Wolves In The Dark by Gunnar Staalesen #BlogTour #review @OrendaBooks

Today its my stop on the blog tour for Wolves In The Dark by Gunnar Staalesen and I’m thrilled to be able to share my review with you. Many thanks go to Orenda Books for the opportunity.

PI Varg Veum fights for his reputation, his freedom and his life, when child pornography is found on his computer and he is arrested and jailed. Worse still, his memory is a blank…

Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg Veum’s life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts.

When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he’s accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material… and who is seeking the ultimate revenge.

When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest – and most personal – case yet.

Release Date – June 15th 2017

Published by – Orenda Books

Available to purchase – here.

Wolves In The Dark is translated by Don Bartlett.

2017 marks the 40th anniversary of Varg Veum and I can not believe this is the first book I have read, to be fair there are over 20 in the series by Gunner Staalesen and not all have been translated but still, where have I been?

Wolves In The Dark see’s Varg’s life turned upside down, after the death of his love, Karin, his life was a complete mess fuelled with alcohol and blackouts and now he’s being accused of being part of a paedophile ring things don’t seem to be looking up for Varg.

Like I said previously this is the first book I’ve read in the series and it’s always a worry that I’ll feel like I’m missing something, like I wont be able to keep up with things that have happened in past books but there was nothing to worry about here. This can easily be read as a stand alone and there’s enough information through the book to keep you up to date.

Varg is a deeply troubled man and after being accused of being part of a paedophile ring he has to go to the deepest part of his memories to try and figure out what the heck is going on and how he’s ended up in this situation. I wasn’t sure how to take Varg at the beginning of the book, but he grew on me and I found he got under my skin a bit, I liked seeing a bit of his softer side with Madonna too.

The story itself is a page turner although it is very dark and covers a difficult subject matter. At some points I had my head in my heads thinking, oh my lord.  There are some quite distressing scenes in the book as Varg processes his memories but what a puzzle Staalesen has written. I honestly couldn’t guess who was involved, I’ll admit I was wrong so many times but that’s what I loved about this book, it wasn’t in the slightest bit predictable. This really is a thrilling Nordic Noir, written in a way that really draws the reader in, so much so I found myself taking my time to read every single word, making sure I was taking it all in, picking up all the clues and I’ve come to the conclusion I would be a really rubbish detective.

So I’ve now found myself another new author to enjoy and I’m now off to buy more of the books in the series that have been translated.

Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway in 1947. He made his debut at the age of 22 with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over 20 titles, which have been published in 24 countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim. Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour), lives in Bergen with his wife. When Prince Charles visited Bergen, Staalesen was appointed his official tour guide. There is a life-sized statue of Varg Veum in the centre of Bergen, and a host of Varg Veum memorabilia for sale. We Shall Inherit the Wind and Where Roses Never Die were both international bestsellers.