Review: Slugger by Martin Holmen

Synopsis:  It's summer in Stockholm, and the city is sweltering in the grip of a rare heatwave while fascists and communists beat each other bloody in the streets. Harry Kvist has had enough. It's time for him to leave. But first he has some business to take care of. His old friend and ex-lover, Reverend Gabrielsson, has been murdered, and the police are more interested in anti-Semitic rumours than finding the truth.

Kvist investigates the only way he knows how, with his fists, uncovering a Nazi terrorist plot and a cabal of corrupt cops. Before long he finds himself caught in the middle of a turf war between two of the city's most brutal gangs. Can he fight his way out of one last corner and find a way to freedom, or has Kvist finally taken a punch too many?

I will sum this up with a quote from the book and the character of Harry Kvist: " ... how in hell is one lonely man supposed to take on a whole conspiracy of gangsters, coppers and fuck knows what else ..."

Holmen certainly knows how to write gritty noir that is visceral, violent, memorable. The character of Harry Kvist (always refers to himself in the third person) is never forgotten, long after the final page has been turned.

Harry is an enigma, a contradiction, and yet - I don't want to say cliched - but he is your typical big old gorilla goon. However, underneath, this ex-con, ex-boxed, battle-scarred thug, a man not without friends or enemies, is a softee. He looks after his friends - and seek to settle things the old fashioned way - a man of few words but brutal action - "... hatred burns in my veins like petrol ..".

This is Harry's final job, told over the course of a number of days. Following the brutal murder of an old friend, Harry finds himself caught up in something much bigger than himself, a pawn in the hands or rival gangs and the police, who seek to use him to their own ends, often at odds with one another - and never in Harry's interests.

There will be no spoiler here - suffice to say ".. the last stretch is always walked alone .."

see also my review of "Down For the Count"