RED WOLF is the fifth book in Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series but the first book released in the US. Annika, an investigative reporter for a Stockholm-based tabloid, is still recovering from being trapped in a tunnel with a killer. For months, she has focused on caring for her husband and two young children and reporting on stories that catch her interest. Annika finds herself focusing on stories about terrorism which leads her to report on the anniversary of an attack on an isolated air base in the 1970's. When a reporter who has uncovered new details about attack is killed on the eve of his meeting with Annika, she is drawn further into an investigation that leads back to Red Wolf, a cold-blooded killer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Annika's personal life provides further complications. She's still dealing with the emotional aftermath of her confrontation with a killer. Both she and Thomas, her husband, are struggling with a loneliness that has crept into their lives. Annika begins to suspect Thomas is hiding something and wonders if her marriage is in danger and, if so, how to save it. Additionally, her best friend Anna Snapphane is the face for new international television merger and struggling with changes in her own family. Annika's willingness to risk it all for the sake of truth and justice may be needed to fix what's wrong.

Annika is an intelligent and complex heroine whose thirst for justice regularly leads her into danger, but also helps her uncover the truth. Her zeal as a reporter, mother, wife, and friend, leaps off the page. She brings a deep passion and commitment to all aspects of her life. The tension and drama of the story are multifaceted. Annika confronts dangers related to newsroom politics, threats to her family, and, of course, the search for a killer. RED WOLF is an action-packed novel that will keep you reading late in to the night as the truths are revealed one at a time.

On her website, Ms. Marklund indicates that the novels in the series were not intended to be read in chronological order. However, I do think I would have been more invested in the story at the start of the book if I had understood more about what brought the characters to their current situations. That said, I completely enjoyed Red Wolf as a stand-alone book.

Book Summary

In the middle of the freezing winter, a journalist is murdered in the northern Swedish town of Lulea. Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon suspects that the killing is linked to an attack against an air base in the late sixties. Against the explicit orders of her boss, Annika continues her investigation of the death, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders.

Annika quickly finds herself drawn into a spiral of terrorism and violence centered around a small communist group called The Beasts. Meanwhile, her marriage starts to slide, and in the end she is not only determined to find out the truth, but also forced to question her own husband's honesty.