Börge Hellström (1957–2017)

"Three Minutes," by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellström, is the compelling story of Piet Hoffmann, an ex-con who has been to hell and back. He was sentenced to life in a Swedish jail, was nearly killed, and escaped to South America with his wife and two young sons. Now, Piet is the bodyguard and right-hand man of El Mestizo (nicknamed Johnny), the psychopathic head of a Colombian drug cartel. Johnny does not suspect that Piet is also an informant for the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency. show more Hoffmann sends the DEA the locations of cocaine factories and details of pending drug shipments. He hopes that, in return for the valuable intelligence he provides, he will be allowed to return Sweden as a free man. In his corner is Stockholm detective Ewert Grens, a curmudgeon whose one soft spot is the love he feels for his late wife.

This is a lengthy, complex, and violent thriller that derives its power from vivid figurative language, unpredictable twists and turns, and a stinging indictment of cynical and self-serving government officials in three continents. Piet knows that, ultimately, he can rely on no one but himself, since promises are made to be broken. Roslund and Hellström transport us to dense, insect-ridden jungles, and horrify us with accounts of Colombian boys trained to carry out assassinations in exchange for cash from drug lords. Timothy Crouse, the United States Speaker of the House, has a personal reason to despise drugs and those who peddle them for profit. He pays a visit to Colombia to oversee operations that he helped fund, not realizing that he is placing himself and his security force in grave peril.

This novel requires intense concentration, a large investment of time, and a strong stomach for scenes of murder and torture. "Three Minutes" is a powerful tale that conveys how cynicism and greed can motivate people to commit malicious and immoral acts. The characters are well-rounded—even Johnny shows occasional flashes of humanity—and Roslund and Hellström infuse their narrative with intriguing details about satellite imagery; encrypted communications; and even an undetectable way of smuggling cocaine. The book's last page is stunning and unexpected; it left me bewildered and disheartened. I am still pondering the finale. show less

Three Seconds is an engrossing read about the Swedish legal system, the influx of Eastern European criminals, and use of informers, delivered by a plot with many twists and turns.

The characters are well developed personalities that made the story current and believable. I was very drawn to Ewert Grens, the quirky Detective Inspector that starts off investigating a drug murder and ends up with a case of deep intrigue and political manoeuvrings. Piet Hoffman, the informer, earned my respect show more and care, his was a life of such extremes, a loving family man on the one hand, a desperate, betrayed informer on the other, living a lie, where one misstep could result in death.

The POV switches between these two and many other characters giving insight into the events as they happen. There is a lot of information and development to take in but the story is broken into many small segments which made for easy reading. The plot is laid out slowly at the beginning but the pace soon quickened and eventually drew me along at breakneck speed.

I found Three Seconds to be an intelligent, absorbing and dark thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed. show less

I do love a well-written crime novel and I've enjoyed the series that follows Ewert Grens, who is really not good at basic social interactions. He's a pudgy, older guy whose musical tastes were set deeply in stone in the sixties, who sleeps on the sofa in his office and is terrible about allowing his underlings a personal life. I think he probably smells a little, too, but the books don't mention it. In Cell 8, he takes on the case of a man holding a Canadian passport who is arrested after show more kicking another man in the head. He won't speak, is visibly frightened of being incarcerated and is not the man for whom the passport was issued. Grens is determined to find out who this man is, and when his identity is discovered it leads to a series of backroom political dealings that all end badly, with the already cranky Grens fuming (and yelling quite a bit) from the sidelines.

Grens is growing on me. He really is an unpleasant person. But the people he works with are patient with him and the authors are good enough to keep the characters three dimensional. Even the really bad guy in this book has motivation for his reprehensible actions. It all makes sense, up until the final twist, which did not work at all. This is not as fast paced as the other books in the series. It has a point to make, and no matter how valid and important that point, this book has all the failings of a book with a lesson to teach. It can be a little self-righteous at times, a lot self-righteous at others in a way that interfered with the telling of the story. Also, much of the book took place in the US, and those portions, no matter how well researched, felt "off". show less

Scandinavian crime novels are all the rage now. All of them present a humanity as dark and bleak as any mid-winter snow-fueled sunless day in an isolated village in the mountains or forests of Norway or Sweden or Denmark. All of them present a geography and culture that is almost completely unknown to the rest of us that never seems to open up no matter how many times we re-read them.

Three Seconds does not disappoint the admirers of this genre. Frequent and nasty violence, misogyny of the show more highest order (the detective ‘hero’ is constantly surprised that his female colleague has ideas and investigates possible leads), drug-taking and, sin of all sins, excessive smoking. All the characters are grotesquely flawed or ciphers there to provide the contrast that makes that grotesquerie shine the brighter. I will say one thing in these people’s defense - not much swearing and no littering.

This book has a weak plot that you can see coming, but that is not the point. The central character is sent to prison on a mission and then abandoned. We never doubt he will survive and escape, the interest, as in MacGyver, is not if, but how.

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who wants to wallow in others’ misery and puzzle out the hero’s escape. show less