Literature and Fiction / Mystery and Crime2018 · 272 pp
Mother of All Hurricanes
Gert Nygårdshaug
Fredric Drum takes a well-deserved break from his restaurant and heads on vacation to Mexico. Not unexpectedly, his holiday is interrupted when his uncle, KRIPOS investigator Skarphedin Olsen, calls to tell Drum that one of his archaeologist friends has gone missing in Mexico. Skarphedin connects Drum with the local police, and while searching for his missing friend, Drum is pulled into the hunt for a local serial killer, a political election campaign, and the exploration of the ancient scripts of the Maya civilization.
"Fredric Drum is featured in the most original, intelligent, entertaining, and creative crime novels being written in Norway today." Dagbladet
"Once in a rare while, fabulous feels like too weak a word. This crime novel is simply fantastic." Adresseavisen
"It opens with a gripping depiction of a hurricane, while an unknown figure makes their way through the jungle to the forgotten Maya city. This is Nygårdshaug at his absolute best; he has perhaps never written a more engrossing opening to a novel. From this intense starting point, he constructs the plot with a masterful sense of both rhythm and dynamics." Hamar Arbeiderblad
"From page one of The Mother of All Hurricanes, Gert Nygårdshaug charges ahead with relentless power and suspense that lasts until the final riddle is unraveled and the last word read. The Yucatán Peninsula isn't the only thing taken by storm here—we are, too." Vårt Land
"Nygårdshaug's description of how the hurricane brews out at sea while the duty meteorologist at the Punta Allen coastal station records the startling data with a racing pulse is simply great literature—regardless of genre. The story as a whole fully delivers on the promise of its opening." Fredrikstad Blad
"Here we savor delicacies, countless carafes of wine, and numerous lessons on ancient writing systems—a delightful blend of erudition, imagination, and sheer joy of writing. You could call it light-hearted crime with elements worthy of Indiana Jones. In other words, thoroughly enjoyable reading." Tønsbergs Blad
