It’s stormy weather, it’s dark, and it’s on Jæren. And the front door to the cabin of the nice people from Stavanger is open. An irritated sheriff, Erik Gjerde, has to stop the search for his favorite sheep to investigate the case. Inside the fashionable cabin, Erik quickly realizes from the blood that has been splashed all over the perfect functional kitchen that this looks more like a crime scene. He sounds the alarm. Lensmann Gjerde is the type who likes to call himself a simple farmer’s boy. After a few years of education and work in the city, he is now back on the small farm with his parents. And just when we think that we have found our main character in this steady sheriff, the narrative jumps to the real protagonist, as she reluctantly wakes up to the sound of her mobile phone. It’s a bad day for police investigator Martha Krohg. Not just because she is urgently summoned to a meeting about a possible crime out in the village. But also because she can’t remember the name of the overly pretty curled top she finds in the bed next to her. The hangover, as well as vague memories of a karaoke bar, do not improve the mood. Nature and unculture in Western Norway This is how we are effectively introduced to the two main characters and opposites in this new series of police novels from Western Norway. Debutant Kaja Gjersem Nygaard quickly shows that she masters a genre most of us know from the screen. The plot is reasonably complex and follows the two investigators in their hunt, first for a corpse, and then for an ice-cold killer. The woman who has been killed has a husband in the fine bourgeoisie in Stavanger. She worked for an event agency with clients in the oil industry. Martha Krohg and Erik Gjerde therefore have to search both high and low in Stavanger society, and far and wide in the Rogaland geography. About the author Photo: Bonnier / Ellen Johanne Jarli Kaja Gjersem Nygaard (b. 1986) grew up in Stavanger. “A darker water” is her first novel. Graduated economist and works at the University of Stavanger. The author shows how well suited this type of crime novel is to give a broad picture of a changing world. Here they are all together: the nice in the bourgeoisie, with typical filth behind the facade. Gamlekara in the police chamber, with values and views of women from another millennium. Young, slightly distant environmental activists and old aunts from the Bible belt out in the country are also there. And the occasional motorcycle gangster helps to fill in the picture of a Western world with many tribes and ways of life. As a non-Westerner, I have to say that the local color certainly seems very convincing. Gjersem Nygaard gets a lot out of the contrasts between the modern, urban nature of the oil city and the wild nature of the West Country. The novel is close to the TV story, in pace, dialogues and quick scene changes. It is obviously inspired by many similar TV series about young Nordic women working for the police, in conflict with villains on the outside and Neanderthals in their own ranks. Events at salt water And let’s not forget the weathered nature, which the author makes a lot of. Here it is not crushed by wind and stormy weather and waves crashing against the beach. The most highly dramatic scenes preferably take place down by the fjord. It’s as if the Roglander in this book instinctively knows that if you’re going to take someone’s life first, you must at least make sure to do it down on the shore, to the delight of readers and potential cameramen. “A darker water” is a professional and promising start to a new series of police novels with an interesting pair of radars. There is obviously enough material buried here to keep readers coming back. As I said, Martha Krohg has her own struggles, not least the suicide of her father, an old policeman, a suicide which at the end of the novel is still not fully explained. And what about the relationship between the two colleagues? It is not a bold claim to say that there is a certain chemistry between Martha and Erik that goes beyond the purely collegial. Not sweet music, exactly, but some chords that can eventually develop into sweet music. As I said, an exciting start to a new crime novel. And who knows, maybe some TV producer will take the plunge? news reviews Photo: Bonnier Title: “Et mørkere vann” Author: Kaja Gjersem Nygaard Publisher: Bonnier Date: 12 January 2024 Genre: Crime Number of pages: 298 Hi! My name is Ola Hegdal, and I read and review books for news. Preferably crime and suspense literature, or non-fiction. Feel free to read my review of “The Anomaly” by Hervé Le Tellier, “You are a farmer” by Kristin Auestad Danielsen or “The Night Runner” by Karin Fossum.
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“A darker water” by Kaja Gjersem Nygaard – Reviews and recommendations
