The Last Pilgrim ( Bergmann 1)

Author/Guide: Gard Sveen

Why a Booktrail?

Can you be both a Nazi sympathiser and resister?

ISBN: 978-1503937116
Translator: Steven T. Murray
Genre: Crime, Spy story

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What you need to know before your trail

Young, lovely Norwegian Agnes Gerner is waging a dangerous and secret fight. Outwardly, she is a devoted Nazi sympathizer engaged to a prominent businessman. In fact, she is part of an underground resistance doing everything to win the war against the Germans. The only hope she has of being reunited with the man she truly loves—who serves under the code name “Pilgrim”—is if the Nazis are defeated. Of course, there’s no guarantee that she’ll be alive when that happens…

Many years later, three sets of remains are found in a popular Oslo forest—two adults and a child. Despite his boss’s call to not spend extra time on the old case, Detective Tommy Bergmann cannot help but dig deeper, especially as he uncovers connections to a more recent murder. As he unravels the secrets of the past, it becomes clear that everything is permissible in war—and that only those who reject love can come out victorious.

Locations

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Travel Guide

Oslo

Present day Norway has to deal with its past, as does the leader character of Tommy Bergmann as he deals with his violent past when he used to beat his girlfriend (domestic abuse is a theme of the novel)

Now a world weary cop, he’s currently involved with to investigate the remains of 2 adults and a child dating from World War 2 found in a popular Oslo forest. The case gets under his skin

The book opens in the hills of the city – Dr Holms Vei – where the book opens and were Carl Oscar lives

“You can scarcely see the city spread out far below.” The novel goes on to explain that on your way up here, the roads are narrow and the tall spruce trees at the roadside form a windbreak but also block the view. There is also a lovely place more northern still – Nordmarka – the region of Oslo popular with walkers and hikers. A body is found here in the story!

There are some dark secrets in Norway’s World War 2 resistance past. Much of the story reads authentically – Gard Sveen divides his time between writing and working as a senior adviser to the Norwegian Ministry of Defense.

Lillehammer

Captain Kai Holt is working as part of the Norwegian resistance in Lillehammer. Not many people know that he is here as only a few kew that a group of German officers had been transferred to this camp, which still houses a large number of Soviet Prisoners of war.

This is described as “hell concealed by bureaucracy” A time in history still new to many. “Where the liberation of Norway had created such chaos that almost nothing surprised him anymore.”