Trophy

Starred review from May 29, 2017
Jacobsen (When the Dead Awaken) launches a four-part Nordic thriller series with this harrowing account of the most dangerous big game hunting of all. When heiress and lawyer Elizabeth Caspersen-Behncke discovers a DVD that suggests that her late father killed a man for sport, she hires Michael Sander, a happily married PI who doesn’t usually carry a weapon, to investigate. Meanwhile, 40ish, divorced cop Lene Jensen, a superintendent in Denmark’s national police force, is looking into the death of highly decorated war veteran Kim Andersen, found hanging from a tree. That Andersen’s hands were handcuffed behind his back suggests he didn’t commit suicide. Michael and Lene join forces as their investigations intersect, leading to dark revelations of money laundering and drug smuggling, as well as the revival of Norse paganism among members of the Danish military. Worst of all, they discover that wealthy Danish businessmen, including Caspersen-Behncke’s father, were stalking and slaughtering human beings in the icy reaches of northern Norway. Jacobsen’s electrifying tale of personal morality pitted against ruthless inhumanity definitively negates the currently popular myth of Denmark as the happiest country in the world. Stieg Larsson fans will find much to like.