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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
This was an interesting book that gives a great deal of insight into the type of journalistic work Stieg Larsson did, and his major focus before he was known as the author of the Millennium series. There was a lot of detail, and a ton of different people mentioned throughout. It was at times over bearing and difficult to remember them all. As someone who was not at all familiar with the Palme assassination, nor the structure of Swedish government, I felt a bit like I was trying to catch up. As a whole the book did seem to drag on at times. There was a lot of time, and uncovering of information going on condensed, making it at times heavy feeling to get through. In the end a realistic possible solution to the assassination is given, but the case is not solved, and that was a little disappointing. I would recommend this book to any true crime junkie, those interested in the Palme assassination and/or investigative journalism.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
An okay look at the unsolved assassination of Swedish PM, Olaf Palme. Nothing really new here.
I admit that I started reading this book with pretty much no idea about what it was going to be about aside from something Stieg Larsson had been working on when he died. The picture I come away with after many days of reading small tidbits slowly and large chunks on the edge of my seat is that this investigation seems impossible, and the investigators (including journalists) on the case are superhuman in their staying power.
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the creative aspect of this nonfiction. I maintain that it was an odd choice to include the moment of death from the dead man's perspective. Other than that, I enjoyed reading this perspective and thought it was a clever way to make an extremely complicated network of clues, narratives, and (un)substantiated theories accessible to readers.
Also, I will never look at someone dying during a coincidental/questionable timeline without suspicion again. Now I'm even questioning the timing of Larsson's death. Will need to read a palete clenser from conspiracy theories after this.
At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the creative aspect of this nonfiction. I maintain that it was an odd choice to include the moment of death from the dead man's perspective. Other than that, I enjoyed reading this perspective and thought it was a clever way to make an extremely complicated network of clues, narratives, and (un)substantiated theories accessible to readers.
Also, I will never look at someone dying during a coincidental/questionable timeline without suspicion again. Now I'm even questioning the timing of Larsson's death. Will need to read a palete clenser from conspiracy theories after this.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
A very interesting book, that's really two books, if you will.
One is about who murdered Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme 34 years ago.
The other is about acclaimed novelist Stieg Larsson's investigation into that issue until he died of a heart attack, before his trio of Millennium Dragon novels was published.
Not reading much fiction, I knew of Larsson's name, and trio of novels, but that was it. Before he started at work on the set, and even while he worked, as he kept his day job, he was an illustrator for Sweden's version of the Associated Press. He also had a personal interest in right-wing organizations in Sweden. Stocklassa notes he likely got that from his grandfather, with whom he spent most of his younger childhood. His grandfather self-identified as a Stalinist, Stocklassa says, and hated Swedish Nazi sympathizers.
The background?
I knew the bare bones that Sweden wasn't a liberal hippie paradise. It wasn't nearly 20 years later when its government at that time cooperated with the US CIA on air flights for some of its "renditions," ie, sending terrorists to countries that would openly practice torture. (Side note: It was under Palme's Social Democratic Party in power that this happened, to boot.)
But, the right-wing groups were strong in Sweden in 1980s. And individual Swedes cooperated with the whole US Iran-Contra affair, which actually was the Iran-Contra-South Africa affair, as Stocklassa shows. Apartheid South Africa got oil from Iran in exchange for laundering money and weapons exchanges, basically. A number of Swedes who helped facilitate this hated Palme; many right-wing Swedes claimed he was an agent of the Soviet Union.
So, who killed Palme? Basically, various Swedish police forces made a butchery of this. After debate as to whether Stockholm area police at the Swedish county level, the nation's rough equivalent of the FBI, or a state security police and counterintelligence force that is like a mix of some aspects of the Secret Service and certain aspects of the CIA. Eventually, the local police got the call.
And botched it.
They were slow to interview witnesses, slow to control the crime scene, and pushed a theory that Kurdish PKK separatists were behind it.
One Swede was arrested. Later, another was arrested and convicted but quickly had his conviction vacated on appeal.
Larsson kept on the Swedish right-wing trail until his death and Stocklassa picked up on this after coming across his old notes.
He eventually thinks that a "man Friday" assistant to a well-known right-wing opponent of Palme was the triggerman, with South African civil security forces organizing the hit, and using this man because he would be a good "patsy" type and give plausible deniability.
And yet? A full year and more since the book was published in Sweden, and no major new investigative issues have been announced by any Swedish police agency, despite Stocklassa saying the solution (that is, the murder weapon), could likely be in a bank safe deposit box.
Why? It seems clear to me that, nearly 35 years later, Swedish police DO NOT WANT THIS CASE SOLVED.
