Friday 28 April 2017

Louise's Review: Faithless by Kjell Ola Dahl

Reviewed by Louise Wykes

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 Frolich is shocked to discover that he knows her--and their recent meetings may hold the clue to her murder. 

As he begins to look deeper into the tragic events surrounding her death, Frolich's colleague Gunnarstranda finds another body, and things take a more sinister turn. 

With a cold case involving the murder of a young girl in northern Norway casting a shadow, and an unsettling number of coincidences clouding the plot, Frolich is forced to look into his own past to find the answers--and the killer--before he strikes again.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

After devouring Ragnar Jonasson’s books all about Iceland, I was intrigued to fictionally visit another country I have very little knowledge of in Faithless which is Norway.  Although I think this is book 7 in a series, it is possible to be read as a standalone although I confess I am going to have to go back and try and find the rest in English translation as I think I may have discovered another fictional gem.

Faithless is a story about two detectives Frolich and Gunnarstranda who are investigating two different cases which end up being closely linked and further complicated by the fact that Frolich had previously arrested one of the murder victims only a couple of days before she was killed.  I felt that the relationship between Frolich and Gunnarstranda was deliciously complicated and I certainly want to read the previous novels to discover more about these two complicated and flawed characters.

I enjoyed the fact that this was a crime procedural novel so had a relatively slower pace than break neck thrillers which can sometimes leave the reader feeling exhausted.  That is not to say that the story is slow going and there are plenty of twists and surprises to keep you guessing right up to the last page, I just thought that the switching of point of view held me in suspense and was much more gripping as a result.

Although I didn’t feel as strong a sense of place as in Jonasson’s books, this book has certainly piqued my interest in Norwegian crime.

I would highly recommend this book to readers who appreciate more thoughtful and slow burning stories that still have the ability to surprise you.  Another winner for me from the wonderful Orenda books.

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