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The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin

by Jan Stocklassa

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
319782,151 (3.45)4
When Stieg Larsson died, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had been working on a true mystery that out-twisted his Millennium novels: the assassination on February 28, 1986, of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been murdered without a clue who had done it, and on a Stockholm street at point-blank range. Internationally known for his fictional far-right villains, Larsson was well acquainted with their real-life counterparts and documented extremist activities throughout the world. Larsson's archive was forgotten until journalist Jan Stocklassa was given exclusive access to the author's secret project. Stocklassa collects the pieces of Larsson's true-crime puzzle to follow the trail of intrigue, espionage, and conspiracy begun by one of the world's most famous thriller writers. Together they set out to solve a mystery that no one else could.… (more)
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» See also 4 mentions

English (5)  Swedish (1)  German (1)  All languages (7)
Showing 5 of 5
This is a very interesting book for several reasons.

First - it is about an unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. It is weird that after almost 40 years there is no official resolution of this assassination. What this indicates is that Sweden was neutral mostly on paper but within all political and military structures it was very clear where they stand. Unfortunately this "silent approach" to investigations of high exposure events is also visible in our times, during the investigation of another incident - this time very near their territorial waters for which they did the investigation but do not want to publish the results. Friendly fire again? There is nothing worse than meddling of politics in the criminal activities and especially this type of high level events. And accusing everything on a single crazy person (and waiting until given person is dead [this time of old age] before providing the statement) is now so much a cliche that I do not know who would chose that instead of just saying - no comment.
Second - author used materiel investigated and provided by famous journalist and later crime novel writer Stieg Larsson. Struck with Palme's assassination, Larsson started investigating possible leads and it is very interesting to follow his findings (around 40% of the book). Unfortunately after a while even Larsson lost interest in the case and moved from links with right extremist organizations toward the lone amateur assassin case.
Third - author's own investigation using the Larsson's materials and further pushing and talking to still alive persons of interests in second decade of 2000's. What he found is not conclusive (after all he is journalist not law enforcer) but he paints a very plausible timeline of events and reveals the details of the possible culprits. Unfortunately culprits that played the role of proxy executioners for Western alliance during the Cold War (same as Eastern block used Bulgarians for example) so they are not to be named publicly. His investigation, from direct contacts with persons of interest to assistance by the mysterious Czech national (part about possible data extraction in Israel was .... oh, boy) and various shady and deadly characters like Craig Williamson truly show how perilous is path towards truth and how easy is to slip and commit crimes while fighting for it.
Fourth - it was interesting to read about far left in Sweden, especially Jan Guillou, author of famous Swedish Agent Hamilton series. Jan's relation with Olof Palme himself, especially after the scandal related to security services and Olof's party activities, are very interesting indeed.

Very interesting book, highly readable and most importantly very compact, with almost zero repetition of the story line across the chapters. While some readers are stating that inconclusive ending is a downside, I have to say it is not. Book gives a very strong case on possible culprits but after 40 years there is no political will (if there ever was one to begin with) to find the killers (or at least name them) because it would open some festering graves and implicate people that do not want to be put under the spotlight.

Recommended to fans of history and crime investigations involving shady spy groups and assassins. ( )
  Zare | Feb 1, 2024 |
The book played out Stieg Larsoon's research and theory regarding the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. The author did a good job and the book is not as dry as I expected it to be. ( )
  Baochuan | Jan 4, 2023 |
Apparently, I'm not a fan of unsolved crime books. My lack of familiarity with Swedish names and places didn't help. I was curious about Palme's death because of mentions in Swedish mystery books, but I'm over that now.

This audio book took me much too long to finish. Now I'm behind in my reading goals. ( )
  NancyinA2 | Feb 3, 2022 |
Didn't finish. ( )
  cjordan916 | Oct 26, 2020 |
Der 28. Februar 1986 ändert vieles im schwedischen Bewusstsein: auf offener Straße wird Premierminister Olof Palme erschossen und er erliegt am Tatort den Verletzungen. Auch dreißig Jahre nach der Tat sind weder der Täter dingfest gemacht noch die genauen Geschehnisse des Tatabends geklärt. Der Journalist Jan Stocklassa stößt bei seinen Nachforschungen für ein Buch über Tatorte auf die Aufzeichnungen von Stieg Larsson, heute aufgrund der Millennium-Trilogie als Thriller-Autor weltweit bekannt, in den 80er Jahren jedoch in Schweden geschätzter Journalist und Illustrator, der sein Leben lang gegen den Rechtsextremismus anschrieb. Auch Larsson hat bis zu seinem Tod 2004 akribisch geforscht, um den Mordfall Olof Palme aufzuklären. Stocklassa nimmt die Spurensuche wieder auf und vervollständigt Larssons Vorarbeit. Am Ende bleibt die Frage offen, was die schwedische Polizei aus dem Material machen wird.

„Stieg Larssons Erbe“ ist eine detailreiche Dokumentation nicht nur der unmittelbaren Ereignisse vom 28.2.1986, sondern es beschreibt auch wichtige politische Zusammenhänge und Ereignisse, die wesentlich für die Tat sein könnten, und ebenso die geradezu erschrecken komplizierte und von Streitigkeiten geprägte Struktur des Polizei- und Juristereiapparats. Obwohl das Buch einen weitgehend dokumentarischen und beschreibenden Charakter hat, Stocklassa legt auch seine und Larssons Arbeitsweise ausführlich dar, um ihre Gedankengänge und Vorgehen nachvollziehbar zu machen, liest sich das Buch dennoch unheimlich gut und wirkt an keiner Stelle ermüdend oder gar dröge.

Sicherlich hat es einen guten, von Marketing-Gesichtspunkten geprägten Sinn, dass der Name Stieg Larssons im Titel erscheint. Für mein Empfinden verschiebt das leider etwas den Fokus und lenkt potenzielle Leser in eine falsche Richtung. Dies ist besonders schade, da es einen ausgesprochen hohen informativen Wert hat, unterhaltsam zu lesen ist und auch ohne den bekannten Namen wirken kann. „True Crime“ – ja, natürlich, aber faktisch ist es eine Aufarbeitung des Falls Olof Palme, der unheimlich komplex und dadurch enorm interessant ist. Für mich eine sehr lohnende Lektüre, da mir der Fall nur rudimentär bekannt war und ich die Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge nicht wirklich kannte. Sowohl das Vorgehen des Autors bei der Recherche war dabei für mich aufschlussreich zu lesen, aber auch die Situation des Extremismus und Terrorismus in Schweden, was mir bis dato gänzlich unbekannt war.

Fazit: ein Buch, das vor allem durch den Einblick in qualitativ hochwertige journalistische Arbeit überzeugt und für ein Sachbuch in einem hohen Maße ansprechend verfasst wurde. ( )
  miss.mesmerized | Nov 30, 2018 |
Showing 5 of 5
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» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Stocklassa, JanAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bonomelli, RexCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chace, Tara F.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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When Stieg Larsson died, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had been working on a true mystery that out-twisted his Millennium novels: the assassination on February 28, 1986, of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been murdered without a clue who had done it, and on a Stockholm street at point-blank range. Internationally known for his fictional far-right villains, Larsson was well acquainted with their real-life counterparts and documented extremist activities throughout the world. Larsson's archive was forgotten until journalist Jan Stocklassa was given exclusive access to the author's secret project. Stocklassa collects the pieces of Larsson's true-crime puzzle to follow the trail of intrigue, espionage, and conspiracy begun by one of the world's most famous thriller writers. Together they set out to solve a mystery that no one else could.

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