I don’t read True Crime as often as some, but, for some reason, the urge to read this tale was overwhelming. Unlike most months, there were at least three Amazon First titles that I was eager to read. If not for a determined ‘missing persons’ investigator and the victim’s nervous sister, the perpetrator probably would have gotten away with murder. Almost as critical, without the determination of a journalist, and a competent translator, we likely would not know of this sensational case.
POV: This story is told in third person.
BLUSH FACTOR: Although there are not a great number of profanities, there are some, including f-words. As a true story, though, it does seem right to include the rough language of the people speaking.
ADVENTURE: Yes, there is adventure within the pages. The sense of adventure is not as strong as some fiction, of course, but. I am more in tune with Swedish and their lifestyle.
SUSPENSE: Yes, there is suspense, from the opening chapter, all the way through the story.
THE WRITING: This is a page-turner that had me turning the pages quickly. The writing, bearing in mind that I read the English edition, after translation from Swedish, is pretty straightforward. Unlike fiction, there is not a lot of latitude in regards to creative writing, which may be a blessing for the translator. Still, the writing is quite good and hooked me from the early pages. For a better understanding, please refer to the excerpt below.
Excerpt
To avoid any possible spoilers, I have published a very short sample of the writing.
‘…An additional factor adds spice to the narrative: Göran Lundblad’s grandfather Knut, the adventurer, at one point purportedly promised to gift part of his forest to an older member of the Törnblad clan, as thanks for services rendered. The Törnblad man cared for the Norra Förlösa land as a kind of forester, and Knut Lundblad wanted to compensate him somehow. But when the time came to convey the land, Gustav Lundblad controlled all the Lundblad properties, and he reneged on his father’s promise.
“It’s the kind of thing that would stick in the craw, I reckon,” said Mats Råberg, a Norra Förlösa farmer who rented his land from the Lundblads. “It’s partly about money, partly about being stabbed in the back.”
In the Lundblad family, it is said that it was an older aunt of Gustav’s who owned the forest in question. After she was moved into a nursing home, her neighbor Karl-Oskar Törnblad would visit, ingratiating himself with coffee, cake, and silver-tongued persuasion. He wanted her to sign the property over to him. But Gustav caught wind of the scheme and managed to stop the transfer.
The words of the foiled Karl-Oskar Törnblad later became something of a mantra for his family: “One day, Ställe Farm will be ours.”
At the end of the 1960s, Göran Lundblad was sent away to Ireland by his father. Rumor had it that it was because of Göran’s poor performance in school. In fact, he was being ushered into the family business as…’
Palmkvist, Joakim. The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator (pp. 44-45). Amazon Crossing. Kindle Edition.
BOTTOM LINE
Certainly, this is a true crime story worth reading. Not spectacular, but well-written and well-translated. I was leaning towards five stars, but want to draw attention to the profanities and to the fact that it is a translation. Ah, never mind. I loved it.
Five stars out of five.
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I grabbed this as a free read from Amazon, and was pleasantly surprised. The actual murder story itself provided its own interesting twists and suspense, and I for one appreciated the detail of how the case unfolded. Very often true-crime cases are stories of the official investigators, but this one features a civilian heroine. I also found it interesting to read of the police and societal details in a country other than my own.
My only real nit to pick is that someone, either the author or the translator, freely and incorrectly used "rifle" as a synonym for "shotgun." The first time or two it was confusing, as I wondered if there were two firearms involved, but it became plain that someone really doesn't know the difference and interchanged the terms frequently. This was a bit jarring.
Found this book to be an excellent true crime story, told almost as though it were being written as a police report. Learning that the author is a journalist, it is easy to understand the layout of interview and the explanation of police process and the differences between Swedish law to that of the US or other countries. Although the translation appeared a bit stiff in the beginning, it smoothed out and flowed about half way in. The author explored well the myriad ways that the suspects might not have come to justice in the Swedish system as well as interweaving the persistent civilian whose unwillingness to walk away ultimately solved it--at her own risk.
With a somewhat slow start, the story begins to pick up the pace until I just had to keep reading to see where this all would end. Taking into account the need for the backgrounds of principle people involved in this story, I still found myself getting a bit impatient for the real meat of this grizzly story to unfold, but; it was worth the wait as I found myself getting more and more caught up in the dynamics of the story. An incredible tale of the lengths some people will go to try to get what they want.
