The books are well done-although it helps to keep in mind that the author is a Swedish radical and that the male hero has a bit of Mary Sue about him. There are all sorts of sly references and jokes-to the Martin Beck series (which is excellent), to The Dain Curse, and to various other classics of the crime/mystery genre.

I know many people who have been surprised by the Sweden depicted in the novels-they think of it as a bastion of sexual equality. Which it is, in part..but it's also the country where courts can reach a decision like this.