Why a Booktrail?
1938: War is in the air and Europe is in turmoil. Oslo is on the brink.
The Assistant
What you need to know before your trail
Oslo, 1938. War is in the air and Europe is in turmoil. Hitler’s Germany has occupied Austria and is threatening Czechoslovakia; there’s a civil war in Spain and Mussolini reigns in Italy.
When a woman turns up at the office of police-turned-private investigator Ludvig Paaske, he and his assistant – his one-time nemesis and former drug-smuggler Jack Rivers – begin a seemingly straightforward investigation into marital infidelity.
But all is not what it seems, and when Jack is accused of murder, the trail leads back to the 1920s, to prohibition-era Norway, to the smugglers, sex workers and hoodlums of his criminal past … and an extraordinary secret.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Norway during the war and during prohibition
Whether it is 1920s or 1930s Norway, the country depicted in this novel is one of various and changeable moods. This is the Norway during the war years and when it is looking out to see what is happening in Nazi Germany and Europe in general. The political mood is dark and bleak and this is reflected in the grim and sparse landscape in the novel. We might visit Oslo but it’s the rocky and open fjords, lakes and remote villages that really add to the tension.
Prohibition led to the smuggling of alcohol and with Norway’s craggy coastline, this was both dangerous and deadly. This acivity is nicely explored and showcases a secret past that not many people know Norway had.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Assistant
Destination/location: Oslo, Norway Author/guide: Kjel Ola Dahl Departure Time: 1938
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
