especially during World War II by the Germans, but I think I just expected a secret society to use such a secret to a grander scale.

The characters were a mix for me. We get quite a few character viewpoints, though Don Titelman is main character. I could never really connect with him. I never really understood why he was so messed up. His Jewish grandmother told him stories when he was eight of the Nazi's cruel experiments on her. He also discovered her secret stash of Nazi memorabilia that completely freaks him out. The stories she told him were awful, but I couldn't understand Don's over sensitivity to them. He ends up becoming addicted to prescription drugs and becomes a professor who is an expert in Nazi symbolism. And he has photographic memory, a fact that is thrown out there in the middle of the book. His character was just too irrational for me. The character I liked the most was Eva. She's smart and calm, though I was suspicious of her throughout the whole book.

I'm giving this one three stars, because I liked the historical aspects of this book a lot and the story behind the ankh and star.

ARC provided through NetGalley.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Viccy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction

If you are waiting for a new Dan Brown book, read this book while you are waiting. A cave diver in Sweden discovers a well-preserved body holding an ankh. The diver is murdered before you can say conspiracy theory. A history professor with a specialty in arcane mythologies discovers the body and is conveniently kidnapped by the Swedish Security Police and sent to Germany to meet with a very secret organization who has been searching for this ankh and it's accompanying star since they disappeared...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Kristen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: firstreads, contemporary, thriller

I can understand why there is such a variety of ratings on this book. I also now understand why so many ratings are low.

The author is good at suspense and getting his characters into scary situations. The book has an intriguing premise and there are some good twists.

Unfortunately, that's balanced by uneven writing, unlikable characters, deus ex machina elements, and its length. What was wrong with it tipped the scales for me. Around page 120, I realized that we hadn't been introduced to the he...more

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May 07, 2012 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first half of this book seemed pretty confusing to me. It also dragged (for about the first 200 pages), but I plowed through and was glad I did. The second half is very fast paced and I found it hard to put down. I had a hard time identifying with some of the main characters (Don, Eva, and Elena) and the plot seemed pretty far fetched. Would like to see more by this author in the future. This was a Goodreads giveaway, but is also one I would probably have bought after reading the synopsis o...more

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May 27, 2012 Ixachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: giveaway-wins, advance-reader-copy, first-reads, reviewed, read-in-2012, books-i-own, g-r

[Posted on futuresfading. This review is of an advance reader copy won from Goodreads.]

Strindberg's Star by Jan Wallentin features two mythical objects and tells of the lengths a secret society will go to in order to seize ownership of them.

Amateur diver Erik Hall finds one of the artifacts in a abandoned mine shaft. Lost for a century, the ankh has resurfaced and immediately draws the attention of the shady organization that has been looking for it. Erik quickly falls victim to those who seek t...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, thriller, mystery, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I won this book on GoodReads First reads giveaways.

Let me first say that I wish we were able to give half stars in our rating because I would've given this book 2 1/2 stars.

The comparison to Dan Brown is what prompted me to enter the giveaway for this book. Secret societies, chases across Europe, a mythical objects, this book had all the components for a 4 start novel.

The book started off very slowly and I had put it down several times. When the story did pick up, although I was enjoying it, I...more

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Aug 22, 2012 a_tiffyfit rated it 3 of 5 stars

This took me a while to finish. It started off pretty good, making you inquisitive as to what the hell is going on, and then...I reached a point where I could put the book down and took MONTHS to get back to. I gritted my teeth and decided to finish it because I don't like leaving books left unread (except for War & Peace, that damn thing). Surprisingly, I remembered everything and was able to pick right back up where I left off, some 40% through the book and finished it in the last couple o...more

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May 24, 2012 Bob Milne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure I've ever had such an aggravating experience in reading a book. What I had was an electronic review copy with the editor's notes in the margins. Interesting, sure, but that meant an already unwieldy format (DRM protected PDF) was almost useless on my Sony. The text was too small to read at normal size, and once you zoomed in . . . not only did the lines break in awkward places (as PDFs tend to do), but the editor's notes merged into the body of the text, making for some really confu...more I'm not sure I've ever had such an aggravating experience in reading a book. What I had was an electronic review copy with the editor's notes in the margins. Interesting, sure, but that meant an already unwieldy format (DRM protected PDF) was almost useless on my Sony. The text was too small to read at normal size, and once you zoomed in . . . not only did the lines break in awkward places (as PDFs tend to do), but the editor's notes merged into the body of the text, making for some really confusing passages.

