Spring Remains by Mons Kallentoft


Spring Remains
Title : Spring Remains
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1451642717
ISBN-10 : 9781451642711
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 480
Publication : First published January 1, 2010

Spring has finally arrived, filling the Swedish countryside with sunshine and flowers after a long, dark winter. The beautiful weather is lost on Detective Investigator Malin Fors, though, troubled as she is by the unexpected death of her emotionally distant mother and what it might mean for her own fragmented and dysfunctional family. But when an explosion rocks the town square, killing two young girls, leaving their mother fighting for life, and terrifying the entire community, Malin has no time to address her family’s uncertain future. Suddenly the future of her entire city is in danger, and she may be the only one who can save it…


Spring Remains Reviews


  • Lucy Qhuay


    And Mons Kallentoft does it again!

    I bless the day I entered the library, first stumbled upon Midwinter Blood and decided to pick it up, because I would have missed this incredible series otherwise.

    The writing is just beautiful and evocative, the characters are incredibly fascinating, the plot keeps getting thicker and thicker. Really, everything just draws you in and makes it impossible for you to let go.

    I know I can't rest until I have all the pieces of this puzzle and I bet you won't be able to do it either.

    And the thoughts and emotions going through my mind? Amazing!

    I don't even know why I keep being surprised by the author's ability to shoot straight to my heart and make me feel all these painfully wonderful things and connect so readily with the people and what they go through.

    It just feels that everything hits so close to home, even when I don't have necessarily experienced the situation myself. I guess I put myself in the characters' shoes, especially Malin's, and that's why everything feels more real and painful.

    Malin is one really awesome human being. She has flaws like everybody else and she recognizes she should do a lot of things differently, particularly when we're talking about her daughter, but she tries to do her best. Isn't that what's truly important?

    Also, she's very unique. She has this vision of the world, herself, other people and everything surrounding her, that makes you think she is not blind to the truth. She sees everything and stops to think and process everything she apprehends.

    That doesn't mean she wants to see what she sees or that she doesn't sometimes acts impulsively. She does. It's just the way she thinks and acts that make her such an interesting character.

    I hope there are great things ahead for her, considering the hard stuff she went through and the new developments in her life. She deserves to be happy.

    Bravo! Can't wait to read the following books.

  • Sarah

    Jag har lite svårt att sätta ord på vad jag tyckte om den här. Jag hatade den inte, och jag avskydde den inte heller, om något kanske ett svagt ogillande. Själva utredningen var spännande och så, men upplösningen kändes jävligt långsökt, men kanske är det så när man har med svinrika människor utan moral att göra? Då får man gilla läget med varanerna.

    En sak som jag är helt på det klara med att jag avskyr är Malin Fors. Det visste jag iofs redan från början. Visst, människor är själviska varelser, men Malin tar fan priset i Mest Självupptagna. Värre blir det när man dessutom inte kan träffa någon av hennes andra kollegor, de s.k statisterna i the Malin Fors Show, utan att även de måste referera till henne och göra sitt perspektiv till hennes.
    Hennes reaktioner på familjehemligeten och dotterns framtidsplaner gör mig INTE mer vänligt inställd till henne.

  • Zelly

    Recension: Recension
    ZellysBokhylla

  • Jackie

    I read the English translation of this and it was the second of his novels for me. Very well written and absolutely absorbing ... the highlight was discovering the thoughts of the character Sven on the death of his mother ... my own feelings actually put into words, something that I had been unable to do for myself - how liberating!

    Now looking forward to consuming another one soon

  • Robin



    Detective Inspector Malin Fors, the heroine of Mons Kallentoft's series of acclaimed thrillers, is an angry woman.

    She's angry with her daughter, her dad and she hates her mother. She's a recovering alcoholic, a condition exacerbated before the events of Savage Spring when her daughter was kidnapped, and now she has a bomb blast to deal with in the town square of quiet backwater Linkoping, in which six-year-old twin girls are killed.

    She also has a 'sixth sense for the truth'. This manifests itself in her hearing the voices of the dead and having a strong intuition about which leads and suspects to pursue.

    We encounter her in Savage Spring at the cremation of her mother, a cold and emotionless woman. The passing of the elderly woman leaves Malin cold, but it is the trigger that finally exposes a family secret, compromising Malin's father and piling more angst on the workaholic detective.

    As she fights her hunger for Tequila, Malin works flat out with the small local team of detectives to find the bomber, with initial lines of inquiry taking in the local Mosque and the Hell's Angels, and a search for members of the Economic Liberation Front, who are angry with the country's banks. Eventually, the narrative twists in new, more personal directions as we discover more about the victims.