I read this book in two sittings because I could not put it down. I would have given it five stars but for my difficulty in relating to the different locations. This is my problem. A map would have been helpful. The list of characters at the beginning of the book was very helpful. The translator made this very readable. I especially liked the comparison between what is allowed legally in Sweden as compared to the USA. If you like stories of how true mysteries can be solved, this book is recommended
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Description
A chilling true crime story of poisonous family secrets, love gone wrong, and a cold case that refused to stay buried…
In late summer of 2012, millionaire landowner Göran Lundblad went missing from his farm in Sweden. When a search yielded nothing, and all physical evidence had seemingly disappeared, authorities had little to go on—except a disturbing phone call five weeks later from Göran’s daughter Maria. She was sure that her sister, Sara, was somehow involved. At the heart of the alleged crime: Sara’s greed, her father’s land holdings, and his bitter feud with Sara’s idler boyfriend.
With no body, there was no crime—and the case went as cold and dark as the forests of southern Sweden. But not for Therese Tang. For two years, this case was her obsession.
A hard-working ex-model, mother of three, and Missing People investigator, Therese was willing to put her own safety at risk in order to uncover the truth. What she found was a nest of depraved secrets, lies, and betrayal. All she had to do now, in her relentless and dangerous pursuit of justice, was prove that it led to murder.
This is an engaging true murder tale, even though the author telegraphs the solution right from the start. Joakim Palmkvist, a Swedish journalist, writes in a brisk, factual style that, nonetheless, gives a gripping picture of a dysfunctional farming family whose wealthy patriarch goes conveniently missing after a fierce argument with his business-partner daughter. Thanks to a woman of many talents who becomes involved with the group Missing People Sweden, what looks like a cold case that isn't of much interest to the local police is constantly stirred up. What's most fascinating in this novel is the way it takes a close look at the complications of Swedish criminal law, which gives suspects huge leeway to prevent them from becoming falsely or inadequately accused. Palmkvist tries to inject tension into the climax of the book, but because he's given away the solution, that attempt isn't successful. Still, the tale is fascinating enough to hold interest to the end.
Let me get this criticism out of the way first: the first chapter is unnecessary, and adds nothing to the book. It is highly emotional and overwrought, and I almost stopped reading right then. I find it so hard to believe that any woman would place herself in such a dangerous situation, especially one who is so savvy about criminal behavior. Had this been fiction, I would have judged it totally implausible. On to the main body of the book. This is definitely hard to put down once you are swept up into the true account of a wealthy man just disappearing one day from a small farming community. The family relationships are complicated, long-standing land feuds are brought out, greed for land and money is evident. Everyone believes that the daughter and her boyfriend are guilty of foul play...but there is no body, therefore no crime. They almost get away with murder, but for one woman who is obsessed with getting to the bottom of this in order to see justice served.
The Dark Heart recounts the presumed disappearance of Göran Lundblad in September 2012 and the investigation, both official and unofficial, that led to the discovery of his body and the truth that what most suspected in community of Norra Förlösa (on the eastern inland side of Sweden) that he had been murdered by or at the behest of a relative. The unlikely investigator was Therese Tang, head of the local unit of Missing People Sweden, a voluntary organization that conducts searches (grid and otherwise) for people who have disappeared without a trace.
Göran Lundblad, forestry man and Dollar Pipe manufacturer, and renter of housing, was not the type to go off and leave the wealth he (and his family) before him had accumulated. He was not also not the type to leave with commitments undone. He was a friendly sort of man once he got to talking but he was also a quasi-hermit and very particular in his ways. Particularly with money and with those he did not consider thrifty or those up to no good.
His daughter's boyfriend, Martin Törnblad, son of a neighboring farmer, Åke Törnblad, was one of those as was the entire Törnblad family. And, it turns out that Göran was correct. His daughter, Sara Lundblad gave thousands of dollars to the Törnblads for use in their farming operations, to no avail. It was like pouring money down a hole never to be seen again. Eventually, after Göran's body was found, Åke Törnblad went belly up.
