Scarred by Thomas Enger

Part III of the Henning Juul (of what I thought was a) Trilogy. Maybe not.

What do we know so far about Henning:

• he's divorced, 
• his ex's new man is Henning's co-worker,
• Henning's toddler son Jonas was killed in a fire at Henning's apartment, 
• his face is disfigured from burns in that fire,
• a guy who may or may not have good intel on who set the fire dies suddenly, 
• Henning's mom pretty much hates him but allows him in her apartment because he brings cigarettes and booze, 
• Henning's sister Trine, and mom's favorite, is the Justice Minister, but they haven't spoken to each other for over five years. 

That about does it. Wonderful life Henning has.

We are a couple weeks after what went down in Pierced. A Sunday. Henning is trying to relax a bit doing what he normally does - sitting in a nearby sports park. His cell phone jolts him back to Oslo that will dramatically change his coming week. The assignment editor at 123News.no wants him to cover a murder at one of the local nursing homes.

Sounds dull. Nothing newsworthy comes from the initial review of the crime scene, but he goes. Erna Pedersen was found in her wheelchair, strangled. Odd since she was so close to death anyway. A wall photo is smashed and another is missing. Oh, and she was mutilated . . . her knitting needles were hammered into her skull through her eyes.

Trine, Henning's sister, is blindsided by the media with an anonymous report of a sexual assault by her on a junior politician shortly after she became the Justice Minister. She retreats to the family cabin on Norway's coast without so much as a word to her husband, communication director, Prime Minister, anyone. She goes off the grid as much as a cabinet minister can.

Erna Pedersen was a schoolteacher. And not a very well-like one at that. She was tough and was not above embarrassing a student in front of the class if some tough love was needed. Anti-Pedersen graffiti was common on the walls of her school. Her family seems to be in the clear so maybe it was a past student. With 30+ years as a teacher, that's a pretty big haystack to be searching for a needle.

A nearly middle age woman's apartment has been broken in to. Two weeks later, she is found dead at home. Obviously a struggle. And a former student of Pedersen. Then a guy who volunteers with a visitation group that stopped in where Erna was living is found dead. Only a couple of the cops think all the killings are related.

Henning needs to do some human interest stories on the victims for followup pieces so he talks to friends and neighbors of the victims. Piece by piece we see how Henning seems to stay a pace or two ahead of the police until the investigations by Henning and the police intersect just in time for a hostage situation to bring these two disconnected stories together.

This is a terrific series. I read them out of order, II, then I, then III. I don't recommend doing that. While any can be a standalone book, if you commit to all three, read them in order. It helps with the development of the continuing relationships, such that they are, within family Juul.

So is it a trilogy? I say nay nay. Why? Because is a trilogy, we'd have answers to questions like why does Henning's mom hate Henning and praise Trine? What happened between Henning and Trine to cause them (Trine mostly) to essentially disown each other? And most importantly, what happened that fateful night when Jonas Juul was killed in that apartment fire, who was behind it, and why? Enger gives us some snippets of info, but not the full nine yards. So, I'm going out on a limb and say there is more of the Henning Juul saga ahead.

And I for one, couldn't be more pleased. Enger is a masterful storyteller, which I think must be hard given the dark, foreboding nature of a story that is treacherously "claustrophobic with secrets and threats." I'm guessing that Henning should come face to face with the facts behind the fire very soon. Stay tuned.

East Coast Don

Burned by Thomas Enger

Remember a few years ago how we all walked about with the obligatory copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo under our arm? 

Henning Juul is an investigative reporter for a Norwegian online newspaper, 123News.com. He's been on leave for quite a while after a fire in his apartment tragically took his toddler son's life. His first day back and he is really conscious of his facial scars.  He is told to attend a press conference about a murder that occurred the prior night in Ekeberg Common, a public park. 

Henriette Hagerup was found by an early morning dog walker, in a tent, stoned to death, and her right hand missing. She was a talented screenwriting student at a local art college. The nature of the crime and the fact that she had a Pakistani boyfriend, Marhoni, makes the police think is was an honor killing. Henning is partnered with Iven Gundersen on the story, who just happens to be living with Henning's ex, Nora, and mother of their deceased child. 

