Studio 69


This is the fist Annika Bengtzon book published in the UK, but might actually be the second or third in publishing order in Sweden. Whichever way around, it’s the first in chronological order.
Anyway, junior reporter Annikia is introduced in this book working for a fictional Stockholm evening newspaper. She gets randomly assigned to a murder victim discovered in a park, and keeps at it, digging up new information. At the same time, there’s a political connection, and a radio programme, Studio 69, is reporting the same case with its own agenda.
Marklund, according to the publishers’ blurb on the cover, is a working Swedish journalist, and if Swedish newspapers are really put together in the manner described in both this book and Paradise, then I worry for them. I realise that British law is a lot more restrictive in what can and cannot be said in regard to an ongoing investigation that other countries, but there’s something of a free-for-all in Sweden according to this.
I also detect that Marklund is no great fan of Swedish state television. In a prologue, seemingly written for the international readership, Marklund explains that only relatively recently has the broadcast media been given a commercial competitor. This hasn’t come too soon for Marklund (or her protagonist). I note that in the acknowledgments, it’s producers from TV4 that get the credit rather than state television.
Overall, an interesting book. Annika’s a little too highly strung for my liking, but she’s in a male dominated world, and as an outsider, it’s hard to know what kind of obstacles women have had to overcome professionally in Sweden.


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