Gripping WW2 thriller set in SWEDEN and NORWAY

10th July 2023

The Lazarus Solution  – gripping WW2 thriller set in Sweden and Norway. Author, Kjell Ola Dahl.

Translated by Don Bartlett

The Lazarus Solution is a very well thought through, and pretty complex, thriller. It is set in Sweden and Norway during WW2. Sweden is ‘neutral’ and Norway is occupied by the German army. As a result Stockholm is a hot bed of intrigue – Brits and Norwegians spying on the Germans, and the Germans in turn spying on the Norwegian Resistance. There are two opposing factions in Norway. First there is the Quisling puppet government appointed by the Germans (and supported by a fair proportion of the population), and second there is the Resistance, who are working towards a British rescue invasion. There is a great deal of illegal border crossing by members of the Resistance based in Stockholm transporting messages and papers to their brothers in Norway itself.

One courier is murdered as he crosses the border. But who was responsible for his death? There is no shortage of suspects… Jomar Kraby, a writer, is asked by the Norwegian government in exile in London to investigate. Kai Fredly is a demobbed Norwegian sailor with left wing sympathies. His brother, a nazi sympathiser, has been killed. Are the cases in any way linked? Kai is certainly one of Jomar’s key suspects.

Kjell Ola Dahl weaves a tale of suspicion and intrigue. Rarely is anything quite as it appears to be. People with history pop up on either side of the border. Many of the Norwegians exiled in Stockholm have pro German nazi sympathies. Kai falls for a mysterious and beautiful woman, but who exactly is she and where do her sympathies lie? The book moves to a pretty convincing conclusion.

The Lazarus Solution is a cut above most spy thrillers. Certainly one I would recommend.

Tony for the TripFiction team

Catch the author on Twitter @ko_dahl

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