The boyfriend is picked up, but won't say anything. Circumstantial evidence points an accusatory finger at him, but there are some aspects of the murder that don't sound like an honor killing to Henning. He canvases the art college to get a feel for who Henriette was from notes and memorials left on the grounds. One note grabs his attention from fellow film student, Anette, "I'll carry on your work."

Henning does some research on Pakistani immigrants. Marhoni has a brother in Oslo and Tariq has a bit of a history with a gang, BBB (Bad Boys Burning). So Henning decides to interview Tariq. The interview just gets going when a knock takes Tariq to the door where, upon opening the door, he takes 2 shots to the chest and 1 to the head. Henning jumps out the window and in now on the run from whomever it was he witnessed pull the trigger.

Henriette's murder, Marhoni's arrest, and Tariq's execution may be connected or a tragic coincidence. The police are trying to figure out if this was an honor killing,  connected with the BBB, or somehow related to the work Anette's note alluded to.

This is part I (copyright 2010) of the Henning Juul trilogy. Part II is Pierced that was favorably reviewed here at MRB. Never saw Burned anywhere so I went back to the good folks at Artria (a Simon and Schuster imprint) and they happily forwarded a copy. Again, a big high five to Atria Books!

Enger brings what we expect out of a Scandinavia mystery. A dark, foreboding story, full of twists and blind alleys. But once he's taken us to Henriette's killer, that dang book still had 50 pages to go. Ah, methinks there's a HUGE plot twist ahead. An excellent and satisfying mystery so all you folks who've suffered withdrawal symptoms after the Dragon Tattoo trilogy was done, don't despair. Start in with Burned.

But we still don't know what's behind the death of his son. We see what it has done to Hennig's psyche, but there must be more to the tragedy that underlies both Burned and Pierced.

East Coast Don

Pierced by Thomas Enger

Crime journalist Henning Juul is damaged goods. A couple years ago, a fire in his flat killed his young son and Juul still struggles each day. And his former wife lives with one of his co-workers at the online newspaper 123News.no Life in Oslo generally sucks.

Tori Pulli is a former enforcer for some organized crime in Norway, but managed to escape his past to become a real estate developer and marry a hot chick who owns a modeling agency. But a friend was killed. In the past, Tori might just square things on his own, but now he attempts to intercede in between warring parties who frequent the Fighting Fit gym. Tori agrees to meet one side of the argument only to find him beaten to death. He calls the cops who promptly arrest Tori because of incriminating evidence. A conviction. Prison.

A phone call. Tori calls Juul and claims innocence. But with a twist. Help Juul prove his innocence and information about the night Juul’s son was killed in the fire will be forthcoming.

Pulli’s appeal is coming up and the media is all over it. But at the start of a TV interview, Pulli convulses and dies right there in front of the news anchor setting up for the interview. The cameraman, a respected pro who has seen the seedy side of the world, just vanishes. A guy from the gym gets shot dead. And that fingerprint on the armrest of the cameraman’s car. A cabin in the woods. The cute girl working in a forgotten hotel out in the boonies.

Juul, Iver (the guy living with Juul’s ex-wife), a couple cops who act as sources for Juul’s work, Pulli’s widow, and lord knows how many more are trying to piece together occurrences that even the police don’t think are related.

This was the first book sent by our new best friend at Simon and Schuster. Now I will admit that I am not one of ‘those’ readers who faithfully carry around the book that ‘everyone is reading.’  Didn’t do it for The Firm, Presumed Innocent, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Hunger Games, et al. As this is the English translation of a Scandinavian author, I immediately thought, “a Dragon Tattoo” knock off.

Couldn’t have been more wrong. Only thing in common here is the Nordic location.  This is a taut and suspenseful mystery full of scarred characters that probably could only have simmered up out of a region where dark, flawed, self-repentant people are rumored to inhabit. Once I got past the names, and trying to keep straight just who was who, Enger brought me back to Olso (been there twice) and had me rooting for Juul to fit the pieces of the puzzle together (especially those linked to the missing cameraman), despite all the creeps who hang out at the gym, and finally find out just what really happened the night his son died.  Enger’s first novel is called Burned and his third, not yet released in the US, is Scarred; all appear to involve Henning Juul’s search for the truth about . . . that night. Now if I can just find the other two.

ECD