Jorn Lier Horst – Three Times the Fun!

 

I discovered Jorn Lier Horst while reading the Petrona Prize shortlist. Boy, was I blown away by The Caveman! I quickly started reading his other novels, balancing my eagerness with keeping a couple to read later in the year. The novels are published out of order in English translation so you always get little background summaries at the start which manage to avoid any spoilers. My brief comments on each of the novels below probably don’t do the novels justice but I am pushed for time and all three are filled with lovely plot details that you will want to discover yourself 🙂

The Caveman

Only three houses away from the policeman’s home, a man has been sitting dead in front of his television set for four months. There are no indications that anything criminal has taken place. Viggo Hansen was a man nobody ever noticed, even though he lived in the midst of a close-knit community. His death doesn’t hit the headlines, but there is something about the case that catches the attention of William Wisting’s journalist daughter, Line, and she decides to write a newspaper article with a different twist for the festive season: the portrait of a completely anonymous and obscure person whose death goes unremarked and unmourned.

This is a genuine page turner that has the perfect blend of small town Scandi noir with big FBI investigations. Line’s independent investigation works really well alongside the police investigation. This is one of my favourite novels of the year so far. If you like crime you won’t be disappointed. A worthy winner of the Petrona Award.

Ordeal

The Hummel case has bothered William Wisting for more than six months. The investigation into what happened when taxi-driver Jens Hummel disappeared has been fruitless, and he has to endure criticism. A crucial discovery directs suspicion at Dan Roger ‘Danny’ Brodin. The problem is, however, that Danny is already in prison, convicted of another murder. Wisting is accustomed to building up a solid case for the prosecution, but this time things are different. Now he has to use all his expertise and experience to unpick a case that other people already believe to be over and done with.

This is Lier Horst’s most recent novel to be published in English. It felt a lot slower that The Caveman, perhaps a bit more introspective like a Karin Fossum novel or Beck. I enjoyed it and expect it to make the Petrona shortlist next year. However, for me I felt it lacked a bit of punch as Wisting seemed a bit more aged in this novel and was investigating a case retrospectively.

Dregs

A police report of a shoe containing a severed foot washed up on the sand introduces CI William Wisting. Soon a second is washed up, but it is another left. Has there been some kind of terrible accident at sea? Does it indicate the killing and dismembering of two victims? Is there a link with the unsolved mystery of a number of disappearances in the Larvik area in recent months? In this gripping police procedural, Wisting gradually gets to the bottom of the mystery with the help of his all too human colleagues and his journalist daughter, Line.

Another great page turner, a bit closer to The Caveman in pace than Ordeal. Line was investigating an interesting story and the novel had the right amount of reflections on human nature that you would expect in a Scandi crime novel. The end was a little more more dramatic than I expected but definitely not over the top.

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Overall – Is Jorn Lier Horst Scandi crime’s best kept secret? I think so!

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