Cover image of "Game," a unique Swedish thriller

I don’t know about you, but when I see smart people doing stupid things I get annoyed. And I become truly exasperated when a smart character in a mystery or thriller does things he or she would never do except to advance a lame plot. Sadly, that’s what happens not once but twice in the final chapters of this unique Swedish thriller, Game, by Anders de la Motte. The novel is the first book of a trilogy. I don’t expect to read the second or the third.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Gaming on steroids

In Game, de la Motte traces a wholly unbelievable story of a real-life game that confirms every wild, paranoid conspiracy fantasy ever to see the light of day in Europe or the United States. Henrik “HP” Pettersson, a drug-addled young man with a criminal record that includes a conviction for wrongful death, chances upon a cell phone on an adjoining seat on a Swedish commuter train. When he activates the phone, he quickly finds himself caught up in a game that awards him hundreds and then thousands of dollars for carrying out what seem, at first, to be trivial and even silly assignments. Then — of course, this being a thriller — the assignments become deadly serious.

Game (Game Trilogy #1) by Anders de la Motte ★★☆☆☆

Meanwhile, his big sister, Rebecca Normén, is rising in the ranks of the Swedish police, having just been named to the elite Personal Protection Service that guards Swedish officials and important foreign visitors. Obviously, there will come a time in this far-fetched tale when HP and Rebecca’s paths will cross under tragic circumstances — and that’s exactly what happens. There are surprises of a sort along the way, but don’t expect the story to make sense.

Neil Smith, who has translated several other Scandinavian crime novels (including one of Jo Nesbo’s), is credited with Game‘s translation into English. Curiously, however, several lame mistranslations have crept into the text. Two that come to mind off-hand are “NASA” (meaning NSA, or National Security Agency), which was repeated several times, and “sparking plug” instead of spark plug. Was a well-meaning but ignorant copy-editor responsible for these errors? I’m sure we’ll never know.

About the author

Anders de la Motte is a former police officer “and was until recently Director of Security at one of the world’s largest IT companies. He is currently an International Security Consultant.” He has twice won top awards from the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers.

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