Anne Holt: What is Mine; What never happens/The Final Murder; Death in Oslo; Fear NotThese will haunt me for some time to come. She is a Norewegian crime writer (and lawyer), specialising in murder and mayhem in Norway. She is well known in Scandanavia and Europe (over 15 novels), you might have heard of her on NPR and PBS after the bombings in July 2011. If you like Henning Mankell or Maj Sjowall/Per Wahloo these are you next thrillers! Don’t forget Karin Fossum and Jo Nesbo (or Helene Tursten, Kerstin Ekman).
Johanne Vik (researcher, profiler) and Adam Stubo (homicide detective) are the two protagonists in one of her series, each with personal baggage, each with intricate stories. These need to be read in order because of the progression and character development. These are often nasty psychological stories, but compelling, not as dark or drastic as Dragon Tattoo, but also more plausible. I also found the ending of What Never Happens perhaps more horrific than most! Pyschological cat and mouse. Or perhaps these thrillers are more familiar to me, for this is like a reading British mystery that is set in a different culture. Val McDermid (a Scottish crime writer) once commented that ‘…Holt…reveals how truly dark it gets in Scandanavia…". Many of her books seem to have the perfect murder –there are no clues, but it is the attention to detail and persistence of these characters that makes all the difference. I found the mysteries to be complex, detailed (some might say slow moving) but intellectually challenging and interesting. She has done her homework, and has varied experiences which all contribute to the realism of the story and the accurate portrayal of everyday life in Norway. There is a lot of social commentary about the very real problems of socialism, racism, discrimination and violent crime, in Scandinavia and Europe.
Our Library has three; I came across the author on the Kindle special deal of the day. Excellent ratings, and definitely worth reading.
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