Reviews

• “With The Night Voyager [Bakkeid] has written a dark, intense and brilliantly composed crime novel. /…/ [Police officer Anne-May Anger] is a down to earth, empathic and sharply drawn protagonist which stands in a stark contrast to the dark and male-dominated environment at sea. Through short chapters, quick scene changes and precise time jumps Bakkeid constructs a narrative with a drive, a nerve and an unusually strong emotional pull. This is a novel that never stands still. Every page propels you forward. /…/ Bakkeid has long demonstrated his love for the psychological darkness and in The Night Voyager he goes deep. The portrayal av Jakk, a man on the brink of reality and delusion, is both painful and unsettling. Here the research is palpable. The description of psychoses, medicines and everyday life beyond the walls of the psychiatric unit comes across as authentic and respectful. This is taking your job seriously. Bakkeid treats mental illness with gravity and insight. /…/ With The Night Voyager [Bakkeid] ascends to the next level. This isn’t just a great crime novel. It’s a piece of literary craft. The composition is taut, the language glimmers in its sobriety and the many short chapters provides a rhythm more reminiscent of cinema than traditional crime fiction. The reader is thrown between past and present (…) and throughout the read there’s a constant sensation of unease and horror. You feel the smell of sea and oil, the winter cold and the desperation in the voices of those that loses control. Bakkeid shows a masterful ability to build intensity, without ever losing the humanity. Even in the darkest rooms there are glimmers of warmth and it’s this balance that makes The Night Voyager something very special. /…/ This is a crime novel that combines literary quality, psychological depth and a narrational zest on a sky-high level. With its high tempo, precise language and strong northern-Norwegian anchoring, The Night Voyager might just be the best crime novel I’ve ever read.”

• “A nerve-wracking tale that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.”

• “[Bakkeid] has received praise for his edgy humor, beautiful nature depictions, above-the-average high literary ambitions and great language. (…) His imagery is more ambitious than you would typically see in crime fiction. /…/ The narrative [in The Night Voyager] is smoothly composed. (…) The crescendo, which doesn’t only involve one hell of a storm for the crew at sea, but also an inopportune labor of Helene (and not least Audhild) is masterfully juggled. You shouldn’t underestimate the claustrophobic qualities of a boat in a storm at open sea, or the fear in a first-time visitor to the maternity ward. The chapters are short (…) and there are plenty of cliffhangers to propel the reader forwards. Bakkeid knows his sex’n’drugs’n’rock’n’roll and writes well about both LSD-trips and hallucinations and everything in-between, and has a refreshingly burlesque humoristic sense. /…/ Undersigned can sometimes not help but wonder what we’re supposed to do with all the morbid crime novels we’ve nearly drowned in over the past 20 years. But to the extent that we still need more, Heine Bakkeid is more than welcome to be the one to write them.”