Margaret Amassian

Varg Veum is a not so successful private detective in 1970s Bergen, Norway. One day an eight-year-old boy named Roar comes to his office and hires Veum to find his bicycle which has been stolen by a local gang of teenage thugs. Roar lives alone with his mother but he doesn't want her to try to get the bike because the gang members assaulted the mother of one of Roar's friends who tried to get her son's stolen bike back. Varg meets leader of the gang, Joker, who appears to unstable and the situation between them escalates in ways Veum cannot anticipate. When a murder occurs in Roar's apartment, both Varg and Joker are witnesses and Varg manages to insinuate himself into the investigation.

Originally published in Norway in 1979 and first published in English in 1993 the series has the brooding and bleak essence of other Norwegian Noir books. I would definitely try another one of his books in the future.… (mer)