Pursued by Death

By: Gunnar Staalesen, Don Bartlett - translator

Narrated by: Mark Meadows

When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline 'YOUNG MAN MISSING', he realises he saw the youth just a few days earlier - en route 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.

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?

©2023 Gunnar Staalesen, English translation 2024, Don Bartlett (P)2024 Oakhill

Excellent Norwegian noir

I’ve heard most of the available translations for GS’s books and have enjoyed the series very much. Nevertheless, its depiction of the world is cynical and the future of humanity seems at best, questionable.
The narrator for this book is a perfect match for the tone of the story. Enjoy!