This was a bit much for my taste. Definitely suspenseful and eerie though so I can see an interested audience.

Minotaur Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Ordeal. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Chief Inspector William Wisting has his hands full, especially since his daughter Line has moved nearby and is almost ready to give birth. Will new evidence breathe life into an old case, leaving Wisting scrambling for answers?

Line's journalistic instincts kick in after she meets Sofie Lund, who has recently inherited her late father's house. A locked safe in the basement yields more questions than answers about the deceased man's life. Will the past that is dredged up have deadly implications for the present?

When requesting Ordeal, I was not aware that it was part of a long standing series surrounding the life of Chief Inspector William Wisting. The author does include a lengthy synopsis of the series at the beginning of this novel, but I am not really all that enamored with only getting the highlights of nine previous novels. I am a fan of police procedural and crime thrillers, having read countless numbers of them. The nuances of the character were lost from not having read the earlier novels, so the characters fell flat for me. This left me with little desire to read the other books in the series, so I hesitate to recommend Ordeal to other readers.

all and all it was a good story. The way everything fit together was enjoyable. The story itself however seemed to drag on for a long time. The progression of the story was so slow and seemed to involved way to much for the simple premise.

Tense and suspenseful, the only reason to stop racing through the pages of Jorn Lier Horst's Ordeal will be to pause for a quick glance over your shoulder.
When Frank Mandt’s granddaughter, Sofie Lund, inherits his house after his death, she’s hesitant to claim anything that belonged to him. But, she’s the only one supporting her one-year-old daughter, Maja, so she decides to take the house, hoping they can make a go of it. Mandt died after falling down the steps of his basement and was evidently there for three days or so before the body was found. Mandt was known as the Smuggler King and was thought to have turned from booze to drugs in recent years.

Meanwhile, Larvik, Norway-based Chief Inspector William Wisting is afraid the case of missing taxi driver Jens Hummel has grown cold. But when his taxi turns up in a barn on land owned by the late Frank Mandt with blood in the trunk and no signs of Jens, it looks like Wisting’s team might have a murder case on their hands.


Additionally, Wisting’s daughter, Line, a journalist, has moved into a house close to her father’s and is eight months pregnant. Wisting is excited to be a grandfather but worries about the father, an American policeman, not being involved in the child’s life. For her part, Line is settling into her new home, setting about renovating with gusto and getting as much as possible done before the baby arrives. When she meets Sofie Lund, a former schoolmate, at a coffee shop by chance, they rekindle their friendship. Sofie explains to Line why she’s so contemptuous of her grandfather.

“We lived in a small flat right down the street. Mum had an old Opel. She had a lot of trouble with it, and that day it quite simply would not start. We came here to borrow one of the Old Man’s cars, as we’d done loads of times before. He wasn’t at home, but his Volvo was parked outside. Mum let herself in, found the keys and left him a note.”

The back of the chair creaked as Sofie changed position. Her dark hair fell over her face and she brushed it away, smiling uncertainly.

“At Vallermyrene in Porsgrunn, we were stopped by the police,” she said. “I don’t know why. Maybe it was sheer chance; maybe they were keeping a watch on the Old Man and had his cars on a list. Anyway, the police car drove up behind us and switched on the blue flashing lights. Mum pulled in to the side of the road. They asked all sorts of questions and began to look around in the car. Under the seat where I was sitting they found three kilos of hash and one kilo of amphetamines.”

Line’s mouth fell open. “But she couldn’t have known anything about it?”

“She got five years in jail. They regarded as aggravating factors that she had a young child with her and would not cooperate with the police.”

“But didn’t she tell them what had happened?” Line asked. “That she had just borrowed the car?”

“The Old Man denied having anything to do with it. He sacrificed his daughter to get away with it himself.”

“What about the note she had written? That would prove what she had told them.”

“The police never found a note. The Old Man must have burned it or torn it to pieces and flushed it down the loo.”

“So he just sat there and watched your mother get convicted even though she was innocent?”

“He hired expensive lawyers, probably to learn what the case documents said and how much the police knew about him. As far as he was concerned, she was a pawn to be sacrificed. The loss of the drugs was probably more of a blow than what happened to her.”

Line laid her hand protectively on her stomach. “You said that he took her life, though?”

“Mum could not last more than a year in prison. One night she smashed a glass and cut the arteries in her arm. I visited her only once. It was a dreadful experience. It was one thing going behind those thick walls, but even worse coming back out again, leaving her inside.”

