Blind Goddess

April 9, 2012
Det. Hanne Wilhelmsen and her colleague Håkon Sand, an attorney with the Special Branch of the Oslo police, look into two murders in Edgar-finalist Holt’s well-paced first Hanne Wilhelmsen novel, the second to be published in the U.S. (after 2011’s 1222). A frightened Dutchman, who won’t give his name, quickly confesses to the first murder, that of a drug dealer. When the Dutchman insists that inexperienced lawyer Karen Borg, an old friend of Sand’s, represent him, the police suspect that unknown corrupt lawyers, part of a massive criminal organization, are behind Borg’s selection. The subsequent fatal shooting of a sleazy lawyer may be linked to the first murder. Snippets of the crooks’ reactions to the police investigation add tension, while the breaking of a “book code” helps bring the criminal activities into focus. Characterizations that compel without being obtrusive compensate for the somewhat disappointing reveal of the ultimate culprit’s identity.

Starred review from August 27, 2012
When a young man is found covered in blood and arrested for the murder of an amateur drug dealer, he makes an unusual request: he will only be represented by lawyer Karen Borgâthe very woman who stumbled across the dead body in Oslo, Norway. But when another body and a coded message are found, investigating officers Hakon Sand and Hanne Wilhelmsen realize the events are linked and the case is more complicated than it first appeared. In this audio edition of Holt's thriller, narrator Kate Reading turns in a standout performance. As Borg, she is stern and confident; unwavering despite everything she discovers. Her narration is well paced and compelling, and the dialects she employs for the book's many characters are unique and realistic. With the greatest of ease, Reading bends her voice, creating an atmosphere as chilling as the book's snowy setting, or shocking readers as the novel's plot twists and turns. A Scribner paperback.

April 15, 2012
Politics and drugs make uneasy bedfellows in this first case for Hanne Wilhelmsen, the Oslo police inspector most recently seen on these shores in 1222 (2011). Nobody much cares about Ludvig Sandersen, the dead addict found virtually faceless at the side of the River Aker. But it's a different matter when attorney Hans E. Olsen is killed. Suddenly, or as close to suddenly as this slow-moving tale allows, Hanne and police attorney Hakon Sand, her old friend, are able to connect the two murders and even develop a plausible theory that links them both to a vast drug-smuggling operation. But their higher-ups don't find their theory nearly so plausible. Neither do the judges who hear their petitions to lock up used-car salesman Roger Stromsjord and shady lawyer Jorgen Ulf Lavik. And no wonder, since the two suspects the Oslo police have already locked up--drug user Jacob Frostrup and Dutch student Han van der Kerch--have died while in police custody. Hanne and Hakon are left to ask the same questions over and over: Why was Peter Strup, that ornament of the local bar, so determined to wrest van der Kerch's defense away from Karen Borg, the civil attorney Sandersen's confessed killer asked for? How can they crack the coded message Frostrup found before he died? How high does the chain of corruption and coverups reach? And how can the police prove what they mostly know perfectly well? Fans of Henning Mankell's majestically lumbering police procedurals will relish every twist in the long road to resolution. Less patient readers should look to Hanne's later adventures.

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April 1, 2012

Norwegian author Holt introduces the first of her popular Hanne Wilhemsen novels to U.S. audiences, after her eighth book in the series (1222) gained popularity here in 2011. The novel begins when commercial lawyer Karen Borg and her dog unearth the remains of a faceless man. Next, a disoriented man covered in blood is brought to the police station but refuses to talk, requesting Borg as his defense attorney. Police officers Hanne Wilhelmsen and Hakon Sand investigate the two cases and become immersed in a web of intrigue and secrets. They trace incriminating evidence, decipher secret codes, and battle corruption and threats as they uncover what seems to be a covert syndicate operating in illegal narcotics. VERDICT Holt delivers a deeply woven detective mystery that keeps readers guessing until the bitter end. Highly recommended for crime fiction enthusiasts.--Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2012
American readers were introduced to Norwegian detective Hanne Wilhelmsen in Holt's superb 1222 (2011), which takes place after the legendary detective had been paralyzed in a career-ending shooting. Now, with the series debut receiving its first U.S. publication, we see Hanne before the shooting, on the job. Like Jo Nesb and Liza Marklund, Holt presents cases that are much more complex than they first seem and that reach deep into the upper levels of government, with the potential to expose secrets that Norwegian power brokers would much rather stay buried. Hanne's investigation starts after a Dutchman is found wandering and bloodied in central Oslo and refuses to speak to anyone other than a relatively unknown tax lawyer. Hanne and her partner, Hakon, manage to establish links between the murders of a shady lawyer (think Sal from Breaking Bad) and a low-level drug dealer, but that's only the start of a many-tentacled, twisty investigation in which Hanne and Hakon risk jobs and lives tracking the killers across Norway. This series features the type of character-driven Nordic noir made famous by Henning Mankell in his Kurt Wallander novels. Blind Goddess is sure to appeal to fans of either the Wallander books or their TV adaptions as well as to readers who enjoy the many female detectives in Scandinavian fiction, including Helene Tursten's Irene Huss. A winner on all counts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)