Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst

Dregs (William Wisting Mystery, #1)

by Jorn Lier Horst

The inspiration for thrilling BBC TV show Wisting, from the producers behind Wallander and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A severed left foot in a training shoe washes up on the shore in Stavern. Then another, and another: four left feet in a single week.

Inspector Wisting is an experienced policeman but has never seen anything like this before and has trouble making sense of the case.

Has there been some kind of terrible accident at sea? Or does this indicate the killing and dismembering of multiple victims?

Wisting suspects a link with the unsolved spate of recent disappearances in the area – the dregs of society, for his publicity-hungry superior, but people nonetheless. People who, in Wisting’s eyes, deserve justice.

Meanwhile Wisting’s daughter Line, a journalist, is interviewing murderers recently released from prison. When it emerges that her interviewees have ties to the missing, Wisting cannot help but wonder if there is a larger, more sinister, force at work.

 

Get your next Scandi crime fix from number one bestselling author Jorn Lier Horst.

Praise for the multi-award-winning William Wisting Mysteries:


'Up there with the best of the Nordic crime writers.'
-The Times
'Solid, satisfying police procedurals.'
-The Sunday Times
'Plotting reigns supreme.'
-Financial Times
'Gripping and well executed.'
-The Herald
'Immensely impressive.'
-Barry Forshaw
'A masterpiece of storytelling.'
-Lin Anderson

Reviewed by Mystereity Reviews on

4 of 5 stars

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Really good read. I've tried a few other Scandinavian mysteries and this is the first that kept my interest. The plot was not intricate but unwound slowly throughout the book. (One of my pet peeves is when the sleuth suddenly has an epiphany and solves the mystery in on paragraph. I liked that this was solved in little pieces though the book.) The location was vivid (at least for me, having lived in Norway) and added a lot of dimension to the story. The characters were realistic and interesting. Overall a great read, very hard to put down once I got into it. I'd love to read more, but I'm not sure my Norwegian is good enough to read a novel. Would be worth it to give it a shot, though.

This occurred to me the other night while trying to fall asleep: is it me or was the whole Hanne Richter left half finished? I realize it wasn't a big part of the plot, but it bothers me that it was just left behind. I hate dropped threads.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 June, 2014: Finished reading
  • 5 June, 2014: Reviewed