Outlaw Trails

When police inspector Zeke Lodén responds to a call about gunfire on Värmdö, he finds not only a woman with a fired shotgun. In the house is also the kidnapped five-year-old Molly Casteberg – alive. But when Alva Rydinger, who led the search for the girl, tries to reach the parents with the good news, she is met with silence. The Castebergs have disappeared without a trace.

A letter is found in their home that points to a Swedish security company, whose operations have been terminated and whose employees seem to have left the country. The FAST group, which investigates crimes across national borders, is involved in the case and recruits Alva to lead the hunt for the culprits. The clues lead her to the United States and a collaboration with the FBI. The investigation takes her from the swamps of Louisiana to the deserts of New Mexico and the snow-capped peaks of Colorado.

But the Castebergs are probably being held captive somewhere in Sweden. To find them, Zeke begins to dig into the security company's sordid past. What is their connection to the United States? And what role did the lonely woman play, the one who held little Molly captive in the house in the Stockholm archipelago?

Outlaw Trails is a highly topical thriller about modern-day America and a world where the law is not always enough. It is the first part of a series about Swedish police officers who cross both geographical and moral borders to solve international crimes.

Reviews: 

"Outlaw Trails is a fast-paced and entertaining crime thriller that, without revolutionizing the genre, creates both suspense and seriousness by weaving some of the great political conflicts of our time into history.” - BTJ library Services

"Original and based on extensive research, well-written and exciting...

I really like this author who erased my skepticism towards military thrillers with his previous series; Mattias Kassian's long journey in the second book The Silk Road is still unforgettable, must be the best thing he has written. Now he has switched from military to police, but there are still some dramatic and large-scale scenes with a military character. What remains is the international context, very well anchored in what is happening in the present. What remains is also a courageous author who is not at all afraid to take on a lot, without losing credibility, and an admirable language." - Kapprakt, book blog