An intricately plotted and brilliantly conceived stand-alone sequel to the international bestseller The Swimmer that turns the hottest political topics of our times into a complex, resonant thriller in the vein of John LeCarré.
Yasmine Ajam has fled her past in the rough Stockholm borough Bergort, reinventing herself as a trendspotter in New York City. One day she receives a startling message: there are riots erupting on the streets of Stockholm and they appear to be connected with the disappearance of her brother, Fadi.
Following rumors that Fadi was radicalized and died fighting for ISIS in Syria, Yasmine returns to Stockholm to discover what really happened to her brother. There she becomes entangled in a dangerous web of allegiances and violence that stretches far beyond the gangs on her childhood streets.
Meanwhile, in London, Klara Walldéen has landed a job at a human rights research institute working on a report to predict the effects of privatizing police forces. When Klara travels to Stockholm to present her findings to European Union policymakers, her laptop is stolen and one of her colleagues is pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. As her path collides with Yasmine’s, Klara begins to realize that she may unwittingly be contributing to the sinister agendas of powerful interests who will stop at nothing to attain their goals.
With The Believer, Joakim Zander delivers another ""page-turning"" (Entertainment Weekly) novel of suspense that is as sophisticated and timely as it is compelling.
Download and start listening now!
“Narrators Hillary Huber and Assaf Cohen ensure that this complex plot and its main characters feel as real as today’s breaking news…Huber differentiates Yasmine through a light Middle Eastern accent. For Klara, who is described as speaking with a rural Swedish accent, Huber’s choice is credible and distinct from her other characters’ voices. More significant than their accents, Huber also captures the fatalism that drives these two women’s actions. Cohen’s success lies in how well he balances Fadi’s naïveté with his extremism, making him all too poignantly real.”
— AudioFile
“An interesting gambit…[Zander is] a smart, fluid observer.”
— New York Times Book Review“Contemporary and convincing.”
— Mystery Scene“Zander has written another compelling, timely, and character-centered thriller”
— Booklist (starred review)“Impressively complex characters and stark atmospherics make this a thematically profound read.”
— Publishers Weekly“Zander’s twisting, high-octane plot could not be more timely…Suspenseful and primed for Hollywood adaptation, this is escapist fiction at its best.”
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Joakim Zander was born in Stockholm, has lived in Syria and Israel, and graduated from high school in the United States. He earned a PhD in law from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has worked as a lawyer for the European Union in Brussels and Helsinki. Rights to his debut novel The Swimmer were sold in twenty-eight countries.
Elizabeth Clark Wessel is an editor at Argos Books & Circumference: Poetry in Translation and author of the chapbook Whither Weather. Her poems and translations have appeared in DIAGRAM, A Public Space, Guernica, Sixth Finch, Lana Turner Journal, The Laurel Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn, NY and works as a translator.
Assaf Cohen is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has appeared in various plays, short films, and television shows. He grew up in Palo Alto and attended UC Berkeley where he earned a bachelor’s degree in integrative biology. He continued his classical training by earning a master of fine arts in acting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University under the instruction of legendary acting instructor William Esper.
Hillary Huber, a Los Angeles–based voice talent with hundreds of commercials and promos under her belt, was bitten by the audiobook bug in 2005. She now records books on a regular basis and has been nominated for several Audie Awards and won numerous Earphones Awards.