“[Mikel Cardell] grasps the body in the water once his kicking has carried him close enough. His first though is that he was correct. This cannot be a human being. It is a discarded carcass, tossed here by the butcher’s boys, made into a buoy as the gases of decomposition expand its innards. Then the lump rolls over and shows him its face…It isn’t rotten at all, and yet empty eye sockets stare back at him. Behind the torn lips there are no teeth. The hair alone has retained its luster – the nigh...

4.5/5 Stars!A gruesomely mutilated body is fished out of a local lake by a night watchman. So begins this dark mystery set in Stockholm in the late 1700's.The main characters, the aforementioned night watchman, (Cardell), and a lawyer dying from consumption, (Winge), were fascinating and multi-layered. Winge hasn't much time left in this world, and he makes the investigation of this case his only reason for living. Cardell, an injured war veteran looking for self worth and coming up short, is tu...

The stench, poverty, and squalor of late 1700 Stockholm is vivid in this novel. A horribly mutilated body is fished out of a lake by a one-armed watchman. A dying man of reason and lawyer-cum detective becomes obsessed with solving the hideous crime. A penniless young man, no more than a teenager really, travels to Stockholm in search of his fortune. A young woman becomes orphaned and is subjected to her own personal set of struggles and strife. There are reasons for the disparate characters’ ta...

”A great calamity has befallen us. A thousand rumors abound, and one more preposterous than the next. It is impossible to obtain any trustworthy information, for even travelers have differing accounts and all seem to me somewhat poetical in what they relate. The atrocity of the crime, as it has been related, is too great, such that I do not know how I should think thereof.”---Carl Gustaf Af Leopold 1793The night watchman, Mickel Cardell, has seen enough death to last several lifetimes. He has li...

4.5 starsIn chaos theory, there is something called the butterfly effect. The idea is that one small action can greatly affect the outcome of a later, seemingly unrelated event. This novel is full of little moments that show how one person’s decision can permanently alter the lives of others. The year is 1793 & Stockholm is a city on edge. Rebellion by lower classes in countries such as France have made the Swedish elite a tad nervous, especially after the murder of King Gustav III. This is the

4 Stars.Complex, Dark, Ominous and Intriguing.It’s 1793 in Stockholm, the body of a mutilated man is found floating in Lake Larder by Mickel Cardell, (an amputee and former soldier of war and an ex-watchman). Both of the man’s eyes are missing and all of his limbs have been sawed off, one by one. Needing help with the investigation, Cardell gets attorney Cecil Winge involved, even though he is dying of consumption. Both desperately want to identify the man and discover the reasons for his macabr...

DEEP and DARK - in 18th century Stockholm. First up we have Jean Michael Cardell, a disabled veteran with a passion for strong drink and bar brawls....a former night watchman with haunted memories of war. Then Cecil Winge enters the picture, lawyer turned consulting detective for Stockholm police, a notably skilled young man living on borrowed time....and together these two troubled men search the DARK and dangerous streets for a ruthless monster who tortures and maims before he kills. Kristofer...

The Wolf and the Watchman is a 2019 Atria Books publication.Morose and grisly- but morbidly fascinating! Late 1700s- Stockholm-A mutilated corpse is found in the lake- and by mutilated, I mean limbs, tongue, and eyes had been methodically removed, one at a time, the work mimicking that of a surgeon. Cecil Winge, a lawyer, suffering through the last stages of consumption has been asked to look into the matter, which is the only thing that keeps him on his feet, fighting to stay alive long enough

It's 1793, and a mutilated body has been found floating in the city's lake. Mickel Cardell, an ex-watchman and crippled ex-soldier feels compelled to give the man a proper burial. Cecil Winge, an attorney and consultant for the Stockholm police, makes this case the last thing he will do as he is dying from consumption. He wants to solve the puzzle of the identity of the man who had no arms, no legs, no teeth, eyes or tongue. Who was he? Why was he tortured in such a manner? Who could have done t...