    Scandinavian writers such as Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson and Arnaldur Indridason have alerted English readers to the wealth of Nordic noir, and while this novel isn't in quite that league, it is a decent thriller with a dark denouement. Less satisfactory are the disembodied voices of the dead girls, and also of identified children who seem to be trapped somewhere, story strands that are distracting and slow the pace. And six-year-old ghosts coming out with lines such as, 'Maybe this was an attack aimed at the SEB bank, the avaricious heart of the capitalist swine,' jolt you out of the story. An interesting subplot about the Security Police hampering the investigation of Malin and her colleagues is also abruptly dropped half way through the book.

    It is the character of Malin Fors that is the best thing in the novel. Constantly on the verge of battering some suspect, sexually frustrated, struggling to reconnect with her teenage daughter, she is a compelling protagonist. Kallentoft has written six books about her so far, and 10 are planned.

  • Sheila

    I've gotta say D.I. Malin Fors is one of the most tedious and irritating characters in crime fiction. I'll read anything: the back of the cereal box, sports reports on cricket which I know nothing about, a poem in the literary journal based on the Black-Scholes equation used to play the stock market (well, I tried to read it).

    But this, I couldn't stomach. I can open the book anywhere and quote some of the worst writing I've ever read - I think it's called chewing the scenery in theatre. Don't read this.

  • Linda Karlsson

    åhh så bra bara lite synd bara att det är lite trögt att komma igång i hans böcker men väl inne då är sidorna som klister på en..........

  • Ellen

    Det är en spännande deckare, storyn i sig är rätt osannolik men det som stör mig i boken är det paranormala inslaget där Malin hör röster från döda. Den delen hade jag klarat mig utan. Hennes intuition hade gott räckt som förklaring och inte att hon hör röster från de döda. Kommer fortsätta läsa serien då jag gillar svenska deckare och tycker att Kallentoft skriver på ett lättsmält sätt.

  • Catarina

    Não sei o que pensar sobre este livro. Parece que se juntaram todos os ingredientes para 1 policial e colocaram ali.

  • Mónia Filipe

    Este é o quarto livro da saga policial protagonizada pela inspectora Malin Fors. Gostei mais dos primeiros dois livros. Neste, senti que a acção demora muito a acontecer. O suspense em si só começa no último terço do livro e depois a ação desenrola-se em catadupa... É também neste livro que Malin assume a sua capacidade de ouvir os mortos, que tem o papal de uma espécie de narrador (e que nem sempre funciona, a meu ver). Há mais um livro da saga, mas não fiquei com vontade de voltar a este registo tão cedo.

  • Petra Brodin

    Otroligt spännande En bok man gärna sträckläser.

  • Marika Oksa

    Tulipas vähän niin kuin hotkaistua tämä dekkari. Taattua Malin Fors -sarjan laatua!

  • CarolineFromConcord

    You ask, Cataline, why I would like a book in spite of something bad happening to children. Three reasons: the author's victims have a kind of life after death as he imagines them talking to detective Malin Fors and imagines her feeling their presence; the ending has many positive elements; and the psychological details about the characters, including the detectives who appear in each episode of the series, are wonderfully varied and realistic. Malin's personal challenges, involving her cold mother and weak father, her independent teen daughter, her daughter's father, her mostly controlled addiction, and her love life, enrich a complicated plot. In the story, the authorities run around like chickens with their heads cut off chasing the usual suspects when a lethal bomb goes off outside a bank in the middle of the Great Recession. Is it anti-capitalists? Religious terrorists? Something everyone is missing? Things get complicated. My one reservation is about a few tangents that didn't get pulled in at the end: the unfriendly investigators from Sweden's version of the FBI, the heroin addict who did something to save his family, and how come the children's mother had information on some "money" she wasn't ever told about.

  • Sonia Cristina

    3.5 estrelas.
    Este foi, de longe, o caso mais difícil destes 4 livros da série Malin Fors. Crimes contra crianças tornam a leitura sempre mais difícil...

    Passado mais de 1 ano sobre o final de Segredo Oculto em Águas Turvas, Malin tem o alcoolismo mais controlado e a filha já começou a aproximar-se mais. Também é aqui, finalmente, revelado o segredo de família, que os pais de Malin nunca lhe revelaram antes. Mais um crime contra crianças...

  • Stephen

    really enjoyed the lastest in the malin fors series and felt this one was the best so far and kept you thinking who had done the crime and what motives and also have the red herrings too and like the voices of the victims talking to malin in her head. looking forward to the next in series once its been translated into English

  • Ângela Costa

    Mons continua a ser um autor de eleição para mim! "Flores Caídas No Jardim do Mal", foi o melhor dos quatro que li, daí as minhas 5*. Este livro fecha um capítulo da vida de Malin, as suas incertezas, os seus receios, a descoberta dos segredos no ceio da sua família...uma investigação bem elaborada, enfim tem tudo! Recomendo a sua leitura sem quaisquer reservas.

