As a reward for services rendered to the state, Navy diver and former Swedish Air Force pilot Anton Modin is given permission to spend one night in the top secret archive of the Swedish Security Service to do research. He discovers a dossier covering the 1986 murder of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. Just as he is beginning to get to the details of the dossier, Modin is kicked out of the archive. That same night, the head of the Swedish Security Service dies of a massive heart attack.
When he narrowly escapes an attempt on his own life soon afterwards, Modin realizes that he has seen material not meant for his eyes. To stay alive, he has to follow the leads that uncover covert arms sales during the 1980s, the murder of an investigative journalist, a secret CIA-controlled organization called Crack of Dawn, and all the shadowy aspects and unholy alliances of the Cold War.
On his hunt for the truth, Modin meets Julia Steerback, a former operative of the Swedish Signal Intelligence and its U.S. equivalent, the National Security Agency. Together they challenge powerful forces, including the head of the Swedish Special Ops. Soon, a turf war breaks out in the archipelago to the north of Stockholm and Anton Modin’s tightly knit team of specialists and divers has to pass the ultimate test.
“The scars had not healed, and for that reason he thought it was right and necessary. He wanted to have another shot at what went wrong in 1994, when he asked his family to stay in the cabin while he went to see what was happening up on deck. Once he had left, there had been no return. He would make good for it now, after 16 years of pain, nightmares, and anxiety. He was going to check out the hole the explosion had made in the bow of the ferry, so he’d finally know why the ship sank so fast—faster than he could have imagined.
This was going to be his first mission. The briefcase was second.
One hundred and sixty feet. His diving computer beeped. They would soon be able to make out the wreck. He shone his flashlight straight downward, then forward, and for a moment, he thought he could make out an orange lifeboat.” (Under Water, chapter 139)
Under Water, is the third and final book in Anders Jallai’s Anton Modin trilogy. Often compared to Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, many call Anders Jallai’s Under Water the best political thriller ever written in Sweden.