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The Bomber (Annika Bengtzon (Chronological Order) #4)

3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 · rating details · 885 ratings · 59 reviews

Stockholm is bustling with preparations for the upcoming summer Olympics when a bomb explodes in the city's new Olympic arena. One of the most powerful women in Sweden, Christina Furhage, is blown to bits. The police begin a wild and desperate chase for the killer, while crime reporter and mother of two, Annika Bengtzon, discovers connections no one else sees. Thus begins...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published August 5th 2002 by Pocket Books (first published 1998)

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Jan 12, 2012 Diane S. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Taking place in Stockholm this is a Nordic thriller about three women. I really empathized with Annika, who has been promoted as a boss in the mostly male world of journalism. Trying to cope with two children, a husband and a group of employees who are bitter that she has been promoted over them, she faces her first real crisis when a bombing with a fatality occurs at the new Olympic venue. The tension was palpable, whether it was in her personal life or in her investigation into The Bomber. Lay...more

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Apr 27, 2013 M M rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a good piece of work that is undone by a somewhat loose denouement; the villain's motivations do not appear meaty enough to result in the carnage produced. Of course, we could attribute this disconnect to the murderer's psychopathy, but even that revelation is so late in the book that it appears almost as an afterthought. But I liked the book overall for its acute description of a workplace that is suffused with rivalries, political and professional (I think I've used this expression bef...more

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Sep 17, 2010 Robert rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I believe Lisa Marklund was Sweden's best selling crime thriller author prior to Stig Larsson and I have to assume Mr Larsson read this book before writing the last of his Millenimum series. Some of the similarities are striking - from the unnecessary level of detail, e.g. re computers and software programmes, to the fact that the heroine in this book is headhunted by a leading newspaper as Lead Editor and faces internal dissent.

Overall, I found this book uninspiring and the plot actually weak/...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Lindsay (Little Reader Library) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is set in Stockholm and the plot centres around newly promoted chief crime reporter Annika Bengtzon, working at the Evening Post newspaper, who hits upon a massive story. In the fictional events of the novel, Sweden is due to be hosting the next Olympic Games, and there has been a large explosion at the main Victoria Stadium. Annika is straight into finding the facts underneath all the talk about the explosion, wanting the best story and the best picture, first. She has recently been...more This novel is set in Stockholm and the plot centres around newly promoted chief crime reporter Annika Bengtzon, working at the Evening Post newspaper, who hits upon a massive story. In the fictional events of the novel, Sweden is due to be hosting the next Olympic Games, and there has been a large explosion at the main Victoria Stadium. Annika is straight into finding the facts underneath all the talk about the explosion, wanting the best story and the best picture, first. She has recently been made head of the crime team at the newspaper, and is worrying about being a boss, and dealing with the team around her, some ace reporters working with her, and some other male journalists who refuse to accept her as their chief. Additionally, now that such a big story has broken, she is working a lot of extra hours and seeing little of her husband Thomas and children Kalle and Ellen. Using her sources and her skill and eye for a story and a good picture, Annika finds out who the victim of the bomb blast was, and begins to piece together the truth. Then a second blast occurs, and the investigation is on as to the link with the first. When a further, third event happens, it becomes a personal attack which leaves everyone at the Evening Post deep in shock.

I found this an exciting, pacy read with a gripping storyline, and intriguing personality clashes between the journalists and editors at the newspaper. I liked the exploration of these conflicts. I also enjoyed the tension towards the end of the novel and the dramatic closing chapters. It's interesting reading about the views of the print journalists, and their opinions of the radio and tv reporting on the same incidents. Also how the newspaper tries to be first with the exclusive stories and increase their circulation figures, but without resorting to the sordid or excessively personal details about the people involved. The author also intelligently deals with the demands of modern working life and children and overcoming prejudices in the workplace for women. It did put me in mind a little of Stieg Larsson's novels with Annika being an intelligent journalist and some of the issues regarding women. I will definitely be reading more of Liza Marklund's novels featuring Annika Bengtzon. Great, compelling read.

