MARCH 2015 - AudioFile
The dual narration by Peter Ganim and Elisabeth Rodgers helps track the meandering plot of this international thriller, but, disappointingly, it doesn't do much more. With alternating points of view, geographic locations, and time periods, listeners can easily find themselves lost. The story about a spy, voiced by Ganim, and the daughter he never knew, voiced by Rodgers, also contains a plethora of subplots and characters who overshadow the daughter, making a second male narrator seem more appropriate than a female one. The extraneous content also weighs down the momentum of the novel; both narrators echo that sluggish pace, causing the listener to question the label of "thriller." Fans of the genre can safely bypass this audiobook. J.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
12/01/2014
Swedish author Zander’s entertaining first novel owes more to Forsythe and Ludlum than to Larsson and Mankell. An unnamed narrator, who is a retired spy living in Virginia, addresses his late wife in his mind, telling her a convoluted tale that begins with her death and continues across the world over the next 33 years. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Shammosh, who’s in a Ph.D. program at Uppsala University, is working on a book about the privatization of war when he hears from an old friend who has information proving that the CIA and private contractors used torture on captured terrorists. Shammosh ends up with the info and goes on the run with his former lover, Klara Walldéen, an E.U. parliament aide. Given Zander’s literate, descriptive style, it’s easy to see why this thriller has been a bestseller in Europe, though American readers may find it overlong in arriving at the inevitable conclusion. Agents: Astri von Arbin Ahlander and Christine Edhäll, Ahlander Agency (Sweden). (Feb.)
Metro
Dazzling debut.
Giornale di Brescia
A mix of adrenaline and suprises that, once again, reinvents the ever-fertile genre of thrillers stemming from Northern Europe.
Il Gazzettino
Thrilling.
La Repubblica
Praise from Italy:“A full immersion into the classic spy story, masterfully written, in which [Zander] pulls the strings of the characters a like a skilled puppeteer.
Litteratursiden.dk
Joakim Zander delivers a very compelling and intense thriller, and this fine debut makes me think of the highly acclaimed and award-winning American suspense series Homeland, which employs some of the same themes. His ability to suddenly rotate the plot 180 degrees is nothing short of brilliant.
Jyllands-Posten
Praise from Denmark:“Urban, cosmopolitan environments are ideal for political thrillers, which Joakim Zander demonstrates with flying colors in The Swimmer—a story of war, love, and shifting political agendas.
Folkbladet
A fluidly written, thrilling, and worthwhile read.
Dalarnas Tidning
What could easily have become a forced cliché is brought to life by debut novelist Joakim Zander’s rich language and spot-on dramaturgy...In the midst of the breathless action, Zander also succeeds in writing flesh-and-blood characters that feel believable.
Norrköpings Tidningar
Zander drives up the tension with the help of short, sparing sentences. There is an agenda here: to scrutinize the methods and effects of the so-called battle of good against evil.
Skånska Dagbladet
The Swimmer is well written and incredibly thrilling, but its strength also lies in a carefully rendered cast of characters and an ability to avoid the predictability of the genre.
Borås Tidning
Praise from Sweden: “Impressive . . . a fast-paced thriller written in an international style. Joakim Zander has a good story to tell, a story that touches on both moral questions as well as guilt and atonement, culpability and revenge.
Joseph Finder
How can The Swimmer be a first novel? It is dazzling not only in its plotting and character portraits, but in the sophistication of its structure, which keeps us breathless and guessing. An impressive and memorable work, comparable to the best of John le Carré.
Olen Steinhauer
The Swimmer is hypnotic and intoxicating, pulling us relentlessly across the globe from page to page, intrigue to intrigue.
Entertainment Weekly
Page-turning….This Swedish former lawyer’s hypnotic first book is already drawing comparisons to the work of famed spy novelist John le Carré.
Chris Pavone
A terrific globe-trotting page-turner, rich with complex conflicts and a big, meaty, chillingly credible conspiracy.
starred review Booklist
Truly polished and compelling…. Tension and action abound. But it is the depth of Zander’s characters and the quality of the writing, which at times touches elegance, that make The Swimmer a winner…. Zander looks to be a very talented new branch on the flourishing tree of Scandinavian crime fiction.
