He is an eccentric and lazy sort of anti-hero, who solves cases seemingly more by good luck than solid work.
Persson manages to extract some humorous moments when a newly appointed police boss Anna Holt needs someone to ''kill the dragon'' for her but I found the plot to be rather tedious or repulsive at times - being more of a cynical and puzzling mess than a logical progression where the law should eventually triumph.
Puzzling over the method in which a paperboy had delivered his newspaper to a man who had been found murdered and later was himself killed, the chubby Backstrom manages to spend more time in bars or bedrooms than working and he also treads all over his colleagues' other cases.
You won't admire him but may get a chuckle or two before he produces a slain dragon.
- Geoff Adams is a former ODT editor.