This is the fourth and final reading choice of mine as part of the Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge 2011. I have read four different and very interesting titles as part of this challenge and have been very glad to have taken part.(less)

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Jun 21, 2011 D.M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: thrillers

Every novel that I've read from Swedish writers has so far impressed me and even though I have mixed impressions about Markland's style, I still appreciated much about it.

No doubt about these Swedes are portrayed in fiction, they are realists but with heart. While on the one hand a reader could catch cultural impressions of a nation of individuals who are hard working and consciencious with stoicism, they seem to be easily given to displays of emotion that seem to easily shock and embarrass the...more Every novel that I've read from Swedish writers has so far impressed me and even though I have mixed impressions about Markland's style, I still appreciated much about it.

No doubt about these Swedes are portrayed in fiction, they are realists but with heart. While on the one hand a reader could catch cultural impressions of a nation of individuals who are hard working and consciencious with stoicism, they seem to be easily given to displays of emotion that seem to easily shock and embarrass the other characters, but they all appear to like a good cry. Nonetheless I think this polarisation of Swedish character - or 'soul' could I say - can be very endearing.

Markland affords the reader an insightful sociological view, but unlike other Swedish authors I've read, I cannot say I felt drawn to her characters or that I liked them, and that includes her main character of the newspaper journalist, Annika Bengtzon. She is a very driven woman: the crime editor of her newspaper, but also a wife and mother. While reading I couldn't help feeling an uncomfortable sense of tension as she rushes from her home having dropped her two children off to daycare to go to a job that is made clear to have traditionally and territorily been a man's domain, and it's a world in which she must fight to maintain her authoritive position. She not only needs to investigate the terrible crimes of the mysterious bomber but cope with snarky personalities, not only in her own office department but out in the field. After that she goes home to spar and make love with her husband.

So her life is one big rush - as you might imagine a busy newspaper office, with all its thoroughly depicted concentricities, to be. But her home life is the same, and as much as Markland wants to console you about it, is a stress-fest to the point where Bengtzon can't be bothered to sit on the loo, but would rather pee in the shower and suffer aromatic stench of her own urea. With apologies to Marland, who is a thorough writer overall - too much information.

Realism, yes, for along with more than just this description two kinds of 'shower', there's lots of other description in place of euthemisms that emantate from other stressed characters of this novel with much of it involving the various substances that leak from living bodies as well as their verbal invectives.

Markland is a very good writer and if you want to try some uber realism, then I recommend you give her a try. I would read about Annika Bengtzon again, but only if there were nothing else and I had a chill pill ready on the bed-side table.(less)

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Jun 17, 2011 Suz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jan-june-2011

Good book! This is another book in the series about Annika, a journalist at a newspaper. She is now an editor and the book does a good job portraying the resistance she encounters as a young female in a leadership role. I got a chuckle from the childish behaviour of her co-workers when they go running to the supervisor to complain about Annika. Very realistic! While trying to manage office politics and her family, she is also investigating and writing about several bombings. Annika has some pers...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: october-11

I received this book as part of the Transworld Book Challenge. It is the third in the Annika Bengtzon series and I will definitely be hunting out the first two in the series.

Sweden is preparing to stage the Olympics when there is a bomb detonated at one of the main stadia. Is it a terrorist attack on the games or is it something more personal? The thing I found slightly strange about this novel is that Annika is a news reporter yet seems to spend a lot of time investigating the crime and lookin...more

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May 16, 2013 Petr Čapek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pokud hledáte akci a přestřelky, budete se muset poohlédnout po jiné knize. Exploze je psaná z pohledu žurnalisty, který se snaží přinést co nejaktuálnější informace pro svůj plátek. Samozřejmě nějaké to napětí a akce se zde najde taky, každopádně očekávejte spíše psychologický kriminální thriller, kterým Vás autorka vtáhne do děje. Ať lehkostí s jakou je kniha psaná, nebo celkovou realističností, kdy Vám přijde, že se toto opravdu mohlo stát (popř. může). Jakoby autorka čerpala z vlastních zkuš...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Bonnie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great read by Liza Marklund. Titled The Bomber in the U. S. the plot involves Annika Bengtzon, a crime reporter for a major newspaper in Stockholm and the mother of two small children. While preparations are being made for the upcoming summer Olympics, the head organizer is blown to bits by a bomb. Although the police desperately try to locate the killer, Annika discovers clues by her persistent investigating. Character development is excellent with the homelife of Annika and her husband...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Ellie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, translated

Annika has been promoted to the head of crime at the Evening Post, a major Stockholm newspaper, when a report comes in of an explosion at the Olympic stadium. She's determined to get the best angle on the story and discover the truth before any of her competitors. Is it an act of terrorism against the Olympics or is it murder? And will she get it wrapped up in time to spend Christmas with her family?

