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    The Swimmer: A Novel
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    The Swimmer: A Novel
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    The Swimmer: A Novel
    Ebook463 pages6 hours

    The Swimmer: A Novel

    By Joakim Zander

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A deep-cover CIA agent races across Europe to save the daughter he never knew in this electrifying debut thriller—an international sensation billed as “Homeland meets Stieg Larsson” that heralds the arrival of a new master sure to follow in the footsteps of Stieg Larsson, John Le Carré, and Graham Greene.

    In the end, you cannot hide who you are.

    Klara Walldéen was raised by her grandparents on a remote archipelago in the Baltic Sea, learning to fish and hunt and sail a boat through a storm. Now, as an EU Parliament aide in Brussels, she is learning how to navigate the treacherous currents of international politics: the lines between friend and enemy, truth and lies.

    But Klara has accidentally seen something she shouldn’t have: a laptop containing information so sensitive that someone will kill to keep hidden. Suddenly, she is thrown into a terrifying chase across Europe, with no idea who is hunting her or why.

    Meanwhile, in Virginia, an old spy hides from his past. Once, he was a man of action, an operative so dedicated that he abandoned his infant daughter to keep his cover. Now, he is the only man who can save Klara . . . and she is the only woman who can allow him to lay old ghosts to rest.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 10, 2015
    ISBN9780062337283
    Author

    Joakim Zander

    Joakim Zander was born in Stockholm, has lived in Syria and Israel, and graduated from high school in the United States. He earned a PhD in law from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has worked as a lawyer for the European Union in Brussels and Helsinki. Rights to his debut novel The Swimmer were sold in twenty-eight countries. Zander lives and works in southern Sweden with his family.

