Clinch - Brossura

'Holmén has Raymond Chandler's rare ability to evoke a character in a few deft strokes' -- Lynda La Plante, EVENT Best Reads of the Year

'Clinch is a gritty, stylish debut... in Kvist he has created a brutal anti-hero quite unlike any seen in crime fiction before' -- Sunday Express

'Vivid account of a working-class struggle for survival in a city... where poverty and corruption went hand-in-hand for the poor' -- Attitude

'Atmospheric Scandi retro, but Chandleresque to its core' -- The Sunday Times Crime Club

'A clever plot woven into prose that depicts 1930s Stockholm in a detailed manner... it punches you in the face like one of Kvist's knockout blows. Definitely not for the faint-hearted' -- Crime Scene

'Ferociously noir... If Chandler and Hammett had truly walked on the wild side, it would read like Clinch' -- Val McDermid

'Clinch is a dark, atmospheric, powerful thriller, the best debut novel I've read in years' -- Lynda La Plante

'If you're looking for a new addiction, try [Clinch]... it's a tough thriller that packs a punch' -- Daily Star on Sunday

'The city that Harry sees around him is very much at one with Harry himself: dirty, violent and cruel, with sickness and pain ever in plain sight... It all feels very convincing' -- Crime Review

'Martin Holmén has created a remarkable novel that works well at many levels, ticking all the right boxes for the Scandi crime category' -- Thriller Books Journal

'Clinch is a fabulously classy twist on pulp fiction: it'll be a top-notch summer book for readers looking for something diverting but smart, as long as they don't mind a little blood and bonking' -- Elle Thinks

'The characterisation of Kvist is the thing at which to marvel... a character that you will find yourself pulling for madly in the end... Clinch is one hell of a book, indeed' -- TQR

'Gritty, stylish Scandinavian noir from one of Sweden's hottest emerging authors' -- Booklover

'A real tour de force... a fascinating race through 1930s Stockholm' -- Kate Rhodes

'A debut with echoes of Chandler... Holmén has created a unique, equally idiosyncratic as remarkable, debut crime novel' -- Boras Tidning

'Scandinavian Crime meets Film Noir, the crime novel of the year' -- Alexander Bard

'Blending noir with gritty violence, Clinch is a visceral, compulsive thriller that packs a punch and leaves you reeling' -- Col's Criminal Library

'This is noir writing at its best and you won't want to give this book a miss if you are a fan of this genre' -- Bookbinder's Daughter

'A great read' Expressen

'Brutally entertaining' --M-Magasin

'The undoubted star of the show is Harry himself... definitely a man I'm keen to read more about in the future' --Col's Criminal Library

'The author doesn't pull any punches... a very promising, atmospheric debut that moves at a good clip... [Kvist] is mesmerising' --Mystery People

Born in 1974, Martin Holmén studied history, and now teaches it at a Stockholm secondary school. Clinch is his first novel, and the first instalment in the planned trilogy about Kvist: Out for the Count and Slugger will also be published by Pushkin Vertigo.