With all that to consider, the fact that I persevered is testament to how engaging the story was. Despite the frustrations, I wanted to see where it was going next, and how it all would end.

I usually try to avoid comparing works or authors, but the best way I can think of to describe Strindberg's Star is as a mix of Dan Brown and Clive Cussler, with a little Stieg Larsson thrown for good measure. It's a great adventure story with some deep mythology, a truly fascinating puzzle at the heart of it all, and a villainess/heroine in Eva Strand who rivals Lisbeth Salander in terms of darkness and diversity. It was so refreshing to read a Dan Brown type thriller that wasn't mired in Catholicism, and as much as WWII history is very much not my forte, what Wallentin does with the Nazis, their experiments, and (most of all) their symbolism is genius.

In some ways, this is a difficult read, in that it blurs the lines between good and evil. There is no one shining example to latch onto as a hero here. Instead, we have a lot of broken, damaged, tainted individuals who often do very bad things for very good reasons . . . and vice versa. Don Titelman is an interesting character, a drug-addicted ex-doctor who lacks only the biting sarcastic wit to be a proper homage to Gregory House. He's a hard man to admire, and an even harder one to like, but he does provide an interesting vantage from which to experience the story.

As for the central mystery of the ankh and the star, the oddly well-preserved body from which they're retrieved, and the bloody (but fascinating) history of their original discovery and loss . . . well, I won't say much at all, other than to promise it's a mystery/puzzle well worth investigating. Personally, I found it much more fascinating than anything Dan Brown or his clones have attempted, and it really made the book for me.

All-in-all, a solid read, and one that I'd very much like to revisit in a more manageable paperback format, without the headaches of the electronic arc. I rarely invest the time in rereading a book, but this is one I would like to sit down and enjoy all over again. I suspect that, with a more comfortable read, I might even elevate it to a fourth star.

Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins(less)

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Dec 03, 2011 Rikke Andrup Jensen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: krimi

Det har virkelig været en fornøjelse at blive inviteret ind i Jan Wallentins velskrevet krimi. Allerede i første kapitel af bogen befandt jeg mig med tilbageholdt åndedrag, slugte side efter side - ivrig efter mere. Jeg blev grebet af fortællingen, som er skrevet i et behageligt og letfordøjeligt sprog. Jan Wallentin bringer os langt tilbage i historien, åbner op for en verden i krig og giver os et indblik i gamle broderskabers ubarmhjertelige kræfter og vilje. Et højt spændingsniveau fra start...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Johanna Varnander rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-and-suspense

I found this book mediocre. The story was quite interesting, but the characters surrounding Don Titelman did not feel "alive" to me - the lawyer, in particular, just came off as very arrogant to me.

This book, it must be said, is not at all unique - in the last years there have been several "suspense/crime" novels that touches the world war II - and the nazism in particular. Why it is such a popular subject, I don't know - but this was far from the first story I've read that works in Himmlers' oc...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Stef rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own-it, 3-stars, action-adventure, fiction, historical-fiction, misc-creatures, investigative, read-2011, supernatural-paranormal, swedish, nazis, world-war-ii, language-swedish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I'm always slightly apprehensive when journalists-turned-authors publish books and receive rave reviews from their former colleagues. Based on the low ratings it's gotten from readers I was fully prepared to hate this book, but to my surprise I didn't.

Don't get me wrong - it's by no stretch a masterpiece, or even a page turner. It takes forever to get into, and even though you'll keep on reading once you've picked it up, it's kind of difficult to make oneself want to pick it up again if you ever...more

I'm always slightly apprehensive when journalists-turned-authors publish books and receive rave reviews from their former colleagues. Based on the low ratings it's gotten from readers I was fully prepared to hate this book, but to my surprise I didn't.

Don't get me wrong - it's by no stretch a masterpiece, or even a page turner. It takes forever to get into, and even though you'll keep on reading once you've picked it up, it's kind of difficult to make oneself want to pick it up again if you ever put it down.