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    Reviews for The Swimmer

    4/5

    14 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Sometimes a bit rough, but good story and very gripping.
    • 4/5
      The Swimmer is a spy thriller from a first time Swedish writer. It had good recommendations so I thought I would try it. The genre is something that I read a lot when I was younger(Ludlum, Follett) but got away from home as I got older. Now that I read so much I like to include this along with mystery/crime novels as a diversion from my usual fare. For those that are into this type of book, I recommend this. It is written from the perspective of a Swedish writer so we see his take of American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq along with the murky and questionable tactics that have been used in the name of the war on terror. It touches on our support for the Taliban when the Russians were there and are use of private contractors. The actually story is the usual spy format. The career spy, his offspring, people put into unusual situations acting more heroic than I would(you must suspend belief with these books) but it was well written, had a good pace, and didn't reveal too much too soon. It was a page turner and I would consider reading something by Zander in the future.
    • 4/5
      A penetrating novel, given the fact it’s Zaner’s debut, the impact even more prevalent. Translated from Zander’s native tongue of Swedish absolutely nothing is missed, translation is superb.The plot is full of suspense and subterfuge. Gripping, will hold your attention throughout as you burn through the pages absorbed by varying characters and riveting narrative, the plot rather intricate. Fast paced, you won’t be able to put the book down.The characters come to life as each one is masterfully pulled into the narrative. The characters are clearly the building blocks, Klara the apex. Aging CIA agent, political aide, black ops all creating a vibrant cast with vital roles, all intriguing.Zander describes environs in a rich manner. The reader will feel part of Brussels as well as the isolated Scandinavian island locations. Zander’s simplistic yet strong writing completes the thrilling reading adventure.A well crafted political suspense/thriller addressing guilt, revenge and redemption. Great ending, highly impressed with Zander, a wonderful indicator of a successful writing career. Looking forward to more from Joakim Zander.
    • 3/5
      This is a timely spy thriller about the use of, and abuse by, private contractors by the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq. The story begins in 1980 in Damascus, when the never-named main protagonist, “the swimmer,” escapes a deadly car bomb. We then go to 2013 and meet a character, Mahmoud Shammosh, who is working on a dissertation about “The Privatization of War” (i.e., the use of contractors) and who suddenly finds himself in great danger without knowing the reason for it. Subsequent chapters go back and forth in time as we figure out what is happening and why. This narrative device also enables the author to get in plenty of observations about the nature of torture that took place in these two countries, and the deleterious effects of “blowback” from U.S. involvement.There are a number of other subplots that all are connected, but again, it takes some time before the reader knows just how they are linked. But a recurring theme establishes that given “human nature,” it isn’t difficult to find ways to compromise people in order to get them to do what you want. Or as The Swimmer observes, “a lie may be false, but truth is the real enemy.”Discussion: The author has his characters contemplate many of the moral and political dilemmas that are still debated about U.S. involvement in this part of the world. For example, when The Swimmer is in Afghanistan aiding the Taliban (as the CIA did, with the goal of vitiating the Soviet effort there and thereby helping to destabilize the Soviet government), he wonders:
"And then? When the Russians have left, when the images of Lenin have been burned and only the ruins and the dead remain? Will these timeless men build a country in the name of Allah? Will we allow them to forbid music theater, literature, and even ancient monuments? As they say they want to do? Do we prefer that to the ungodliness of communism? Into whose hands are we placing the fate of this world?”The dénouement is interesting in the sense that it has a bit more nuance than one would expect from all that preceded it.Evaluation: This thriller has a lot of suspense, and plenty of moral dilemmas that are unresolved but left for the reader to contemplate. Is it realistic? Perhaps. Certainly most of it is, according to the nonfiction tour de force by Steve Coll, Ghost Wars. That book, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, is a history of recent events in Afghanistan including the complex interrelationship among diplomats and spies from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United States; the assassinations; the cover-ups; and the dirty dealing of all parties. I found Coll’s book more thrilling than this one, but for those who prefer to get their history through fiction, this book is not a bad choice. This Swedish novel has been a best-seller in Europe.
    • 4/5
      European Union lawyer Joakim Zander’s debut spy thriller, The Swimmer, takes Scandinavian literature to new heights, thrills and delightful twists. Klara Walldéen, an EU Parliament aide has accidently come across a laptop with information she should have never come across which leads her to run for her life. Only one person can help her, the father she never knew, is a deep uncover CIA agent in Virginia, will he be able to track Klara and save her before it is too late? The Swimmer is a taught, riveting, and intense spy thriller that easily keep this reader eagerly turning the pages trying to guess what will happen next. Zander’s writing is exceptional and brings back the traditional, non-formatted spy thriller written mainly in third person and told from various perspectives, which I truly enjoyed. His storyline and plot twists are solid and his characters are quite believable and relatable. Joakim Zander is a new author to watch and The Swimmer is a must read for anyone who enjoys an intense thriller.
    • 4/5
      The Swimmer – A Stunning Debut ThrillerThe publisher Head of Zeus has hit the jackpot with their new voices series of books promoting new writers and in particular with The Swimmer. Joakim Zander has written an exceptional thriller that ticks all the boxes that crosses Europe and builds to a crescendo. Zander unlike other Scandinavian writers has not written a noir thriller but one in the traditions of Frederick Forsyth. Klara Walldéen had been orphaned as a baby when her mother was killed in a car bombing and she had been brought up and cared for by her Grandparents on a remote Swedish archipelago. After university in Sweden and London she is now making her name as an assistant in the European Parliament to a leading Swedish left-wing Member of Parliament. Life is good and everything is going well with her boyfriend what on earth could go wrong?Her life turns upside down when she is contacted by an ex-boyfriend who is in Brussels for a conference. He has been contacted by a former colleague about some top secret information on the war on terror. His former colleague is murdered while talking to him and he goes on the run holding the much needed information. He makes contact with Klara who helps him to escape to Paris while he suddenly becomes a wanted man and is being chased hard. While on the run he is murdered also and Klara has to run to survive. She has no idea who wants her dead or what information she is carrying.George Lööw is a Swedish lobbyist based in Brussels on his way up at his firm and a very big contract drops in his lap. They need him to translate some Swedish into English for a shadowy company called Digital Solutions. Little does George know that this big contract is going to take him to places he would rather forget and if he manages to survive he will not be able to tell the tale as nobody would ever believe him?Somewhere within Langley Virginia there is a Swimmer who is watching events unfold in Europe who has an interest in Klara Walldéen. He convinces his boss that he needs to go to Europe and put right something that he has done in his past and make sure that Klara does not become collateral damage in the process.This is one of the best thrillers that I have read in a while, The Swimmer is beautifully written vivid in its imagery and the hope that drives the tension of the thriller. This really is a good verses evil thriller, and something in the present world situation is quite a believable thriller. There is such a fantastic ruthlessness in this thriller that we are told is to protect democracy. For a debut novel this is a fast paced, believable and compelling thriller.The Swimmer has everything the reader wants from a thriller, and it has everything in it to be a best seller.
    • 3/5
      The Swimmer is a Swedish espionage thriller, a convoluted tale that features a large cast of characters and a lot of vivid scenes of danger and mayhem. The short chapters go back and forth in location and time, and it is a little difficult to keep everything straight. Recommended for those who like books that read like action movie screenplays.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable, if run-of-the-mill, thriller. Usual CIA-are-the-bad-guys trope. Nothing especially unique, but will appeal to fans of Chris Pavone or Olen Steinhauer.
    • 4/5
      This is a first novel that will appeal to anyone who is taken with conspiracy theories. It might be subtitled, "Don't piss off the CIA." That agency is presented as the ultimate evil, working within a corrupt but stable political system, it does what it wants to whomever it wants, whenever it wants to. That includes allies of the U.S., such as the EU. The novel also stipulates that once an image is in cyberspace, it retains its power even if no-one is aware of it, and even though the image may be decades old. Zander articulates the belief that spies are like members of the mafia: participants in a lifelong process that can just as easily kill as it rewards. People in the spying business lose their personal worlds and their families and become close to no-one but their professional peers. The system will defend itself violently against any perception of danger, sacrificing whomever it chooses to safeguard its secret world.
    • 3/5
      I had a difficult time getting used to the rotating narratives, but once I did, I enjoyed this book. I like spy thrillers, and this is a good one. We meet an unnamed narrator as well as Mahmoud Shammosh, Klara Walldeen, George Loow, and others before the action begins. I was beginning to get tired of all this set-up, but then things began happening with a “bang.”Mahmoud meets a face from his past, who threatens to reveal a damaging secret. While they talk in a quiet park in Stockholm, a sniper kills the man. Mahmoud flees for his life, and the race is on, drawing in all of the other characters.Are parts improbable? Yes. It’s fiction, after all. I thought the pacing was very good, especially toward the end where the suspense was intense. I’ve read some of the other reviews which were less enthusiastic, but I think this is an excellent first effort and I’ll look for more from Joakim Zander.
    • 3/5
      This is an excellent example of why I don't usually read spy thrillers. There are several threads, time periods, settings and narratives switching and criss-crossing. The international spy world is filled with double- and triple-crossing agents and administrators, and in the end there is no resolution, just more blackmailing and maneuvering. Great if you like it.
    • 4/5
      'The Swimmer' is an excellent debut by Joakim Zander. It has a bit of everything: sympathetic characters, terrorists, good guys, bad guys, CIA, exotic (or at least far away) locales, and plenty of action. If you're a fan of spy novels and thrillers, as I am, you'll really enjoy it.

