#BlogTour ‘Smoke Screen’ by Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst trans Megan Turney

About the book…

When the mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo, crime-fighting duo Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the case, and things aren’t adding up … The second instalment in the addictive, atmospheric, award-winning Blix & Ramm series.

Oslo, New Year’s Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert.

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, Blix instantly recognises her as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Semplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier … and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia’s disappearance is not all that it seems…

Huge thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the blog tur invite and gifted review e-arc copy of ‘Smoke Screen’ which is out in ebook format from December 18th and paperback in June 2021, courtesy of Orenda Books.

This is the second in the Blix and Ramm series, which pits Alexander Blix-police detective-and journalist Emma Ramm against situations which are often outside of their control. Their personal history which extends to Emma’s childhood,has engendered a paternal relationship with Blix that extends the professional circumstances that they find themselves in.

Finding herself wanting to stand outside and celebrate the incoming New Year, following the events of ‘Death Deserved’, Emma finds herself unwittingly at the centre of a historical child abduction case. Helping rescue a victim of a bomb placed in Oslo’s central square, she not only finds herself face to face with Blix again, but also dealing with a loss which is very close to home.

Her anguish and grief are pushed to one side as she throws herself into trying to work out who had motive to plant it, who it was aimed at and why, as the 4 victims have no apparent connection to each other. Domestic terrorism , or a deliberate taking out of multiple individuals to hide the one true subject of a cold hearted killer’s wrath?

Having identified the woman she and Blix dragged from the lake as the mother of an unsolved child abduction from ten years earlier, both detective and journalist find themselves coming at the same case, from different angles, as they dive deep into a disjointed and dysfunctional family. The father is in prison for attacking the man he believed responsible for his daughter, Patricia’s abduction, whilst her mother has descended into her own personal addiction hell.

And starting the whole story off is a literal bombshell, a letter sent to Patricia’s father, showing a girl who resembles an aged up version of his missing child, followed by the actual bomb which instead of destroying, brings together two determined and hard working professionals who are determined to solve both cases.

However, there is a figure lurking ion the shadows who is about to make things very, very personal….

A brilliant and very satisfying police procedural which is perfect for fans of this genre, straddling, as it does, a very modern case with traditional detective work to bring justice to those who deserve it.

In Blix and Ramm we have two different protagonists who take their roles and responsibilities very seriously and their work reflects their personal moral compasses and relationships. For Blix it is his daughter, who became intimately acquainted with the ways of killers who provides his stabilising influence. Emma is more of a free spirit, however, her background informs the way that she reports the news in a responsible rather than sensational fashion.

The development of these relationships is very naturalistic and unforced, and I really enjoyed all the curveballs that the cliff-hanger chapter endings threw at us readers. It makes you want to read more as your suspicions are either proved correct, or,  left floundering. You feel as though you have a front row seat to the investigation as you try and solve the mystery of who the bomber is, and where Patricia is. And the human touch is never lost as you seek to explore the complex ways that parents variously look after, nurture, exploit and misuse their position in the framework of a police procedural. Another cracker from the literary power horse which is Orenda Books, Bravo!!

About the authors…

Jorn Lier Horst (born in Bamble, Telemark 1970) is a former Senior Investigating Officer at the Norwegian police force. He made his literary debut as a crime writer in 2004 and is considered one of the foremost Nordic crime writers.

His series of mystery novels starring chief inspector William Wisting provides a detailed and authentic insight into how criminal cases are investigated and how it affects those involved, whether private or professional. The books represent a simple and accurate picture of the modern Nordic societies and is characterized by political and social commentary subtext.

Links-http://www.jlhorst.com/pageview.asp?pid=15

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/wisting-tv-series/

Twitter @lierhorst

Thomas Enger is a former journalist. He made his debut with the crime novel Burned in 2010, which became an international sensation before publication, and marked the first in the bestselling Henning Juul series. Rights to the series have been sold to 28 countries to date. In 2013 Enger published his first book for young adults, a dark fantasy thriller called The Evil Legacy, for which he won the U-prize (best book Young Adult). Killer Instinct, upon which Inborn is based, and another Young Adult suspense novel, was published in Norway in 2017 and won the same prestigious prize. Most recently, Thomas has co-written a thriller with Jørn Lier Horst. Enger also composes music, and he lives in Oslo.

Links-http://www.thomasenger.net/

Twitter @EngerThomas

Translated by Megan Turney

Megan Turney is originally from the West Midlands, and after having spent several years working back and forth between the UK and the Hardanger region of Norway, she is now based in Edinburgh, working as a commercial and literary translator and editor.

She was the recipient of the National Centre for Writing’s 2019 Emerging Translator Mentorship in Norwegian, and is a published science fiction critic. She holds an MA(Hons) in Scandinavian Studies and English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, as well as an MA in Translation and Interpreting Studies from the University of Manchester.

Twitter @meganeturney 

Links-https://www.meganeturney.com/