Blix and Ramm return in this second novel in the series, a crime fighting duo from a crime writing duo, although this was my introduction to the characters and the authors, despite both of the latter being established bestsellers as soloists. Horst was a police investigator in his prior career, whilst Enger was a journalist, so it makes sense that in Blix and Ramm we have mirrors of their own experience and expertise.
Crime writers often thank local police departments for their support in the acknowledgements to their novels, the procedural nature of the novels requiring that specialist insight that only comes from close proximity to the real thing. With this series, however, the experience is first hand and it shows in the completely convincing realism of the writing. Smoke Screen is a very slick piece of crime writing; you feel like you are “in the room” through the investigation, the characters walk off the pages like you know them and their emotional reactions are tangible.
On New Year’s Eve the crowds are gathered for traditional celebrations in Oslo’s main square, but as the clock strikes twelve the joy turns to panic as an explosion rips through the scene. One of the casualties is Ruth-Kristine, a mother whose two year old daughter was abducted a decade earlier and has never been found. It adds a personal element to events for Blix, who was in charge of the failed investigation and feels, in his desire to finally get closure on a case that has niggled him throughout his career, that there is more to this bomb than a straightforward terrorist attack.
Blix and Ramm are a different sort of partnership, with only one being a police investigator and the other being officially on the outside, but just as keen to get to the truth. As a result, they share information but essentially follow two separate strands of investigation. This, in turn, broadens the scope of the storytelling so that it isn’t focused solely on station life. In this story there is a different twist to the other characters in the plot as well. Without wanting to give anything away the motives are complex and even when faced with a horrific action there is also an element of empathy, not for what they’ve done but for how they arrived at such a grim place.
Alongside the main thrust of the investigation there are also engaging sub-plots that build the reader’s association with the main characters. Blix and Ramm’s own relationship that has an almost guardian role for Blix, Emma Ramm’s coping with grief that brings both personal pain and an awkward familial responsibility and Alexander Blix’s relationship with his estranged wife and his daughter, all add colour to the shared journey. Although it didn’t matter that I hadn’t read Death Deserved this deeper connection holds much promise for a series that has now fully piqued my interest.
I enjoy lots of Scandinavian writing and Enger and Horst bring their setting to life with beauty and realism, but I would recommend Blix and Ramm to anyone who enjoys crime fiction whether you are a committed ‘Scandi’ fan or are trying it for the first time. First and foremost Smoke Screen is an expertly written crime thriller, fuelled by the experience of two best-selling authors who fuse their creativity together seamlessly, with an emotional connection not only to the series leads but even the deeply troubled souls at the heart of their investigation.
Smoke Screen is released today as an ebook and will be published in paperback in the New Year. Thank you to Orenda Books for my review copy.
Synopsis
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.
‘An exercise in literary tag-teaming from two of Norway’s biggest crime writers with a bold new take … a series with potential’ Sunday Times
‘Grim, gory and filled with plenty of dark twists … There’s definitely a Scandinavian chill in the air with this fascinating read’ Sun
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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, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Smeplass, 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…
Live Many Lives 