Kim Leine’s greatest literary achievement to date is a powerful historical trilogy from Greenland. This year’s novel is a far cry from wild journeys across the ice sheet, where both seals and humans risked an ax cut across the back. This time we are going to the Danish power center Borgen, and adjacent wetlands. I noted the transition with a certain skepticism: Blood-dripping and drastic past simply suits his literary temperament better than the – despite everything – more regulated contemporary. But yes: the skepticism was quickly put to shame. And no: the word “wetland” is not a typo. In this universe, integrity can be dissolved, if you just throw in enough money. Sex can have the same effect. And power. Just below the surface of systems and arrangements lie dark, sucking forces. “Karoline’s love” is the mud version of Danish social life in 2013–2015. Leine makes contemporary life swing. The TV series “Borgen” is the pretty version, if one were to compare. Espionage with a dangerously high charm factor Karoline is a formidable woman of 30 plus in 2013. Sharp, beautiful, well-educated. Father’s girl and keen supporter of the Democratic Alliance (DA), which he founded. The party wants Muslims out of Denmark, Denmark out of the EU and the Social Democrats out of Borgen. Karoline is obviously crown princess, but we first meet her as assistant defense attaché at the Danish embassy in Russia. The boss more than hints that she can get deep into Russian secrets if she turns on the charm when meeting the right people. The right people are just as eager for Danish secrets, and so it gradually becomes quite unclear who is deceiving whom. And what does love have to do with this? Nord Stream and desire In 2013, Danish intelligence tried to find out what Putin wanted with Crimea, and what would happen to Nord Stream 1 through Ukraine when he starts the construction of Nord Stream 2. It is fascinating to study the present from a very near, yet distant past, and I wonder how much Leine has tinkered with the script after the invasion of Ukraine. But this is not what does the trick here. Karoline and father and the intelligence and all the others have roles to play. But then the unruly desire gets in the way and creates wrinkles. They stand with mud well up to their shins, all as one, and the biggest players have more husbands than their spouses and the tax authorities have an overview of. Karoline’s family also has some really unsavory skeletons in the closet, which both Russian intelligence and the Danish media are on the trail of. For those who might think that politics is about persuasion and intelligence to serve the state’s interests, this is discouraging reading. Sublimt sug Kim Leine draws a rather shabby picture of life at the top of the various state powers, including the fourth. But what a story it has become! Leine is devilishly good at weaving together different stories and pushing people into complicated dilemmas, where desire and duty pull the poor sinners in different directions. It is safe to say that the author spreads the word thickly, and that a certain goodwill is required to accept the most odious encounters and tossing around. It is worth saying that Leine operates in the larger-than-life format, and he does so with such skill that objections about a lack of realism seem like pure pedantry. The dizzying action drags the reader down into the mud and makes us beg for more. And there will be more: We’re talking trilogy here. I imagine Karoline as a high-profile right-wing populist in Borgen. It can get really ugly. news reviewer Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “Karoline’s love” Author: Kim Leine Genre: Novel Number of pages: 416 Publisher: Cappelen Damm Published: 24 October 2022 Hi! I am chief critic of fiction at news. Feel free to read my book reviews of “The Surgeon” by Ida Hegazi Høyer, “Løpe ulv” by Kerstin Ekman or “Matrix” by Lauren Groff. Høyr news Radioteatret’s dramatization of the Kim Leine book “Red man/black man” (8 episodes of 27 min): More Kim Leine book announcements:
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“Karoline’s love” by Kim Leine – Reviews and recommendations
