Translation by Ian Giles. Published by Orenda Books. As always, my thanks to Orenda for including me on the tour for "Into Thin Air".
Ørjan Karlsson grew up in Bodø, in the far north of Norway. A sociologist by education, he received officer training in the army and has taken part in many missions overseas. He has written a wide range of thrillers, sci-fi novels and crime fiction, and been shortlisted for or won numerous awards, with a number of his books currently in production for the screen. He lives in Nordland, where the Jakob Weber crime series is set. "Into Thin Air" is the first book in his detective/police procedural series.
Ian Giles has a PhD in Scandinavian literature from the University of Edinburgh. Past translations include novels by crime and thriller luminaries such as Arne Dahl, Carin Gerhardsen, Michael Katz Krefeld, David Lagercrantz, Camilla Läckberg and Gustaf Skördeman. His translation of Andreas Norman’s "Into a Raging Blaze" was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger.
"Into Thin Air" is the first in a mystery series that takes place in Bodø, Norway just north of the Arctic Circle. Bodø is located at the end of a peninsula projecting into the Norwegian Sea, at the entrance to Salt Fjord. The landscape around Bodø has spectacular mountains, deep fjords and white sandy beaches. This region has a long coast with thousands of islands, islets and skerries. Karlsson uses the dazzling geography of the area to great effect; there are plenty of places to hide...
In this spectacular setting, Karlsson has brought together a unique and compelling cast of characters; the primary three being Noora Sande and Jakob Weber from the local police, and the killer they are desperately trying to find. The most chilling chapters are told from the killer's point of view. Sociopathic, delusional, and impulsive, he eludes the police with a cunning that's almost feral.
Karlsson plunges us into the story from the first page. A man has transformed the living quarters of his camper van into a space for dark and private deeds. He is eerily calm, meticulous, and extremely well-prepared. He dresses himself in a "no trace left behind" outfit including rubber gloves and takes hold of a corner of the sheet on a metal bench. He pulls it down to reveal an unconscioius, bound female body. The killer carefully slides a blue topaz hairclip into the woman's hair, and noticing her quivering eyelids, knows that she will be waking up soon.
We then meet a still-mourning Jakob Weber at the cemetery, visiting the grave of his wife Lise who died only six months ago. After the visit, Weber goes to the airport to pick up Noora Sande, a new colleague who has transferred to the local force from Kripos, a specialized national unit of the police. This is an unusual move; Kripos is a prestigious posting and Bodø is a step down for Sande. We learn that Sande has a second phone on which she receives texts from only one person: a mystery man whose messages range from conciliatory to threatening. Could this be the reason for Sande's career change?
When Weber takes Sande to meet her new boss, Police Superintendent Råkstad, we get a glimpse of the trauma she still struggles with:
Sande wants to build a new life, but is soon thrust into the middle of a high-profile investigation that threatens to destroy it. As Sande is adjusting to her new circumstances, a local hiker finds a body at Bremnes Fort, a WWII site for bunkers and underground munitions stores. The body was in one of the bunkers, but it's been there so long that it's not easy to identify. The woman is wearing a T-shirt from a Ukrainian band, and the police speculate that it might be Galyna Ivanova, a woman from Ukraine who's been missing for months. There's a box of Rohypnol pills next to her, and it appears to be a suicide.
At the same time, Jakob Weber has been ruminating on the murder of an unidentified woman twenty-nine years earlier. Her body was found by a landowner among his newly planted trees. He sees some similarities to Ivanova's death; is there a chance that this long-past crime could be related to the events of the present?
Then another woman disappears: Nineteen-year-old Iselin Hanssen, who has just been invited to take the physical tests for the Police Academy. Weber calls Sande in the middle of the night to tell her that Iselin has been reported missing after a run in the forest. Sande goes for a run along Iselin's route and finds nothing but a bit of mosquito netting. They begin interviewing Iselin's family and friends and ramp up their increasingly frantic search. They know that every moment that goes by lowers the odds of finding her alive.
Weber begins searching the local database for other accounts of missing women. He puts together the old cold case he's been thinking about, the body of Galyna Ivanova, and Iselin's disappearance, and begins to suspect that they may be dealing with a long-hidden serial killer.
We then return to the killer's world, in which his urges overcome his need for caution. Driving around in his customized camper van, he sees a young female hitchhiker who piques his interest. He stops for her and the girl, whose name is Marijeke, climbs in completely unaware of the danger inside. But she is wary and not defenseless; will she share the same fate as the others?
As Weber and Sande dig deeper into the case, they learn that Iselin had an on-and-off relationship with her boyfriend Casper Jahrberg, the son of an important local businessman. Casper has a motive if he found out that Iselin had taken a weekend trip to Oslo with a local, Stein-Jarle, who has a secret of his own. The police visit Casper at home, but his father Otto storms in and demands that they leave immediately without any more questions. Casper is still on the list of suspects.
Many people in Bodø have something to hide, which makes Weber and Sande's task more difficult. Finding connections between the victims is critical, but these prove elusive, especially since one murder may have been committed almost thirty years ago. Does the killer have a plan, or is he merely taking advantage of circumstances as they arise? There's great use of misdirection by Karlsson, leading the reader to suspect first one person, then another, until the final reveal.
In Karlsson's novel, no one is superfluous to the plot. His richly developed secondary characters include NRK journalist Sigrid Malmsten, suspect Casper Jahrberg and his powerful father Otto, and Weber's former partner on the force, Rolf Kvist. And everyone in Bodø knows Peder Skarvheim, who is disabled, lives with and cares for his mum, and is seen often around town, driving his "Blimo microcar". Each character (including Weber's Jack Russell Terrier Garm) plays a role in helping to solve this thrilling and deadly puzzle.
Karlsson has created a rich and intricate world in a part of Norway that I haven't read much about. He deftly incorporates the magnificent geographical features of the area into the story. It's good to know that "Into Thin Air" is the first in a series; Weber and Sande complement each other very well and it will be interesting to see how their relationship evolves. I look forward to reading more about them in book two, "The Night Travels Alone" ("Natten Reiser Alene".)
I'd also like to note that Ian Giles' translation work is very good with a natural flow throughout.
NB: I would like to thank my keen-eyed editor, @thewhothismonth.bsky.social, for gently suggesting that "the body had bunkers and underground munitions" was perhaps not the best phrasing.
Please buy/order "Into Thin Air" from your local independent bookstore, or go to bookshop.org and order there!
For audiobooks, go to libro.fm.
