by Samuel Bjørk
SYNOPSIS
It was one of Sweden's most notorious unsolved cases: two young boys abducted and murdered, their bodies brutally, artistically arranged.
But eight years later, when two other boys are found in similar circumstances, it looks like the killer might be back - this time in neighbouring Norway.
Led by veteran detective Holger Munch, the investigating police are baffled. There are no clues, no leads to follow. In desperation, Munch drafts in a trainee from the Police Academy, Mia Kruger, a young woman with an uncanny ability to see beyond the facts. Little does he know that Mia is battling her own demons and will soon find that her life and that of the case are entwined in ways no one could have imagined....
From the internationally bestselling author of I'm Travelling Alone, comes another mesmerically chilling psychological tale of cat and mouse where the hunter may not know that they have become the hunted before it's too late...
REVIEW
If you were a fan of the Munch & Kruger series from Samuel Bjørk then you are in for a treat! The Wolf sees both main characters return but in a prequel to the other books in the series and follows Munch as he discovers Mia’s brilliance for the first time.
Holger Munch is heading up a new homicide unit outside of Oslo and is called in to investigate the brutal murder of two young boys. The situation gets even more complicated when they discover a significant resemblance to another set of murders eight years earlier in neighbouring Sweden.
With no leads from the previous investigation and time ticking to make progress with the new case, Munch decides to take a chance and invite police cadet Mia to look at the crime scene photos. It doesn't take long before he realises that he desperately needs Mia's help if he has any chance of catching the killer.
Nordic Noir doesn’t get any better than this. Disturbing, detailed and engrossing... it wasn't just the wintery Norwegian temperatures that gave me chills while reading this book. The story was incredibly unsettling and when the characters (especially members of the police force) in the book are struggling to deal with the brutality of the murders, you know it's going to go to some dark places.
You really can't fault Munch & Kruger's relationship so to have the chance to go back and see how it all began was just amazing. The writing and translation were flawless - books like this are exactly why I keep coming back to Nordic Noir again and again. The Wolf has sneaked in right at the end of the year and secured a place in my Top 10 of 2023.
Thanks to Random Things Tours - @RandomTTours, Samuel Bjørk and Transworld Books - @TransworldBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Bantam Press / Transworld Books Genre: Nordic Noir / Police Procedural / Thriller
ISBN: 978-1787636996
Pages: 432pp
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