Kimberly McCreight
Effortlessly structured and perfectly paced, The Swimmer is a globetrotting page-turner whose vibrant cast of characters vividly brings to life the harrowing complexities of our modern political landscape.
Norrköpings Tidningar (SE)
Zander drives up the tension with the help of short, sparing sentences. There is an agenda here: to scrutinize the methods and effects of the so-called battle of good against evil.
Skånska Dagbladet (SE)
The Swimmer is well written and incredibly thrilling, but its strength also lies in a carefully rendered cast of characters and an ability to avoid the predictability of the genre.
Borås Tidning (SE)
The Swimmer is a fast-paced thriller written in an international style. Joakim Zander has a good story to tell, a story that touches on both moral questions as well as guilt and atonement, culpability and revenge....Impressive.
Library Journal
02/15/2015
Billed as Homeland meets Stieg Larsson and already an international best seller, this Swedish thriller from debut author Zander lives up to the hype. Klara Walldeen was raised by her grandparents on a remote archipelago in the Baltic Sea and is now an EU Parliament aide in Brussels. Ex-boyfriend Mahmoud, a graduate student writing his dissertation on the privatization of war, arrives in Brussels to give a presentation and then reaches out to Klara when he ends up in a dangerous situation. They're soon tracking down a laptop full of classified information and being chased across Europe by someone intent on killing them. Meanwhile, an American spy finds his past catching up with him and tries to make it right by helping Klara. Back in Sweden, truths finally begin to emerge after a brutal convergence of the hunters and the hunted. VERDICT The chapters alternate between different and not always named characters and jumps from one decade and locale to another, which makes the novel's beginning both intriguing and disorienting. Despite the potential for some initial confusion, the book rewards with a suspenseful story of international espionage and political misdeeds. [See Prepub Alert, 8/11/14; library marketing.]—Melissa DeWild, Kent District Lib., Comstock Park, MI
MARCH 2015 - AudioFile
The dual narration by Peter Ganim and Elisabeth Rodgers helps track the meandering plot of this international thriller, but, disappointingly, it doesn't do much more. With alternating points of view, geographic locations, and time periods, listeners can easily find themselves lost. The story about a spy, voiced by Ganim, and the daughter he never knew, voiced by Rodgers, also contains a plethora of subplots and characters who overshadow the daughter, making a second male narrator seem more appropriate than a female one. The extraneous content also weighs down the momentum of the novel; both narrators echo that sluggish pace, causing the listener to question the label of "thriller." Fans of the genre can safely bypass this audiobook. J.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2014-11-20
An international thriller with the pace and intensity of a Jason Bourne adventure, Zander's debut follows the intertwining stories of a young Swedish woman and a washed-up American spy.It's 1980, and a car bomb detonates in Damascus, killing the mother of a baby girl. Skip ahead three decades: It's 2013, and Swedish graduate student Mahmoud Shammosh (dissertation topic: "The Privatization of War") receives an anonymous email requesting a meeting. "I have information that's of interest to us both," the note says, followed by an unsettling warning: "Be careful, you're being watched." Meanwhile, in Brussels, George Lööw, lobbyist for the world's biggest PR firm, receives a sinister assignment of his own from a shadowy American company. Among his instructions? Bug the office of a young parliamentary aide named Klara Walldéen—who just happens to be the estranged ex-girlfriend of Mahmoud. Why is George tracking Klara? He's not sure, just as Mahmoud isn't sure why he's being watched, just as Klara isn't sure why—days later—Mahmoud has suddenly reappeared in her life streaked with blood. But when Mahmoud and Klara find themselves in possession of dangerous information, one thing becomes clear: All three of them have been unwittingly thrust into a world of international conspiracy, and the stakes are life and death. Skillfully moving between the past and the present, from Sweden to Syria to Washington and back again, Zander weaves an increasingly tight web of intrigue and suspense with Klara at the center. And if the novel occasionally veers toward spy-movie clichés, it's quickly reanchored by the strength of its characters. Beyond the blood-pumping chase sequences and requisite shootouts, there is real humanity here. A compulsively readable page-turner with unexpected heart.
