The Living and the Dead: The bestselling thriller and prize-winning Scandinavian crime sensation

Name: The Living and the Dead: The bestselling thriller and prize-winning Scandinavian crime sensation
Rating: 3 (1 reviews)

Christoffer Carlsson

Dec 2025 · Random House

1 review

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For fans of The God of the Woods and Tana French, The Living and the Dead is a beautifully written, multi-award-winning murder mystery, where a small Swedish town’s dark secrets will finally be brought into the light . . .

‘All the makings of a page-turning thriller, but with an emotional depth that is truly rare’ FREDRIK BACKMAN
‘Stylistically classy and psychologically rich’ THE TIMES

*****

On a cold, snowy winter's night in 1999, Sander and Killian leave a house party together, in a small town in rural Sweden. The very best of friends, they imagine they will remain so forever.

The next morning, each is a key suspect in a murder. Each has something they want to conceal from the police. And from the other.

The hunt for Mikael Söderström's killer will take over twenty years. It will see a detective leave the force forever. And it won't end until a second body is found, and the tight-knit community's secrets are finally brought to light...

*****

WINNER OF THE GLASS KEY AWARD FOR BEST NORDIC CRIME NOVEL

WINNER OF THE BEST SWEDISH CRIME NOVEL AWARD

WINNER OF DENMARK’S PALLE ROSENKRANTZ PRIZE FOR BEST TRANSLATED CRIME NOVEL

‘Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western’ ANTHONY MARRA

'Magnificent, epic, immediate' A. J. FINN

‘Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations’ NEW YORK TIMES

'A psychologically rich study of guilt and memory' i PAPER

For fans of The God of the Woods and Tana French, The Living and the Dead is a beautifully written, multi-award-winning murder mystery, where a small Swedish town’s dark secrets will finally be brought into the light . . . ‘All the makings of a page-turning thriller, but with an emotional depth ...

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About the author

Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986 on the west coast of Sweden. He holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s leading crime experts. Carlsson is the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, voted by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy, and has won the prestigious Glass Key award for The Living and the Dead, given to the best Scandinavian crime novel of the year. He's also won the Best Swedish Crime Novel twice.

Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986 on the west coast of Sweden. He holds a PhD in criminology from the University of Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s leading crime experts. Carlsson is the youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, voted by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy,...

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