Mystery and Crime · Hardback

The Human Shark

Norwegian title: Haimennesket

Hans Olav Lahlum

K2 and Patricia have officially become lovers when this book starts. It is the summer of 1972, and K2 is invited to a sociable weekend at a beautifully situated hotel in South Norway. The only drawback is that the hotel is on an island which is not really wheel-chair friendly. Nevertheless, Patricia comes too, on what will turn out to be a fateful weekend outing. Exactly ten years previously, a little baby boy had been found beaten to death at the hotel. His twin sisters were supposed to be looking after him, and they both swore that they had nothing to do with the murder. However, one of the sisters disappeared right after the misdeed was discovered. The child's mother committed suicide soon after, but the surviving guests from that gruesome weekend are now gathered at the hotel, and the manager's plan is for K2 to solve the mystery. The manager has his own weighty reasons to want to get to the bottom of the matter. Unfortunately there appears to be an uninvited guest at the hotel, a guest with murderous intentions, and this time Patricia comes into the firing line. With a respectful nod to Ten Little Niggers, Hans Olav Lahlum has written a perfect chamber play where passion and brutal death occupy the main stage.

’ Haimennesket takes its place among the row of good crime novels from the hand of Hans Olav Lahlum.' TVEDESTRANDPOSTEN

'It is not difficult to understand that Hans Olav Lahlum’s crime novels have a big circle of readers. They are a breath of fresh air in what seems an otherwise deadlocked genre.' DAGBLADET

'Haimennesket is thrilling and intense and is a positive change from bloody and loud hi tech action crime. The revelation of the whodonnut did not come as a shock, but the ending is exemplary witty and vibrant.'

OPPLAND ARBEIDERBLAD'The charm of Hans Olav Lahlum´s quickly growing series about police commissioner Kolbjørn Kristiansen, aka K2, rests on a confident flair for the late 60´s and 70´s bourgeois social conventions. The characters speak in a typically civilized manner even in the most stressed situations, and the bloodshed is treated with stoic and distuinguished calm.'

AFTENPOSTEN'This novel is the exact correct length for the pastiche not to be trying and it is definitely the most exciting novel of the K2-series so far.'

STAVANGER AFTENBLAD