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Published Jun 2013
288 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
In a foster home outside Oslo, a twelve-year-old boy is causing havoc. The institution's steely director, Agnes Vestavik, sees something chilling in Olav's eyes: sheer hatred. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk, stabbed in the back with an Ikea kitchen knife - with Olav nowhere to be found - the case goes to maverick investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to chief inspector in the Oslo Police.
Could the child be a murderer? As police canvass the city for Olav, Hanne, working alongside the foulmouthed detective Billy T., orders an investigation of the home's employees. But despite her supreme deductive skills, she is hopeless at delegating, hopeless at pooling information, hopeless at sharing responsibilities. Can Hanne learn to trust others before her bullheaded instincts lead her astray - in the workplace and on the home front?
Meanwhile, Olav makes his way through the city, looking for the mother who was forced to consign him to the state's care. A dark and captivating new chapter in this brilliant, rollicking series, Death of the Demon examines that murky intersection between crime and justice.
"Starred Review. A perfect entry point into Scandinavian crime... A sure pleasure for police-procedural fans who read everything from Slaughter to Nesbo." - Booklist
"Starred Review. Edgar-finalist Holt's stellar third Hanne Wilhelmsen novel (after 2012's Blessed Are Those Who Thirst) finds the Oslo police detective uncomfortable with her six-month-old promotion to chief inspector, a dully managerial position that's put her willy-nilly in the thick ofthe professional intrigue she deplores." - Publishers Weekly
"Expertly translated for American readers by the highly capable Anne Bruce… A wonderful combination of old-school police procedure and amateur detective work... Holt is a master of balancing criminal procedure with suspense... This is a series that demands to be read, and the more quickly the better." - Bookreporter
"Anne Holt is the godmother of modern Norwegian crime fiction." - Jo Nesbø
This information about Death of the Demon was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Espen S Hoen
Anne Holt is Norway's bestselling female crime writer. She was a journalist and news anchor and spent two years working for the Oslo Police Department before founding her own law firm and serving as Norway's Minister for Justice in 1996 and 1997. Her first novel was published in 1993 and her books have been translated into over thirty languages and have sold more than 7 million copies. Her novel 1222 was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. She lives in Oslo with her family.
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