What The Bomber does best is portray the inner workings of a busy newspaper. It's refreshing that...more Annika has been promoted to the head of crime at the Evening Post, a major Stockholm newspaper, when a report comes in of an explosion at the Olympic stadium. She's determined to get the best angle on the story and discover the truth before any of her competitors. Is it an act of terrorism against the Olympics or is it murder? And will she get it wrapped up in time to spend Christmas with her family?

What The Bomber does best is portray the inner workings of a busy newspaper. It's refreshing that the characters are just doing their jobs and not taking over from the police like in many crime novels. Annika has a police source but she doesn't work with them and it's a constant struggle to find out information.

But, what angry characters we have! Annika seems to be incredibly irritable, snapping at her husband, children, colleagues and interviewees. The short winter days of Northern Europe makes us all tetchy but I'm not sure it makes for a good protagonist. Maybe Annika rubs of on those around her as they're just as angry back, with exception of her boss at the paper. I get the feeling Marklund is trying to make a statement about equality of the sexes in the workplace but I don't feel that Annika is disliked because she's a woman, more that she's not very nice to her colleagues! The character of Nils, comes across as a stereotypical sexist man without any redeeming features and his presence doesn't have any real relevance on the plot. Now, this is chronologically the fourth book in a series but the first that was written, so perhaps there is a back story that explains more, but as a standalone read, I wish it had concentrated more on the investigation and the bomber's motives.

Overall it's a good read but the angriness has probably cost this book a whole star. The Bomber has been incredibly successful in its original Swedish and a hit film has made made based on the book, with more films based on the series on the way. I would be interested to find out if Annika mellows after the events of The Bomber or if she started out that way, so I wouldn't write Liza Marklund off as a writer.(less)

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Sep 17, 2012 Cristina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

