When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline ’YOUNG MAN MISSING’, he realises he’s seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends.

It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.

Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he’s pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.

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Is the body he’s found connected to the death of a journalist who was digging into the fish farm’s operations two years earlier? And does either incident have something to do with the competition between the two powerful families that dominate Solvik’s salmon-farming industry?

Or are the deaths the actions of the ‘Village Beast’ – the brutal small-town justice meted out by rural communities in this part of the world.

Shocking, timely and full of breathtaking twists and turns, Pursued by Death reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s greatest crime writers.

My Review

There is a lot about fish in this book. Because salmon farming is one of the staple industries in Norway. A bit like sheep or dairy farming here. There is also a lot I didn’t understand about the difference between wild salmon farming and farm-bred salmon, but it’s the basis for the ‘salmon wars’ and the divide between the factions on either side. One thing it revolves around is salmon lice (which I can’t even think about without cringing), but I’m not going to go into detail. It just may put me off eating salmon ever again.

Varg Veum reads about a missing man and realises he saw him with two young women, a few days before. The missing man was one of a group of demonstrators, protesting against the whole exploitation of salmon farming. He then travels to the small town of Solvik out of curiosity, and heads out to a disused salmon farm with a local man, Aga Edvard, where they discover a camper van in the sea, with a dead body inside.

It’s a well written, excellently plotted crime thriller in the Nordic Noir tradition, perfectly translated by Don Bartlett. It has quite a lot of what I can only describe as throwaway humour, which could easily get lost in the drama, except it doesn’t. It’s also not quite as gritty as some Scandi Noir, so for those who find the genre all a bit gory, Pursued by Death will definitely appeal. The characters have depth and the descriptions are comprehensive, without being over the top. The plot twists and surprises are intricate and intelligent.

Pursued by Death is the latest in the Varg Veum series. I’ve met Varg Veum before (in Bitter Flowers written in 1991) and I liked him as much today as I did then. He’s now 62 years old, so not your average thirty-something cop we usually see in crime novels. In fact he’s a private investigator who was never a police officer. He’s just a regular guy. He does have an ex-wife, don’t they all, and though he likes a drink or three, he’s not an alcoholic, at least not any more. In Bitter Flowers, he’d just come out of rehab.

I wonder if the author has any more Varg Veum books still up his sleeve. I certainly hope so.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, 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 titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim.

Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.