Investigative novel uses twists to foil mystery buffs
With The Ninth Grave, his second novel to feature investigator Fabian Risk, Swedish writer Stefan Ahnhem makes a convincing bid for inclusion in the front ranks of writers specializing in Nordic Noir.
Already the winner of the Mi mi KrimiPublikum-spreis Award forth eb est crime novel in Germany, the novel has sold into seventeen territories and it’s easy to see why: The Ninth Grave may not be a perfect book, but it’s compelling and surprising and will likely satisfy even the most jaded crime reader.
The Ninth Grave — a stand-alone prequel to Ahnhem’s last novel, Victim Without a Face — begins with the disappearance of the Swedish Minister for Justice. Risk is called in by his longtime boss Herman Edelman — who was friends with the minister — and charged with solving the disappearance, despite having been explicitly forbidden to do so by the Swedish secret service. At the same time, in Denmark, the wife of a TV celebrity is brutally murdered in her own home and the case is assigned to investigator Dunja Hougard.
It will surprise no one when it turns out that these two cases are not only related, but tie into other investigations, both ongoing and deep in the past.
As Risk and Hougard race against time to prevent further bloodshed (readers with surgical phobias should probably steer clear of this one), the novel tantalizes with red herrings before shocking with unique twists.
It seems almost deliberately intended to foil mystery buffs, who will convince themselves — repeatedly — that they have it all figured out, only to be foiled by the novel’s turns.
That deftness with plotting might be expected from Ahnhem, who is also a screenwriter who has worked on The Killing and adaptations of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander novels, but it doesn’t come at the expense of characterization.
Risk and Hougard (and their compatriots) are well-drawn, with skilfully evoked personal lives which, far from set dressing, are actually integral to the narrative and its repercussions.
The Ninth Grave has something of a rocky start.
The early pages have a rote, programmatic feel, as if the groundwork is being laid with perhaps too much deliberation.
Before long, though, the narrative develops an irresistible drive, dragging readers toward a conclusion which both surprises and satisfies. Robert Wiersema’s latest book is Seven Crow Stories.