The Land of Dreams

Starred review from July 22, 2013
Norwegian crime novelist Sundstøl’s stellar psychological thriller, the first in his Minnesota Trilogy, stunningly evokes the North Shore of Lake Superior and its people—Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish settlers, as well as Objibway Native Americans. When 46-year-old forest ranger and amateur historian Lance Hansen checks out a report of someone illegally pitching a tent near the lake, he comes across a distraught naked man smeared with dried blood and close by the body of the man’s murdered companion, both apparently Norwegian tourists. Lance soon gets entangled in a web of intrigue, revenge, and old unresolved conflicts—not the least agonizing of which is with his brother, Andy, whom Lance saw near the murder site before discovering the body. Sundstøl, who lived two years on the North Shore, makes dreams his central metaphor for the monsters that old Vikings and the Ojibway both knew lurked at the base of the universe and in the depths of human hearts. Like his detective Eirik Nyland, brought from Oslo to investigate the crime, Sundstøl is an outsider, and as such, he clearly recognizes the violent energy beneath the placid surface of Cook County, Minn. Nunnally’s convincing translation helps bring it all to unforgettable life.

October 1, 2013

Lance Hansen, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, amateur archivist, and local historian, discovers a blood-smeared nude despondent Norwegian tourist when he is called in to investigate an unauthorized campsite on the north shore of Lake Superior. Nearby, Hansen also finds the brutally murdered corpse of the tourist's companion. Because a Norwegian died on federal land, Eirik Nyland, an Oslo detective, is flown in from Norway to assist the FBI with the investigation. As Hansen simultaneously examines the ties between this killing and the century-old murder of an Ojibwe man, he must choose between justice and family loyalty. VERDICT Winner of the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel of the year and nominated for the Glass Key for best Scandinavian crime novel of the year, Sundstol's superb first entry in his acclaimed Minnesota trilogy, now published for the first time in the United States, interweaves a Nordic noir flavor with the history and heritage of Minnesota's Cooke County. Nunnally's translation is accessible to an American audience. Fans of Scandinavian crime novels and mysteries with a Minnesota setting will enjoy this chilling psychological thriller. [The other two novels in the trilogy, Only the Dead and The Ravens, are forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press.--Ed.]--Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE

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Starred review from June 1, 2013
A police officer fears that his brother is guilty of murder. Lance Hansen may be a police officer for the U.S. Forest Service, but his real love is the history of the area where he grew up: Cook County, Minn., on the shores of Lake Superior. Hansen's job, which is usually limited to ticketing people for illegal fishing or camping, gives him plenty of time to peruse the historical society records he keeps in his house. Like most of his neighbors, he is of Scandinavian descent; in his case, Norwegian. Hansen's peaceful life comes to an end when he discovers the savagely beaten body of a Norwegian canoeist and his near-catatonic friend. Crack homicide detective Eirik Nyland is sent from Norway to confer with Bob Lecuyer, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation. When they realize that the two men were gay, they decide that the surviving partner is the most likely suspect. Hansen is concerned because his brother, who was close to the Cross River at the time of the murder, almost killed a gay fellow student back when he was in high school. But he has not gone to the police with any testimony nor mentioned his background to anyone. Hansen makes another connection between the recent death and the story of one that took place generations before, when Joe Caribou, an Ojibway Indian, vanished in the same vicinity but may have been murdered by Hansen's ancestor. Now Hansen imagines that he's seeing the earlier victim as he travels the area. Hansen can't bring himself to identify his brother as a suspect, but the guilt of covering up his story is killing him. The first of Sundstol's Minnesota trilogy to be published in the U.S. is literate, lyrically descriptive and mystical. The next can't come too soon.

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Starred review from October 15, 2013
Winner of the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel, this transplanted Scandinavian thriller is set in Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior and is the first book of a trilogy. Lance Hansen is a police officer with the U.S. Forest Service, but his real passion is local history. While making his morning rounds, he finds the body of a young man who has been bludgeoned to death. No one can recall a murder in this part of Minnesota, and, indeed, Hansen has to go back almost 100 years to find anotheroddly enough, in the same area. Hansen calls in the local sheriff, who quickly refers the case to the FBI. The dead man, it turns out, was a Norwegian tourist, and the friend he was traveling with is the prime suspect. FBI agent Bob Lecuyer flies in a detective from Oslo, Eirik Nyland, who befriends Hansen. Hansen is just as intrigued by the story of a murdered Native American in the 1800s as he is in the current murder, and finds some ominous ties to his own family. The landscape is a big part of the story, as is the history of the area, making this a fascinating look at Minnesota as well as a suspenseful thriller. The novel will certainly appeal to Scandinavian crime-fiction fans, but the vivid Minnesota setting should expand its audience considerably. A fine mix of history and mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)