Reviews

• “Anne Holt’s superb 1222, the Norwegian author’s most recent Hanne Wilhelmsen detective story, appeared in English last year, No. 8 in the series. The wheelchair-bound lesbian policewoman’s very first adventure, Blind Goddess, is now on the American market, and it’s every bit as good as what was yet to come. /…/ Ms. Holt’s 1222 was a sendoff, or an homage, of the Agatha Christie closed-room mystery. Blind Goddess, referring to Athena with the scales of justice, is more in the hardboiled vein of Dashiell Hammett. It’s a good old-fashioned mystery, enhanced by Hanne not having the mobile phones and technologies that increased with each new story.”

• “Holt proves a masterful plotter. Unexpected twists hold up to scrutiny, loose ends are tied up and the finale leaves readers wanting more. Let's hope there are six more Hanne [Wilhelmsen] stories in the pipeline.”

• “Anne Holt weaves an intricate plot of organized crime compounded with betrayal and lies in this police procedural murder mystery. /…/ The great plotting style makes for a worthwhile read.”

• “Anne Holt has always written notable stories that are something in between the detective novel and the political crime novel, with that cold brutality, that Nordic exoticism and that fierce social criticism which we are used to in Scandinavian authors. /…/ [Detective Hanne Wilhelmsen] has a romantic relationship to her job, as ’a fisherman to the sea’ /…/ [She is] a perfect character for telling a story like this. This crime novel shows us how society is not perfect at all.”

• “A promising first. Hanne Wilhelmsen is a brilliant detective character that masters the humour and hard-boiled manner of the genre without turning into a travesty of a woman in trench coat.”

• “In this book you meet with an important crime writer in the making.”

• “This year’s best crime novel so far is written by Anne Holt. /…/ This book is well on the level with anything that Sjöwall/Wahlöö ever achieved.”

• “Blind Goddess is a book to be read in one sitting. You cannot put it aside untill you find out what happens.”

• “Impressive debut /…/ It is impossible to put the book down.”

• “High-level excitement!”

• “A fascinating language and a flair for dramaturgy. Anne Holt possesess both.”