Title: Burned
Review: Burned is a brand new (hopefully a future series) Nordic Noir book coming out of Norway. Our intrepid investigator is a reporter who is coming back from a devastating home fire that injured him and claimed the life of his son. While digging into the case it becomes clear the scars he bears are nothing to the scars that are hidden within his mind. The case itself is quite interesting as a Norwegian girl is found murdered in a horrific Sharia manner, buried to the chest and then stoned to death, and her on again off again boyfriend is Muslim. Have honor killings come to Norway? The initial investigation all points to the hapless boyfriend and it appears to be and open and shut case. But yet something doesn’t sit quite right with our protagonist.
Between his troubled past, and his confusing present our reporter slowly works through the facts and pieces together quite a story. And at the end, when the twists have played out, he gives you a few more. This is an excellent example of the genre, and a great first book to boot.
The only flaws are very rare clunky prose, but I am willing to bet the house that is purely due to translation. Exactly the sort of thing that will work itself out as the writer and his translator develop a relationship over many books. If you want a great sampler of Scandinavian crime fiction, this is the book.
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1645-3
Copyright: 2010 (translated 2011)
Pages: 357
Quick Review: 4 out of 5 stars
Why I Read It: Massive fan of the genre, Nordic Noir
Where I Obtained the Book: Sent to me by the publisher for review
Synopsis: A solitary tent is found to contain the body of a half-buried woman. She has been stoned to death, there are marks from lashing across her back and one of her hands has been cut off. Two years earlier the Internet reporter Henning Juul lost his son, Jonas, in a domestic fire. On his return to work he is told to cover the story of the woman in the tent, but despite the police making an early arrest, he seems convinced that the story is more complex than they think. Physically and emotionally scarred, Henning must battle to be taken seriously again as a reporter - by his old colleagues, his ex-wife and the police - and when another life is lost, he knows the stakes couldn't be higher.
Author Biography: Thomas Enger was born in Oslo in 1973, but grew up in Jessheim. He has an education in journalism, and has also studied sports and history. He worked at the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen for nine years.
Author Biography: Thomas Enger was born in Oslo in 1973, but grew up in Jessheim. He has an education in journalism, and has also studied sports and history. He worked at the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen for nine years. He has composed music and written books since the age of 18. He is also working on a musical.
Enger's first book, Skinndød, was published in 2010. It is the first book in a series of at least six featuring crime journalist Henning Juul. The second installment, Fantomsmerte, will be released in the fall of 2011; Blodtåke, the third book, is scheduled for a 2012 release.
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This book sounds really interesting, i love moody noir books. I've never read a nordic noir book but this looks pretty cool. Thanks for the review.
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