For the first time, two crime writers, from different countries, writing in two different languages, have joined forces to create an original series. French Johana Gustawsson and Norwegian Thomas Enger are the bestselling authors of the Roy & Castells and Henning Juul crime series, respectively, and are published in more than fifty countries worldwide.
A former journalist, Thomas Enger is the number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul series and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series, and one of the biggest advocates for the Nordic Noir genre.
Known as the Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson is one of France's most highly regarded, award-winning crime writers, recipient of the prestigious Cultura Ligue de l`Imaginaire Award for her gothic mystery Yule Island. Number-one bestselling books include Block 46, Keeper, Blood Song and her historical thriller, The Bleeding.
To see an interview with the authors by Glen Pearce, click here.
"Son" is the first in a new mystery series set in Norway, in a town of the same name around 50 miles south of Oslo. It features social psychologist Dr. Kari Voss, "world-renowned expert in memory and body language", labeled by a journalist as "The Human Lie Detector".
As the book opens, Dr. Voss is remembering the day her son Vetle disappeared after his ninth birthday party, seven years ago. After searching for him, all the police found were his bike and some traces of blood at the bottom of a cliff. Voss is still in mourning; she clings to the hope that he is alive and will return home someday. Voss finds refuge from her pain in her work and her close relationship with her father, a retired Police Chief, but her sadness is never far away.
The book then turns to Eva Eek-Svendsen and Hedda Bülow, two 16-year-olds who are planning a Halloween party that's the hottest ticket in Son. Eva and Hedda are best friends, popular and very attractive. They're in Eva's parent's summer house the night before Halloween. To start the partying a bit early, they call Jesper Bach-Hansen, a schoolmate who's known for selling drugs. Not very popular himself, he's thrilled at the chance to spend some time with the two girls. Although he has no license, he "borrows" his father's Porsche to get to the summer house. Eva, Hedda, and Jesper end up doing molly (MDMA) together and to begin with, the experience is ecstatic. Eva on her last night on earth:
The next morning, Jesper wakes up on the bathroom floor, with no idea how he got there. He reaches out and cuts his hand on a bloody knife lying on the floor. He gets up and sees spots of blood leading to the living room. What he finds there is beyond comprehension. Eva and Hedda are sitting on chairs with their hands tied behind their backs. Their heads are hanging down, but it's obvious someone has cut their throats. There is so much blood. Jesper steps in it and tracks it everywhere. Having no memory of the events, he panics and flees the scene.
The girl's bodies are found by a caterer who arrives at the summer house to deliver food for the Halloween party. He calls the police immediately. Although the crime was committed in Son, the Oslo police end up leading the investigation because the summer house where two teenagers were killed last night belongs to a married couple who live in Oslo, as do the victims.
To begin with, all circumstantial evidence points to Jesper being the killer. Oslo Chief Constable Ramona Norum, a friend of Voss, brings Jesper in for questioning. Norum asks Voss to observe via remote camera because she is uniquely suited to help the police with the case; she has been working with them for years in her capacity as a "human lie detector". Since both of the victims, as well as Jesper, were friends with Voss' son Vetle before he disappeared, Voss has the advantage of already knowing the children and their parents. In fact, murder victim Hedda's father, William, is Voss' neighbor and friend
During the interrogation, Jesper is understandably nervous and visibly terrified. He strongly denies murdering Eva and Hedda, but Norum and colleague Henrik Meyer believe they have found their killer. Ramona's boss Unni Flem even tells Voss that Jesper is "guilty as f--k." But Voss firmly disagrees, based on Jesper's body language during questioning. She tells Unni about her conclusions from viewing the interview:
Unni is furious after the conversation with Voss, who insists that Jesper is telling the truth. Norum isn't happy either, but she has great respect for Voss from working with her on past cases and is trying to keep an open mind.
Frustrated at the police focus on Jesper and determined to prove his innocence, Voss begins an investigation of her own. During her interviews with girl's parents, their families and their good friends and schoolmates, Voss uses her trained eye to separate the lies from the truth. The more she learns, the more she is convinced that there is a motive for the killings that will clear Jesper, but even Jesper's parents are resigned to his guilt. In what turns out to be a bad decision, she infuriates the police by giving a TV interview stating that the team have arrested the wrong person, a move even her father condemns. But Voss firmly believes in her conclusions.
Voss has the advantage of knowing the players and being able to tell with some certainty whether they are lying, scared, nervous, hiding something or avoiding her questions. She's shocked when suddenly, Jesper confesses to the crime. Her expertise in false memories, and how they can lead to false confessions, lead her to believe that 16-year-old Jesper confessed as a result of nonstop police interrogation giving him details of the murders, sheer terror, and nervous exhaustion. She's desperate to talk to him to find out the reasons behind his confession.
Her conclusion leaves Voss with quite a few suspects and she interviews all of them, naturally paying as close attention to what they do in addition to what they are saying. It is fascinating to read the details of the way Voss uses her skills on each person she sees. Elvind and Mia Eek-Svendsen, Eva's parents, are having serious marital issues and are not telling the truth about their movements on the night of the murders. Erik, Eva's brother, tells Voss that Eva is "not as sweet and kind and nice as everyone makes her out to be." Samuel Gregersen is a musician and close friend of the girls, who arrived at the scene of the crime at the same time as the caterer. Voss' father learns that Samuel's parents are being blackmailed and are desperate that their secret not come out. Almost everyone is lying about what they did and where they were on that fateful night. Who among them is hiding the secret that will reveal the motive and identify the real killer?
Through the lens of a grisly double murder, "Son" explores the ramifications of intense grief, compromising secrets, and deeply troubled familial ties. The title plays a dual role as the name of the town where the crimes are committed, and the many "sons" who play an integral part in the story. "Son" also explores ways that "sins of the parents" are visited upon their children. The authors beautifully convey the nuanced differences between the unthinkable immediate grief of the parents of a murdered child with the long-lasting sorrow of a parent whose son's fate is still unknown.
The authors have alternated the chapters between the third-person voice and Voss' own first-person narration, which takes us through her closely reasoned processes. The story takes many twists and turns as Voss, with help from her father and the police, determines who is lying and who is telling the truth. When the killer is finally identified, it comes as just as much of shock to the reader as it does to the characters, always the mark of a great mystery!
But Gustawsson and Enger have one more surprise in store for us. As one mystery is solved, a final chapter explodes on the page; a startling ending that could change Kari Voss' life forever. It sets the stage for the next Kari Voss book, and I'm looking forward to reading more about this remarkable woman and her unorthodox methods. If you're a fan of Nordic Noir, a cracking good mystery, and an unusual protagonist, add "Son" to your TBR list.
Please buy/order "Son" from your local independent bookstore, or go to bookshop.org and order there! They now offer ebooks as well!
For audiobooks, go to libro.fm.
