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Reviews / Votes

Tragic and moving, with a spectacular denouement, it's a fitting ending to a superb trilogy * Guardian * An all-too-realistic thriller... a brilliant and disturbing read * ArtsHub * Holmen's sharp dialogue and unerring eye for the grim details of everyday life are still there, as in Clinch and Down for the Count, lending huge power to the story and adding a dimension that lifts this novel head and shoulders above the noir canon * Thriller Books Journal * Holmen is an author on the cutting edge of an art form, pushing deeper into the myre opened up by Jean-Claude Izzo, Derek Raymond and Massimo Carlotto. There is something genuinely cathartic about this reading experience * New Books Magazine * Excellent series... gripping finale * Crime Review * A shocking, edge-of-the-seat read. Simply put - Wow. What a trilogy. What an ending. One of the best thrillers of the year. * Crime Thriller Hound * Praise for The Stockholm Trilogy: -- _ * _ * Sin City meets Raymond Chandler in this atmospheric and compulsive series * Attitude * A brilliant new talent * Sunday Times Crime Club * A dark, atmospheric, powerful thriller, the best debut novel I've read in years * Lynda La Plante * Ferociously noir... If Chandler and Hammett had truly walked on the wild side, it would read like Clinch * Val McDermid * Holmen has Raymond Chandler's rare ability to evoke a character in a few deft strokes * Mail on Sunday, best crime reads of 2016 * Gritty, stylish Scandinavian noir from one of Sweden's hottest emerging authors * Booklover * Atmospheric Scandi retro, but Chandleresque to its core * The Sunday Times Crime Club * Well-crafted noir that doesn't pull its punches, hitting you in the guts with stark surprises * Thriller Books Journal * Clinch is a gritty, stylish debut from a Swedish history teacher and in Kvist he has created a brutal anti-hero quite unlike any seen in crime fiction before * Express * Brings queerness to the noir genre * Out in Perth * Harry Kvist with a magnificent comeback * TQR Stories (blog) * The plot is excellent, the filth and every punch palpable * Strange Alliances (blog) * If you're looking for a new addiction, try [Clinch]... it's a tough thriller that packs a punch * Daily Star on Sunday * A real tour de force... a fascinating race through 1930s Stockholm -- Kate Rhodes A clever plot woven into prose that depicts 1930s Stockholm in a detailed manner... it punches you in the face like one of Kvist's knockout blows. Definitely not for the faint-hearted * Crime Scene * Martin Holmen has created a remarkable novel that works well at many levels, ticking all the right boxes for the Scandi crime category * Thriller Books Journal * A ferociously noir revelation of Stockholm between the wars... the sort of novel Chandler and Hammett would have written if they'd been permitted to include sex! -- Val McDermid * Sunday Times Crime Club * Clinch is a fabulously classy twist on pulp fiction: it'll be a top-notch summer book for readers looking for something diverting but smart, as long as they don't mind a little blood and bonking * Elle Thinks * This is noir writing at its best and you won't want to give this book a miss if you are a fan of this genre * The Bookbinder's Daughter (blog) * A debut that rings of Chandler... Holmen has created a unique, equally idiosyncratic as remarkable, debut crime novel * Boras Tidning * Scandinavian Crime meets Film Noir, the crime novel of the year -- Alexander Bard A great read * Expressen * Brutally entertaining * M-Magasin *