Wolves at the Door by Gunnar Staalesen translated by Don Bartlett # Review #Giveaway #OrendaBooks #VargVeum #

 It is great to be taking part in the opening day of the blog tour to celebrate the paperback publication of Gunnar Staalesen's Wolves at the Door. This is the latest in his Varg Veum series. I am doubly delighted as I have a giveaway to offer. To find out how you can win a print copy of the book, check out the details at the end of this post.

One dark January night a car drives at high speed towards PI Varg Veum, and comes very close to killing him. Veum is certain this is no accident, following so soon after the deaths of two jailed men who were convicted for their participation in a case of child pornography and sexual assault … crimes that Veum himself once stood wrongly accused of committing. 

While the guilty men were apparently killed accidentally, Varg suspects that there is something more sinister at play … and that he’s on the death list of someone still at large. 

Fearing for his life, Veum begins to investigate the old case, interviewing the victims of abuse and delving deeper into the brutal crimes, with shocking results. 

The wolves are no longer in the dark … they are at his door. And they want vengeance. 

My Thoughts

Wolves at the Door moves PI Varg Veum's story on by a couple of years after the events of Wolves in the Dark where he was framed for possessing child pornography. You can read my review of Wolves in the Dark and read an author interview with Gunnar, here.

    Set around Bergen and elsewhere in Norway once more, it seems that and that dangerous forces are out for vengeance, all connected with the illicit world of child abuse. Varg Veum is the forensic and dogged investigator as ever, who tracks his way through the mire to get at the truth. To the reader, he seems very much the lone wolf but of course there are others at his heels. Sometimes it is hard to know whether he is the hunter or the hunted. 

    I enjoy the tone of these novels which I am sure is partly to do with Don Bartlett's translation. There is a dispassionate air behind the words which at times makes the horror of the situation even more threatening. It is as closely plotted as ever and has the usual watermark running through it of quality writing which I have found in all Gunnar's novels which I have read.

In short: Another superb piece of Nordic Noir.

   

About the Author

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, 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-three titles, which have been published in twenty-six countries and sold over five million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim, and a further series is currently being filmed. Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and the Petrona Award, and been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, lives in Bergen with his wife. 

 Don Bartlett is the foremost translator of Norwegian, responsible for the multaward - winning, bestselling books by Jo Nesbo, Karl Ove Knausgaard and Per Pettersen. It is rare to have a translator who is as well-known and highly regarded as the author.

You can follow Gunnar here: Goodreads 

 

Book link: Amazon UK
Thanks to Gunnar Staalesen and Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books for a copy of the book and a place on the Blog Tour. 

Check out these great blogs on the Blog Tour!

 

 

Giveaway (UK only)

To win a copy of Wolves at the Door,  just Follow and Retweet the pinned Tweet at @bookslifethings.

 Closing Date 8th June 2019 and there is one winner.

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries only.  The winner will be selected at random via Tweetdraw from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.