Ruth Lillegraven

Deep Fjord

What has two brutal murders got to do with a picture perfect couple living on the affluent side of Oslo? How can Clara save her career and her family without revealing secrets that no one must know? Deep Fjord is a powerful and enigmatic thriller reminiscent of successes like Gone Girl and Girl on the Train.

Haavard is from a wealthy family of lawyers, and the first to become a doctor. Clara is the ambitious outsider from Western Norway who has landed an influential position at the Ministry of Justice. Both victims have immigrant backgrounds, motives seem multiple. The case becomes a national debate, reaching all the way to the Minister of Justice’s desk. It turns out Haavard was present at both murder scenes and he becomes a suspect. Suddenly, for Clara, both work and family life is unravelling.

Deep Fjord shifts elegantly between Clara and Haavard’s viewpoints, between intrigues in the corridors of power and an increasingly debilitated home life. Who are they? How well do they know one another? Nothing is ever as it seems.

Deep Fjord is the author’s masterly debut as a thriller writer, surprising, well-written and gripping. The majestic Norwegian landscape creates a beautiful and chilling backdrop to the story. Clara is sharp and intelligent, a blue-eyed heroine, an enrichment to the genre.