Victim. It is a widely used term that has many connotations. Many Nordic Noir novels look purely at the victims of a usually bloody crime. For Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, however, the concept of victimhood is looked at through a much wider lens.
In Victim, their fifth collaboration, sees former police detective Alexandra Blix and former journalist Emma Ramm drawn into two cases – a historic case that may have a personal link to Blix and a contemporary case that piques Ramm’s journalistic instincts.
Murder is at the forefront of both cases and, as the body count begins to rise, past and present soon collide, but Lier Horst and Enger aren’t talking just murder here, this is a powerful, well-constructed look at childhood trauma, abuse and neglect also creates victims.
That trauma can destroy a child and send them down a dark path, but no two paths are the same and an equally abusive upbringing can instead drive its victim to escape and move onto greater things.
Lier Horst and Enger plot this multi-layered exploration of decades-old, repressed trauma, guilt and repercussions beautifully. Details are slowly teased out, the pain of discussing the past captured on the page with the requisite pauses that hide a multitude of feelings.
There’s a subtlety to the revelations that provide the crucial turning point for solving this puzzle. This subtlety acknowledges the snatches of conversations, the heavy hints and the power of the unsaid words to convey some of the deepest and darkest childhood fears.
This is far more than a psychological examination of trauma and revenge though. There’s a continuing story arc from the previous four books in the series that charts a complex relationship between two friends, one now released from prison, one looking for a new career. Much like the cases they are trying to solve, there’s a sense that there’s more to be resolved here than the perpetrator of the crimes.
As well as being master storytellers, Lier Horst and Enger’s backgrounds in police and journalism lend their works a heightened sense of realism and that’s perhaps most strongly felt in this fourth book in the series. We’re given a tantalising insight into a former police officer, used to being at the centre of crime investigations, drawn unwittingly into an escalating case of multiple murders. The challenges of wanting to be on the inside but kept at arm’s length are perfectly portrayed.
There’s a real sense of claustrophobia and fear at play here as well. Personal connections to one of the cases often crop up in Nordic Noir, but here there are genuine gasp moments as the perpetrator taunts Blix with clues to his own childhood and past.
A fast-paced translation by Megan Turney keeps the pages turning with a breathless conclusion keeping readers guessing to the end.
The epilogue suggests a quitter future for Blix and Ramm, but in the hands of Lier Horst and Enger, one doubts that quietness will last for long. Nor should it, Victim shows that the writing partnership is one of the strongest in Norwegian literature at the moment.
Victim by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, translated by Megan Turney, is published by Orenda Books on 7 November
