The Fourth Man by KO Dahl
I love a good crime novel as much as anybody else, and I was fascinated by this dark thriller by Norwegian author KO Dahl. This is the first book from this author translated into English, so it seems a little like we are picking the story up in the middle, with well established regular characters.
Detective Frank Frolich is involved in routine police work when he meets and rescues a woman. A few weeks later, they meet again, and a torrid affair begins. It is already too late for Frank when he discovers this woman is the sister of a notorious thief. But a murder is committed, the woman provides an alibi for her brother, and Frank is drawn into the story. Suspended and suspected Frank sets off to find his love, who has apparently disappeared, and clear his name if he can.
Reading this book was a very strange experience. The names can be measured with a ruler, some 2 or 3 cm long. At times it seemed the reader had walked into a film in the middle with little introduction to even major characters. Some of the plot twists could be seen long before they happened, and some of the action was unnecessary even to the point of silliness. Why on earth would anyone try to burn Frolich in his own sauna? But, if you don’t want to think too hard and you can deal with multisyllabic nomenclature, this is an entertaining read.
