Beyond the Truth

A solid entry in the Hanne Wilhelmsen canon. I had made the mistake of reading #8 before #7 (who does that?!), so it was good to see where the dramatic differences between #6 and #8 came from. Well done -one of the things I've grown to appreciate about Holt is that she's able to sustain interest and mystery right to the end of a book - you never get the feeling that she's hurrying to end the book.

In a shocking opening sequence, Beyond the Truth begins with an aged, cold, wounded, and hungry stray dog searching for food and shelter in a well-to-do neighborhood that he considers his turf. He is looking for food and shelter. He finds it.

Beyond the Truth is the seventh book in the Hanne Wilhemsen police procedural series by Norwegian author Anne Holt. It takes place between December 19th and December 28th during those post-solstice holiday days with five hours of weak sunlight during the long Nordic nights. It is Christmas in Oslo and four people were murdered. The time of year, the gloomy days with a febrile sun are as much a character in the the book as the people. Place is just everything, and you will shiver more than once.

Three show more of the victims belong to a well-known family whose internecine legal battles point to some obvious suspects. The other takes a while longer to identify. He a writer and who knows why he was there. The team of investigators that Hanne works with are pleased with their rapid progress in putting together a case against the very guilty looking son who was suing his father.

Meanwhile on the homefront, Hanne’s father has just died, her partner wants to have a baby, and Hanne is thinking of retiring and opening up a detective agency. The real issue, though, is Hanne is not convinced. The case seems almost too linear, too clear. Ignoring the fourth victim offends her sense of fairness, but also it is an affront to reason. They do not know he was an accidental victim.

I’ve been a fan of Scandinavian mysteries ever since I started borrowing Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall from the public library to my 7th grade math teacher’s consternation. It’s not just the chauvinism of the Scandinavian American attachment to an “old country” that exists only in family stories. Scandinavian mysteries approach murder and justice from a worldview that could not be more different from our own, one that sees crime solving more as healing tears in the fabric of community than tough guy warrior exploits. It is a worldview that appeals to me.

I did not realize that this was my first Hanne Wilhemsen mystery, so I was concerned that starting with book seven, I would either be confused or would be inundated with backstory. Happily, I need not have worried. The story was very much in the present. There are some hard feelings and jagged edges in the relationships, but we don’t have to know the play by play to understand the situation and Holt trusts us to not need everything explained.

The solution is slightly surprising, but it is also not completely fair and that is my one quibble with the story. Critical evidence is read, but not shared with readers. A few clues were dropped that alerted readers to the right place to look for a suspect, but there was nothing to lead us to someone specific. So even though, if an alert reader is considering the right universe of suspects, narrowing down to the right one requires revelation. That is only half-fair, but the rest of the book is so good that I don’t care.

Beyond the Truth will be released on December 5th. I received an electronic galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.
★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/beyond-the-truth-by-anne-h... show less

Beyond The Truth – The Queen of Scandi Noir Returns

Beyond The Truth is the latest in Anne Holt’s Hanne Wilhelmsen Series and it is plain to see why even Jo Nesbo considers her to the Godmother of Norwegian crime. Anne Holt shows how dark things can get in Scandinavian Noir and it is easy to see why she is the bestselling female crime writer.

The off-beat Chief Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen and her friend and deputy Billy T are summoned to a murder of four people a couple of days before Christmas. Four dead bodies, a dog that has feasted on a body, three of the four are a wealthy family and the other is a writer and editor. With no seeming connections between the writer and the wealthy family, things are as clear as mud to the team.

There show more seems so much evidence a conviction should be straight forward according to the Head of CID and the case will be closed by New Year and they can all go back to the festivities. With so much bad blood in the family to narrow down a shortlist is not an easy task. As Hanne Wilhelmsen digs deeper in to the case her colleagues become more exasperated by her odd behaviour and not sharing information with them.

Hanne Wilhelmsen is convinced that there is something bigger that is being concealed by the lies of the family, and that the police are being distracted by those lies. As Hanne untangles a very bitter and complex family history, she will risk everything to uncover the truth and more importantly find the killer.

Anne Holt knows how to draw a reader in to her style of police procedural thriller, she uses a clever blend of the off-beat, interspersed with some social commentary. Even though the book has a complex and at times perplexing narrative, the reader is hooked, because you need Hanne to find the truth, whatever it may be.

A stunning thriller, Beyond The Truth shows why Anne Holt is a thriller writer of the highest order. show less

Beyond the Truth: (Hanne Wilhelmsen #7)
by Anne Holt

Murder -- Investigation -- Norway -- Fiction.
Norway -- Fiction.

I found this a solid police procedural with an interesting story story line.
My personal reservations include:
I did feel that the translation was a bit choppy in style and choice of phrase.
Names, as usual provide a breakup in my reading experience.

3.5 ★

»Vier Leichen, Hanne! Mutter, Vater, Sohn. Und dann noch einer, von dem wir nichts wissen …« Ein ebenso bizarrer wie rätselhafter Vierfachmord hält die norwegische Öffentlichkeit in Atem. Eine Familientragödie? Hauptkommissarin Hanne Wilhelmsen glaubt nicht daran. Wer ist der unbekannte Tote, und was suchte er bei der berühmten Reederfamilie? Das unerklärliche Verhalten ihres neuen Vorgesetzten erleichtert Hannes Suche nach dem Mörder auch nicht gerade …

Wieder ein superspannender Anne Holt-Krimi mit Hauptkommissarin Hanne Wilhelmsen

Började lyssna på denna bok med stor skepsis. De senaste Anne Holt böckerna som jag läst har varit oerhört standardmässiga. Den här boken växte dock och jag överaskades positivt av en riktigt klurig och spännade intrig. Torsten Wahlund läser också förträffligt.