1793: The Wolf and the Watchman cover art

1793: The Wolf and the Watchman

The latest Scandi sensation

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

1793: The Wolf and the Watchman

By: Niklas Natt och Dag
Narrated by: Caspar Rundegren, Clara Andersson, Matt Addis
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.35

Buy Now for £14.35

Summary

 Best Debut, The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers' Award 2017

'Thrilling, unnerving, clever and beautiful' Fredrik Backman

The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries, and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound.

A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer.

The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.

(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Thriller Scary Suspense

Critic reviews

A remarkable debut novel
A gripping, shocking read
This gripping historical thriller surely announces the arrival of a fine new European talent. Vivid and absorbing
The latest Scandi sensation
Niklas Natt och Dag takes the contemporary Scandinavian crime story and gives it a startlingly gruesome historical twist . . . Natt och Dag spares us nothing, detailing horror after horror in his unflinchingly muscular prose
Natt och Dag's description of the rattling, lung-shredding tubercular cough is truly hideous - a haunting portrait of physical disintegration that's not easy to forget
Swedish noir doesn't get much darker
A superbly detailed historical mystery
A well-depicted historical murder mystery filled with cruelty as well as warmth and humanity
A historical thriller that is unparalleled in suspense and literary quality. It's raw, beautiful, heartbreaking and extremely captivating until the very last page. The Wolf and the Watchman deserves a place among the classics of the genre
An unexpected masterpiece, a wild and unusual mix of genres that in one fell swoop succeeds in renewing the entire crime fiction genre
Brawny, bloody, intricate, enthralling - and the best historical thriller I've read in twenty years
This is a thrilling, unnerving, clever and beautiful story. Reading it is like giving a little gift to oneself
An impressive thriller - well paced, well structured and deeply unsettling . . . political scheming and psychological angst, grand theories on the state of man, a fiendish masterplan and a love story all in one
All stars
Most relevant
This tale is full of strong narrative and descriptive flair, which confidently transports you to another century. The characters are well written and reflect all good detective novels from the past. As with Scandinavian stories, the names are very similar and it is sometimes confusing as to who is who but this becomes easier to decipher as the story unfolds, however some of the performances made this linguistic nuance a greater challenge. I will look out for the next book with interest.

Interesting historical crime mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There is unpleasant, distasteful, explicit, graphic....but the sheer cruelty portrayed in this book nearly made me stop listening more than once, and also made me feel uncomfortable continuing. But I did - because it's a gripping story, very well translated, and well delivered. I can't bring myself to give it 5 stars though.

Unbelieveably cruel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a stunning debut novel,brilliantly translated and performed by all three narrators.It has a great sense of time and place.Although it deals with the darker aspects of human behaviour,it makes for a compelling lis ten

Dark and Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fabulous but…. Horrible. Not for the squeamish but one of the best books I have heard in ages. A complex and intriguing story beautifully narrated. A real pleasure even if I did have to leave the room occasionally.

Fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Don't listen to this whilst you are eating. This is bleak and graphic. For me at times too graphic. This is not a novel I enjoyed. If I had read it I don't think I would have bothered to finish it.The performances are good, but don't make up for the brutality, which in parts becomes almost salacious.

Not for the faint hearted

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews