| The debut spy thriller novel
The Swimmer by Swedish author Joakim Zander is a
deftly written action story about a nameless CIA agent’s
life as a spy and his attempts to right distant past deeds.
The story covers the period from 1980 until the present. Zander
has constructed the narrative using the CIA agent in the first
person describing the agent’s perspective through the
years starting in 1980. Zander interweaves that CIA narrative
with a third person narration of the other central characters
caught up with the present day parallel main story. As the
novel progresses, the CIA agent’s world eventually intersects
with the main story.
Tensions build as the novel progresses and the unrelenting
convergence of the twin narratives lead to the climax. There
is a lot going on in short, snappy chapters as we follow the
various characters and sub-plots and the various intersecting
parts of the unfolding plot. The story fits in with the current
world of stolen secrets and their repercussions on security
and governmental relations, the 2003 Iraqi invasion, WikiLeaks
and Ed Snowden. But in this world of stolen secrets and betrayals
who are the villains and heroes? It is not over the top as
some of his contemporaries portray in similar novels. The
plot is not only believable but deals with some “inconvenient
truths.”
The pace is quick and Sweden is at the center of the most
of the story. Zander continues the fine tradition of top-notch
fictional writers from Sweden in this exciting page-turner.
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