The Lazarus Solution by Kjell Ola Dahl

 

The Lazarus Solution by Kjell Ola Dahl.

Translated by Dan Bartlett.

Published 27th April 2023 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

When a courier for Sweden’s Press and Military Office is killed on his final mission, the Norwegian government-in-exile appoints a writer to find the missing documents … breathtaking WW2 thriller.

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.

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1943. Daniel Berkåk, courier for the Norwegian Press and Military Office in Sweden is killed on a dangerous cross-border mission in German-occupied Norway, and the important documents he was carrying have gone missing. Who murdered him, and for what reason, is a mystery.  

Coincidentally, on the same day, Kai Fredly a Norwegian sailor crosses the border seeking asylum in Sweden. His story does not quite add up, and the recent murder of his Nazi-sympathiser brother puts his loyalties under suspicion.

The Norwegian government, exiled in London, is keen to find out what happened to their courier, but they need to tread carefully. In an unexpected move, the job of finding out who killed Berkåk is given to writer Jomar Kraby, who has a sharp mind, but is struggling under Swedish censorship. They hope that his unconventional methods might be put to good use in getting to the truth without attracting too much attention. What Kraby discovers is a web of deceit on both sides of the border, and he is sure that Kai Fredly knows more about the mysterious murder than he is letting on...

What a treat it is to delve into a brand new Kjell Ola Dahl book, especially one of his delicious evocative wartime novels, which I adore.

There are so many lovely elements to this book that it is hard to know where to begin, but it is essentially a wartime murder mystery threaded beautifully into a gripping espionage thriller. Kraby is a once-lauded, alcoholic Norwegian writer, somewhat at a loss now he has been exiled from his homeland and with a lot of baggage, but his dysfunctional attributes to make him the perfect tool for a challenging mission. 

Around Kraby, Ola Dahl builds a network of characters with murky motivations, which makes for lashings of suspense on both sides of the Norwegian-Swedish border, and he plays cleverly with the contrast between a country openly at war on one side and one in which the battle lines are hidden under false diplomacy on the other. The tension is palpable throughout, with icy fingers trailing up and down your spine, as it is impossible to really tell who is friend or foe, and as their real intentions are exposed the pace of the story reaches a delectable fever pitch - with the most impressive twist and twist again finale that reveals the hidden meaning behind the title of the book.

The themes are layered in this novel with accomplished flair, as I have come to expect from Ola Dahl. Family dramas, shared histories, divided loyalties, and deep-seated hatred form the bare bones, which Ola Dahl floods with storylines around political ideology and distorted notions of patriotism, ambition and revenge, that are brimming over with passion. Many of the characters examine what they have learned about the true nature of war, expressing bittersweet reflections of sadness and regret which give the story fathomless poignancy too.

I have yet to read a book that brings alive the brittle atmosphere of the hot-bed of spies that Sweden was at this time in history so well as this does. It has everything I want from an authentic espionage thriller from the likes of celebrated authors like Le Carré, but with the added dark Nordic Noir charm that I love so much - and it is another fine job from translator Don Bartlett. I am already craving more...

The Lazurus Solution is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. 

Buy link: Orenda Books

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

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 thirteen 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.

About the translator:

Don Bartlett completed an MA in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2000 and has since worked with a wide variety of Danish and Norwegian authors, including Jo Nesbø and Gunnar Staalesen’s Varg Veum series: We Shall Inherit the Wind, Wolves in the Dark and the Petrona award-winning Where Roses Never Die. He also translated Faithless, the previous book in Kjell Ola Dahl’s Oslo Detective series for Orenda Books. 

He lives with his family in a village in Norfolk.