To Catch an Angel
2010
To Catch an Angel is a relationship novel about passion and loyalty, a destiny drama about a young man stabbed to death, a highly topical portrait of the segregated Stockholm. Håkan Östlundh's latest novel doesn't leave anyone unmoved.
Paul Bäckström, a recently divorced police in the Stockholm suburb Sollentuna, is drawn into a passionate relationship with the married publisher Ylva Ström. On the surface the two seem to have nothing in common. And maybe t hey don't. Still, Ylva throws herself into a taxi to get to Sollentuna as often as she can make up a decent lie to her husband. The forbidden love keeps both Ylva and Paul alive.
But reality moves in closer. Paul is investigating a teenage murder which gets a lot of attention in the media and is caught between old friendships and new loyalties when he is involved in a too personal way. At the same time Ylva needs to make a number of hard decisions. Life is not only a passion. It is also career, family and everyday life. And everything has a price. Is she ready to live with herself if she lets her children down? And how does one know what is love and what is just passion?
"Östlundh continues to develop his writing and delivers yet another must read book."
Nerikes Allehanda
”Östlundh is a good story teller who doesn’t take shortcuts trough sentimentality or psychological amateurism. The power of his language is very rare among contemporary writers. […] I was very touched and couldn’t put the book down until I had reached the last page. […] This is the new type of crime writing that I really embrace.”
Lennart Högman, DAST-Magazine
”With ample yet low-key realism, Östlundh manages to describe how growing differences has changed the society of our childhood." (Four hearts out of five).
Femina
”... a well told story of teenage violence in a community ready to fall apart and about grown-up anxiety in a nicer part of suburban Stockholm – a story that bears both the color of grey every day realism and throbbing, forbidden passion.”
Veckans Affärer
