The Devil's Wedding Ring

Starred review from July 17, 2017
Ancient myth and contemporary detection collide in this highly impressive thriller from Sundstøl (the Minnesota Trilogy), set in Norway’s Telemark region, the author’s own home. After 30 years in Florida, Norwegian PI Max Fjellanger returns for the funeral of Knut Abrahamsen, once his friend and fellow sheriff’s deputy. Knut drowned in a river, an apparent suicide, but his skeptical widow indicates that she suspects something criminal might have happened. Prolonging his stay, Max also becomes enmeshed in the case of college student Cecilie Wiborg, who vanished the previous Midsummer Eve, an echo of the similar 1985 disappearance of doctoral student Peter Schram. Like Cecilie, Peter was studying the strange pagan legends surrounding the 13th-century Eidsborg church and its statue of Saint Nikuls. Fjellanger joins forces with an unlikely ally, detective novel–loving librarian Tirill Vesterli, to pursue the truth. Together they uncover the vicious secrets that lurk beneath the area’s deceptively serene surface. Fans of Scandinavian crime fiction will hope that Sundstøl continues Max’s story in a sequel.

Starred review from August 1, 2017

After his successful Land of Dreams (the first book in his "Minnesota" trilogy and winner of the Riverton Prize for Best Norwegian Crime Novel), Norwegian author SundstOl sets his latest mystery in his native Telemark, for him, the center of Norway's mythological culture. When the suspicious death of a colleague brings PI Max Fjellanger from his Florida home back to the small village of Eidsborg, he is immersed in a dangerous intrigue involving pagan fertility rituals, pig's heads, and other dark secrets. He meets Tirill Vesterli, a librarian and avid mystery buff, and together they search for the truth behind the disappearance of two folklore students and the supposed suicide of Max's former police colleague. They also deal with a crooked sheriff who is not afraid to use violence to get Max and Tirill out of the way. VERDICT Though some readers may be put off by the explicit sex scenes and graphically detailed pagan rites, this briskly paced atmospheric mystery, inspired by Nordic landscapes and traditions, will appeal to admirers of Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Jan van de Wetering.--Susanne Lohkamp, Multnomah Cty., Lib., Portland, OR

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2017
Max Fjellanger returns to Norway for the funeral of an old friend and finds himself immersed in a 30-year-old murder case in Sundstol's (The Ravens, 2015, etc.) latest.As young policemen in Eidsborg, Max Fjellanger and Knut Abrahamsen investigated a missing person case that was never solved; shortly afterward, Max left the police force and moved to America, where he became a private investigator and married Ann. He and Knut did not keep in touch, but when he hears about his old friend's death, he impulsively returns to Norway for the funeral and confronts memories of the past. Knut's death, ruled a suicide at first, seems suspicious, as does the recent disappearance of a young woman who was researching an old stave church and its wooden saint. The missing man from 30 years ago also had a scholarly interest in that church and its ritual traditions. Assuming this is no coincidence, Max teams up with a librarian named Tirill to uncover the truth behind these disappearances and Knut's death. Rumors suggest that some members of the church community may be conducting their own, more pagan rituals connected to the summer solstice. Max and Tirill must be careful whom they trust, because some people are clearly willing to kill to protect their centuries-old secret. There is a clever plot here, and Max and Tirill are an engaging duo, but the novel lacks emotional depth. Most of the characters just don't seem complex enough to drive the action-packed plot, and this leaves many scenes feeling flat. Though the novel moves somewhat slowly, the climax manages to feel rushed and lacks full explanation and development. The connection between early Christianity and paganism, while not new, could have been more thoroughly explored to add complexity and resonance. A Scandinavian Wicker Man without the atmosphere.

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