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by Vidar Sundstol
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 grandson of Norwegian immigrants, Lance Hansen is a U.S. Forest Service officer and has a nearly all-consuming passion for local genealogy and history. But his quiet routines are shattered one morning when he comes upon a Norwegian tourist brutally murdered near a stone cross on the shore of Lake Superior. Another Norwegian man is nearby; covered in blood and staring out across the lake, he can only utter the word kjærlighet. Love.
FBI agent Bob Lecuyer is assigned to the case, as is Norwegian detective Eirik Nyland, who is immediately flown in from Oslo. As the investigation progresses, Lance begins to make shocking discoveries - including one that involves the murder of an Ojibwe man on the very same site more than one hundred years ago. As Lance digs into two murders separated by a century, he finds the clues may in fact lead toward someone much closer to home than he could have imagined.
The Land of Dreams is the opening chapter in a sweeping chronicle from one of Norway's leading crime writers - a portrait of an extraordinary landscape, an exploration of hidden traumas and paths of silence that trouble history, and a haunting study in guilt and the bonds of blood.
"Starred Review. The first of Sundstøl's Minnesota trilogy to be published in the U.S. is literate, lyrically descriptive and mystical. The next can't come too soon." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Norwegian crime novelist Sundstøl's stellar psychological thriller, the first in his Minnesota Trilogy, stunningly evokes the North Shore of Lake Superior and its people - Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish settlers, as well as Objibway Native Americans." - Publishers Weekly
"Crime of the highest quality ...powerful and well-written. Vidar Sundstøl's Minnesota Trilogy is one of the best that has been written in this country for many years." - Dagbladet (Norway)
"Sundstøl's dialogue with the universe, with nature's physical contact, reaches mythological heights. Its lyricism strikes like an arrow in the heart of the target." - Le Figaro (France)
"The highlight of this year's crime harvest." - Politiken (Denmark)
"Scandinavian noir meets Minnesota noir ...Sundstøl weaves a rich sense of Northland history and heritage into his crime novel. His deep knowledge of - and love for - the Lake Superior region comes through on every page." - Brian Freeman, author of The Cold Nowhere
This information about The Land of Dreams 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.
Vidar Sundstøl is the acclaimed Norwegian author of six novels, including the Minnesota Trilogy, written after he and his wife lived for two years on the north shore of Lake Superior. The Land of Dreams was nominated for the Glass Key for best Scandinavian crime novel of the year, and the series has been translated into eight languages. The remaining novels in the trilogy—Only the Dead and The Ravens—are both forthcoming from Minnesota.
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