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The Living and the Dead

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The Living and the Dead

Written by: Christoffer Carlsson, Rachel Willson-Broyles - translator
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

For fans of The God of the Woods and All the Colours of the Dark, The Living and the Dead is a beautifully written, haunting murder mystery, set in a rural Swedish town, where one community's secrets will be laid bare over the next twenty years . . .

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...

'The finest crime writer we have in Sweden' DAVID LAGERCRANTZ
‘All the makings of a page-turning thriller, but with an emotional depth that is truly rare’ FREDRIK BACKMAN
‘Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western. You’ll find yourself gripped by the ingenious plotting and moved by the gorgeous writing’ ANTHONY MARRA
‘Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations’ NEW YORK TIMES

© Christoffer Carlsson 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Small Town & Rural Thriller & Suspense World Literature

Critic Reviews

This is genre fiction with literary aspirations resembling a novel by Thomas Hardy or William Faulkner rewritten as Scandi crime. [...] Stylistically classy and psychologically rich
Strikingly individual... An epic, ambitious literary crime novel (Barry Forshaw)
I just don't know anyone else who writes quite like this. All the makings of a page-turning thriller, but with an emotional depth that is truly rare. Carlsson is far and away my favourite Scandinavian crime writer at the moment, and The Living and the Dead is among his very best.
Carlsson twines together national and personal trauma to devastating effect . . . What I most loved is how Carlsson plumbs what can and cannot be known about human lives and criminal investigations . . . how familial love can blind people to difficult truths, and how 'closure' often never happens.
Here's a thriller to break your heart: a magnificent new novel, epic but immediate, menacing yet moral, that assembles some of the most beloved tropes of recent years - the frostbitten danger of Scandinavian crime; the small-town intimacy of Broadchurch - and charges them with fresh dark energy. And if you think international fiction isn't for you, The Living and the Dead proves that fear needs no translation.
The finest crime writer we have in Sweden.
A tender and beautifully written novel about a crime that rocks a small community. But really it is about the people involved, the impact of violence and the danger of keeping secrets. Atmospheric and thought provoking, I became totally immersed in this cold, fractured world.
Carlsson is to the police procedural what Cormac McCarthy is to the Western . . . If you read crime fiction, you’ll find yourself gripped by the ingenious plotting. If you read literary fiction, you’ll find yourself moved by the gorgeous writing.
Carlsson has a knack for psychological procedurals, as his latest proves, with numerous characters and motives to keep readers guessing. . . . A must for Nordic noir and psychological mystery fans.
The Living and the Dead deserves to reach readers worldwide
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