The Swimmer audiobook

Sencillamente me ha encantado! Me ha gustado mucho la manera de narrar del autor, el juego entre el pasado y el presente, las diferentes voces de los protagonistas; el que los héroes no lo sean tanto y los no héroes un poco más.

When you discover a new author it’s such a thrill, isn't it? I remember, in my twenties, reading Robert Ludlum’s The Matarese Circle, Ken Follett’s Eye of the Needle, Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal and being blown away. How did these guys write like this? I was hooked on them and, subsequently, read everything they wrote after that. Somehow over the years I drifted away from spy thrillers. They became cliché, mostly derivative of these master’s genre work. So when I was handed The Swimmer by Joakim Zander, I wasn’t expecting to become excited about the genre again. But Zander’s book has everything that Ludlum, Follett, and Forsyth's books did. His skill with words, the imminent feeling of suspense, and a layered, intriguing story combine perfectly for an exciting read. What makes it even more amazing is that this is a translation from Zander’s native Swedish. Klara Waldeen was orphaned as a child and raised by her grandparents in an isolated area of Sweden. As an adult, she now lives in Brussels and works as a political aide. A million miles away, in another life and another country, an old spy who had prioritized his job over his family now ponders his choices in life; his only solace, swimming. Then, on Christmas Eve, Klara is dragged into a race against time and unseen enemies via an ex-lover Mahmoud Shammosh when he, inadvertently, comes across sensitive information. Thus begins a wild chase across Europe against pursuers who will kill to maintain their secret. Elsewhere, Swedish lobbyist, George Lööw, is assigned a client with a suspicious agenda. He suddenly finds his life threatened and involved in the pursuit against his will. When the retired spy realizes who Clara is, he, too, becomes embroiled in the chase. Little does Klara know that a man she doesn’t know, but has always wondered about, may be the only person who can save her. After setting up the characters, this book ramps up and doesn’t let you go. The Swimmer has an unassuming cover, but within that cover is an explosive read that will have any spy-thriller fan rejoicing. This is the perfect thriller.For more reviews, competitions, news, & free books and giveaways, subscribe to my Wonderful Readers Club: http://eepurl.com/3P-Wz

"The Swimmer" is a burned out veteran CIA field operative still haunted by the death of his wife in a car bomb in 1980 Damascus and his abandonment of his infant daughter Klara. Klara, now working in the Swedish diplomatic service at the EU capitol in Brussels, is drawn by an old friend into a worldwide chase over sensitive documents some unknown group will kill to protect. The very well drawn characters are developed in the first person and how they interact is a complex and challenging jigsaw puzzle that drives this brilliantly executed page turning first novel by Joakim Zander. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading his future thrillers.

I really don't enjoy reading thrillers, and this book belongs to that category. I tried it anyway. The book is certainly fast moving and action packed with some nasty vs naive characters who somehow pull the rabbit out of the hat and survive. Definitely not believable. You get to move around between the '80's and 2013 as well jumping from country to country. There is the CIA improperly assigning interrogation to outsource devils, good and bad guys getting killed, corporate thieves pulling off their own brand of shenanigans and then the modern day David, in the form of a teenage girl, and Goliath - a plus.Library Loan

A cracking thriller with a strong female lead character.This is one of the best thrillers that I have read for a while. Bored with Ludlum and Forsyth then give Zander a try. In The Swimmer Zander delivers a fast paced, believable and compulsively page turning read.In the main character Klara Walldéen, the author has created a very real person with human weakness, vulnerability but also incredible strength in the face of adversity. The other characters are rich in detail too.I won't repeat the storyline as other reviewers have done that far better than I, but with the action moving from the office blocks of EU Brussels, to Paris, to Stockholm and finally the wild Stockholm Archipelago the pace doesn't let up at all. I'm really looking forward to Zander's next work.