I tend to not read too much translated fiction, because I feel that the differences between the Swedish and the English languages are such that they don't lend themselves well to being translated into each other; Swedish is dryer and darker than an English translation can do justice, and English possesses a kind of soft, airy feeling that Swedish is too harsh to properly portray. I might be talking complete nonsense though, because while the edition of Stringbergs stjärna I read was in Swedish, the language felt just like if it were English; fluid and pleasantly fluffy. It's the first time I've ever come across anything like it, and I was really pleasantly surprised.

As already mentioned, Jan Wallentin is a former journalist, and as such his writing feels solid, along with his research. As for originality in plot, I can't comment since I haven't really read any other works of fiction touching on WWII and the Nazis. The plot twist at the end was enjoyable, though (and by that I mean Eva's reveal and not the weird supernatural thing).

Where Strindbergs stjärna falls short is the character department. I was a bit dubious when it came to Eva's motivations for following Don around Europe, because it all felt way too easy, but that was answered at the end (along with the lightning fast healing thing), so I can't really complain about that, I guess.

I was quite unimpressed by Hex, who seemed to be a less colorful version of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, and the main character, Don Titelman, confused me: I can't understand why his grandmother's stories of the war would make him grow up into such a damaged man. The tales might have been graphic, but for them to scar him to such an extent... It simply doesn't make sense to me. Also, having him spend the whole book taking pill after pill after pill is just annoying. I don't see the point of his drug addiction. It doesn't fit into the story, because as far as I can remember it doesn't get him into (or out of) any kind of trouble, and it doesn't advance the plot in any way, shape or form; he simply digs into his never ending supply of pills whenever he feels low, swallows some down, and then feels perky again. It's a waste of words and time and I don't understand why it was even included (his trauma kind of plays a part in the plot, but he could have been traumatized without being a drug addict).

That said, I did enjoy the book. It was a nice read, if only because I rather like reading about urban exploration, and late 19th century polar expeditions, and, of course, Nazis.(less)

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Jan 07, 2013 Tony Calder rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Dan Brown style conspiracy with a supernatural twist

Shelves: general-fiction

This book is fairly inconsistent. In the early chapters there are times when I found the English to be a bit clunky. I'm not sure if this was the fault of the author or the translator, but this problem disappeared about 1/3 of the way into the book, and wasn't a huge problem even in the first part.

As for the story, it is, in many ways, a fairly typical thriller of the "buried secrets from the past" genre. It is, for the most part, well plotted, and the pacing is good, although I found the ending...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Bebe rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book started out good, like an Indiana Jones tale, it quickly changed to strange. The hero in the book Don Titelman a professor (and doctor) of history is a drug junkie, add to that people who have lived 150 years and it goes downhill fast.
Then comes the Nazi fascination with mythology, people who live underground and can control freight cars on the railroad via computer........I am still wondering what the author was thinking.

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May 25, 2012 PopcornReads rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: jan-wallentin, action-adventure, bestselling-author, bestseller, crime, cross-cultural, fiction, fantasy, giveaway, giveaway-hop, historical-fiicton, history, mysteries-thrillers, mythology, old-gods, paranormal, politics, relationships, suspense

Book Giveaway & Review: Strindberg’s Star is our giveaway for the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop! When the publisher contacted me about possibly reviewing the international bestseller, Strindberg’s Star by Jan Wallentin (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles), I couldn’t resist. This is a genre-bending whirlwind adventure that you’re going to need to buckle your seatbelt for – it’s going to be a whiplash, funhouse ride! Many thanks to the publisher for graciously providing a hardback copy fo...more

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May 08, 2012 Lauren Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-review-copy, myth-and-mythology, crime-and-mystery, ebook

I really loathe having to review books like this. It’s not because it’s bad – this is hardly one of the worst books I’ve read. But even when a book is bad I don’t normally have a problem describing it and explaining how I felt about it and why. Strindberg’s Star however, is both dull and complicated, making it hard to pay attention long enough to scrabble together the information for a decent plot summary, nevermind a thorough articulation of my feelings about the book. I’d like to just give you...more

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About Jan Wallentin

Jan Wallentin is a Swedish journalist and author who previously worked for SVT (Sweden's national television broadcaster).

His debut novel, Strindbergs stjärna, was published in October of 2010. Even before its Swedish publication date the foreign rights to the book had been sold in 12 countries.

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