What do You think about Sail Of Stone (2012)?
Chief Inspector Erik Winter of the Gothenburg police department is contacted by an ex-girlfriend whose father has disappeared. The missing man had received a note referring to the disappearance of his own father during the Second World War after his boat sank off the coast of Scotland. Winter assumes the missing man has travelled to Aberdeen to investigate his father’s disappearance, and despite his own family priorities, Winter becomes sucked into the case. Meanwhile, Detective Aneta Djnali investigates the disappearance of a woman whom she believes to have been abused by her husband. The woman’s family seem determined to prevent Aneta from investigating the disappearance and deny that there is a problem. As Eric and Aneta delve deeper into their respective cases, the secrets of families and the lengths they will go to ensure they they remain hidden becomes apparent.This is a difficult book to review because the slow moving narrative made it hard to ever completely engage with the story. The account of Eric’s investigation and his travels to Scotland to look into the man’s disappearance was by far the most interesting aspect of the story. Although there are clearly links between Scotland and Scandinavia, Eric seems overwhelmed by the very strangeness of the place and looking at the granite city through a stranger’s eyes was fascinating.In his investigations, Winter is reunited with the British policeman Steve MacDonald who has appeared in previous books. They have an easy going relationship based on mutual respect and although the resolution of the case was slightly unbelievable I still enjoyed it. The investigation undertaken by Aneta in Sweden was more difficult to engage with and without giving any spoilers, I was left perplexed by the whole incident at the end of the book.
—Sarah
I have enjoyed four previous books in this series. Edwardson's main character Chief Inspector Erik Winter is less gloomy than Mankell's Kurt Wallander, younger, more urban. The ongoing support cast of police colleagues and family bring a different edge and are always interesting. Sail of Stone spins out two cases – they stay more or less parallel from start to finish. Though unconnected, they also subtly mirror each other thematically. Erik Winter travels from an old island fishing community off the Swedish coast to the same kind of isolated ports in northwest Scotland in a missing person/maybe murder case; his colleague Aneta Djanali puzzles out an apparent domestic abuse case back in Gothenburg. I was more engaged by the latter. The author devotes inordinate time and pages providing beautiful descriptions of the sea and the fishing life; it almost reads like a travel book when we get to Scotland, and the actual mystery there drags - especially when set against the neurotic tension of Aneta’s investigation. But Ake Edwardson is definitely a masterful writer. Recommended. Although maybe try an earlier one in the series if it’s your first.)
—John Brooke
Inspector Winter series is fantastic, and this book is no exception.Brilliant characters, and not just the world class inspector himself, but his teammates (especially Aneta, an afro-Swedish detective) and the people involved and being investigated. Complex plots, strong sense of places and history, and an atmosphere thick enough to need a knife to cut it. And now I want to visit the places mentioned in Scotland, and try some of the Scotch mentioned...There were two main stories being investigated, and while they developed hand in hand, at times they seemed a bit too separate. Some of the dialogs were a bit odd every now and then, but it's perhaps down to people saying different things in different languages. It's not how you'd say something in Swedish, but what you'd say instead. Not in a bad way, as it fit the characters. And it's definitely the characters who set the pace in the book. Just like it should be.
—Anna