I am always amazed when an author can come up with a new concept to explore in the mystery/espionage genre. One country that seems to keep producing such authors is Sweden, and alas they have done it again with Joakim Zander. The author has lived in Syria and Israel and earned a law degree in the Netherlands and spent his career as a lawyer for the European Union in Brussels and Helsinki. This background contributed greatly to his first novel, THE SWIMMER that has been greeted with great acclaim. The story line is somewhat different as Zander explores the role of American outsourcing of prisoner interrogations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Zander creates a “Blackwater” type of organization that he calls “Digital Solutions,” which seems to be a dummy company that was kept heavily in the “shadows” to maintain deniability and protect those in charge. The leaders of Digital Solutions become aware that there is evidence of their “enhanced interrogation” techniques, i.e.; torture at the time of the Abu Ghraib fiasco and they will do anything to get control of the evidence. The scenario is believable and Zander has complete control of the political and diplomatic history that is involved. An interesting example is his suggestion through his characters how the first Bush administration treated the Kurds in 1991. The CIA agent leads his Kurdish allies to believe that American help will be forthcoming to protect them for Saddam Hussein’s revenge. As history has shown that protection never was provided and the Bush administration allowed Saddam’s forces to crush the Kurds, probably employing chemical weapons. These types of observations reflect the strong political views that Zander holds that appear throughout the book.The story centers on a number of interesting characters. As Zander develops them he does so in a very slow methodical fashion particularly the CIA operative who spends a good part of the book in search of his daughter who survived a terrorist explosion in Damascus in 1980. The most important characters are Klara Walldeen, a political aide to a member of the European Union Parliament in Brussels and a former boyfriend, Mahmoud Shammosh, a Ph.D candidate whose dissertation dealt with the privatization of war, who involves her in the scenario where explosive evidence of what Digital Solutions is guilty of exists. Another interesting character out of the Stieg-Larsson mold is “Blitzie,” a skinny teenaged hacker who will present a number of interesting surprises. The reader is taken into the world of the CIA and its outsourced programs and what they are capable of doing if things do not go as planned. The reader is also exposed to the world of lobbyists to the European Parliament and the influence which they possess. One member of a lobby firm, George Loow is also drawn into the tentacles of Digital Solutions and it is through him that Zander triers to create an effective morality play which sometimes is effective. The plot revolves around a number of storylines that shift back and forth from the 1980s and Christmas, 2013. At times this can be confusing as Zander does not integrate his CIA operative in search of his daughter as effectively as he might have.No matter what minor flaws may exist in Zander’s debut novel, he more that makes up for it with an engrossing plot that is very contemporary and believable. Zander definitely has an agenda that centers around the morality that the “world on terror” has produced that is evident in the conclusion of the book, but whatever your politics this book is a read that will capture your attention until you reach the final paragraph

4.5 Stars'The Swimmer' is a complex and imaginative novel that weaves together several smaller story lines until the big picture of the book is revealed. The situations and happenings are sporadic - taking place in a variety of places across the globe, during time periods both past and present, and changing narrators at almost every turn. The book is actually several different plots - each with it's own setting, main character, and story line. The author purposely shifts between these distinct stories until they meet up with one another and finally intertwine to form the true plot of the novel. Each smaller story was incredibly detailed with intense imagery and detailed descriptions that made it almost impossible not to feel as if you were right there, experiencing everything for yourself. I found myself easily slipping into each part of the book as though it were a natural thing to do - and despite the fact that none of the smaller sections had any indicators of who the narrator was. Sometimes you would get a date or year and a city or country as reference points, which certainly helped keep the events in chronological order for the reader and useful for when the main plot emerges. Klara is a phenomenal female lead for this book. She's strong - not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too. She's very smart, dedicated to her work, loves her family, and is quite determined overall. When she realizes that she's gotten herself into a huge problem - one that will take her all across Europe in an attempt to figure out who is following her and why. I found all of Klara's adventures in each place to be intriguing and even confusing at times. There are a ton of twists and turns throughout the story that you never see coming - which makes this book such a fierce mystery and will have you on the edge of your seat, eagerly reading to see what's going to happen next. I honestly didn't expect all the twists and unexpected plot turns after reading the description of the book, but the fact that it's full of them only made my experience reading it all the more exciting. The writing was profound and uniquely construed - some of the best writing I've come across, in any genre. The plot was fast paced and thrilling, but it wasn't hurried or confusing due to the varying locations, time periods, and characters. Again, I have to mention the amazing attention to every little detail - all five senses are engaged during the entire novel and basically sucked me into the world the author created within the first few lines of the book. I got lost inside of the pages - caught up in the strange and seemingly unrelated incidents, only to have them come together in an explosive way; the lives and details of all the characters; and the shocking twists and turns that lead to a stunning ending. I found myself still thinking about the story days after reading it, trying to recall details from the story that might have given me a hint about what was going to happen. I know for a fact that I'll be re-reading this one soon so I can pick up on all the little details I know I missed the first time around. I definitely recommend this book to fans of mystery, suspense, thrillers, spy novels, and anyone who enjoys stories that happen in multiple places and times. It will definitely keep the reader on their toes and so wrapped up that it's almost impossible to make yourself stop reading. Fair warning on that part! Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Este libro comienza a principios de los 80's, en esta etapa o digamos en estos años, el libro esta contado en primera persona, por quien suponemos es un espía de Estados Unidos, pero, la realidad es que no se nos especifica, ni su nombre, ni que hace exactamente, solo sabemos que al querer asesinarlo a él, matan por error a su pareja en un coche bomba, mientras él cuidaba de su bebe.Sabemos un poco mas adelante que él la abandona en una embajada y regresa a "su vida"Este libro maneja dos lineas de tiempo, mientras vemos a nuestro "espia" de los años 80 paralelamente nos cuentan la historia en época actual, donde varios personajes se ven implicados en una complicada situación de espionaje.En algún momento las lineas del tiempo se juntan, básicamente porque nuestro nadador tiene que enfrentarse a su pasado.Un Thriller lleno de suspenso, que aun y cuando no sabes ni que esta pasando ni porque, no puedes dejar de leer.El libro tiene muchos personajes, pero la realidad es que es muy fácil identificarlos y aun y cuando en el libro estamos saltando del pasado al presente casi en cada capitulo, no se pierde ni por un segundo el suspenso.Espionaje, terrorismo, tortura, chantaje, este libro tiene de todo, entretenido, lleno de acción y de suspenso, capítulos cortos que lo hacen fácil de leer, muy recomendable