Palmkvist's account is taken from original sources that are listed in the back of the book and is written in the style of narrative journalism with some editorial license to change some of the names and make the information in the sources more readable. The account however remains true to what occurred during the early stages of the investigation when it was believed that it was a disappearance, then later when Missing People Sweden conducted its first grid search and the police began to believe based on irregularities in what Sara Lundblad was telling them versus what others who knew Göran had said plus other things that did not be add up (such as not accessing any of his accounts) or could not be corroborated in addition to Sara's sister, Maria's refusal to believe that their father had simply walked away and left everything.
The account goes into the early history of the Lundblad and Törnblad familes, Norra Förlösa and other significant locations, such as Kalmar, Therese Tang, and the origination and rise of Missing People Sweden, an organization that the police would turn to in other cases of puzzling disappearances because Missing People Sweden does not have the restrictions that are imposed by law on the police and other official investigating agencies. Palmkvist also provides the reader with Swedish criminal law and procedure in a nutshell.
The Dark Heart is the story of Therese Tang's refusal to give up on providing a family answers, even if one member of that family did not want those answers revealed and actively sought with the help of an accomplice to cover up the crime.
As noted above, the writing is in a journalistic style, think of an in-depth reporting over a series of articles, so it will not have the flow of fiction though it does have the tension and elements of a thriller though the pacing is at times meandering while at other times it is fast. Also, readers unfamiliar with Sweden would do good to have Google maps handy and there is a helpful listing of key people in the front of the book.
I obtained a translated copy free through Amazon Crossing's International Week. Overall the translation did Palmkvist's account justice though there seemed to be one or two oops but they do not take away from the readability. I would welcome other accounts written by Palmkvist if they become available through translation.
In 8/31/2012, Göran Lundblad (62, multimillionaire, farmer, property owner, Norra Förlösa) disappeared from the Ställe Farm (Norra Förlösa) in Sweden.
Maria Lundblad (18, youngest daughter/sister) had filed a MP report with Detective Jonas Blomgren (Kalmar PD, dog handler).
The day before he/ Sara Lundblad (oldest daughter/sister) had gotten into an argument about some property.
11/17, Östra Funkabo schoolyard (Kalmar). A S&R team had been organized/taken off for the missing Göran.
Therese Tang (30, mother, Kalmar’s branch of Missing People Sweden COO, SO detention center (Västervik), hairdresser, model, stylist) was the organizer.
Galggatan (Kalmar). As the Göran MP case continues DCI Ulf Martinsson, & Ann Åsenius (supervisor) discuss the inconsistences & mysteries in their investigation.
Ann-Kristin Simonsson (neighbor) had been appointed as Goren’s POA.
She would submit her findings/result to the Director of the Chief Guardian Committee Ann Wribe.
The police were in constant surveillance.
Sara had been transferring funds to Åke Törnblad.
On 12/19/2012, the case became cold.
In 2013, several PPL gathered in the Chief Guardian Committee’s office (Smålandsgatan, Kalmar).
Göran’s representative/caseworkers are: Ann Wribe, & Olof Andersson.
The new guardian is Larz Bimby (Öland).
Detective Ulf Martinsson (Kalmar PD lead investigator) watched as Wilma (cadaver dog) combed 2 areas & found nothing.
Will he solve the murder mystery & someone brought to justice?
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written true crime murder mystery book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great murder mystery movie, college/law enforcement PP presentation, or better yet mini TV series or even a documentary (True Crime; American Crime Story). There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free author; Goodreads; MakingConnections; Making Connections discussion group talk; AmazonCrossing; World Book Day; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
This is an interesting book, the police and judiciary procedure vs. other places make it good. The disappear of Gôran a wealthy farmer, the suspicion of his younger daughter, the way an organization works with the police.
If you're looking for gore this book is not for you. The author wrote from different sources in a cold way detaching from the story.
The min source is Therese from an excellence organization. But, look at all as the insight from source thru time so the author fill many blanks trying to create a storyline.
The failure of the police gathering "proper evidence" is a problem identifying the case "disappear vs. murder". That was part of the main problem made by the laws and stop the police from a fast action.
Therese is portrayed as a very focus and driven lady. But, I ask..."is worth placing yourself in a very risk and deadly way that may leave your children orphan"?
I can understand her drive, her need to bring justice in lieu of all the inconsistencies in the case of Gôran "disappearance" or "murder".
But, even the police was waylaid by the culprits and the problem of judging people and gossip from here and there...so in the end who had the real truth?
Even with all that is a book to analyze and learn from the mistakes.