Son (Kari Voss Mysteries)

by Johana Gustawsson & Thomas Enger

---

SYNOPSIS

Everyone here is lying…

Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.

Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.

When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…

With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son's disappearance, but Kari's own life, too…

---

REVIEW

This is slightly unfair to all of the other brilliant 2025 releases, but the second I saw the announcement that Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger had teamed up to write a crime novel, I knew that it would be one of my top books of the year. Johana Gustawsson wrote The Bleeding which was my favourite book of 2023 (I still can't stop thinking about that ending!), and Thomas Enger is a firm favourite as I've followed the Blix & Ramm series for many years now. The Police Procedural is a staple of so many Nordic Noir crime novels, and I've always loved these types of stories. However, in Son we follow psychologist Kari Voss who is a consultant for the police and specialises in body language and memory. This was such an interesting angle to use because it showed the huge contrast in styles and techniques - the Police focus on hard evidence, facts, DNA and physical results whereas Kari was using her intuition and training to get answers based on emotion and unintentional tells from body language, facial expressions and reactions. It really was fascinating and made me think about the way police investigations (especially regarding confessions) are conducted. The characters in this novel are some of the most vividly portrayed characters I've ever read. I was there with them on every page and I could picture the location and surroundings in such detail - from a countertop in a kitchen, to the trees surrounding the summer cabin and the sharp blade of a knife. It's hard to know with two authors where the different elements have come from, but I know from previous books that both authors are particularly good at putting emotion into the back-stories and creating harrowing storylines. The double murder at the beginning of the book is violent and shocking but it's the fallout of the murders and the impact it had on the two families that really resonated with me. In addition, we also find out about Kari's own trauma - she is still trying to recover from the loss of her husband and the disappearance of her young son several years earlier. The fact that the murders are linked to her son's friendship group takes a huge toll on her mentally and you can feel the weight of the grief gradually bringing her down throughout the case. There is honestly nothing I would change about this book. It's crime writing perfection - gripping, dark, atmospheric, clever, twisty and that title is just everything! Nordic Noir doesn't get any better than this so if anyone involved wants to send me Book 2 now, I'm ready to go!

---

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – a number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband and their three sons. Follow Johana on Twitter @JoGustawsson

Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned (Skinndød) in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication. Burned is the first in a series of five books about the journalist Henning Juul, which delves into the depths of Oslo’s underbelly, skewering the corridors of dirty politics and nailing the fast-moving world of 24-hour news. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017. Rights have been sold to Germany and Iceland. Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo. Follow him on Twitter @EngerThomas, on Facebook www.facebook.com/thomas.enger.77 or visit his website thomasenger.net

---

Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Thomas Enger - @EngerThomas, Johana Gustawsson @JoGustawsson and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review.

Fiction: Police Procedural / Nordic Noir

Publisher: Orenda Books

ISBN: 978-1916788527

Pages: 300pp