Mirror Image by Gunnar Staalesen
Bergen Private Investigator Varg Veum is perplexed when two wildly different cases cross his desk at the same time. A lawyer, anxious to protect her privacy, asks Varg to find her sister, who has disappeared with her husband, seemingly without trace, while a ship carrying unknown cargo is heading towards the Norwegian coast, and the authorities need answers.
Varg immerses himself in the investigations, and it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, and have unsettling – and increasingly uncanny – similarities to events that took place thirty- six years earlier, when a woman and her saxophonist lover drove their car into the sea, in an apparent double suicide.
As Varg is drawn into a complex case involving star-crossed lovers, toxic waste and illegal immigrants, history seems determined to repeat itself in perfect detail ... and at terrifying cost...
About the author
One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947 He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, star- ring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.
Review
‘Mirror Image’ is a fiendishly clever novel that made me gasp in places, and laugh out loud and it was a perfect blend of past and present! This is part of the fabulous Varg Veum series but it can easily be read as a standalone. It has been fabulously translated from Norwegian into English by Don Bartlett.
I love this series and that is mainly due to the characterisation of Varg. He is methodical, has an uncanny ability able to get under people’s skin, his crap jokes make me cringe but I love them, and he doesn't get in involved in cases that involve marital disputes. He is moralistic and stubborn, hence his mounting bills but he doesn't do this job for the money he does it because he loves it. He is a natural detective and I adore him!
When a prominent lawyer asks Varg to investigate whether her sister Bodil and her husband have gone missing, he soon learns that this might be a more complex case than he thought it would be. He finds himself looking more into the past than into the events that surround the couple’s disappearance in the present. Back in the 1950’s the sister's parents were involved in a huge scandal which could still have reverberations today. On top of this, Varg also takes on an assignment from a journalist to find out information about ‘The Seagull’ a boat heading to Norway from Morocco.
I was captivated by this book and read it in a couple of sittings! I instantly wanted to know more about the missing couple and I found the references to the past to be very intriguing. The author uses Varg as a tool to present the characters in a definite way - unreliable. As Varg says ‘everyone lies’ and in this case everyone indeed does! Normally I am on the ball but Staalesen managed to shock and surprise me right up until the end! I certainly wasn't expecting that I can tell you. There was a canny use of misdirection throughout the whole book and it leads to a brilliant resolution!
Let me know if you pick this one up!
