Really enjoyed. ( )

Hmmmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Trodde jag skulle hata slutet och ge boken två stjärnor, men fan, jag gillade det trots allt. Det fungerade faktiskt, på sitt sätt.

Resten av boken though? Idk. Det är ett intressant case, så den biten gillar jag, men det är mycket jag ogillar. Typ exakt alla karaktärer. Sättet berättelsen är upplagd på (jaha var det mars helt plötsligt? Okej). Vissa scener som är så fruktansvärt cringe. Att Sophia har typ noll personlighet och inte känns som hon har något driv eller motivation alls. Att Adam är med trots att han tillför ingenting till storyn alls. Att Malin Persson Giolito uppenbarligen haft nån jävligt dryg person i sitt liv som hette Sebastian men kallades Sibbe (jag gissar att Labbe var lite småstörig men inte lika illa).

Nej, jag hade höga förväntningar och boken uppfyllde dem inte. Men tre stjärnor pga trots det ville jag fan veta vad som skulle hända och själva "mysteriet" var bra upplagt. ( )

Ambitious Swedish attorney Sophia Weber decides to take on an appeal for Stig Ahlin, a.k.a. “Dr. Death,” who has served 13 years in prison for the murder of a fifteen-year-old girl in 1998. There is no question that Stig, also credibly accused of sexually violating his 4-year-old daughter Ida, is far from a saint, and he admitted to having sexual liaisons with prostitutes as well as with the victim, Katrin Björk. But he has always maintained he did not kill her.

The author goes back and forth in time to tell the story of what happened to Katrin and how the police initially handled the case, and Sophia’s approach in the present day. Sophia does indeed find a flaw in the way the case was initially handled, along with some possible misconduct by Stig’s lawyers, or the prosecutors, or the police.

This cannot however be considered a “thriller” in the sense that not only was the crime committed long ago without any indication that similar crimes have been happening, but much of the action is very slow. The author spends too much time, in my view, on the lawyer’s relationships with her father, her law professor mentor, the life of man with whom she had an affair, and describing Sophia’s trip out on a sailboat when she is attempting to relax.

The worst part of the story for me, however, was the plethora of unresolved issues at the end of the book. While the author does raise a number of issues that are worth contemplating, I can’t say I enjoyed this book much. ( )

"You have no idea how many people spend time hating folks they don’t even know." Malin Persson Giolito's legal thriller BEYOND ALL REASONABLE DOUBT follows an attorney taking on an appeal of a case where everyone KNOWS how horrible the convicted man is. They have no real information of course but they KNOW it. Righteous indignation gives them moral superiority and so our conflict is joined. I really enjoyed the care with which this novel was plotted and written. It does not take the easy ways out and mostly stays away from two dimensional caricatures in favor of complex portraits. There are no easy or pat answers here and that is a good lesson to us all. This book was written in 2012 but only translated recently but it still rings true. Our flawed attorney protagonist tries hard to do the right thing, but what is the right thing? This was a very thoughtful read. ( )

Laskluster, at best. Sophia Weber agrees to try to get a convicted murderer of a 15 year old girl (who he was having sex with), which in Sweden rarely occurs. At the time of the initial trial he was also accused of sexually abusing his 2 year old daughter.

Little action. Slow going. I'd skip it. ( )