by Kjell Ola Dahl - Translated by Don Bartlett
SYNOPSIS
The award-winning Godfather of Nordic Noir returns with a fascinating and richly authentic portrait of Oslo’s interwar years, featuring Nazis operating secretly on Norwegian soil and militant socialists readying workers for war…
Oslo, 1938. War is in the air and Europe is in turmoil. Hitler ’s Germany has occupied Austria and is threatening Czechoslovakia; civil war rages in Spain and Mussolini reigns in Italy.
When a woman turns up at the office of police-turned-private investigator Ludvig Paaske, he and his assistant – his one-time nemesis and former drug-smuggler, Jack Rivers – begin a seemingly straightforward investigation into marital infidelity.
But all is not what it seems. Soon, Jack is accused of murder, sending them on a trail which leads back to the 1920s, to prohibition-era Norway, to the smugglers, sex workers and hoodlums of his criminal past… and an extraordinary secret.
REVIEW
Ludvig Paaske and his assistant Jack Rivers work as private investigators. With Paaske, a former police detective, and Jack being someone who Paaske once arrested, they make for an unlikely pairing - giving the story an unexpected twist from the start.
When a woman turns up at the agency, asking Paaske to investigate her husband's infidelity, it looks like a straightforward case. However, after a brief glimpse of the woman, Jack realises that his past and present are about to collide with explosive consequences. The pair start to look into the case and get drawn into a complex web of lies, conflict and eventually, murder. Switching between events of the 1920s and 1930s, the story begins to reveal the reasons behind the sudden reappearance of Amalie, and the true intentions behind her getting back in touch with Jack.
Having previously read Faithless (part of the Oslo Detectives Series), I knew that I would be a fan of The Assistant before I had even started reading - although this book is a very different kind of thriller. The Assistant is the quintessential detective noir novel. I felt like I had just stepped back in time, and it was absolutely compulsive reading. Being set in Europe in 1938, at a time where there was already so much distrust and suspicion, it made it the perfect setting for a murder mystery.
I did find myself getting really frustrated with the ending, but not in a bad way. I never want a thriller to be predictable or to play out exactly as I was expecting - trying to guess the outcome is part of the fun for me. However, my initial frustration soon gave way and I felt that the final scenes were actually really well plotted, and perfect for this story.
I also have to quickly mention the translation, which I thought was flawless. I didn't once feel like there was anything missing from the story and it flowed so easily, making it a joy to read!
The Assistant is a really interesting choice because it crosses several genres. It is perfect for fans of Nordic Noir, classic private eye novels and also anyone interested in the prohibition era in Europe. The police procedural aspects of the story were incredibly detailed and the tension built up gradually with perfect timing throughout the story as the different aspects of the plot came together. Definitely a book to add to your reading lists!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published eighteen novels, the most prominent of which form a series of police procedurals / psychological thrillers featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich. In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix, and he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier in 2015 (published in English by Orenda books in 2019). His work has been published in fourteen countries. He lives in Oslo. Follow him on Twitter @ko_dahl
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Orenda Books @OrendaBooks and Kjell Ola Dahl @ko_dahl for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Nordic Noir / Political Thriller / Suspense / Mystery
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1913193652
Pages: 276 pp
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