by Kjell Ola Dahl (Translated by: Don Bartlett)
SYNOPSIS
Summer, 1943. Daniel Berkåk, who works as a courier for the Press and Military Office in Sweden, is killed on his last cross-border mission to Norway.
Demobbed sailor Kai Fredly escapes from occupied Norway into Sweden, but finds that the murder of his Nazi-sympathiser brother is drawing the attention of the authorities on both sides of the border.
The Norwegian government, currently exiled in London, wants to know what happened to their courier, and the job goes to writer Jomar Kraby, whose first suspect is a Norwegian refugee living in Sweden … a refugee with a past as horrifying as the events still to come … a refugee named Kai Fredly…
Both classic crime and a stunning exposé of Norwegian agents in Stockholm during the Second World War, The Lazarus Solution is a compulsive, complex and dazzling historical thriller from one of the genre’s finest writers.
REVIEW
The Lazarus Solution is set in Norway and Sweden in 1943 where the neighbouring countries are in completely different positions regarding the war. Daniel Berkåk, who works as a courier for the Press and Military Office in Stockholm, is killed on his latest mission carrying secret documents over to Norway. By the time he is found, the coded documents and newspapers he was transporting are missing. At the same time, Kai Fredly crosses the border seeking asylum in Sweden. Kai’s father worked for the Norwegian Communist Party, whereas his brother fought on behalf of the Nazis and was recently killed. His brother's murder has made Kai a person of interest but his unusual family situation and their different political leanings puts him in a unique position as nobody is sure whether to trust him or where his loyalties really lie. In an attempt to find out what happened, the Norwegian government set writer Jomar Kraby the task of finding out who killed Berkåk, and his first suspect turns out to be none other than Kai Fredly.
The combined forces of Kjell Ola Dahl's original story with Don Bartlett's translation creates an absolute powerhouse of a wartime thriller. The writing is just exquisite and conjured up such a fantastic atmosphere of sinister intrigue, suspense and foreboding which totally reflects how I imagined this dark time in European history.
I have read most of the previous books by the author so it was no surprise to me that the level of detail was incredible. When you add in the bleak and oppressive setting with a feeling of unease constantly bubbling under the surface it turned The Lazarus Solution into a completely immersive reading experience.
Having said that, this standalone is very complex. There is a lot to take in, lots of characters and the viewpoints and circumstances of several countries/political parties to take into consideration while reading. If you are new to translated fiction or reading stories set during this period you might want to start with one of the author's Oslo Detectives books first. Personally, having studied history and in particular World War I and II, this book couldn't have been any better. I loved the setting, I loved the storyline and I loved the characters. It was so refreshing after reading so many crime novels recently, to get a different take with this ice-cold espionage thriller. There was so much to enjoy but best thing for me was just how much the story kept me guessing. I honestly didn't know who to trust, who was lying, who had done what and this built and built to a thoroughly explosive finale.
Perfect for fans of Fatherland by Robert Harris, Babylon Berlin and The Lives of Others.
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 fourteen novels, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals cum 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. His work has been published in 14 countries, and he lives in Oslo.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Kjell Ola Dahl - @ko_dahl and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review
Fiction: Political Thriller / Thriller / Historical Thriller
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1914585685
Pages: 276pp
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