I don't want to spoil it, but there is a big surprise in this whodunnit! As I've found with Harry Hole's detective work in Jo Nesbø, these detectives who work by "intuition" allow the authors to leave large gaps in the reasoning for determining the culprit. But all the same, I enjoyed my trip with Chief Inspector Van Veeteren to the port town of Kaalbringen, to solve the multiple ax murders. Van Veeteren's casual, nonchalant solitary air offset the urgency and fear prompted by the unusual crimes in the small town. It's one of those novels that I thoroughly enjoy as I'm reading, but find myself hard put to remember the details once I've put it down. A note on the translation: It was a delight to read! I believe the quality of the translation really added to my enjoyment of this novel (for instance, the use of the slang term "wicked!").

A few excerpts:
"Darkness, he thought... The only thing big enough to enclose an ocean... But maybe the ocean is bigger after all, he realized almost immediately. No doubt it's morning on another shore. There's always another shore."(195)

"How pale a murderer looks in daylight, as somebody once said... The man wandering around this idyllic little town chopping the heads off his fellow men."(239)