Widow and nurse Sophie Brinkmann lives in a quiet suburb of
Stockholm with her teenage son Albert. It's a boring,
uneventful life for them until one of Sophie's patients at
the hospital takes a special interest in her. Spaniard
Hector Guzman is recuperating from a broken leg sustained
when a car ran into him and he's fascinated by Sophie. He
wants to continue a relationship with her away from the
hospital once he's released, and Sophie finds herself
attracted enough to the charming Hector to agree. But there
is more to Hector than Sophie could've ever imagined, and
it doesn't take long for her to find out what it is.
Hector Guzman, along with his aging father, is an
international crime lord in charge of a syndicate that's
recently found itself involved in a deadly struggle with a
rival gang of German mobsters, who will stop at nothing to
take over the Guzman operation. Then an old friend of
Sophie's, Jens Vall, who's now an arms dealer, finds
himself caught up in the turmoil when a deal he brokered
with some really nasty Russians goes bad. Sophie is shocked
to see Jens, as well as murderous hit men, when a fatal
confrontation takes place in a local restaurant. What has
she gotten herself into?
Swedish police are aware of the volatile situation, so
detective inspector Gunilla Strandberg, head of a special
investigation unit she's handpicked, decides to use Sophie
to get closer to Guzman. Gunilla has one of her men, Lars
Vinge, bug Sophie's home without her knowledge. After hours
of surveillance, Lars becomes fixated on Sophie and finds
himself reverting to his prior drug usage to handle the
long hours. Others in Gunilla's team are even more devious
and coldblooded as they follow their boss' orders. How much
more twisted can this case become? Oh, there are a lot more
complicated events to take place before the final
conclusion.
With a hefty cast of international characters and a deftly
structured plotline, THE ANDALUCION FRIEND by Alexander
Söderberg is a fast-paced, innovative crime thriller
guaranteed to keep you totally absorbed until the final
page. This debut novel is the first in a trilogy -- and I
can't wait for the next installment! THE ANDALUCION FRIEND
is highly recommended reading.
When Sophie Brinkmann meets Hector Guzman, her life is
perfectly uneventful. She’s a nurse and a single mother,
living with her son in a sleepy Stockholm suburb. She
likes Guzman’s quiet charm and easy smile; she likes the
way he welcomes her into his family. She quickly learns,
though, that his smooth façade masks something much more
sinister—he’s the head of an international crime ring that
is at war with a rival organization. Before she can fully
grasp the extent of his dangerous world, her life starts
to come undone: her family is at risk, a long-lost friend
mysteriously resurfaces, and she realizes that she can
trust no one. Whether she likes it or not, she’s now at
the center of a global turf war between Spanish drug
traffickers, German gangsters, Russian hit men, and
Swedish cops. To get out alive, and with her integrity
intact, she will have to summon everything within her to
navigate this intricate web of moral ambiguity, deadly
obsession, and craven gamesmanship.
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