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Stefan Spjut
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Stallo Kindle Edition

by Stefan Spjut (Author), Susan Beard (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 154 ratings
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A terrifying supernatural thriller for fans of Let the Right One In, The Passage, and The Loney
'Very scary. Never mind Scandi crime fiction, the time has come for Scandi horror.' Metro *****
'Ratchets up the tension to an almost unbearable level ... Astonishing.' Independent on Sunday, Books of the Year
In the late 1970s, a young boy disappears from a summer cabin in the Swedish woods. His mother claims that he was abducted by a giant. The boy is never found.
Twenty-five years later, an old woman claims that a creature has been standing outside her house, observing her and her five year old grandson for hours.
When Susso - a blogger who's dedicated her life to the search for creatures whose existences have not been proved - hears of this, and sees a possible link between the two incidents, she takes to the road on a terrifying adventure into the unknown.

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  1. Print length
    573 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Faber & Faber
  5. Publication date
    May 24, 2016
  6. File size
    2311 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stefan Spjut (b. 1973) has worked as a literary critic and culture editor. His debut novel Fiskarens garn (Fisherman's Yarn) was published in 2008. He lives in Stockholm and has two children, a girl and a boy. He holds a black belt in taekwondo and considers himself a reprobate MMA-junkie.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00UQYHMIS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber; Main edition (May 24, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 24, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2311 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 573 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 154 ratings

About the author

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Stefan Spjut

Stefan Spjut

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
154 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Carol Palmer
4.0 out of 5 stars Stallo and Shapeshifters are the same book
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2015
Verified Purchase
Do stallo (trolls) exist? A picture taken by her grandfather has led Susso to ask this question and set up a website asking for proof of their existence. The disappearance of a little boy and the picture of a strange little man near his grandmother’s house may lead her to answers, but also leads to danger for her and her family.

You’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but when I saw the cover of this book in a Bergen, Norway bookshop, I wanted to find out what it was about. When I finally was able to get an English language version from the U.K., I was not disappointed. The motivation of some of the characters was not that clear, but overall I enjoyed this book.
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Earthent
5.0 out of 5 stars Like a new book
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2015
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Arrived perfectly. Like a new book. Highest praise for them.
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R. M. Fisher
4.0 out of 5 stars "Do You Want to Have a Look...?"
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2015
There seems to be increased attention on Norwegian thrillers lately, what with the popularity of  Bron/Broen  (television crime drama) and  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  (book trilogy – soon to be tetralogy). Stefan Spjut's "Stallo" (also published as  The Shapeshifters ) has a more supernatural bent, drawing on the Swedish legends of trolls, giants and shapeshifters to craft his tale.

In 1978 a young boy called Magnus Brodin disappears from a cabin in a remote forested area. His frantic mother insists he was stolen by a giant; the police are more sceptical despite the large footprints left behind. Despite extensive coverage across the country, Magnus is never found.

Twenty-five years later, a young woman called Susso Myren inherits her father's obsession with the unknown, ever since he (an aerial photographer) captured images of an unidentifiable creature riding upon the back of a wild bear. He and his granddaughter are convinced it's a troll, and Susso's webpage is devoted to collecting and recording similar stories of people's experiences with the strange and unnatural. When an old woman contacts her to claim that a small creature has been lurking outside her house, Susso immediately heads to her address with a motion-sensor camera...

And unbeknownst to all of them, a mysterious man called Seved prepares himself for the upcoming perpetration of a terrible crime: the kidnapping of a child. But for what purpose?

All three plot-strands eventually intertwine as the novel goes on; the story starting as a mystery and ending as a thriller.

Translated into English by Susan Beard, "The Shapeshifters" is a brick of a book that probably could have used some more editing (and a more engaging beginning) but with chapters short enough to have you flying through the pages. If there's one odd creative decision it's that some of the chapters go from third-person to first-person narration by Susso's mother. The constant switching from one to the other is a little jarring, and I've no idea why it was considered necessary at all.

It's a little strange to read of creatures usually relegated to fairy tales within a supernatural-horror context, but Spjut's prose raises the suspense: he knows how to hold back on details so that the stallo become sinister through what we *don't* know about them. They're a surreal and fundamentally unknowable aspect of many characters' lives, and the way in which they assimilate themselves into everyday existence is one of the more chilling aspects of the novel.

He also sustains an uncomfortable, eerie atmosphere (I could *feel* the Norwegian cold at times), as well as a history of the shapeshifters that throws them into an even more unsettling light. The only comparison that comes to mind is Susanna Clarke's treatment of fairies in  Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell : even when the creatures are front-and-centre it only amplifies how little we know about them.