CorrosivenessA dark and gruesome Gothic thriller, which reveals a formidable and disturbing portrait of Stockholm during the tumultuous period of the late 18 century. The Wolf and the Watchman is at times horrifying, often captivating and always brilliantly written. I love the title and from that alone, there is a sense of anticipation and danger. Often the most corrupt are those tasked with upholding the law.The characters are brilliantly developed where the personalities and demeanour of each

Un-fucking-believable. This was sick, depraved, gross, shocking, horrifying, depressing, dark, sinister...And I loved every page. I went into this with high expectations and am happy to report that it exceeded these by leaps and bounds. The tone and atmosphere was unrelentingly dark and at times I was reminded of the movie Se7en minus the religious overtones and if it was instead set in the late eighteenth century. The characters were amazingly written and I took an instant liking to the single-...

By page 9 I new this was going to be good book when Ceil Winge 'Slowly undressed the Mechanism ' to describe taking a watch to pieces.This has a surly after taste of a strong spiced pickled onion..I feel that gone back to 1990s when discovered Perfume. Not often do you find good Translation book this was Swedish & Tr by Ebba Segerberg coming out in 2017 called 1793.A body is fished out of a local filthy lake a body that has no eyes or limbs thus grotesque hunt starts by police officer who has th...

1793. War with Russia had left many structures in Stockholm, Sweden in ruin. "...the world itself: so much darkness, so little light". So much disparity between wealthy aristocrats and the abject poverty forced upon the common man. Mickel Cardell, ex-soldier and former watchman, knew only too well the deprivation and famine of war. He had lost an arm fighting.Mickel Cardell had found a way to lessen his panic attacks and terrible nightmares by using strong drink, constant inebriation and bar bra...

This is an award winning Swedish historical horror fiction set in 1793, a period overshadowed by the recent events that resulted in the French Revolution sparking paranoia amongst Royal Houses throughout Europe, including King Gustav who unleashed a horde of spies to report on any who voice thoughts of overthrowing him. Gustav was assassinated, and Stockholm's people live in penury, struggling to survive in the stinking dark, dirty and cold streets riddled with cruelty, death, disease, enslaveme...

“Tell me, Mr. Winge, does the expression homo homini lupus est mean anything to you? “Plautus wrote it during the Punic Wars: ‘Like a wolf is man to other men.’…What kind of wolf are you, Mr. Winge? A good wolf? A skilled hunter?” “No wolf at all, I’m afraid. What I do, I do not undertake in order to satisfy my bloodlust.”“…Now I have helped you pick up the scent, all you have to do is follow it out into the forest and find your mark. I see how your expression is changed. You can’t fool me! Y

I had to wait for my blood pressure and heart rate to calm down before writing a review on this Novel. A vividly written, unusual, intriguing and atmospheric Scandinavian crime thriller / horror / historical fiction story that made for difficult reading in places due to its very graphic content and yet apparently an accurate portrayal of 1780 Stockholm and I came away from this one with a feeling of gratitude for not having lived in the late 1700s as I don't think I would have lasted 5 minutes

So glad I stepped a bit out of my reading comfort zone to give this one a try. I don't normally read very many books set in the 1700s but the premise for this one sounded intriguing. Turned out to be a really good read!Mickel Cardell, a former soldier, is living in Stockholm when he finds a mutilated body. Together with Cecil Winge, a consulting detective for the police, they set out to determine the identity of the deceased and the circumstances behind his death. The story also travels back in

This one is such a dark and disturbing book. The author does not refrain from describing grotesque and disgusting descriptions. This book is not for everybody but it was definitely for me. I love dark and disturbing. There is lots of cruelty and violence. The beginning had a slow burn to it and it was very confusing. I think I probably would of DNF it, if I did not read this with my buddy Julie in The Traveling Friends Group but then it made a complete u-turn and turned into an awesome story. I

If you've ever been curious about Stockholm in the 18th century, then this is your book. ...aka this wasn't my book.The writing is exquisite and so atmospheric that I had no problem conjuring up images and smells, yes, smells from the setting of this story. However, the storyline itself failed to hold my attention, especially the middle section. Comparisons to The Alienist are undeniable. So if that book scratched your itch for a gruesome murder mystery, then, again, this is your book. ...aka t...

“[watchmen are], most often lame, maimed, or mangled in some way that makes them unsuitable for other positions within the city watch or the military. Night and day, they chase beggars, petty thieves, vagrants, and prostitutes—everyone who does not serve any purpose in the eyes of the city governance.” In 1793 Stockholm the one-armed watchman Mickell Cardell drags a mutilated body out of the river. Cecil Winge is a lawyer and detective dying (in gory detail) from consumption. The police enlist