Game

So what is it with Swedes and thrillers? There seem to be a lot of them coming out of the land of long winters in the past decade, among them a trio by Anders de la Motte, beginning with Game. Our point of view characters are a ne'er-do-well slacker and his older sister who is a cop seconded to Sweden's elite bodyguard group, protecting dignitaries and royalty. The slacker finds a mysterious cell phone on a train and it invites him to play a game in which he is given assignments to wreak havoc in ways small and large. His story crosses over with his sister in dangerous ways as he tries to ferret out who's turning the crank of the Game and perhaps throw a monkey wrench into the works. It's quite a page-turner, and I look forward to the next two books in the sequence.