It's a slow boil to the book's climax – even a slog at times, but ultimately I found the payoff was worth the long haul. "The Shapeshifters" is atmospheric and unsettling, with a keen eye for detail and the delicate balance between siphoning out clues and withholding vital information. And of course, the subtext that lies at the heart of any horror story: that the true monsters are not found in the unfathomable supernatural realms, but in the greed and selfishness of humanity.
2 people found this helpful
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Marieke Pronk
5.0 out of 5 stars This is such an excellent read. The chapters are short and punchy
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2015
This is such an excellent read. The chapters are short and punchy. The story is gripping. The characters are well developed and interesting. Stefan Spjut does such a good job of setting the eerie mood and I loved the cultural references and history. Rarely am I so satisfied with a book.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Froschkönigin
4.0 out of 5 stars Originell
Reviewed in Germany on January 7, 2019
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Als „Scandi Horror“ wird Spjuts Roman angepriesen. Schließlich ist „Scandi" in, oder war es zumindest vor ein paar Jahren. Nun muss ich sagen, dass ich mich bei manchem von dem, was ausgerechnet die sonst so kinderfreundliche Astrid Lindgren geschrieben hat, schon unbehaglicher gefühlt habe, als beim Lesen von „Stallo“. Das ist keineswegs abwertend gemeint. Aber Trolle („Stallo“ ist das samische Wort für „Troll“) bevölkern ein paar von Lindgrens weniger bekannten Kurzgeschichten, und diese Trolle sind alles andere als harmlos.
Ich bin nicht ganz sicher, wie ich Stefan Spjuts Roman einordnen soll. Zunächst einmal: die englische Übersetzung ist unter zwei Titeln zu haben, neben dem originelleren „Stallo“ auch unter dem Titel „Shapeshifters“. Und ja, wenn ich das Buch unter diesem zweiten Titel entdeckt hätte, dann hätte ich es mir wahrscheinlich gar nicht zugelegt.
Spjut fantasiert sich hier eine sehr eigenwillige Mischung zusammmen, die starke Anleihen an der nordischen (schwedischen) Mythologie nimmt, und insbesonderere an den Bildern des schwedischen Malers John Bauer, der auch eine wichtige Rolle im Roman einnimmt. Es empfieht sich, diese Bilder einmal zu googeln, man erhält dadurch einen ziemlich guten Eindruck von der düster-märchenhaften Atmosphäre, die Stefan Spjut versucht herauf zu beschwören. Im ersten Kapitel gelingt ihm das meisterhaft. Wäre „Stallo“ so weitergegangen, wäre der Roman genial.
Leider bleibt es nicht ganz so.
Es geht in „Stallo“ um Trolle und Riesen, die kleine Kinder stehlen. Nochmals zurück zu Astrid Lindgren, wer ihre Geschichten gelesen hat, weiß, dass sie das tun. Allerdings nicht warum, und auch Spjut bleibt hier die Antwort schuldig. Außerdem leben diese Trolle nicht im Wald, sondern bevorzugt in der Nähe menschlicher Siedlungen, oder sogar auf deren Anwesen, und machen sie zu unfreiwilligen Helfern und Mittätern ihrer unschönen Tradition. Außerdem wandeln sie gerne ihre Gestalt, die großen (also die Riesen) bevorzugt in Bären, die kleinen (die gewöhnlichen Trolle, könnte man sagen) in allerhand Getier vom Fuchs bis zum Eichhörnchen, die dümmeren schaffen es nur bis zum Hasen. Beginnt das hier jetzt leicht amüsiert zu klingen? Das ist beabsichtigt. Die kleinen Trolle benehmen sich nämlich in Tierform äußerst possierlich, wenn auch ihre Absichten weniger niedlich sind. Zwar möchte man sowas nicht im Haus haben, aber von „Horror“ ist Spjuts Roman die meiste Zeit über weit entfernt.
Es ist außerdem ein ziemlicher Wälzer, was weniger einem komplexen Inhalt zu verdanken ist, als Spjuts akribischer Schreibweise, die ihn jede Szene so beschreiben lässt, als sähe man sie im Film, einschließlich kleiner, für die Handlung nicht bedeutsamer Details (Blumentöpfe auf Fensterbänken, den Inhalten von Brotkörben). Ich fand das ganz charmant, es verleiht dem Szenario entwas sehr reelles, was wahrscheinlich auch der Sinn dieser naturalistischen Beschreibung sein soll. Das alles macht „Stallo“ zu einem Roman, dem man sein Thema fast als vielleicht sogar möglich abnehmen möchte.
Die vier Sterne gebe ich gerne, denn eins muss ich dem Roman lassen: er ist, auch wenn er nicht ganz einlöst, was er am Anfang verspricht, vielleicht mit das Originellste, was ich in langer Zeit gelesen habe.
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jaime
1.0 out of 5 stars NOPE.
Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2017
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This was not what I was expecting. I'm not into trolls, and I was expecting some other sort of 'monster'. Even with the troll idea, it didn't have the fear and dread that I like in a good book. I just didn't find myself caring about the characters at all.
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PaulC
4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual theme, too long
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2015
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A well constructed book that was a little too long in my view. A good editor would have cut the page count and raised the tension level considerably. Like others I had real challenges working out who was who, who was human and who wasn't, who had been given a new name, etc etc. The premise was really intriguing and I stayed through to the end- the last 100 or so pages were really rewarding, but perhaps because of the unusual nature of the writing it didn't quite gel for me in the way that other writers in the genre from Scandinavia have. A book worth reading but you will need constitution.
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing
Reviewed in Australia on December 26, 2015
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Found this may have lost something in translation. An interesting story line but perhaps a bit drawn out.
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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars Spjut has created a compelling and convincing thriller/fantasy with "Stallo" ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
Spjut has created a compelling and convincing thriller/fantasy with "Stallo". The first part of the book is powerfully written, dealing with the initial disappearance of the boy, Magnus. Although only short this part of the story has an edginess and pensive quality which sows the seeds of mystery and suspense that will carry you through the rest of this novel. It's tone is dark as the long winter nights and forests of the land in which it is set, there are some genuinely disturbing scenes - as another reviewer has already stated, it is the humans who are most terrifying.
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