Dizem que a literatura nórdica não é muito apreciada em Portugal, mas da minha parte tenho de contrariar esta opinião - pelo menos no que toca a policiais e a thrillers nórdicos. Existe sempre uma aura bastante intensa, um tanto cinzenta, talvez a condizer com o próprio clima desses países. No caso de O Nadador, obra de estreia de Joakim Zander, advogado da União Europeia, a curiosidade veio não só por essa característica que normalmente os autores nórdicos conferem às suas obras, como também a espécie de promessa de ser mais do que isso, envolvendo intrigas políticas e quem sabe alguma dose de realidade no que toca ao terrorismo. E o mais engraçado, sem graça nenhuma, é que iniciei esta leitura dois dias antes do ataque em Paris. Coincidências, hein? Com um início mais lento, mas um ritmo crescente, a leitura acabou por tomar contornos vertiginosos fazendo com que em certas alturas fosse impossível pousar o livro. A grande razão acaba por ser a oscilação de narrativas, saltando pelas perspectivas das personagens-chave, deixando sempre um rasto de alguma ansiedade para o que vem a seguir. Enquanto por um lado temos uma narrativa linear no tempo presente, por outro lado vamos tendo vislumbres do "Nadador", desde a explosão que provocou a morte da mulher que amava, e que o obrigou a entregar a filha, até convergir com o presente. Sendo uma estreia do autor no que toca a romances, só posso elogiar a audácia e a coragem em arriscar logo com temas tão fortes. A narrativa está muito bem explorada, o enredo é forte, as personagens são muito humanas e faz-nos pensar que talvez existam situações reais não tão diferentes das que são descritas. É um livro que acaba por se tornar bastante diferente de outros que já li precisamente por parecer tão real nas descrições das redes terroristas, como é que o governo americano, e a própria Europa, pode ter tido mão nisso, as comunidades lobistas, a forma sagaz de como os advogados lidam com certas polémicas e, ainda, como é que um passado com envolvimento em equipas de tortura pode afectar de forma irreversível a vida de um agente. Para além de toda esta teia engenhosa, Joakim Zander teve a capacidade de ser bem sucedido no que toca às emoções exploradas, inserindo até um pouco de romantismo. O que acabou por me surpreender, neste campo, foi a forma como incluiu a homossexualidade na estrutura da obra. Mais uma dose de realismo que nem por isso destoou da restante estrutura e fluidez da história. Não sendo frequente ler obras sobre espionagem, consigo recomendar, sem problema algum, este livro a quem queira dar oportunidade a uma trama deste género. Volto a reforçar o enredo interessante, as personagens fortes e intensas e um ritmo que a seu tempo nos faz suster a respiração. Gostei.

** spoiler alert ** I think that Joakim Zander had a good idea that he strung along where people kept dying like flies. Klara was one of the people that came out alive. But her father who was American died trying to save her as his act of her not knowing who he was. It kept you on your seat and was a good spy novel.