”Explozii în Stockholm” nu a fost o carte ”explozivă” așa cum ar recomanda-o titlul. Au existat bineînțeles și momente pline de suspans, dar și alte pasaje care nu instigau tocmai la o lectură alertă. Acțiunea se desfășoară în Stockholm, oraș ce se pregătește să găzduiască Jocurile Olimpice, dar care este zguduit de o explozie a uneia dintre pricipalele arene sportive. Pagubele sunt de ordin material la prima vedere, dar printre dărâmături se găsesc și rămășițele Christinei Furhage, șefa Consil...more ”Explozii în Stockholm” nu a fost o carte ”explozivă” așa cum ar recomanda-o titlul. Au existat bineînțeles și momente pline de suspans, dar și alte pasaje care nu instigau tocmai la o lectură alertă. Acțiunea se desfășoară în Stockholm, oraș ce se pregătește să găzduiască Jocurile Olimpice, dar care este zguduit de o explozie a uneia dintre pricipalele arene sportive. Pagubele sunt de ordin material la prima vedere, dar printre dărâmături se găsesc și rămășițele Christinei Furhage, șefa Consiliului Olimpic. Personajul principal este Annika Bengtzon, șefa departamentului de investigații de la ziarul Kvällspressen, care se ocupă de acest caz cu ajutorul informațiilor de la poliție dar și cu ceea ce află pe cont propriu. Mai toate ipotezele se bazează pe faptul că atentatul a fost pus la cale de un grup terorist pentru boicotarea Jocurilor Olimpice. Annika nu are aceeași părere, crezând că de fapt explozia o viza doar pe Christina, și începe să răscolească în trecutul acesteia. Află niște detalii uimitoare care variau de la imaginea Christinei ca femeie perfectă până la aceea că era o femeie rea, egoistă, manipulatoare. O a doua explozie ia prin surprindere pe toată lumea, chiar și pe Annika – începe să se îndoiască de ceea ce credea și înclină să creadă varianta atacului terorist. Întâmplările ce urmează o determină să se întoarcă la prima ipoteză. Tocmai cercetările ei și ceea ce publică o fac pe Annika să cadă victima ”atentatoarei”.
Acțiunea se desfășoară pe mai multe planuri, printre care ni se prezintă viața și regimul agitat din interirorul unei redacții de ziar: goana după informații în premieră, verificarea lor, alegerea modului corect de a le prezenta sau neprezentarea lor și publicarea înaintea concurenței sunt doar o parte dintre aspectele surprinse pe parcursul romanului.
Annika nu impresionează tocmai prin faptul că nu este ”impresionantă”, nu are nimic special. Este femeia zilelor noastre care încearcă să se împartă între carieră și familie și care de foarte multe ori nu reușește. Ca și scriere, romanul este simplu, fără fraze extraordinare, cu propoziții scurte și la obiect, reușind să ducă cititorul la dezlegarea misterului fără prea multe ocolișuri. Aș fi așteptat ceva mai mult de la un roman cu un fir narativ atât de interesant. Din păcate, finalul este foarte previzibil.
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Nov 04, 2011 Tony Nielsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yes a Five Star. Marklund's thriller writing is up there with Norway's Jo Nesbo, and her countryman Stieg you-know-who. While Nesbo has laconic detective Harry Hole, and Stieg liberal journalist Mikael Blomkvist Marklund's heroine is feisty reporter Annika Bengzton, now promoted to Crime Editor on Stockholm's Evening Post. When a powerful female Olympic's executive Christina Furhage is blown to smithereens in the partially constructed Stadium where the Games will be hosted pandemonium breaks out...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Simon Lipson rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'll be quick. This isn't my kind of thing. I gave it a go, but had to concede defeat after a 100 pages. Nothing happens, the dialogue is stodgy and grim, the characters are wafer-thin, the attempts at colouring in locations and relationships cursory. This is novel writing by numbers. Maybe this turgid tosh would work for me on a long holiday - albeit what sounded, from the blurb, like a gripping thriller was incredibly tame - but I don't want to waste valuable time on something this vacuous whe...more

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Mar 22, 2012 D rated it 1 of 5 stars

I've read another Liza Marklund book (Paradise), but it was so instantly forgettable I've not added it to my shelves here. I wish I hadn't read this one either.

Scandinavian Crime is hot right now and there are some excellent authors being translated into English. Liza Marklund is not one of them. In Anika Bengzton she has successfully created one of the most irritating, cold and unlikeable characters I've ever had the misfortune to follow across a few hundred pages.

Anika is, like, a totally ind...more I've read another Liza Marklund book (Paradise), but it was so instantly forgettable I've not added it to my shelves here. I wish I hadn't read this one either.

Scandinavian Crime is hot right now and there are some excellent authors being translated into English. Liza Marklund is not one of them. In Anika Bengzton she has successfully created one of the most irritating, cold and unlikeable characters I've ever had the misfortune to follow across a few hundred pages.

Anika is, like, a totally independent woman, yeah? But she's also totally vulnerable, like a blind baby monkey or something. She hates her mother and blames her for her failings as a person (the mother seemed perfectly pleasant if you ask me!), but she's ok actually because she loves her Gran. If my daughter spoke the way Anika does to her mother when it's decided to put her Gran into care - she'd be going out the window face first.
If she worked in most offices she'd be sacked - she's rude and unpleasant and is quite happy stiffing an anonymous source, potentially ruining their life to get what she wants. And yet whenever she finds herself in serious danger, we are supposed to feel attached to her and concerned for her safety. I wish one of these terrible criminals she regularly becomes involved with would just kill her and make us all happy.

The Millenium Trilogy had journalists. So does this. Except it describes the minutiae of working for a newspaper to intensely tedious levels. No job is so exciting that we care about how it works at board level. I'm being serious. It's self indulgent crap. I'd read a business book for that kind of thing.