  • Kaisa

    500 sivua katkeran Malin Forsin päänsisäistä katkeraa monologia - ei rikosromaanin tuntua. Sarjan huonoin! Suomentajat eivät osaa ruotsin kirosanarekisteriä ollenkaan, eli tilitysmonologi ei edes vastaa alkukielistä. Conradin 'Pimeyden ytimessä' paistaa liian ilmeisesti läpi pahuuden kuvauksessa ja nimissä. Toivottavasti seuraava osa on taas ok.

  • Ken Fredette

    This book has been around since 2013 but I finally got around to reading it. I was fully flummoxed by the story. Mons kept you the story only as Malin was privy to each outlandish area of the twin girls murder, their stepmothers murder, and their stepfathers murder. It was well written and I would give it four stars. Well worth reading.

  • Margareth8537

    Not quite sure about this one. Malin, the main detective, is not a very sympathetic character. The crime itself is quite interesting, but the part played by the children is very strange, as they speak with adult voices.

  • Jaksen

    Couldn't finish, but got far enough to rate it. The constantly shifting POV, the 'voices' of the dead kids giving their opinion on things (too adult, not the voices of children at all!), and the whole set-up was too disorienting and confusing.

    Not for me.

  • Inês

    Fantástico, para além da história principal ser bem complexa e perturbadora é bem interessante estar dentro da cabeça de um anti-heroi como a Malin. Espero que se sigam mais livros.

  • Gentle

    I won a copy of the book on Goodreads. The book was long and didn't move me in any particular way.

  • Paul

    Sometime last year I bought a job lot of crime books from a small independent books store. Ever since I have been slowly working my way through them. It has been a somewhat hit and miss affair, but for the price, I haven't been all that worried about it. So it finally came time to delve into Savage spring, for some reason I have picked this book up and put it back in my to be read pile more than once. I think in part this was down to the description, it felt like the kind of book I had to be in the right mood to read.



    In starting this book I had not realized it was part of a series about Detective Inspector Malin Fors. She was an interesting person to get to know throughout the course of the book. Just the right amount of broken to keep me wanting to know more about who she is. Malin is another in a proud and long line of detectives from out Scandinavian brothers and sister. In the course of this book, we get to delve into not only her way of solving cases, but also into her private life and to a larger extent how she cam to be the person she is now. She is also another one who will fight to get to the trough using her intelligence to pull all the pieces together and get to the bottom of this bombing. Along the way, we also get to visit with some interesting supporting characters. And get to see how a warped and twisted person can be molded those around them into doing something so truly heinous.



    This book turned out nothing like I was expecting from the blurb I had read on the back. It's always a little strange when you think you know the directs a book will take only to find it shooting off in complete a different direction. This time for me it was a good thing, The plot is well thought out and executed keeping me searching for the final revel right up until the end. The author has managed to craft a complex web of conspiracy as to why this bomb went off, however, he also has given me a look into the heart of what family can mean. It is through this that I was able to gain a deeper understanding of these people and the choices they made. I can't say this lead to me having compassion for them, bad things happen to people all the time and somehow they still mage to find a way to a better life. It does, however, make for a compelling read and anyone who enjoys there Scandinavian noir I'm sure will be gripped by this book and the journey it took me on.



    While this is complex read the author's style means I was able not only to get through this book in not too long, but was also had great enjoyment in trying to beat the good Detective Inspector in solving the case. I have defiantly been won over and I will be hunting out the other books in this series to add to my to be read pile.

  • Norrie

    For more reviews check out
    Reading Under the Blankie

    Long buried secrets, questions of motherhood and a deadly explosion await us in Savage Spring, the fourth book in the Malin Fors series.

    Malin has calmed down considerably since we last met her in Autumn Killing. With the help from her boss and colleagues, who often act more like a family than her actual family, she is back on her feet and has been sober for over a year. It suits her. She still suffers from the occasional outburst every now and then, but I honestly couldn’t blame the poor woman. Her frayed relationship with her mother comes to an abrupt end with the woman’s death, and the guilt of feeling relief and some painful thruths coming to light don’t put her in an easy position. Loneliness, old flames and obsessions taunt her constantly.

    The loneliness she feels is different to a mere lack of sex, she wants a warm embrace to curl up in, ears that listen to what she has to say, and a brain and a heart that respond, that wish her well, that like her for who she is. Malin thinks, I feel a serious longing, maybe for someone to love, but actually admitting that to myself isn’t at all pleasant.

    Malin’s relationship with her daughter Tove is strained, but on the mend. Nevertheless, their careful bonding seems to balance on the verge of of a breakdown, and Tove has a secret too.

    Family secrets is the theme in Savage Spring, not only for Malin personally, but there’s something about the perpetrator that seems to be firmly rooted in their past. But what is it? How far Malin and her team has to go to uncover the motives of the heinous crime that claimed the lives of two innocent little girls?

