Dark narratives with an equally dark atmosphere to match, flawed and realistic protagonists – what’s not to love about Nordic Noir?
Book critics have been suggesting that the popularity of Nordic Noir is on the wane, and yet the appetite appears to be insatiable. Whether it’s the desperately broken characters (usually ex or current police detectives) or the eerie backdrops, this genre isn’t going anywhere.
“There are so many reasons why it appeals” says Karen Sullivan, publisher at Orenda Books. “Traditionally, Nordic Noir has been known for addressing societal issues – piercing the underbelly, if you like – and I think readers like to see problems raised and resolution found in the guise of entertainment.”
So if your bookshelf is looking a little lacking and you're on the hunt for your next literary thrill, we've got just the thing. Here, the most anticipated new book releases for the first half of 2023.
Stigma by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger
Book four in the Blix & Ramm series, Stigma, is out in September and is Nordic Noir at its best. Alexander Blix, a former Oslo police investigator, is convicted for avenging his daughter’s death and now finds himself in a Norway high-security prison. Blix’s former colleagues meanwhile are on the hunt for the killer and the one lead they have brings them straight to Blix’s prison ward. One of Blix’s few visitors, journalist Emma Ramm, has becomes an ally and helps him connect the outside world and the one he now finds himself in.
A former investigator in the Norwegian police, Jørn Lier Horst rose to literary fame with his internationally bestselling William Wisting series and Thomas Enger is a former journalist who made his debut with the crime novel Burned in 2010, which became an international sensation before it was published.
The Lazarus Solution by Kjell Ola Dahl
Daniel Berkåk works as a courier for Sweden’s Press and Military Office and is on a final mission to Norway. Carrying a rucksack full of coded documents, he is shot, and the contents of his rucksack are missing. The Norwegian government-in-exile appoints a writer, Jomar Kraby, to find the missing documents. His first suspect? A Norwegian refugee living in Sweden with a horrifying past but nothing in comparison to what transpires later. The Lazarus Solution is out in May.
One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl made his debut in 1993, and has published thirteen novels. The Lazarus Solution (translated by Don Bartlett) is best described as a classic noir, historical thriller and is as gripping and impossible-to-put-down, just like his other books.
Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen
Danish debut author Jenny Lund Madsen’s Thirty Days of Darkness is out in May and the first in a series. Hannah is a snobby literary author in Copenhagen and after experiencing severe writer’s block her editor challenges her publicly to write a crime novel in thirty days. Her editor sends her to Húsafjöður, a tiny village in Iceland for inspiration, and this being Nordic Noir, she finds a body. Expect endless twists and turns (and the cure to writer’s block).
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark's most acclaimed scriptwriters and recently made her debut as a playwright with Audition. Thirty Days of Darkness won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the Year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award.
You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
A prequel to the multi-award-winning Forbidden Iceland series, You Can’t See Me is out in July. A wealthy family is investigated, and dark secrets exposed when a body is found on the lava fields outside the isolated hotel where they’ve gathered for a reunion.
Björg Ægisdóttir has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland. Her first novel, The Creak on the Stairs, went on to win the CWA Debut Dagger, the Blackbird Award, was shortlisted (twice) for the Capital Crime Readers' Awards, and became a number one bestseller in Iceland.
The Moose Paradox by Antti Tuomainen
No Noir list is complete without including Finnish author Antti Tuomainen's Rabbit Factor Trilogy (translated by David Hackston). The Beaver Theory (book three) is currently being adapted by Amazon Studios and stars Steve Carell and Tuomainen’s The Moose Paradox (book two) is out in paperback in June.
Ex-insurance man Henri Koskinen now owns a Helsinki adventure park, and getting on with life, when a man from his past appears and turns everything upside down again. Meanwhile, Koskinen's relationship with artist Laura, who readers will recognise from the Rabbit Factor, isn't going well. This second instalment is as nail-biting as ever, with a healthy dose of humour and hilarity.