      The writing is competent. Zander lives in Europe and I don't know if this book is translated from another language- it sort of has that feel to it, but the main thing is that the pace and style of the writing are good matches for the action. The characters are decent, although there's not a lot of development done on them. You learn who they are by their actions. The novel is relatively short (by today's standards), and I suppose you give up a bit of character development to keep the action moving.

      The story was a bit difficult to keep straight, since several major characters are involved and there are flashbacks to previous activities. Otherwise, the plot was excellent and the only problem I had was with the ending. It may make a great movie someday, but I'm not sure how realistic the final 100 pages can be. That's the only reason I've docked 'The Swimmer' a star. Everything else is dynamite and I look forward to more from Mr. Zander.
    • 4/5
      Unusual and good story.Perhaps over the top on the evil USA
    • 5/5
      I'm not usually a fan of spy thrillers mostly because I find them too confusing or too frustrating. I had to overcome these feelings at the start of The Swimmer as the many threads of the story are assembled and the story embarks essentially on one long central chase across Europe where three different but connected Swedish youngster get implicated in the murky world of systematic state intelligence. Some of the connections and set pieces are tenuous and implausible, but hey it's a story and meant to entertain. Gradually as the narratives coalesce they become simply the dramatic veneer on the myriad shades of grey swirling at the centre of this novel like the churning winter seas. In the use of cross cutting narratives, the switching between voices, the slipperiness and unknowability of the various characters, the many moments of ellipsis and poetry, the starkly drawn depictions of grey and hostile urban and remote landscapes and the contrasting of these grey spaces with warm and coloured places, there is a more profound meditation on the purpose, consequences and price of our security services. It's disquieting that even when immediate danger withdraws that there is not resolution, only uncertainty and contingency and misplaced attempts to negotiate them.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this spy thriller with a little human interest element thrown in. I appreciated that the family side of the story was not mushy and overly sentimental. If you enjoy the talent and wisdom of a spy who has been around the block too many times to count, I recommend this one. We also get a good look at the generation coming along behind him so there could be sequels.
    • 4/5
      As I approach my sunset years, I find I am getting more and more annoyed with authors who portray the U.S. as an evil bully. LeCarre, long past his George Smiley glory days and formerly one of my favorite authors (read the stuff he wrote in the 60s and 70s), has been (pun) a prime example. And now we have Joakim Zander with his debut novel, "The Swimmer". Only he takes his monster CIA one step further; it has evolved into a creature prepared to destroy its own. Time Out ! That's an automatic one star deduct. Maximum possible score 4.0That aside, the book is quite good. The story takes a bit too long to develop, but once all the background is in place, all the characters are introduced and well positioned, things become very interesting. The McGuffin here is information, although that doesn't become quite clear until the second half of the story. The bulk of the timeline occurs over six days preceding Christmas, and the plot unfolds with growing tension in shorter and shorter chapters, told sometimes in third person, other times in first. Most of the story is set in Belgium and Sweden, and how many books have you read with the focus in those two places. This is not an action thriller ala Mission Impossible, but there is enough here to make a big movie. Women play key roles but I don't think you'll see Angelina Jolie running through a snowy forest in a Gore Tex suit when it comes to your Cineplex. The climax is very well done, not protracted, no dynamite, but just the right dash of pragmatism. This will not be a series, but I am looking forward to the next book. Hopefully, by that time Zander will be smart enough to pick a different bad guy.
    • 3/5
      The last one hundred pages of this book were good but it took way too long to get to that point. The buildup is very slow and in many of the chapters the author does not reveal which character's perspective it was - maybe I am a bit dim but in some it took me quite a while to figure out which character it was. The plot revolves around some hidden information (photos and videos) and the desire by some that they do not get out. In my opinion the top notch authors of international intrigue have little to worry about here.