Snow Fall by Jorn Lier Horst
Publisher: Penguin Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by FernWhen true crime fanatic Astri Arctander disappears, Detective William Wisting is called upon to investigate.
Alongside her fellow amateur sleuths, Astri had been trying to uncover what really happened to Ruby Thompson, a backpacker whose body was recently discovered in Palamós, Spain.
Astri was ready to unmask Ruby’s killer. Then she vanished.
Wisting is determined to solve the case – to find justice for Ruby, and to bring Astri home unharmed.
But he soon finds himself at the heart of a dark and twisted cat-and-mouse chase, that will take him from the snowy depths of Norway to the hot Catalan hills.
Wisting is willing to go to extreme lengths to find the truth.
But his enemy will go further to keep it buried – and the closer Wisting gets, the more dangerous they become . . .
When a woman from Australia reaches out via email to the Norwegian police force requesting a wellness check on a friend of hers, William Wisting isn’t too worried when he initially checks and no women matching the description given is in any recent reports. Soon though, he is drawn into not only the missing Norwegian woman but the case she was looking into – that of a murdered Australian woman in Spain.
I have been a big fan of this Scandinavian Noir series for many years – it’s the first Norwegian crime/mystery series I ever read. I’m very pleased it remains as good today as when I first discovered it over a decade ago. This book in particular is a little different in a delightful way.
Not only is Wisting and his investigation brought solidly into more modern times with a large portion of the case occurring online in forums and discussion boards, but also this case is quite global – with people from over the world having a critical role online but also the adjacent case occurring in Spain but the missing woman being in Norway. All these items circle together – weaving realistically together and making for a complex and intense investigation and I was thrilled by it all.
Readers looking for a modern slightly gritty police murder mystery should definitely give this book – and series – a try. This book can absolutely be read as a stand alone but if you enjoy the tone and style of this I can easily recommend the rest of the series (most – but not all – have been translated into English).
An interesting murder mystery and a complicated plot that I thoroughly enjoyed.
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