Synopsis
An intricate psychological thriller from the master of Norwegian crimewriting— the latest in the Oslo Detective’s series
A recovering drug addict, Katrine Bratterud, is almost finished with her time in rehab. One evening, contemplating her success at the shore of a lake, she senses that she is not alone.
The discovery of Katrine’s corpse the following day brings detectives Frølich and Gunnarstranda onto the case and into a web of secrets and lies that stretches back generations.
K.O. Dahl weaves an intricate plot, juxtaposing the selfdelusion of drug addicts with the more complex self-delusions of the well-respected middle-class people treating them. Like Henning Mankell, Dahl manages to merge the suspense of the classical whodunit with the detailed precision of the police procedural novel.
Publishers Weekly
Intense police inspector Gunnarstranda and his easygoing aide, Frank Frølich, tackle the murder of recovering drug addict Katrine Bratterud in Dahl’s entertaining third crime thriller featuring the Oslo cops to be made available in English (after The Man in the Window). Bratterud’s nude, raped body turns up the morning after a party given by Annabeth Ås of the Vinterhagen Rehabilitation Centre and her husband, Bjørn Gerhardsen. It seems Bratterud came to the party with one boyfriend, left the party to meet another boyfriend, then went off on her own. Everyone has secrets to hide, and the two detectives have to contend with planted evidence, false confessions, red herrings, and, perhaps, a spurious connection to an unsolved murder decades earlier. Despite modern forensics, Gunnarstranda and Frølich rely on old-fashioned interview techniques, dogged comparisons of stories and time lines, to unravel the lies in a whodunit full of psychological insights. (Mar.)