I can't comment on whether all this is just poor translation and I'm doing Ms Marklund a disservice, but if an author is desperate to talk about their work, there are ways to make it tolerable, perhaps through dialogue and a decent editor you can, you know, imply certain things and leave in the important bits without boring us to tears? I really don't want to spent nearly 100 pages (in total) having my hand held while a really boring narrator takes me around their office and introduces me to some of their colleagues as they pick the crumbs out of their beards and fill in an excel spreadsheet. I read for fun, not to go to sleep!

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Dec 28, 2011 Luanne Ollivier rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I certainly know of Liza Marklund - I've been steering patrons towards her books when they ask for 'another' Scandinavian author. I've read reviews of her books and know that they're good reads, but hadn't actually sampled one myself until I sat down with The Bomber. And yes - she's very good!

Annika Bengtzon is the newly promoted head of the crime division at The Evening Post newspaper in Stockholm, Sweden. She's having a hard time juggling family life with two small children and a husband who i...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Beth Kemp rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review-books, adult-crime

This was a great read for the festive period, as it takes place during the week leading up to Christmas and reveals Annika's struggles to get Christmas 'right' as a working Mum, as well as the pressures she faces at work and the very real danger she courts as leader of the crime section of the newspaper. There is plenty of atmospheric detail in this novel and Marklund makes it very easy to lose yourself in the world she captures on the page. Marklund was a journalist herself and it is plain that...more This was a great read for the festive period, as it takes place during the week leading up to Christmas and reveals Annika's struggles to get Christmas 'right' as a working Mum, as well as the pressures she faces at work and the very real danger she courts as leader of the crime section of the newspaper. There is plenty of atmospheric detail in this novel and Marklund makes it very easy to lose yourself in the world she captures on the page. Marklund was a journalist herself and it is plain that details such as procedures, legal concerns and office behaviour all come from an experienced voice.

There is also a great deal of domestic and personal detail in the story, which I found mostly constructive in establishing character, but I have seen reviews criticising the inclusion of (for example) each cup of coffee drunk. I found it overall an immersive experience and, for me, it helped in ratcheting up the tension, although this is on the whole a drawn-out rather than top-speed pacey kind of thriller.

The narrative is third person past, mostly from Annika's perspective, but there are occasional sections from others' points of view. There are also some short journal-type sections dotted throughout the novel which seem to be some kind of justification of the bomber's motivation and values, offering a very different view of the world.

Annika is a complex character, who seems to be struggling with balancing her demanding career with her family ties. I feel that this aspect of her is particularly well-drawn from a feminist viewpoint without implying that she should have to choose between work and family. She is shown suffering from sexism at work, and worrying about her ability to be a good wife and mother, but she is a realistic creation and does behave as an individual under stress. Again, I know there have been some reviewers who have struggled to accept her as a likeable narrator, but my personal opinion is that her environment is presented clearly enough for us to see her as a product of it. In other words, she may be sometimes moody, but I would suggest she has a right to, under the circumstances.

Overall, I would recommend this as a crime thriller from a slightly different angle, using a reporter as the main character rather than a police detective or private investigator.(less)

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Nov 01, 2011 Leeswammes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You know the kind of book where you start reading and think “Hey, yes, this is exactly as I like it”? This is that kind of book. I started reading and I felt at home straight away. While I wasn’t constantly thinking about the book when I was not reading it, as soon as I picked it up again I was happy in my little Bomber world.

I thought the atmosphere was brilliant: a wintery Stockholm, just before Christmas. It was cold, very cold, there was snow, there was sleety rain, there was slushy, melted...more You know the kind of book where you start reading and think “Hey, yes, this is exactly as I like it”? This is that kind of book. I started reading and I felt at home straight away. While I wasn’t constantly thinking about the book when I was not reading it, as soon as I picked it up again I was happy in my little Bomber world.

I thought the atmosphere was brilliant: a wintery Stockholm, just before Christmas. It was cold, very cold, there was snow, there was sleety rain, there was slushy, melted snow. It was no pleasure to be outside. But Annika Bengtzon takes buses, taxis, and walks through the awful weather, a lot. It gives a melancholy, sad, atmosphere to the book.

