Blog Tour: The Ice Swimmer

THE ICE SWIMMER | Kjell Ola Dahl
(Oslo Detectives #8)
04.30.2018 | Orenda Books
Rating: 4/5 stars

A dead man has been found floating in the freezing waters of Oslo Harbor. There are no signs of foul play. The death looks like an intoxicated man who fell into the water and couldn’t get out.

A woman throws herself in front of a metro train. CCTV footage reveals that she was being chased by a mysterious hooded man. Did she really commit suicide or was she pushed?

Too late for any regrets now, she told herself. You got an answer to your questions, even if you escaped only by the skin of your teeth. Nevertheless, you will have to face the music.

Oslo detective, Lena Stigerstand is put in charge of the drowning case. She quickly finds herself involved in the workings of local politics and Norway’s secret services in connection with this death. To make matters more intense, Lena’s personal life has taken crazy turn, after crazy turn. She has a new boyfriend who isn’t quite what he seems, a stalker, and a cancer scare. With the help of her trusted colleagues in the Oslo police department Lena will hunt for the answers that draw these two seemingly unrelated cases together. Can she track the killer before they strike again?

This job’s like being a bullfighter. Think, corrida, Lena. It’s a fight. But to win the fight you have to pass, to feint and sense the right moment. Charging over and killing everything in your path is a tactic you should leave to the bull. Let the bull try to gore you, let the bull charge forwards, you perform a pass and wait for the moment with your sword because you’ll win. 

Last year I started my journey in to reading more Nordic noir. When I was researching where to start Kjell Ola Dahl’s name was one that kept popping up, so when Orenda reached out to me about participating in the blog tour for Dahl’s latest installment in his Oslo Detective series I jumped at the chance! Despite this being the eighth book in a long standing series I felt like I was able to follow along without any issues. I got a feel for the trust between colleagues, which I’m sure has been built up over the last seven books, without feeling like I was missing pieces to the puzzle. I think my favorite part of this book, aside from the fascinating case, was Lena Stigerstand. The world of Lena is turned on it’s side and then flipped again and again in this book and yet somehow she remains a pure badass detective. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a multi-layered crime fiction story with strong detectives leading the case. I’m looking forward to picking up some other editions in this series and getting to know these detectives a bit more in the future!

Thank you so much to Orenda Book and Kjell Ola Dahl for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the fabulous Anne Cater for setting up another #teamorenda tour full of fantastic bloggers! Please be sure to check out the rest of the blogs showcasing this book on its blog tour!

Want a chance to win your own copy? Be sure to head over to my Instagram later today to enter my giveaway!