Publication Date:Available Now from Orenda
Source: Review Copy
Oslo detectives Gunnarstranda and Frølich are back and this time, it’s personal… When the body of a woman turns up in a dumpster, scalded and wrapped in plastic, Inspector Frank Frølich is shocked to discover that he knows her and their recent meetings may hold the clue to her murder. As he ponders the tragic events surrounding her death, Frølich’s colleague Gunnarstranda investigates a disturbingly similar cold case involving the murder of a young girl in northern Norway and Frølich is forced to look into his own past to find the answers – and the killer – before he strikes again.
Faithless is the first of this series I have read, which was not a problem, the characters round out nicely you don’t feel you have missed anything.
Faithless is more of a slow burner of Nordic Noir, the author bringing many layers to a beautifully atmospheric mystery – Giving one of his main protagonists, Frank, a bit of a headache and drawing the reader into his life and past in a highly intriguing fashion. Brilliantly translated by Don Bartlett, there is a wonderful flow to Faithless that sits well in the Nordic Noir genre, something I read a fair bit because it offers a genuinely different feel to things – Faithless is an excellent example and I’d even say would be a good book to give you a killer start if you’ve not read within these books before.
I was especially impressed and fascinated with the group dynamic Kjell Ola Dahl brings to this novel – with a cold case and a hot case raging on, the various strands and various characters are perfectly placed, it was easy to pick up on some of the history and understand the relationships. The mystery itself has enough twists and turns to keep your brain busy, it was a really really engaging read.
Oh, also, Killer ending. KILLER. Something I’ve been seeing a few times this year in my reading and am loving the sudden crop of authors writing clever and unpredictable finale’s – here is another one. Kudos.
Overall a tense, intelligent and character driven crime mystery that I have no trouble at all recommending. I’m looking forward to reading more in this series as they are translated.
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