Widow and nurse Sophie Brinkmann lives in a quiet suburb of Stockholm with her teenage son Albert. It's a boring, uneventful life for them until one of Sophie's patients at the hospital takes a special interest in her. Spaniard Hector Guzman is recuperating from a broken leg sustained when a car ran into him and he's fascinated by Sophie. He wants to continue a relationship with her away from the hospital once he's released, and Sophie finds herself attracted enough to the charming Hector to agree. But there is more to Hector than Sophie could've ever imagined, and it doesn't take long for her to find out what it is.

Hector Guzman, along with his aging father, is an international crime lord in charge of a syndicate that's recently found itself involved in a deadly struggle with a rival gang of German mobsters, who will stop at nothing to take over the Guzman operation. Then an old friend of Sophie's, Jens Vall, who's now an arms dealer, finds himself caught up in the turmoil when a deal he brokered with some really nasty Russians goes bad. Sophie is shocked to see Jens, as well as murderous hit men, when a fatal confrontation takes place in a local restaurant. What has she gotten herself into?

Swedish police are aware of the volatile situation, so detective inspector Gunilla Strandberg, head of a special investigation unit she's handpicked, decides to use Sophie to get closer to Guzman. Gunilla has one of her men, Lars Vinge, bug Sophie's home without her knowledge. After hours of surveillance, Lars becomes fixated on Sophie and finds himself reverting to his prior drug usage to handle the long hours. Others in Gunilla's team are even more devious and coldblooded as they follow their boss' orders. How much more twisted can this case become? Oh, there are a lot more complicated events to take place before the final conclusion.

With a hefty cast of international characters and a deftly structured plotline, THE ANDALUCION FRIEND by Alexander Söderberg is a fast-paced, innovative crime thriller guaranteed to keep you totally absorbed until the final page. This debut novel is the first in a trilogy -- and I can't wait for the next installment! THE ANDALUCION FRIEND is highly recommended reading.

Book Summary

When Sophie Brinkmann meets Hector Guzman, her life is perfectly uneventful. She’s a nurse and a single mother, living with her son in a sleepy Stockholm suburb. She likes Guzman’s quiet charm and easy smile; she likes the way he welcomes her into his family. She quickly learns, though, that his smooth façade masks something much more sinister—he’s the head of an international crime ring that is at war with a rival organization. Before she can fully grasp the extent of his dangerous world, her life starts to come undone: her family is at risk, a long-lost friend mysteriously resurfaces, and she realizes that she can trust no one. Whether she likes it or not, she’s now at the center of a global turf war between Spanish drug traffickers, German gangsters, Russian hit men, and Swedish cops. To get out alive, and with her integrity intact, she will have to summon everything within her to navigate this intricate web of moral ambiguity, deadly obsession, and craven gamesmanship.