"Geiger" by Gustaf Skördeman

An audio book.

Agneta, the wife for decades of retired Swedish TV celeb Stellan, receives a phone-call - one word, "Geiger". She shoots her husband dead and flees.

Sara, a policewoman working on prostitution-busting, is brought into the investigation because she's a friend of the daughters (her mother was their cleaner). They first think that it was a bungled burglary. Sara discovers that Stellan was a Stasi informer (his social contacts were useful). Agneta's absense is puzzling - a kidnap?

Sara's mother is Polish - why did she leave Stellen so suddenly, taking Sara with her?). It came as a surprise to me that Sara lives with her husband and 2 teenage kids because they're not on her mind earlier. She supported her husband while he established himself in the arts. When her 18 y.o. daughter dresses up as a prostitute for a themed party, her mother complains. Sara monitors her daughter's mobile.

Sara was a frequent visitor to the Stellan household. She played underclass roles in the girls' games. One of the daughters is now a high-ranking civil servant whose career might be at risk if her father's history is revealed.

Some of the story is Sara's PoV, some is Agneta's. We get some history of the Berlin Wall etc, channelled via Sara while she web-browses. We learn via Agneta that she's an agent, dormant for decades but always prepared.

Her work-partner is David. He reports her excessive violence when arresting. She threatens to tell his family about his homosexuality.

Another person is killed. Sara enlists the help of some German spies. "Geiger" was the code-name of the ring-leader. Stellan? "Ober" is the spy-ring leader, someone who was known to visit the house. Before Sara is able to identify Ober, Agneta kills him too.

A cold-war plan is revealed, where bombs - atom bombs too - were buried in Europe.

Sara smashes her husband's guitar because she thinks he's sleeping around. She roughs up 2 men who proposition her daughter.

She discovers that Stellan picked up 13 y.o. girls and filmed himself having sex with them, having drugged them first. He filmed them having sex with his guests, one of them a prime-minister. Jane stopped being their cleaner when Sara became old enough to be of interest to Stellan, who'd already had sex with Jane.

The rather haughty sisters belittle the evidence about their father being a spy and sex-fiend, accusing Sara of ulterior motives. She goes to their house and does a bit of arson. She's tried to do so before. My guess is that she'll turn out to be Stellan's daughter.

She's suspended, but that doesn't stop her. She returns to Stellan's house. The wife - a Russian spy - is there. So is one of Stellan's daughters. It's she who was Geigen. She ran the show - doing the film recordings etc. The German spies are there too, heavily involved. The mother is trying to kill people off not for ideological reasons but in the hope of saving the reputation of her daughters and grand-children. She tries to kill Sara.

The phrase "she thought to herself" appears at least a score of times - maybe a translator error rather than an author's mistake.