I am delighted to kick off the BLOG TOUR for Gunnar Staalesen's We Shall Inherit the Wind, which is being published in paperback edition on 15 June 2015 by Orenda Books.
We Shall Inherit the Wind
By Gunnar Staalesen
Published by Orenda Books (15 June 2015)
ISBN: 978-1-910633-07-6
Publisher's description
1998. Varg Veum sits by the hospital bedside of his long-term girlfriend Karin, whose life-threatening injuries provide a deeply painful reminder of the mistakes he's made. Investigating the seemingly innocent disappearance of a wind-farm inspector, Varg Veum is thrust into one of the most challenging cases of his career, riddled with conflicts, environmental terrorism, religious fanaticism, unsolved mysteries and dubious business ethics. Then, in the one of the most heart-stopping scenes in crime fiction, the first body appears...
My verdict
We Shall Inherit the Wind is a detective story with an environmental focus. It's a mixture of a timeless whodunnit and the topical issues of wind farms and eco-warriers.
Mons Mæland has been reported missing by his second wife. He owns a plot of land on an isolated island on which a wind farm is planned, and there are several people who may have wanted him out of the way. When Mons Mæland's body is discovered, it appears that he was the victim of a brutal murderer, and Varg Veum is drawn into a difficult and emotional case. A parallel plot involves the disappearance of Mons Mæland's first wife several years earlier - she's believed to have drowned, but no body has ever been found.
We Shall Inherit the Wind is thought-provoking and gripping, and hooked me from the first chapter. The book has been translated so well that it's easy to forget that it wasn't originally written in English. Thanks to Gunnar Staalesen's vivid descriptions, I could picture the people and places in my mind as I read.
Norwegian private investigator Varg Veum dwells on past mistakes as he tries to solve the case. As the plot unfolds, many layers are gradually peeled back, revealing family secrets against a backdrop of wind farm politics. Twists arrive like a bolt from the blue, throwing the reader (and Varg Veum) off course. The plot is chilling, addictive and tragic, with suspense that lasts from beginning to end.
Gunnar Staalesen is known as one of the fathers of Nordic Noir - and I can see why. Yet to date only a handful of his books have been translated into English. The good news is that more Gunnar Staalesen books will be published by Orenda Books in 2016 and 2017.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Follow the Blog Tour
No comments:
Post a Comment