NSo over the last several days,, after finishing Steve Hamilton’s Dead Man Running, I have finished two more books. The first was Loner by Hildur Sif Thorarensen. It is her debut novel and will be book #1 in the Oslo Mysteries series.
About Hildur Sif Thorarensen.
Hildur was born in Iceland but is currently living in Norway. Although, spending most of her adult years at the University, she’s been writing ever since she was a little girl and alongside Medical studies and a Master’s in Engineering, has also taken a year in Creative Writing.
Loner was written in Iceland and published in 2016. The English version of the book was published this year. Currently, she is writing the sequel. The sequel is to be concurrently published in both Icelandic and English. The anticipated release date is to be in early 2019. I for one can not wait.
About Loner
Loner, a police procedural finds Oslo police detectives searching for a gruesome serial killer. From Amazon
Which is worse, trying to catch a cunning killer leaving decapitated women in the woods, or trying to tame an unconventional forensic psychiatrist that seems determined to go his own way?
The Oslo autumn is creeping in with its cold spells and Homicide Detective Julia Ryland is feeling pretty content with her team of three, but when the FBI behavioral analyst, Alexander Smith, is thrust upon her, the crisp autumn air doesn’t feel as refreshing anymore. A young Icelander is found dead, an arrow piercing his heart and the extensive list of his former lovers suggests that many long nights are ahead. The murdered lothario suddenly becomes the least of their problems as headless corpses start appearing in the woods, positioned in terrifying ways and on their bodies they find messages that don’t seem to have any meaning at all.
My Thoughts
Loner reminds me of several of the police procedural that I read. It’s like Bosch where Bosch is kind of the lone wolf and there are other detectives working on the case. In this case the odd man Alexander Smith is not a detective. He instead is a forensic psychologist. That makes him even more of an outsider, who needs to prove himself. He also has just moved to Norway. His mother is Norwegian and his father American. When his parents divorced his mom mother back to Norway.Alexander often visited but now has moved back to help her with her illness
.Alexander’s boss is Julia Ryland the head detective trying to hold the team together. Other team members are Hercules and Eric each with their own problems. Together they are an interesting cast of characters. Additionally, you can add the serial killer to the cast of interesting characters. He was a stuttering member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Loner’s plot was consistently interesting and the pace of its unfolding kept me turning the pages rapidly. The ending of the book was satisfying and left me ready for the next installment! I think Tara Sariban of Bloody Murder Podcast sums up Loner nicely…
An atmospheric thriller with a heavy dose of humour that will have you laughing and full of suspense at the same time. The surprising plot developments made it impossible to put down!
