Beyond All Reasonable Doubt: A Novel

A young girl is killed, it is a vicious and horrific crime that shocks not only the town but the entire nation. The police arrest and the prosecutors convict Stig Ahlin for the crime, and for the past thirteen years he has been behind bars, never forgotten and radioactive to those who want to represent him. Sophia Weber is a young lawyer who is struggling to make a name for herself and to do something meaningful, one day she gets a call from her former professor who asks her to defend Stig Ahlin when he appeals his verdict to the Supreme Court. When Weber accepts the case, she digs into the past, a past that wishes to remain buried. When she uncovers critical flaws in the investigation, those that have had a successful career because of this case start to put pressure on Weber to drop it before she can uncover the truth.

This is a lot like other mystery thrillers from Sweden, something we are getting more of. There is a sense of communal ennui that pervades through the frozen land of Sweden, and at times, with the jumping back and forth between the different times, it can get a little confusing.