Translated by Don Bartlett.
Published 15th August 2024 by Orenda Books.
From the cover of the book:
When Bergen PI Varg Veum becomes involved in the disappearance of a young activist, he comes up against one village's particular brand of justice …The international bestselling, critically acclaimed Varg Veum series returns…
When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline 'YOUNG MAN MISSING', he realises he's seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends. It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.
Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he's pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.
When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline 'YOUNG MAN MISSING', he realises he's seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends. It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.
Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he's pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.
***********
Bergen PI, Varg Veum has a spot of trouble when a tricky case he is working leads to his car and driving licence being confiscated on his way home to Bergen. Somewhat aggrieved at the unfair way he has been treated, Varg is forced into taking the journey home by bus, undertaking a bit of grumpy people-watching on the way.
Days later, a headline about a missing young man with a distinctive VW camper van catches his attention. He realises that he spotted this man in company of two young women at a crossroads, during his bus journey. Contacting the police to volunteer this information, he discovers that the trio were on their way to a demonstration against salmon farming in the tiny community of Solvik.
With the misunderstanding about his driving habits sorted, Varg heads to retrieve his car, and calls into Solvik to see if he can find out anything interesting about the young man's disappearance. His curiosity leads him to a dead body, and pulls him into a case mired in bad blood...
In classic Varg 'gumshoe' style, dripping with Raymond Chandler vibes, he picks up the thread of a case and follows a chain of leads by inserting himself in the lives of those connected to the missing young man. As usual he manages to annoy a fair number of them with his penetrating questions and sardonic modus operandi, but the way he gets himself under people's skins is very effective. His determined tugging on loose threads is rewarded by an unravelling of mysteries as the twists and turns of the story play out.
At first sight, this is a book all about environmental themes, and Staalesen certainly does not shy away from examining the significant damage that results from lucrative, commercial fishing operations. It is grim reading indeed. However, as Varg's tramping around Solvik and Bergen, wringing information out the locals, protestors, and warring businessmen produces results, it is the underlying, personal themes that come to the fore. Dark motivators of jealousy, betrayal, and hot-headed revenge blend cleverly into plotlines around environmental issues, dodgy business practices, and community strife, in a perfect storm of page-turning loveliness. The slow-burn beginning hots up in pace all the way to the just the kind of explosive climax and seriously slick twist-and-twist-again ending that makes Staalesen's Varg Veum series so enjoyable.
There is an undeniable melancholy strain to this latest instalment in the Varg Veum series, particularly when it comes to the relationship dynamics and stories of many of the characters here, including Varg himself. But there are touches of humour too, and Varg is as charmingly dysfunctional as ever. Translator Don Bartlett does an excellent job with pace, tone, character, to keep the story flowing nicely.
Highly recommended for lovers of cracking Norwegian noir, from a master of the genre.
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One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies.
Pursued by Death is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.
Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to part of this blog tour.
About the author:
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Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim.
Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted in 2019.
He lives with his wife in Bergen.
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.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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