Sofie had picked all the petals off the rose. She placed them in a little heap on the tablecloth. “What happened to you when your mother was sent to prison?” Line asked.

“The first few days I stayed here with the Old Man. There was talk of me staying permanently and I thought that would be fine. I knew all the children and had only a short walk to school, but he didn’t want me. It was too much for him, he said. So I was sent to a foster home. I had three of them. First in Arendal, then Hamar and finally Oslo.”

When Sofie enlists Lund’s help in cracking the giant safe in her grandfather’s basement, what they find is shocking and may be very telling when it comes to Mandt’s extensive criminal enterprises.

The safe was kitted out like a cupboard, with three shelves and a drawer at the bottom. On the lowest shelf there were several thick brown envelopes with a few black notebooks. On the middle shelf, a stack of five black ring binders, and on the top shelf bundles of banknotes bound together with rubber bands. Line took one out and handed it to Sofie. They were five hundred kroner notes, fifty thousand in total, she estimated. There were similar bundles of thousand-kroner and two-hundred-kroner notes. In total, there must have been around half a million kroner.

She could not hold back her laughter and it infected Sofie, even though they both knew that the money had not been earned by any honourable means.

Line put the money back and discovered a key that must open the lockable drawer at the bottom. She left it lying while she escorted the man to the front door with Sofie. They could hear that Maja was awake, and Sofie brought her down to the basement.

“Shall we count them?” Line suggested, taking out one of the bundles again.

Sofie nodded and moved Maja to her other hip.

Line stacked the bundles on top of the safe as she counted them, arriving at a total of 480,000. “There’s something else in here,” she said, pulling an envelope from the back of the top shelf. Sofie craned her neck to look when she opened it. “More money,” Line gasped, displaying the contents before emptying the loose notes out beside the bundles. Thousand-kroner notes, maybe as much as a million altogether. They seemed to be discoloured with red ink.

“The proceeds of a robbery,” Line whispered.

She had written about it in an article for the newspaper. Cases used for transporting valuables and the cassettes in ATMs were secured with colour cartridges. When anyone attempted to open them illegally, the colour ampules were activated and the banknotes stained so that they became worthless.

“Put them back again,” Sofie begged. “I need to give Maja some food.”

Line tidied away the money and picked up the little key. “We haven’t checked the drawer,” she said. The key turned without difficulty, and she used it as a handle to pull out the drawer. There was an object there, wrapped in a piece of grey fabric. Line lifted it out, placed it on the floor and unfolded the material. It was a revolver.

Sofie wants nothing to do with the gun, and Line offers to turn it into her father for disposal, hoping for Sofie to remain anonymous. But it’s not that simple, and that gun may hold the key to Wisting’s increasingly cold case.

I really enjoyed this slow burning, intricate mystery. I tend to like my cops world weary and inching toward middle age, and Wisting fits the bill. He’s 55 years old and is beginning to feel the toll that policing can take. Additionally, the unwanted interference of a new Police Chief who doesn’t understand the complexities of the job provides even more obstacles.

Horst’s Wisting is a thoughtful detective, not given to flights of fancy, and he seems to have a firm grip on how an investigation should be conducted—even if he has pushback on more than one front. And, Horst knows his subject: he’s a former Senior Investigating Officer himself, which brings a welcome authenticity to this nuanced, complex procedural.

Ordeal will be of great appeal to fans of highly realistic, thoughtful procedurals that operate by the book while offering up faceted glimpses into the personal lives of the main players. This is the fifth Wisting novel to be translated into English, beginning with Closed for Winter, and it seems to stand well on its own—although it never hurts to start at the beginning. This one takes a bit to get off the ground, but readers will be rewarded for their patience.

Very fast paced and very intriguing. I enjoyed how it kept me hooked and it was an original story. Nowadays so many books read the same. Highly recommend

Here's a new Scandinavian mystery winner. "Ordeal" by Jorn Lier Horst is a carefully, logically developed police procedural (reminiscent in some ways of Archer Mayor's style).

Chief Inspector William Wisting, in Larvik, southwest Norway is very much old school in his policing methods. While he investigates a missing person case, Wisting's daughter Line has moved nearby and expects a baby very soon.

Wisting ties in his case to a murder about to be tried in another jurisdiction and, of course solves both. It's an engaging series with admirable characters. Looking forward to more.

