Wonderfully unexpected and engaging Norwegian crime story. Twenty-five years ago, Katharina Haugen vanished leaving behind several baffling items including what appeared to be cryptic code. Chief Inspector William Wisting has spent those twenty-five years frequently reviewing the case files and meeting her husband, Martin Haugen. When a newly established national Cold Case review team find evidence implicating Martin Haugen in an earlier, notorious, crime a covert investigation is established. The connection that has developed between CI Wisting and Martin Haugen is the key element to the investigation. The cold case investigation unfolds superbly, the mechanics of the investigation and the reveals are brilliantly set up. The conclusion is very sharp and fitting to the tone of the story.
The plot mechanics are a thing of beauty, a cold case nestled with another cold case, the increasing turns of the screw of pressure on Martin Haugen orchestrated by the ambitious Cold Case officer Adrian Stiller. The careful twisting of the threads of the two cases together is superbly paced and organized.
The investigation is different as the process is not aimed at discovering a suspect but making him reveal himself in a definitive way long after the event. The lapse in time makes it imperative that the suspect provides the required evidence, the strategy is to pressure him into a panic and making a mistake. It balances the details of the strategy with the tension of Wisting’s up close and personal dealing with Martin Haugen in a most engaging and enjoyable way.
The three chief cast members, CI Wisting, his daughter Line a journalist and Adrian Stiller are all vivid and draw the reader into their lives and actions. CI Wisting is a formal policeman, following procedures, using his experience, and finding joy with his granddaughter. Line is thinking about returning to work and an opportunity offered by Adrian Stiller is what she wants. Adrian Stiller is ambitious and more than willing to step outside police rules to further his aims. The interactions between these three are credible and the friction increases the tension in the story,. Using the three, Jorn Lier Horst can move about the narrative in interesting ways giving the reader multiple points of view and different sources of information. Martin Haugen never quite lands as a character, he is a little underdeveloped, this does not detract from the force of the story.
The translation by Anne Bruce is transparent, the freezing atmosphere blows clearly off the pages. First rate Nordic crime fiction.
