Hot fiction from a cold climate
I was chatting with the guy behind the counter in my local bookshop/second home, and he was telling me how they’ve seen a massive increase in the number of people buying Scandinavian fiction. He puts it down to the success of the Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest etc – but reckons other writers are now benefiting from the interest in his books (and his story); and that some of them are much better!
It wasn’t long ago that Scandinavian fiction would make you think of Moomin Trolls or epic Viking poems featuring quests and battles and custom rings with evil powers. Some people may have read some of the Wallander books by Henning Mankell, but now fans of dark and moody crime thrillers are spoilt for choice. As well as fellow Swede Larsson, there is the Norwegian Jo Nesbo and the author of the Reykjavik Murder Mystery series, Arnaldur Indridason.
The Icelandic books are definitely my favourites, and not just because I’ve been to Reykjavik twice on holiday and recognise some of the places and buildings! There is a touch of humour in amongst all the serious and atmospheric crime writing in Indridason’s books. Something that you could probably apply to most Icelandic people, who spend all winter practically living in the dark, and then go nuts when midsummer comes around and the sun shines for 24 hours!
If you haven’t read the Larsson trilogy, then you definitely should make them a priority; if only so that you don;t end up the only person on earth who hasn’t read them… They’re also the most accessible, the most straightforward thrillers. Both Nesbo and Indridason try something different with the genre, which can be a bit of an acquired taste, but well worth working hard to develop.
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