This is a fantastic police procedural. Slow burning but with a certain energy to it that kept me hooked.

Sofie Lund has done everything she can to distance herself from her grandfather and his criminal enterprise. Even after he died and left her everything, she initially refused to take possession of anything associated with him. However, now she finds herself a single mother, and wanting to do what she can for her daughter, concedes to her better instincts and moves into his old house.
While getting reacquainted with her old neighborhood, she runs into an old school friend, Line, who is expecting a baby any day now and has also just returned home after a long time away. They hit it off right away, and in no time at all Sofie is confiding in Line. She shows her a safe in her grandfather’s basement for which she has no key, and Line stays while the safe is cracked by a locksmith. What they find inside holds the key to an unsolved disappearance, and so much more. Line unintentionally brings her father, Inspector Wisting, into the mix and things start to come together in the most unexpected ways.

What an enthralling read! From the first chapter, I was sucked in and hard-pressed to put the book down. It wasn’t intense necessarily, but well-paced and skillfully written. Written from multiple perspectives (an approach I’m finding increasingly appealing), the characters are more fleshed out than is typical of a mystery, giving the story itself a richer feel.

I don’t know what it is about Scandinavian mystery writers, especially given they are translated to English, but there is a certain feel to their work that is both unique and a little bit addictive. If I had the time, I’d go back and read all the previous books in this series that have been translated to English (sadly, it appears only the last few have). I’ve added them to my TBR, and in the meantime, I’m looking forward to the next in series.

One of those popular Nordic noir police procedures that has you from the first line. Well written and explored, with characterizations that are real and compelling.

3.5 Somehow or another I managed to blunder my way into the tenth is a series I have not previously read. Though I did read that in the USA only five have been translated and published. The author though did the reader a great service by including, in the opening pages of the book, a few pages of preview bringing us up to date on Wistings life. Greatly appreciated.

This is a meticulously, detailed police procedural. I was extremely impressed with the writing and the tightness of the plot. Will admit that the cases being investigated were not ones I am normally interested in, but found the way the cases were put together, as well as the doggedness and integrity of Wistings character, made up for it. My favorites parts included his grown daughter, very pregnant, and her newfound friend Sophie. Enjoyed the personal touches as Wistings tried to balance his responsibility to his daughter, with his work. So all in all an intriguing enough read for me to seek out additional books in this series.

ARC from Netgalley.

It’s obvious that Jorn Lier Horst, a former Senior Investigating Officer at the Norwegian police force, draws deeply on his own experiences when he writes. He carefully outlines all the work that goes into the case in this story that at first seems completely unsolvable. The book is fascinating and gives an inside viewpoint of the time that I’m sure is involved in most investigations.

Moreover, he adds those personal details about the protagonist’s life that truly brings the book to life. We learn about his daughter and, deceased wife and the ex-girlfriend who he remains close to. Throughout, there is an air of anticipation as he awaits the birth of his first grandchild.

By the end, the case is neatly wrapped up. I recommend this book to anyone who would like an in-depth look at criminal investigations.

Ordeal: A Thriller is the tenth William Wisting book by Jørn Lier Horst. This is the first book that I have read in the series.

Ordeal: A Thriller is a police procedural set in Norway.Through books such as Ordeal, I am developing a fondness for Scandinavian thrillers and mysteries. Author Horst sets a slower pace than most but allows for character development and solid police work.

Chief Inspector of CID for Larvik Police William Wisting has had to put a case involving a missing taxi driver on the back burner due to no new information for six months. Then the taxi is found and all leads seem to be pointing to crime boos Frank Mandt who died six months earlier. Wisting's daughter Line has recently struck up a friendship with Mandt's granddaughter, Sofie, and their discoveries in his old house add to the case.

I really enjoyed Ordeal: A Thriller and I am looking forward to reading more books in this series!

I would like to thank Jorn Lier Horst, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.
Review By Stephanie
Ordeal is the first book I have read in Jorn Lier Horst's William Wist series and I am bummed....how so you ask because this is book 10 and I have been missing out!  I hope that they all get translated soon so I can one click the past nine!
Frank Mandt falls down his basement steps and dies....but how odd because the basement is where he was a locked safe bolted to the floor. Then Sofie (his grand daughter) inherits the house she wants nothing to do with. Sofie blames her grand father for letting her mother die in jail.
Line Wisting forms a friendship with Sofie and together they open the safe which opens a whole can of worms!
Jorn Lier Horst writes a rivating detective novel full of twists, turns and WOW moments! I really enjoyed this book and can not wait for more in this series is translated!

