Under the Storm A Novel

THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR (SO FAR) • A farmhouse mysteriously goes up in flames with someone trapped inside and a community is never the same in the aftermath—both a thrilling whodunit and a deeply touching coming-of-age story by one of Sweden’s top criminologists

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A BookPage Best Mystery & Thriller of 2024 (So Far)

“When the body of a young woman is discovered in an incinerated farmhouse, resolution was swift: It was murder, her boyfriend did it, case closed. But for the boyfriend’s nephew, Isak; the arresting officer, Vidar Jörgensson; and the entire community of Marbäck, closure is a myth about to be shattered—spectacularly.”—The New York Times

On a cold November night, a farmhouse burns to the ground. Inside a young woman is found dead—not from the fire but murdered. To the people in the rural community of Marbäck, this becomes a reference point: a before and after. For ten-year-old Isak Nyqvist, it sets in motion something he cannot control, igniting his future into an unpredictable inferno.

The police focus their attention on Edvard Christensson, the boyfriend of the murdered woman and Isak’s beloved uncle. After a quick investigation, Edvard is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison and Marbäck believes it can return to its innocence. Vidar Jörgensson, the rookie officer who first responded to the fire, prides himself on helping solved the murder. Little does he know this will become the defining case of his career and that it will drive him to the brink of professional and personal disaster—and link his fate to young Isak’s.

A celebrated author and professor of criminology, Christoffer Carlsson digs deep into the psyches of ordinary people and shows how one crime can haunt a community for decades. A modern classic of Scandinavian crime fiction, Under the Storm demonstrates why many regard Carlsson as one of the great crime writers of his generation.