Cursed
-
-
3.6 • 11 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
When a woman fails to return from a retreat in Italy, investigative journalist Henning Juul discovers that she never left Oslo … and her disappearance leads to a chilling case that has unexpected and devastating links to the past.
'One of the most unusual and intense talents in the field' Barry Forshaw, Independent
'A sophisticated and suspenseful tale' Jessica Mann, Literary Review
'Suspenseful, dark and gritty … this is a must-read' Booklist
––––––––––––––––––––––––
What secret would you kill to protect?
When Hedda Hellberg fails to return from a retreat in Italy, her husband discovers that his wife's life is tangled in mystery. Hedda never left Oslo, the retreat has no record of her and, what's more, she appears to be connected to the death of an old man, gunned down on the first day of the hunting season in the depths of the Swedish forests.
Henning Juul becomes involved in the case when his ex-wife joins in the search for the missing woman, and the estranged pair find themselves enmeshed both in the murky secrets of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, and in the painful truths surrounding the death of their own son.
When their lives are threatened, Juul is prepared to risk everything to uncover a sinister maze of secrets that ultimately leads to the dark heart of European history.
Chilling, gritty and unputdownable, Cursed marks the return of one of Norway's finest crime writers.
––––––––––––––––––––––––
Praise for Thomas Enger
'Satisfyingly tense and dark … a deep and complex book' Sunday Times
'MUST HAVE' Sunday Express S Magazine
'Intriguing' Guardian
'Full of suspense and heart' Crime Monthly
'Thomas Enger writes with verve, colour and a pace that builds to a thrilling climax' European Literature Network
'A crime series worth watching' Library Journal
'Superbly compelling … the characters leap right off the page, and the relationship between them is as twisted and complex as the story itself' Shotsmag
'Outstanding' Ragnar Jónasson
'A masterpiece of intrigue, fast-paced action and suspense that is destined to become a Nordic Noir classic' Yrsa Sigurdardóttir
'An intriguing new voice in crime' NJ Cooper
'Slick, compelling and taut' Chris Ewan
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Enger's plodding crime thriller debut, investigative reporter Henning Juul returns to work two years after an unexplained fire killed his six-year-old son and left him with facial scars and an obsession with smoke detectors. When Henning looks into the murder of 23-year-old Henriette Hagerup, who was discovered half-buried and stoned to death with her hand chopped off inside a tent in an Oslo park, he learns the victim was scouting locations for a student film. Suspicion quickly falls on Henriette's Pakistan-born boyfriend, Mahmoud Marhoni, particularly after text messages from her are found on his phone that suggest she was seeing someone else. But the more Henning digs into Henriette's life and her work as a film student, the less he believes the case is an honor killing related to sharia, the Muslim code of conduct. While Henning's tortured psyche intrigues, it's by no means unique in this genre, and he makes a tepid hero at best.