In this story Wisting becomes a grandfather. That said Jorn has made him have positive relationships with most of his people at his present job except for the police chief. The chief gives him an order not to disrupt a case that another police department has solved. He basically takes the other police department apart at the seams. All the while his daughter meets an oil girlfriend that moved away when she was younger and then finds several items her grandfather had in his safe, including a gun. They decide to give the gun to Wisting and the story revolves around this piece.

I have fond that Jorn lier Horst has gone to extra lengths to tell this story so that the police do not look bad. It is quite an interesting read for me to tell people in my blog about.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Ordeal by Jorn Lier Horst is the first book I've read in this series featuring William Wist, a detective in Larvik, Norway.
There are 10 books in the series, but not all of them have been translated.

This is one of the best police procedurals I've read in a long time. Wisting is a dedicated investigating officer, and (because the author was a Senior Investigating Officer for the police in Norway) the investigation rings true. Superb plotting and characters that feel genuine make Ordeal a pleasure to follow, not an ordeal to wade through. No tricky stuff, no bizarre murders, no mad serial killer--just an intriguing investigation and a sense of William Wisting's humanity.

Sofie Lund and her year old daughter move into the house she inherited from her grandfather. Frank Mandt was a well-known criminal, and Sofie wants no reminders of him.

When Sofie runs into Line Wisting, William's daughter, who has also recently moved back to Larvik, the two women renew an old friendship. Both women are single--Sofie with her child and Line pregnant but without a partner. The two women built a solid support system in a short time.

William Wisting's investigation into the disappearance of a local taxi driver has been stalled for the last six months. However, a safe in the basement of Sofie Lund's grandfather's home offers information that may affect Wisting's case...if he knew about it.

Ordeal is an excellent police procedural that feels authentic and does not need to resort to the flashy or the grotesque to keep the reader involved.

Highly Recommended. And I guess I'm going to have to purchase the books that have been translated because it is that good.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Police Procedural. Aug. 8, 2017. Print length: 353 pages.

4 stars

Jens Hummel, a taxi driver, has disappeared. He is presumed dead. When his cab is found in an abandoned barn covered in an old tarp, the worst is suspected.

At the same time Frank Mandt a smuggler and racketeer dies after falling down his basement stairs. He leaves his nice house and a small fortune to his granddaughter, Sophie Lund who wants nothing to do with his money. She does decide however to live in the house and moves there with her one-year old daughter and begins to redecorate it.

One afternoon, Sophie runs into William Wisting’s daughter Line in a department store. Line is pregnant but is not with the father. It’s a long story. Sophie tells Line that the “Old Man” as she calls him let her mother die in prison whilst never accepting any blame for the crimes that landed her there. She believes her mother was innocent of any wrongdoing. They renew their friendship from their school days and become fast friends once again.

Chief Inspector William Wisting and his partner Nils Hammer search the old farm along with the scene of the crime techs but find essentially nothing much except the car and what appears to be an illegal bottling set up. Liquor is smuggled into the county in barrels or the like and repackaged with false labels in new bottles. They do find out that the farm is on a long-term lease to none other than Frank Mandt.

A further search shows that drugs were hidden in the potato cellar on the smallholding. Their only witness who was spending the summer on the property claims not to know about the taxi in the barn or the drugs, but footprints matching Aron Heisel’s shoes were found in the potato cellar. They uncover further connections between Aron Heisel and Frank Mandt. But Heisel isn’t talking.

The police are in a quandary. Their leads seem to be going nowhere and they still haven’t located Jens Hummel’s body or any sign of him.

Meanwhile a gun, money and books were located in the now opened safe in the basement of Sophie’s new home. She doesn’t want the money and gives the gun to Line to turn in to her father.

Of course, Line as a journalist cannot keep out of the investigation…

What follows is a detailed and exhaustive police investigation. This book is very well written and plotted. The story is told in a straight line, without sidesteps or tangents. I like CI Listing and his daughter Line. I enjoyed the way the police team got along with one another. I don’t appreciate those books where the investigators have quarrels with their bosses. There was sufficient information given about the major characters’ backgrounds, but not so much that it intruded into the story.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

Please see review at
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