Reviews

• “The latest in Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series tells a complex but fascinating story full of misdirection and police obfuscation. Recommend Marklund to fans of Jussi Adler-Olsen and Camilla Lackberg.”

• “The novel is 500 pages long, and yet you are never given a fair chance to catch your breath – not in one single chapter.”

• “Lifetime is arguably the best of all the Annika Bengtzon thrillers.”

• “Marklund cleverly ties the protagonist’s private life to the murder of a police officer, thereby creating constant suspense all the way up to the novel’s denouement.”

• “The fact that Marklund writes in a journalistic tradition doesn’t mean that her style is bleak. On the contrary. There is force and concentration in the well researched and informed account. And there is temperament – privately, in the half-crazy jealousy brought on by the divorce, but also in broader terms, in the defence for abused women and in the tenderness for the children. In addition to character, plotting, and language, the genuinely good crime novel needs this: the authentic, strong emotions.”

• “There is drive in Liza Marklund’s writing. None of the so-called ”Queens of Crime” reach up even to the rim of her boot when she is at the top of her game, as she is here.”

• “The plot is so excellent that I cannot think of any other writer than Liza Marklund to have cooked it up. As we approach the dramatic denouement, the author displays her full register, and greatness, as a crime writer. Few, if any, have her capacity to change the pace of the story instantly, and her portrayals of fatigue, fear and despair are first-rate. Many authors yield to the temptation of ending the story on a note of sweet redemption, after all the trials and tribulations. Liza Marklund resists this temptation brilliantly, indeed with flying colors.”

• “Again, Marklund triumphs. She combines a solidly plotted crime story with stories of love, life with children and marriage.”

• “Liza – the unthreatened queen! /…/ Liza is simply the best writer. When it comes to her writing, she ups the standard with each book. Lifetime is suspenseful, important and provokes questions.”

• “The plot is smart and suspenseful. The agreeably flawed Annika's personal story, which avoids clichés even as her husband falls into one in taking up with a beautiful blonde, draws us in. And Marklund knows her journalistic turf: Her rendering of the methods, internal politics and economics of newspapers is spot on. The best of Marklund's books to be published in the U.S., this work sets readers up for the next installment of the Annika Bengtzon series, A Place in the Sun, with a tantalizing last-minute revelation.”

• “Marklund has created a complex page-turner, complete with gritty realism, a flawed but likable protagonist, and nonstop suspense.”

• “This is a cleverly plotted story which, like so much Swedish crime fiction, features situations and characters one can believe in or sympathize with and is set firmly in contemporary society”

• “The addictive series of novels by Liza Marklund featuring her exploits are on my 'must read' list. … [Marklund] is a master at tying off the main mystery of each of her novels while keeping a few threads, mysterious and otherwise, dangling at the conclusion; Lifetime is no exception to this rule. Marklund's oft-demonstrated ability to balance plot and character in equal measure makes this a must-read.”

• “Lifetime is a story of female revenge on many levels but Marklund's aim in this remarkable novel is to expose the leniency of the Swedish justice system and its interpretation of the length of a life sentence. It is intelligent and thought-provoking and, therefore, compelling reading.”