The Katharina Code: The Cold Case Quartet, Book 1 by Jørn Lier HorstMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Like the adagio of a symphony, The Katharina Code is beautifully written. A slow movement that spans twenty-five years as chief inspector William Wisting revisits the file on missing Katharina Haugen, every year on the anniversary of her disappearance. Wisting and Katharina's husband Martin have become well acquainted over the years, but searches of Martin's house have led them no closer to an answer. Steinar Vassvik lived immediately opposite; he was the closest the police had come to a suspect in the case - the last person to have seen Katharina.
The case becomes more involved when Adrian Stiller arrives from the National Criminal Investigation Service based in Oslo. He is working on another case: the Nadia Krogh kidnapping that occurred in the late eighties. One of the most notorious cases in Norwegian crime history. Both events occurred in close proximity.
And there we have two plots that intertwine as police and suspects circle each other. As Wisting comes to realise that the answer had been hidden in plain sight for so many years...
Comparisons with Wallander are inevitable (although he was Swedish). Jørn Lier Horst is certainly the equal of Henning Mankell, writing in perfect prose, the perfect slow-burning thriller.
My thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC of The Katharina Code.
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