I’m excited to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for brilliant Nordic Noir thriller Fallen Angels (Varg Veum 8) by Gunnar Staalesen. Thank you to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.
About the book:
When Bergen PI Varg Veum finds himself at the funeral of a former classmate on a sleet-grey December afternoon, he’s unexpectedly reunited with his old friend Jakob – guitarist of the once-famous 1960s rock band The Harpers – and his estranged wife, Rebecca, Veum’s first love.
Their rekindled friendship is thrown into jeopardy by the discovery of a horrific murder, and Veum is forced to dig deep into his own adolescence and his darkest memories, to find a motive … and a killer.
Tense, vivid and deeply unsettling, Fallen Angels is the spellbinding, award-winning thriller that secured Gunnar Staalesen’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost crime writers.
About the author:
One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies.
Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.
Translated by Don Bartlett.
My Review:
Available for the first time in English, Fallen Angels by Gunnar Staalesen is the eighth book in his long running series featuring the wonderful character of Varg Veum. Superbly translated by Don Bartlett, this book reads incredibly well as a standalone as it delves into Varg’s past life, switching seamlessly between timelines as he tries to get to the bottom of an horrific murder in the present day.
Nordic Noir is fast becoming my go to genre to read and there is no one better at writing it than Gunnar Staaleson, who always manages to set your pulse racing with his fast paced and intelligent thrillers. And Fallen Angels is no different, with Don Bartlett’s stunning translation helping to bring this dark and compelling tale so vividly to life.
This time we catch up with Varg as he attends the funeral of a former classmate, bringing him back into contact with his old friend Jakob. But their rekindled friendship is thrown into jeopardy by the discovery of an horrific murder that sends Varg spiralling into the past and his own deepest, darkest memories.
What follows is a brilliantly complex, dark and twisted tale that kept me turning pages long into the night. Tense and thrilling, Fallen Angels is an outstanding addition to the series and is the perfect place to start if you haven’t had a chance to read any of the previous books featuring Varg Veum yet.
Gunnar Staalesen is an author at the top of his game and Fallen Angels is a book I would highly recommend. Nordic Noir fiction at its very best!
Fallen Angels by Gunnar Staalesen is available to purchase in ebook now and in paperback from November 12th: Amazon UK
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support Cal x
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You’re very welcome, Anne. 😊 xx
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