Jorn Lier Horst – Grab This Book

Smoke Screen – Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Oslo, New Year’s Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert.

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Smeplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier … and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia’s disappearance is not all that it seems…

My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Smoke Screen Tour. I am reading a purchased copy.

Book two in the Blix and Ramm series. Last year the duo were introduced in the brilliant Death Deserved which I really enjoyed. Smoke Screen had been on my watch list for a good while as there is nothing better than reuniting with characters you enjoy. No need to have read Death Deserved before starting on Smoke Screen (but it’s a great read and background is always good to know).

The two books felt different to read. My memory of Death Deserved was of a fast paced and constant peril read where Smoke Screen (despite an explosive opening) was more measured and methodical. This may sound like a negative comment but it really is not – I enjoyed both books immensely and a slower pace for Emma Ramm in Smoke Screen is very appropriate as she is shouldering a tragic burden in this story.

I mentioned the Explosive Start. On New Years Eve in Oslo a crowd had assembled in a city park to cheer in the New Year and watch the fireworks. A bomb has been placed in a waste bin within the park which detonated and killed several bystanders. The police and emergency services are put on full alert but Blix and Ramm were already near the scene.

One survivor of the blast was a former person of interest to the police, the mother of a kidnapped toddler. Around ten years earlier Patricia Smeplass had been abducted and was never found. Patricia’s mother was investigated as a potential suspect. She did not have full custody of her daughter at the time as her mental health and substance dependencies had been problematic. No evidence was found to suspect Patricia’s mother has been involved in her daughters kidnapping. However Blix is not convinced her presence at the scene of the explosion is coincidence and wants to dig further. The problem is the woman is critically ill in hospital and appears unlikely to recover consciousness.

A comprehensive investigation begins and readers are treated to a slick police procedural with a dogged journalist pursuing her own leads.

A second bomb explodes in another park but Blix is still determined to dig deeper into the kidnapping some ten years ago. He remains convinced the explanation behind the current incidents lies within the kidnapping story.

Smoke Screen spins the reader a tale rooted within tragedies. Secrets and lies left to fester will resurface with devastating consequences. There are threads of hope interwoven through the story too and the characters of both Blix and Ramm are given a chance to develop in this second outing.

The Horst/Enger partnership is looking mighty strong at this stage and the cherry on the cake is the post-novel “chat” between the pair which rounds off the reading. Joyous.

Smoke Screen is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08DTHMGJS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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February 22

Death Deserved – Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm join forces to track down a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high-profile murders, in the first episode of a gripping new Nordic Noir series…

Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always Number One. When celebrity blogger Emma Ramm visits Nordstrøm’s home later that day, she finds the door unlocked and signs of a struggle inside. A bib with the number ‘one’ has been pinned to the TV.

Police officer Alexander Blix is appointed to head up the missing-persons investigation, but he still bears the emotional scars of a hostage situation nineteen years earlier, when he killed the father of a five-year-old girl. Traces of Nordstrøm soon show up at different locations, but the appearance of the clues appear to be carefully calculated … evidence of a bigger picture that he’s just not seeing…

Blix and Ramm soon join forces, determined to find and stop a merciless killer with a flare for the dramatic, and thirst for attention.
Trouble is, he’s just got his first taste of it…

My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for a review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to join the Death Deserved blog tour.

To borrow a line from Taffy in the Captain Caveman cartoons….Zowie! Death Deserved is more than a little bit good.

As soon I started reading Death Deserved it was the only book I wanted to be reading this week. I normally juggle three or four titles at once but Death Deserved was the book I kept coming back to – nothing else got a look-in. I make no secret of the fact I enjoy serial killer stories and that’s very much what I got from Death Deserved, even if that may not have been clear from the start.

Sonja Nordstrøm was due to publish a book. As she reached her 50th year she wanted to lift the lid on a few secrets and scandals which she experienced or encountered during her highly successful athletics career. But on publication day she failed to show for an interview, most untypical behaviour for Sonja. She is nowhere to be found and when celeb journalist Emma Ramm arrives at her home to try to speak with Sonja she finds evidence of a struggle. The police are called and this brings Emma into contact with Alexander Blix.

Unbeknownst to Emma, Blix has previously encountered her family and that encounter changed the path of Emma’s life. Although she is unaware, Blix recognises her name instantly and decides he will offer her stories and tips from inside the resulting investigation. The leads Blix feed Emma gives her the opportunity to work outside celebrity stories and interact with the crime reporters. Sonja Nordstrøm’s kidnapping is very much the starting point of a fast paced and high intensity investigation which will see several celebrities meet a nasty end. It puts the police on a manhunt and we follow the investigation as they try to figure out the motive (and next victim) of a killer. Emma contributes to this too as her background seems to give her a different focus on how to view the unfolding events and the insights she can offer become a benefit to Blix.

