Varg Gyllander

Varg Gyllander, being a Swedish CSI expert has found his own branch among the successful Swedish crime writers. In his official profession he is the spokes person at the Swedish National Criminal Police . Therefore Gyllander knows what he is writing about. His experience from the Police gives a unique color to the story.

Gyllander’s first title Some lines break was an immediate success in Sweden and sold over 10 000 copies in hard cover. With the second book, Only Important People Die, Gyllander took a big step and showed the audience that his writing was more than a one hit wonder.

The stories
The main character in Gyllander’s books are crime investigators and forensic specialists Ulf Holtz and Pia Levin. Ulf Holtz is a mellow man who recently became a widower. He struggles to get back on his feet in his private life and the job is an important part in that process. This CSI style crime has a melancholy that gives a special touch to the story. It’s very contemporary, takes place in Stockholm and reveals a lot about Swedish society and modern urban life.

Some Lines Break
It is an early spring morning. The capital is asleep when the young Jenny Svensson ends her life naked in a fountain in the city centre. For crime investigator Ulf Holtz, who arrives to the scene at dawn, it seems to be an accident at first, maybe a game that went wrong. But soon it becomes clear for him and the investigation team that they are dealing with a purposeful killer. When the young graffiti artist Peter Konstantino dies in a similar way the pressure raises on the police. More and more show that a human hunt is going on. Fear and frustration spread.

Only Important People Die
The winter sky is coloured orange by thousands of torchlights. Under complete silence young men in short, shiny jackets march through the small town which once a year turns into an arena for the neo-nazistic movements most important manifestation. But in the woods a man with a mission is waiting, and before the night is over one of the nazists is dead.

Crime investigator Ulf Holtz and Pia Levin are pulled into an investigation which takes them in many different directions, political and private. Against her will, Levin is forced to dig into the dead nazist’s past and confront unpleasant family secrets. At the same time the questions pile up: Who is the smoking man by the murder scene, and what really happens between the doors in the notorious Eaglenest?

What Rests on the Bottom
A lonely Port Captain looks out over the sea where the crests turn white by the incoming storm. Tonight the cruise ship M/S Vega’s lanterns don’t show up on the black horizon as they normally do. Something has happened out there on the sea, a murder which will put crime investigator Ulf Holtz to the test, both professionally and privately. When the investigation starts, the questions too pile up; who is the dead man without identity and without history and what is it that the crew is hiding? For the third time Varg Gyllander has woven a dense and exciting intrigue around a crime committed in our presence. In a public place just that little short moment when no one was looking and no one passed by. With his proficient language and with his feel for details he has once again created a contemporary crime novel which becomes a page turner.

No Land Is Ever The Same (Ingen jord den andra lik)
A face. That's all forensic Ulf Holtz needs. Who was she? Or rather: Who did she use to be?

As soon as Holtz lays eyes on the skeleton he knows it’s far too young to belong in a Viking grave. He’s been called for the excavation to investigate the unexpected finding. The rust-brown head with the even, white teeth does not give any answers. How did a woman who died nearly fifty years ago end up there? And why is the crumbling skeletons scattered?

In the fourth book of forensic scientists Ulf Holtz and Pia Levin, Holtz take several journeys. First he must find the answer to the riddle of the woman in the pit. But equally important is his inner travel. He must find his way back to his daughter and to his own life. It is a journey in time but also a balance act on the limit of reason. In this process the essence of human genes are revealed with the help of new technology.

The Revenge is Mine
During a visit to Skansen in Stockholm Irina, the nine year old daughter a nationally known and controversial politician Sanfrid Aronsson dissapears. Forensic Detective Pia Levin gets there quickly and discovers something that makes her look up the chief of cyber crime investigations, Jerzy Mrowka. For many years he has been occupied with an increasingly desperate hunt for pedophiles. Can Irina have fallen victim to one of the men on Jerzy’s blacklist?

Meanwhile, there are several signs that indicate that Irina's mother Natasha may be involved in the disappearance. The problem is that Natasha is in detention, waiting to be deported to Chechnya. And soon it turns out that someone is willing to go to great lengths to prevent Pia and her colleagues rom questioning Natasha before the plane takes off from Sweden ...

The Revenge is Mine is a tight and fast paced thriller in which the investigation repeatedly takes new and unexpected turns, all while the clock is ticking for a nine year old girl's life.

A couple of quotes about earlier titles:

"Varg Gyllander has taken a huge leap in his writing. Both author and readers are to congratulate. No one who appreciates a carefully constructed and constantly fascinating police novel should miss What Rests on the Bottom. With this book, Varg Gyllander indisputably places himself among the leading Swedish crime writers."/Sydsvenskan

"I am drawn into the universe of Varg Gyllander’s story. In just the right way. He has found a way to speak to the reader. The words seem to fall onto me, sentence by sentence, page by page. I don’t even notice reading… I like!"/Deckarhuset.se

"This crime novel is one of the best I have ever red."/Mariestadstidningen

"Gyllander has passed with brilliance in his debut. And Leif GW Persson has gotten a competitor in the genre of realistic crime novels." /Östgöta Correspondenten

Publishers"
Denmark –Turbine Forlaget
Germany – btb/Random House
Italy – Newton Compton
The Netherlands - Uitgeverij Hoogland & Van Klaveren
Sweden – Massolit
Turkey: Karayel Kitabevi

    
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kontakt:

Piotr Wawrzeńczyk

piotr@literatura.com.pl