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Provocative and unsettling this crime novel focuses on the predatory and merciless side of life. Private investigator Varg Veum reunites with former classmates at a funeral but a murder throws rekindled friendships up in the air. Fallen Angels forms part of the gripping and gritty Varg Veum series, the first of which was published in 1977. Gunnar Staalesen has since been published in 26 countries, and a statue of his protagonist Varg even sits in the centre of Bergen! This particular novel was first published in Norway in 1989 and is set in the 80’s, if you’ve already read his translated novels be aware that you are taking a step back in time. Taking place before other translated books in this series, it encourages an understanding of what makes Varg the man he is. There are parts which make for uncomfortable reading and I cringed as the seedier aspects of society were described. The painstaking aspects of investigations are clearly felt. Gunnar Staalesen and translator Don Bartlett, excel in creating deliberately jarring sections, which sent a chilling shiver coursing through me. Fallen Angles is a book that is meant to make you feel perturbed, it is also an entirely fascinating read.
When Bergen PI Varg Veum finds himself at the funeral of a former classmate on a sleet-grey December afternoon, he's unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Jakob - the once-famous lead singer of 1960s rock band The Harpers - and his estranged wife, Rebecca, Veum's first love.
Their rekindled friendship come to an abrupt end with a horrific murder, and Veum is forced to dig deep into his own adolescence and his darkest memories, to find a motive ... and a killer.
Tense, vivid and deeply unsettling, Fallen Angels is the spellbinding, award-winning thriller that secured Gunnar Staalesen's reputation as one of the world's foremost crime writers.
Closing date: 30/11/2020
Staalesen follows the hard-boiled PI tradition, as shown by the stunning 18th entry in his series.
--Publishers Weekly starred review of Where Roses Never Die
Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means 'wolf' in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth.
--Ian Rankin, author, Resurrection Men
Mr. Staalesen's latest--ably translated by Don Bartlett --employs Chandleresque similes with a Nordic twist.
--Wall Street Journal Online
[S]tellar . . . Staalesen does a masterful job of exposing the worst of Norwegian society.
--Publishers Weekly Online (Starred Review)
ISBN: 9781913193065
Publication date: 12/11/2020
Publisher: Orenda Books
Format: Paperback
| ISBN: | 9781913193065 |
| Publication date: | 12th November 2020 |
| Author: | Gunnar Staalesen |
| Publisher: | Orenda Books |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 276 pages |
| Genres: | Crime / Mystery, Thriller / Suspense, Translated Fiction, |
| Categories: | Crime & mystery, Fiction in translation, Thriller / suspense, |
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 ...
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