And, Stocklassa's refusal to directly confront that, more than any meandering narrative, is why the book doesn't get a fifth star.
One is about who murdered Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme 34 years ago.
The other is about acclaimed novelist Stieg Larsson's investigation into that issue until he died of a heart attack, before his trio of Millennium Dragon novels was published.
Not reading much fiction, I knew of Larsson's name, and trio of novels, but that was it. Before he started at work on the set, and even while he worked, as he kept his day job, he was an illustrator for Sweden's version of the Associated Press. He also had a personal interest in right-wing organizations in Sweden. Stocklassa notes he likely got that from his grandfather, with whom he spent most of his younger childhood. His grandfather self-identified as a Stalinist, Stocklassa says, and hated Swedish Nazi sympathizers.
The background?
I knew the bare bones that Sweden wasn't a liberal hippie paradise. It wasn't nearly 20 years later when its government at that time cooperated with the US CIA on air flights for some of its "renditions," ie, sending terrorists to countries that would openly practice torture. (Side note: It was under Palme's Social Democratic Party in power that this happened, to boot.)
But, the right-wing groups were strong in Sweden in 1980s. And individual Swedes cooperated with the whole US Iran-Contra affair, which actually was the Iran-Contra-South Africa affair, as Stocklassa shows. Apartheid South Africa got oil from Iran in exchange for laundering money and weapons exchanges, basically. A number of Swedes who helped facilitate this hated Palme; many right-wing Swedes claimed he was an agent of the Soviet Union.
So, who killed Palme? Basically, various Swedish police forces made a butchery of this. After debate as to whether Stockholm area police at the Swedish county level, the nation's rough equivalent of the FBI, or a state security police and counterintelligence force that is like a mix of some aspects of the Secret Service and certain aspects of the CIA. Eventually, the local police got the call.
And botched it.
They were slow to interview witnesses, slow to control the crime scene, and pushed a theory that Kurdish PKK separatists were behind it.
One Swede was arrested. Later, another was arrested and convicted but quickly had his conviction vacated on appeal.
Larsson kept on the Swedish right-wing trail until his death and Stocklassa picked up on this after coming across his old notes.
He eventually thinks that a "man Friday" assistant to a well-known right-wing opponent of Palme was the triggerman, with South African civil security forces organizing the hit, and using this man because he would be a good "patsy" type and give plausible deniability.
And yet? A full year and more since the book was published in Sweden, and no major new investigative issues have been announced by any Swedish police agency, despite Stocklassa saying the solution (that is, the murder weapon), could likely be in a bank safe deposit box.
Why? It seems clear to me that, nearly 35 years later, Swedish police DO NOT WANT THIS CASE SOLVED.
And, Stocklassa's refusal to directly confront that, more than any meandering narrative, is why the book doesn't get a fifth star.
Before reading this book, I knew nothing of the Palme assassination. After reading the book, I feel like I have a grasp on the facts, but still find the large cast of potential suspects and various theories hard to keep track of. I don’t feel like I can completely agree with the author’s conclusions without reading more in depth about other theories and I can’t say that my curiosity is piqued enough to do so. I will say it’s shocking to realize how many people have been assassinated or died under suspicious circumstances. I also don’t have the best grasp on Sweden’s political system, which may be why some things were harder to grasp and hold my interest.
I did enjoy learning more about Steig Larsson, his upbringing, and journalistic work. I really wish that he had lived longer and had been able to continue writing and researching. I think Stocklassa did a good job of taking Steig’s theories and investigating them further.
I also enjoyed the parts of the book that talked about undercover journalism and thought those were the most captivating chapters. I also couldn’t help but be reminded of Lisbeth Salander every time Lida entered the story. Overall it’s a good book, but probably best for those who have a deep fascination with the Palme murder or Larson himself.
I did enjoy learning more about Steig Larsson, his upbringing, and journalistic work. I really wish that he had lived longer and had been able to continue writing and researching. I think Stocklassa did a good job of taking Steig’s theories and investigating them further.
I also enjoyed the parts of the book that talked about undercover journalism and thought those were the most captivating chapters. I also couldn’t help but be reminded of Lisbeth Salander every time Lida entered the story. Overall it’s a good book, but probably best for those who have a deep fascination with the Palme murder or Larson himself.
DNF
I tried, I really did. But this was just far too dry. Initially, I kind of expected to read a story told in documents and interviews, something along the lines of the Themis files. That didn't happen. Ultimately, I was just not into this book.
I tried, I really did. But this was just far too dry. Initially, I kind of expected to read a story told in documents and interviews, something along the lines of the Themis files. That didn't happen. Ultimately, I was just not into this book.
informative
slow-paced