Annika herself lives the life of successful women: while at work, she has to rush be in time to pick the kids up from nursery, or has to ask her husband to do it for her. At home, she’s rushing off to work. Neither her work nor her home life seems satisfactory. She has to disappoint people, especially herself, a lot of the time. Everything seems a struggle.

In addition, not all of her colleagues like their new female boss. More out of principle than for who she is, really. That seemed very real. Especially as Annika, like a real woman, doesn’t dare to confront her colleagues and stoically undergoes their behaviour towards her. The result is that their behaviour becomes even worse. Luckily she has a boss who believes in her and looks out for her.

The only drawback was the bomber for me: quite a rambling story (by the bomber) about the reasons behind the attacks. That story wasn’t very interesting or comprehensible, and I’m sure it was meant that way, but it also made the reading less compelling for me.

What I really liked was Annika’s intelligence, following up throw-away comments that people make, that turn out to be quite important. I also liked how professional she is in one sense, and how vulnerable in another. Liza Marklund managed to invent a real-life character that is neither a cliché nor too commonplace to be interesting.(less)

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Aug 18, 2010 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: swedish-and-norwegian, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts

After posting my review of Livstid yesterday, I had a long online discussion with notgettingenough about the meaning of the word "feminism", and whether it was a good thing. It says something about the power of Liza Marklund's novels that, after reading one, I found myself in the curious situation of being a man defending feminism to a woman.

Marklund is a single-issue author: she's writing to support her notion of feminism. This word can indeed be interpreted in many ways. Marklund is using it i...more After posting my review of Livstid yesterday, I had a long online discussion with notgettingenough about the meaning of the word "feminism", and whether it was a good thing. It says something about the power of Liza Marklund's novels that, after reading one, I found myself in the curious situation of being a man defending feminism to a woman.

Marklund is a single-issue author: she's writing to support her notion of feminism. This word can indeed be interpreted in many ways. Marklund is using it in a narrow sense. She thinks that women are not treated well at most places of work, and that this is very wrong. She shows over and over again how men refuse to accept that women can do as good a job as they can, even in cases when it is quite clear that the woman is in fact performing better than her male colleagues. Her novels are full of examples of men using crude, sexist sterotypes to downplay women's ability to contribute and to marginalize them. She shows how painful this is for women, and what a dreadful effect it can have on their self-esteem and mental health.

She's very convincing. It's particularly frightening that she's writing about Sweden, which is probably the fairest and least gender-biased country in the world. If it's this bad in Sweden, it's clearly going to be much worse nearly everywhere else. It would be easy to say that, since Swedish women have such a good deal compared to women elsewhere, she should shut up. Another way of looking at it is that Swedish women have made enough progress towards sexual equality that they can say this kind of thing and be taken seriously. Several of Marklund's novels have topped the Swedish bestseller list. I view that as extremely positive.

In my humble opinion, one of the reasons why feminism has done so well in Sweden is that Swedish feminists, like Marklund, have intelligently prioritised their demands. They have focussed on equality in the workplace, reasoning that, if they can succeed there, the rest will follow. Marklund believes passionately that women should support each other at work. She is not trying to convince you that sex is rape, that all women should be lesbians, or anything remotely similar. Annika Bengtzon, the heroine of her series, is heterosexual and perfectly happy with her sexual orientation. She has had a complicated and messy private life, which, at least as far as I can see, is in no way intended as feminist propaganda. In Paradiset, she got involved with Thomas, a married man, who ends up divorcing his wife and marrying her. In Livstid, Thomas leaves Annika for another woman. In private life, Marklund clearly believes that all's fair in love and war. Marklund is splendidly bitchy about Annika's rivals - inter alia, we learn that one of them is frigid and has really small boobs. This is one of the things that gives the series its undeniable charm, and stops it from being a dull piece of feminist preaching.

As you can tell, she sold me, and I'm not even a woman. Most people consider Sprängaren to be her best book. I really liked it.
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Nov 02, 2011 Anne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my final Transworld Challenge book and I'm pleased that it wasn't my first. I loved my first three choices, but felt pretty let down by this one.

