Nordic Noir

So about two years ago I dipped my toe into the ocean that is Nordic Noir, now for those who haven’t heard of this genre I have the definition here from Wikipedia. It is also known as ‘Scandi Noir’ and is a genre of crime fiction written from a police point of view and is set in either Scandinavia or the Nordic countries.

I believe that I started with I’m Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork, I have completely fallen in love with this genre so thought that I would make a list of recommendations for both newbies and fellow fans.

For those wanting to dip their toes:

Samuel Bjork – Holger Munch and Mia Kruger series.
So far there are three books in this series (the third being published this month – Included in my March releases post). They are I’m Travelling Alone, The owl Always Hunts at Night & The Boy in the Headlights. The third instalment is waiting on my NetGalley shelf for me to read.

I have recommended these first as this is how I fell in love with Nordic Noir, they are addictive and easy to read.

Jo Nesbo – Blood on Snow

Now if you have come across lists like this before you may have been expecting me to write about the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo, however this may be a little shock but I haven’t actually read those. As far as I am aware there are only Blood on Snow & Midnight Sun in this group of books. I decided to read these as it wasn’t the beginning of a very long series so I could grasp the style of writing by Jo Nesbo, these are both very good books and I will get round to starting the Harry Hole series at some point in the near future haha!

For those wanting to dive deeper

Ragnar Jonasson – Hidden Iceland series

This is the second series by Ragnar Jonasson, the first is Dark Iceland which has five books, these do appeal to me, I just haven’t got round to them yet.
I decided to start with the Hidden Iceland books as they are on my NetGalley Shelf, The Darkness and The Island are murder cases with Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir. In The Darkness, we are introduced to DI Hulda who is 64 and nearing retirement however she is given two weeks to solve a cold case of her choice. She is determined to find the killer, even if it means putting her life in danger.

Erik Axl Sund – The Crow Girl

This is the Victoria Bergmans Trilogy which has been compressed into one book, making it a mammoth read but I believe that it really is worth it. Now this is not for the faint-hearted as it does contain some distressing and disturbing scenes of abuse. However, this is very thought-provoking focusing on where the cycle of violence begins and asking if abusers are also the abused, it’s both thrilling and addictive.

 

 

Lars Kepler – Joona Linna Series
Finally, this has to be my favourite, favourite Nordic Noir series, with Detective Inspector Joona Linna who is sometimes joined by hypnotist Erik Maria Bark. There are so far six books in this series, with book seven soon to be translated to English, The Hypnotist, The Nightmare, The Fire Witness, The Sandman, Stalker & The Rabbit Hunter. I cannot praise this series enough, it is so addictive and each book contains its own thrilling case. The Rabbit Hunter is on my NetGalley shelf for me to read straight after I have finished Stalker.

There was my quick list of recommendations, I hope you enjoyed it and it has inspired you to branch out to different sub-genres of crime fiction, this is by no means all of the authors/series, it is just the ones that I recommend to others.

If you have read any of these or you think that I would like others then please do comment below, thanks for reading and see you in the next post.

 

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