    With his beautiful, expressive writing Mons Kallentoft paints a dark picture of family relationships and unthinkable acts committed by those we least expect it from.

    Human greed is the best friend of evil.

    The poignant voices of Tuva and Mira follow Malin around. They know the truth, but are too young to comprehend its meaning. There’s a sense of imminent danger in their innocent reporting of the events, keeping your on your toes the whole time. Are the perpetrators going to strike again? Who is their next target? What the hell is up with up with those lizards they keep talking about? It’s quite terrifying.

    Both Malin and Zeke can sense the fear creeping into the room, crawling across the floor like some ravenous, infected lizard, bringing with it an unshakeable stench of rotting flesh.

    With extreme violence, graphic details and a relentless investigator, Savage Spring is out there to blow your socks off.

  • Mike Cuthbert

    Mons Kallentoft is one of several Nordic Noir writers who prefer a straight story running parallel to the mystery. In this case the mystery is who blew up the Linköping main square, an ATM machine and two little girls and their mother. Malin Fors, the lead detective in Kallantoft thrillers, responds with the entire Linköping police force and the hunt is on. In the meantime, Malin has just buried her unregretted mother, her daughter, Tove, is heading for college and Malin is fighting alcoholism. She has just concluded rehab and finds the temptations strong, particularly since the investigation starts slowly. In a strange turn of events, Malin’s police are outperforming the Swedish National Police and we hear little about their parallel investigation. The breakthrough occurs when Malin, using her very strong instincts, feels that they are headed the wrong way in finding the killer or killers of the children. She sees more future in investigating the bombers and branch out from there rather than concentrating, as the police do, on the children. Mallentoft uses a “Greek Chorus” device throughout that intermittently comments on the action and pleads for a swift end to the case. It is comprised of children’s voices and Malin can’t really hear them but the sense that they are there urges her on. I found the technique somewhat irritating until I regarded it as a psychic break for Malin and her partner, Zeke, who is almost completely devoid of personality. There is a handsome young doctor who Malin sets her cap for, Peter Hemse. He is sort of a carrot, lying outside the action, knowing only that Malin is interested. This is a long book—472 pages in paperback—but stay with it. Its payoff is worth it.

  • Gavin Felgate

    The fourth book in the Malin Fors series opens with a bomb blast in a busy town centre that kills two young girls. Most of the book's plot involves Malin trying to figure out why the girls were targeted, and who the bomber was, and as usual the book plays with the readers' expectations a lot. It also does a good job of acknowledging the very modern problem of Islamophobia in relation to terrorist activity. As usual, the ghosts of the victims appear, following Malin around, and speaking to her, as though to suggest that she had a psychic link with them, although it is still not made explicit.

    There are also a couple of subplots too. Firstly, Malin's mother has just died at the start of the novel. This book explores Malin's childhood, and explains why her mother ran away, leaving her father to look after Malin, and uncovers a secret that has been hinted at in previous titles.

    Another plotline involves Malin's complicated relationships, including her previous affair with a colleague, and also her ex-husband, Janne, who starts seeing another woman in this book, causing Malin to react jealously. It also hints at a new love interest for her.

    As usual, this book leaves a few loose plot threads at the end, and I suspect that they will all be wrapped up in the next book in the series, "The Fifth Season".

    I enjoyed this a lot, and it maintained the high standard the series has set so far, by taking a situation that doesnt make sense, and gradually revealing more, and throwing in a few red herrings and even a double bluff. I can't wait to read more about Malin Fors.

  • Jessica Sorentino

    The fourth and final (womp womp) in this thriller crime series that follows detective Malin Fors as she solves difficult murders that somehow relate to her own life and upbringing. This particular case was especially trying, as she and her team investigate a town square explosion and her own personal-life bomb simultaneously goes off. I highly recommend this series for anyone interested in a slightly different take on the traditional crime novel. Throughout the stories, the voices of the case - the victims - subconsciously aid the detectives, and the reader becomes quickly intrigued and desperate to solve the crime.

    Oh, the order of the series: Winter, Summer, Autumn, Spring.

  • Reinaldo Lourenço

    Bom... vou manter a tradição e dar 4* aos livros do Mons K.
    Penso que este deve ter sido o livro que gostei mais dos 4, e tenho a certeza que foi o que mais mexeu cmg... isto depois da paternidade muda um bocado a forma como os livros/crimes que metem crianças "tocam cá dentro" :(
    Mais uma vez a primeira parte do livro é um bocado lenta mas a parte final compensa bastante.
    Fico contente que a Malin Fors tenha saído da expiral de decadência em que entrou no livro anterior e que agora se encontre sobria e feliz no fim do livro.
    Ao inicio pensava que isto era uma tetralogia mas vi agora que já vai com 9 livros, 5 em PT...
    Lá vou eu em busca do 5º...