When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline ’YOUNG MAN MISSING’, he realises he’s seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends. It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.
Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he’s pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies.
Is the body he’s found connected to the death of a journalist who was digging into the fish farm’s operations two years earlier? And does either incident have something to do with the competition between the two powerful families that dominate Solvik’s salmon-farming industry?
Or are the deaths the actions of the ‘Village Beast’ – the brutal small-town justice meted out by rural communities in this part of the world.
Shocking, timely and full of breathtaking twists and turns, Pursued by Death reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s greatest crime writers.
It's my pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen today. Many thanks to Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel.
The last three Varg Veum novels published by Orenda Books (Fallen Angels, Bitter Flowers and Mirror Image) had been published in Norway several years previously and gave English readers the opportunity to learn more about the seasoned private investigator as a young man. We return to the chronological series in Pursued by Death – although current in this case is 2004 but despite some mention of prior events and a welcome return for one character, these books can easily be enjoyed in any order.
At the start of the book, Veum is headed back to Bergen after doing his best to resolve a decades long boundary dispute. His good mood is quickly soured, however, when he is pulled over and accused of dangerous driving. Despite his claims – and the evidence – to the contrary, his driving licence is temporarily confiscated and he has to continue his journey by bus. With little else to do but observe his fellow passengers, it turns out a few days later that he was one of the last witnesses to see a young man, Jonas Kleiva, who has since been reported as missing. This coincidence is typical for Varg Veum who, although driven by the need to solve the mysteries presented to him, almost seems as though he is a private investigator by necessity rather than design.
He makes an impromptu decision to visit Solvic, the tiny village where Jonas grew up and was part of a demonstration against a commercial fish farm, and strikes up a conversation with local café owner, Stein Solvik and his regular customer, Edvard Aga. They discuss the damage done to the fjord by the salmon pens and Arg offers to show him the source of all the misery. It's perhaps inevitable that they come across the unmistakable vintage VW minibus he saw Jonas Kleiva pick up two girls in – only now it is submerged in the cold, dark fjord. After calling the police, it transpires that while one dead body is at the scene, Jonas is still missing.
Of course, an active case such as this will be investigated by the local police, with assistance from Bergen. Varg Veum has a long and chequered history with the Bergen police force and although relations are more cordial this time, thanks in no small part to distant family ties, he is still warned off from interfering. However, trouble has a way of finding Veum and he is approached by Jonas's mum, Betty, not to find her son but to re-investigate the death of her lover, who died while hiking, two years ago. It's fair to say that Betty has a reputation in the village, something Varg is warned of before he even meets her. His innate kindness comes to the forefront here though, and he is able to see beyond her rather clingy nature, becoming a genuine friend to her in a time of need.
Veum reminds me a little of Columbo; he has a knack of getting under the skin of the people he talks to and with a perfectly timed question or observation, provokes a reaction from even the most reticent. This is a slow-burning novel, in which the complex business and personal relationships in Solvik create a tangled web of resentment and jealousy. A book which explores fish farming doesn't necessarily sound fascinating but it is, especially as it emerges that a bitter feud between those who favour breeding salmon in a farm on the land or in the fjord has divided this tiny village. To complicate matters still further, young environmental campaigners have also been demonstrating outside the fiercely guarded Sunfjord.
It means Veum quickly realises the potential for violence, both in the present and regarding the death of Klaus Krog. His death was recorded as a tragic accident but the head injury he sustained could easily have been murder, particularly as he was writing a manuscript about fish farming at the time of his death. However, as Veum attempts to unpick the past, he also discovers that the village has seen more than its fair share of love triangles and notes that,
"I can make out the outline of several love triangles, if not quadrangles. If they're left to rub up against each other, it's like tectonic plates causing regular violent earthquakes."
It's a sombre reflection which proves to ominously herald an intense, nerve-wracking scene later in the book. Gunnar Staalesen may weave an intricate, elegantly multilayered storyline but he also understands when and how to ratchet up the tension. There is a melancholic tone throughout Pursued by Death, from the personal tragedies endured by Betty to the sense that Solvik has been partially responsible for its own demise. Nevertheless, Varg himself is given reason to smile when he is reunited with journalist, Torunn Tafjord. Readers were introduced to Torunn in Mirror Image but as events there took place in 1993, it's been several years since they spent time with one another. It's good to see him with a spring in his step after enduring so much loss in the past, and they work well together too.
Torunn is writing a story about commercial fish breeding, which helps to underline that far from being a niche topic, the industry is firmly on the international news scene. Gunnar Staalesen always examines the nuances in controversial issues with real insight and even though our sympathies are undoubtedly directed one way in Pursued by Death, he still considers the need to increase the availability to produce food, and the importance of the burgeoning production of seafood.
The eventual truth is genuinely surprising, although as with all the best crime fiction, the clues are there. Pursued by Death is a cleverly structured, compelling murder mystery; the characterisation is excellent and Gunnar Staalesen's customary brooding sense of place, is, of course, exemplary, as is the seamless translation by Don Bartlett. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to all lovers of thoughtful, atmospheric Nordic Noir.
Pursued by Death will be published in paperback by Orenda Books on 29th August 2024, it is available in ebook now and can be ordered from the Orenda website. Further purchasing links can be found here.
Follow the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
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About the Translator
Don Bartlett completed an MA in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2000 and has since worked with a wide variety of Danish and Norwegian authors, including Jo Nesbø and Gunnar Staalesen’s Varg Veum series: We Shall Inherit the Wind, Wolves in the Dark and the Petrona award-winning Where Roses Never Die. He also translated Faithless, the previous book in Kjell Ola Dahl’s Oslo Detective series for Orenda Books. He lives with his family in a village in Norfolk.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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