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In "Deadly Cold" Johan Theorin leaves Öland Island, scene of his previous three intrigues - "The trouble hour", "Echoes of the Dead" and "Blood Stone" - and frankly exchange register in us embarking in a thriller in a psychiatric hospital. If this shift surprised me, he did not disappointed me so far. (I hope still see the island of Öland in a forthcoming novel). In the wild isolation of the island of Öland therefore succeeds the oppressive closed session of the hospital with her impenetrable facade appearance and mysterious underground. The author distills the suspense with great economy of means that is reminiscent of Hitchcock methods. The action takes place slowly, the details become important and the less noise eventually startle.

The characters are very successful. They are camped ironically without falling into caricature and may not separate into two camps nice and nasty. Humanism displayed caregivers often hides evil cynicism while apparent wickedness is sometimes only the reaction of an injury. No one seems very clear and the main character that we struggle to be called "hero" is no exception to the rule. Hired in the adjoining kindergarten to the hospital to bring the parents to their children interned, Jan Hauger shows fast enough worrying symptoms. The narration goes back in time and alternates between the present tense of this job, the story of a tragedy that occurred while he was working in a kindergarten and his internment in HP adolescence. This antisocial character, unbalanced, with limited reflections and shameful secrets, has accepted the position as it would get in touch with interned, which will of course bring it to play with fire. Its ambivalence will tend to put the reader at ease evil because it naturally calls into question the transfer mechanisms or empathy that usually arouse the hero. If one is sensitive to sufferings and good intentions, the shortcuts of his thoughts and resulting actions are not always provided justifiable and do not allow to really focus on it. We do not know if we can trust him or not. Throughout the reading, one wonders if he finally look the side of good or evil.

"Mortal Cold" is a very well put together and surprising thriller to the end. The ending leaves some open questions without inducing disappointment.