Anders Roslund

Three Hours

Release date: May 1 2018 / Original title: Tre timmar

Three Hours

“Three seconds, or three minutes, is an eternity if you control time yourself. But three hours is all too short if someone else controls them.”

One quiet morning in Stockholm Ewert Grens is called to the morgue, where there’s one dead man too many, left by someone in a locked room among other dead bodies. How is that possible?

Piet Hoffmann is on a new continent. A last dangerous assignment before he leaves this world behind him. It takes him through a dry desert to a roaring sea, in a world where human lives have no value.

At home in Sweden, Zofia and the boys wait and long for their husband and father. As soon as he’s back they’ll finally have peace. It turns out to be a fraudulent sense of security and soon two little boys will have to fight to survive.

THREE HOURS is the difference between life and death.

Roslund & Hellström’s Three Seconds climbed the bestseller lists around the world, and had in 2019 its much anticipated Hollywood movie premiere (The Informer).

Three Minutes became the next success.

This is the sequel – in the magnificent and thrilling Three Hours, Anders Roslund once more reunite infiltrator Piet Hoffmann and Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens, taking us even further into the world of crime.

“Three Hours by Anders Roslund is a current story about human trafficking, while it also shows how to complete a trilogy in an intelligent way. Roslund succeeded in renewing himself … Respect for the story, its characters, and for the author himself … The ingredients that made this trilogy successful remain: action, excitement, Piet’s combat strategies, and especially the way the author explains how the government as well as the humanitarian and illegal network works. As Roslund says, he did not hesitate to follow his contact in to the heart of the drug cartels for the research of Three Minutes. This authenticity is definitely the strong point of this impressive masterpiece.”

Les ArtsZé, France

"[Anders Roslund] has a lock on hard-hitting crime novels on the order of Three Hours, the latest in a string of superb procedurals [with Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens].”

The New York Times Book Review, US

“The countdown has begun... A masterpiece!"

Le Télégramme, France

“Three Hours is an exciting Nordic crime novel!"

Pravda, Slovakia

"Stieg Larsson's successor gives social diagnoses, mimics computer games, tells stories with complex plots, and takes the violence to new extremes with each new novel."

Jyllands-Posten, Denmark

“Swedish crime at its best … Three Hours is an extremely successful and read-worthy thriller, and there are many good reasons for it: First and foremost, it is clear that the author has great knowledge about the subject of human trafficking and its cynical mechanisms. The mix of fact and fiction thus works excellently. The narrative quickly shifts between Grens and Hoffmann and it’s so tightly constructed that the book’s almost 400 pages are hard to let go of."

Litteratursiden, Denmark

"Roslund continues the popular Ewert Grens series with success. In Drie Uur / Three Hours he gives us an incredibly real picture of an environment where morality is an overblown luxury ... The ending is beautiful: not everything is rounded, the lines of good and evil turn into an inextricable tangle.

DeMorgen, Belgium

“A new successful part of the Ewert Grens series ... Just like in the previous Piet Hoffmann parts, the clock is again irresistibly pointing towards climax … You just want to continue."

de Volkskrant, Netherlands

“Everything is breathtaking in these crime novels. Powerful intrigues and strong feelings. In addition to Stieg Larsson, no one writes with such a social pathos.”

Land, Sweden

“Again, a very readable and gripping story … Roslund is one of our absolute best authors in this genre and if you not already have read his books it is about time.”

Upsala Nya Tidning, Sweden

“Roslund writes the fourth part of the celebrated Three series (Three Seconds, Three Minutes, Tree Hours) with success … Three Hours is a very strong crime novel that gives the reader a credible insight in how trafficking works … Gripping, current and confronting. Roslund reaches dizzying heights on his own. Let part four come soon."

Gazet van Antwerpen Metropool Stad, Belgium

“Roslund maintains the same high pace as before, beautifully weaving suspense and a current topic together. A Swedish crime novel at a international thriller pace.”

Gefle Dagblad, Sweden

“Not only is Three Hours a thrilling novel with a strong plot, it is an old school Scandinavian thriller that turns a critical eye to the refugee issue and the new cynicism in society."

Vrij Nederland, Netherlands

""Where can you find a crime novel that shakes your conscience at the same time as it is exciting? In Sweden, of course ... Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström have written a number of remarkable crime novels during the last fifteen years ... Roslund has done some thorough research. In this suspenseful novel, he not only tells us how smugglers operate, but how men and women in key positions in various aid organizations and in politics actively facilitate the trafficking of refugees for blood money ... In addition Roslund gives his main characters fascinating personalities ...In the prologue, Roslund tells us how he got to know Hellström and why they eventually started writing crime novels as a duo. The reason had much to do with social criticism, according to Roslund, the very core of the Swedish crime novel, and with reviving these strong stories. And Three Hours is a striking example of this."

De Standaard, Belgium

“Anders Roslund makes something extraordinary by letting the refugees, beggars and people without documents grow into individuals. He also know how to tie an exciting thriller and the human trafficking case together … Anders Roslund continues Roslund & Hellström’s earlier creations with the same competence … Again, it’s madly exciting, with a thriller plot that quickly escalates."

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden

“A superb combination of classical crime novel and political thriller … Roslund makes your heart skip a beat in certain parts of the book, then slows the pace in others, giving us time to reflect, empathize and be engaged … In Three Hours, the characterizations are stronger than ever … Crime novels like this are needed – Roslund proves that it’s possible to write excellent reading entertainment with gripping and relevant content."

Skånska Dagbladet, Sweden

“As usual roslund has done a very solid research, which makes Three Hours to stand out among lately crime novels about the refugee catastrophe … Roslund is a skilled writer with an enormous drive in the storytelling. The combination of crime novel and action-packed international thriller works great and it’s easy to like the main characters … Even without Hellström there is hardly anyone who beats Roslund in writing a really exciting thriller."

Borås Tidning, Sweden

“A brilliant crime novel written in a high pace and with a forceful prose. This concept really holds for a fourth book!"

Skaraborgs Allehanda, Sweden

“A truly excellent thriller that, besides being well-written and credible, feels urgent and highly topical. Both character portraits and milieu depictions are outstanding."

BTJ, Sweden

“[A] real nail-biter. ”

TV4 Nyhetsmorgon, Sweden