In Northen Sweden, police dog handler and bear-hunter
extraordinaire Krister Eriksson is asked to search for and
put down a bear that attacked and ate a villager's dog;
however upon further investigation, more than human remains
are found in the bear's stomach. A woman, Sol-Britt
Uusitalo, is found dead in her own bed, stabbed 100 times
with a three-pronged pitchfork, while her grandson, 7 year-
old Marcus, is found in a child's playhouse not too far from
there; he doesn't seem to acknowledge his grandmother is
dead. District Prosecutor Rebecka Martinsson is assigned to
the case, and her good friend Eriksson had gone along with
her. Marcus has no family willing to take care of him, and
since he seemed to bond with the dog handler and one dog in
particular, so Eriksson somewhat reluctantly agrees to take
him home.
Many deaths seem to surround Sol-Britt Uusitalo, going as
far back as a century when her grandmother was murdered. A
few years ago, her father suffered a violent death and her
son was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Apart from the
fact that she slept around somewhat, and that the word
"WHORE" was written on the wall where she was found, there
aren't many clues as to her murder. Meanwhile, little Marcus
is behaving like a dog, barely talks and sleeps in a tent
that Eriksson put up for him, next to the dogs' kennel.
Naturally, the press gets hold of this, and Rebecka
Martinsson's superior, Prosecutor von Post, removes her from
the case and takes it for himself; he knows everything will
work out for the better, as she's is known for her
thoroughness and she has already done most of the work. His
excuse is that she knows everybody in the village and it
would not be for the best. And thus the investigation
continues, with the help of the local police force.
From then on, slowly but surely, Ms. Larsson takes us along
Northern Sweden, describing the villages and the forest in
such a way, it feels like we're right alongside Rebecka, and
it is for a purpose. Everything the author writes in THE
SECOND DEADLY SIN serves a purpose. Some chapters revert to
events around the beginning of WWI; they are extremely
enjoyable, and we get a glimpse at how small-town Sweden was
in those days, but even more so, they serve to explain why
Sol-Britt Uusitalo was murdered almost a century after.
Wonderful characters inhabit this story, and while we get
acquainted with them, we also learn how all their lives will
be touched by one murder. THE SECOND DEADLY SIN starts off
slowly, but as more
facts become known, the story moves along faster and faster
until the end, as past and present mesh and bring the story
to a chilling and thrilling conclusion.
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