I really don’t want to reveal too much of the actual plot but at the same time I want to rave about how good this story was and how much I enjoyed it. The best dilemma to be honest. When I want to reveal and discuss everything I loved about the book it means the book got under my skin and into my head. I want to put copies of Death Deserved into the hands of my friends and implore them to read it and then hope that they enjoy it just as much as I did (which I am sure they will). It’s a who-dunnit, a fast paced police procedural, it has great characters and the lead players are given time to grow and develop between the many twists and shocks the authors have sneaked into the chapters. So much fun to read and wonderfully executed (no murderous puns intended).

The story has been translated from Norwegian by Anne Bruce and she has done a magnificent job, the prose flows seamlessly the whole book was very readable. Some translated texts I encounter feel laboured, jarring or the dialogue stilted but none of these issues could be raised about Death Deserved. Indeed, it was not until I read the author acknowledgements at the end of the book that I remembered that I was reading a translated novel. Oh and the acknowledgments are fabulous – do not skip them!

Death Deserved was devoured in very short time. I loved the Blix/Ramm dynamic and I sincerely hope the authors feel it is worth revisiting. Soon would be good guys! Sooner if possible?

Death Deserved is published by Orenda Books and is available in Digital, Paperback and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XBW6SFN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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March 16

Ordeal – Jorn Lier Horst

Frank Mandt died after a fall down his basement steps, the same basement that holds a locked safe bolted to the floor. His granddaughter, Sofie Lund, inherits the house but wants nothing to do with his money. She believes the old man let her mother die in jail and is bitterly resentful.

Line Wisting’s journalist instinct leads her into friendship with Sofie, and is with her when the safe is opened. What they discover unlocks another case and leads Chief Inspector William Wisting on a trail of murder and narcotics to an ordeal that will eventually separate the innocent from the damned.

Thanks to Keara at Sandstone Press for my review copy

My introduction to the books of Jorn Lier Horst and his protagonist, Chief Inspector William Wisting, was made so much easier by the GENIUS inclusion of a 2 page summary of the character and the key players in his life. Can we start a campaign to have this approach adopted in all books where we have recurring characters? So handy for new readers and likely to be something of a Godsend for forgetful readers (and I include myself in this category).

On reading Jorn Lier Horst’s author biography I learned that he was a former policeman who rose to a head of Investigations role – this explains why Ordeal is one of the best police procedurals I have ever read. Horst has spun an absorbing story around a very methodical and thorough police investigation. William Wisting is one of the most believable characters I have encountered and Horst pulls us through the story with what appears to be effortless ease. Page after page was turned long into the night as I found I just wanted to keep reading.

Wistling has been investigating the disappearance of Jens Hummel but progress has been slow and after 6 months there have been no sightings of the missing man and no tangible clues as to where he may have gone. Pressure is being applied by the police hierarchy who are unhappy with the lack of progress. Yet at the start of Ordeal a random comment overheard in a bar may just provide Wisting with his first real lead.

Meanwhile Wisting’s daughter (Line Wisting) is into the last few weeks of her pregnancy and has moved back into her hometown, leaving her promising journalistic career behind, and is preparing for the arrival of her baby. She has moved into a new home, the former resident having passed away, and is redecorating and renovating – with a little help from her father. Line encounters an old school friend who has also moved home – a single mum who has also moved into a home where the former occupant passed away. However, Line’s friend (Sophie) has moved into her grandfather’s house, her inheritance following the old man’s death.

Sophie knows her grandfather died after falling down the stairs into the cellar – she is not comfortable spending any time in this part of the house. However, in the cellar is a large safe which has been securely bolted to the floor. The safe forms part of Sophie’s inheritance but nobody can find the key. As the safe was too large to remove it has remained in the house (untouched) for Sophie to deal with…should she choose to do so. With some encouragement from Line, Sophie decides to have a locksmith open the safe – the contents come as something of a shock to the two women and will soon have Wisting becoming involved as there is ‘overlap’ with his missing person investigation.

I am reluctant to share too much more detail about Ordeal as it really is a book that I would encourage you to read for yourself. Beautifully told, engaging and a damn fine crime story which does not need to resort to extreme over-the-top action sequences to keep the reader’s attention.

Before I had even finished Ordeal I had already nipped online to find out if there were any other books available in the series – there were (and purchases took place). Anticipation is already running high for my next journey into the world of Chief Inspector Wisting.

Ordeal was translated into English by Anne Bruce – she has done a phenomenal job, this story just flows with beautiful imagery and is one of the most readable novels I have read for some time. Horst’s ability to paint a world into my imagination made reading Ordeal an absolute joy.

Ordeal is published on 17 March by Standstone Press and can be ordered here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordeal-William-Wisting-Book/dp/1910124745/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458084389&sr=8-1&keywords=ordeal+jorn+lier+horst

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