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Friday, January 14, 2011

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week....


Roslund, Anders and Hellstrom, Borge. Three Seconds. Translated by Kari Erickson. Silver Oak.

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." This American version of a famous line by Scottish poet Robert Burns best describes the situation of Piet Hoffman. Over a nine year period this ex-con turned police informant has infiltrated the Polish-led mafia controlling the drug trade in Stockholm. Hoffman contrives to get arrested and sent to Aspssas, a maximum security prison that is the source of illegal amphetamines peddled in the great Swedish city. Yet pressure is put on Sweden's Ministry of Justice by former Soviet security agents allied with the Polish drug lords to not back any covert operations. Couple that with an ongoing police investigation of murder stemming from an amphetamine sale gone bad and Hoffman's cover and life might violently end. It is a web that Roslund and Hellstrom, former criminal and journalist respectively, weave with a learned anticipation of what might "go awry."


Reviewed by Librarian Bob.

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