The Land of Dreams by Vidar Sundstol

Book Description:  Winner of the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel and named by Dagbladet as one of the top twenty-five Norwegian crime novels of all time, The Land of Dreams is the chilling first installment in Vidar Sundstøl’s critically acclaimed Minnesota Trilogy, set on the rugged north shore of Lake Superior and in the region’s small towns and deep forests.

The Land of Dreams is a thoughtful mystery, rather than an action-filled one.  Lance Hansen is a Forest Ranger who deals mostly with checking on campsites.  When he receives a call about someone camping on an unauthorized site, Lance finds a naked man covered in blood.  Shocked and bewildered, his questioning results only in the Norwegian word for love.  But the worst is not over.  At the camp site, Lance discovers another naked Norwegian man, and this one has been brutally murdered.

Although Lance is not involved in the formal part of the investigation which is under the auspices of the FBI, his curiosity leads him to some investigating on his own.  He also likes the Norwegian detective who has been sent from Oslo to aid the FBI.  As Lance probes probes this murder and a murder that he suspects took place a century before, he finds himself faced with a moral dilemma.

Portions of the novel are slow, but in keeping with Lance's persona.


NetGalley/Univ. of Minnesota Press.

Mystery.  Sept. 1, 2013.  Print version:  344 pages

• ISBN-10: 0816689407