What could have been a great action thriller was really spoilt for me by the amount of uneccessary and often irrelevant and tedious detail about the life of the main character Annika. She's a gutsy heroine, but not a likeable one, and I got totally fed up by reading about how many taxis she took, how many coffees she drank and how many salads s...more

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Sep 28, 2011 John Marr rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yawn. Yet another so-so Swedish thriller seeking to capitalize on the inexplicable popularity of the almost as so-so Millenium series. While Marklund thankfully doesn't blow as much smoke up her journalist heroine's as Larrson, she shares with him the same smug, strident, and self-righteous take on sexual politics. The search for the next Mankell/Sjowall & Wahloo continues....

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Feb 09, 2011 Vivienne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, translation, nordic-noir

This novel focuses upon the journalistic side of crime as Annika Bengtzon, editor of the crime desk at a major Swedish tabloid, reports on a series of bombings targeting buildings linked to the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Marklund does an excellent job of capturing the tension in a newsroom while handling a major event such as this; securing interviews with families during a time of grief and seeking leads from the police in order to cover the story properly with the view to scooping their competit...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure what I though about this. I enjoyed the Annika Bengtzon back story and could relate to the issues she was having. The bomber story also started off really well. I'm just not sure that it was plausible in the end. Still a quick and enjoyable holiday read.

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May 23, 2013 Rachna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I watched the TV series of this before reading any of the books. Thankfully, this book was not one of the ones included in the series so I didn't know the plot already. I think there are some translation issue, but it was still enjoyable.

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Jun 04, 2008 Larissa marked it as to-read

Shelves: scandinavian-nordic, crime-fiction, unfinished, in-translation, swedish

I started reading this book right before I hopped a plane bound for sexy European destinations boasting large quantities of beer, sausage, pickled fish, and potatoes. (That's probably irrelevant, but you know, for reference...) As I angsted over which books to read in-flight, it occurred to me a that things being what they are at the moment, I probably shouldn't take a book entitled The Bomber with me to an airport. Not proud of the self-censorship, but I don't get to take exotic European vacati...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Leajk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Better in many ways than the Millenium series , worse by far than the Beck series.

This was Marklund's breakthough book, but as with Dan Brown's books all the subsequent books have the most confusing order. I've upgraded it from two stars to three stars since it was suspensful and rather innovative when it was realeased. I think my initial rating was tainted by the rest of the books in the series, which I did not care for.

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Aug 31, 2012 David rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Abandoning this after 50 pages. Annika is extremely annoying while the other characters are dull and lacking personality. Don't understand the overall rating.

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Oct 13, 2012 Per rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nordens krimidroning er et godt ord.. Journalisten Annika Bengtson bliver viklet ind sager paa grund af hendes job.

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Sep 07, 2012 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm on a Scandinavian crime (or krim, as they call it) kick. Again, I was a bit preoccupied when I started this book and it didn't grab me right away. I think I wasn't really into her writing style - some parts had a lot of unnecessary and almost boring detail. Bits of this book reminded me of Steig Larsson's books (this book was published first so I guess his storyline is actually reminiscent of her storyline...). By the time I got to the end, I liked it though.

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Dec 27, 2011 Natashya KitchenPuppies rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An intelligent and fast-paced investigative reporter procedural from a female perspective. Bound to be a big hit with Larsson fans.
See my full review here - http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies....

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Apr 28, 2013 Carmen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think something was lost in the translation here

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About Liza Marklund

Scandinavia’s undisputed queen of crime fiction, Liza Marklund is the No. 1 international bestselling author of the Annika Bengtzon series.

Liza Marklund was born in 1962 in the small village of Pålmark, close to the Arctic Circle in Sweden. She is an author, journalist, columnist, and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She is also co-owner of Piratförlaget, one of Sweden’s most successful publishing...more

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Quotes from The Bomber

“Iubirea e banală. Îți provoacă o intoxicație chimică foarte asemănătoare cu aceea dată de o reușită mult așteptată sau de mersul cu mare viteză. În acele momente, nu mai ținem cont de nimic și ne concentrăm doar asupra propriei noastre delectări; viața de zi cu zi ne este distorsionată și devenim iraționali: ne simțim fericiți și ni se pare că totul este posibil.” — 2 people liked it

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The Bomber (Annika Bengtzon (Chronological Order) #4)

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