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(27 reviews)
Author: Visit Amazon's Vidar Sundstøl Page
ISBN : 0816689407
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Format: PDF
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*Starred Review* Winner of the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel, this transplanted Scandinavian thriller is set in Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior and is the first book of a trilogy. Lance Hansen is a police officer with the U.S. Forest Service, but his real passion is local history. While making his morning rounds, he finds the body of a young man who has been bludgeoned to death. No one can recall a murder in this part of Minnesota, and, indeed, Hansen has to go back almost 100 years to find another—oddly enough, in the same area. Hansen calls in the local sheriff, who quickly refers the case to the FBI. The dead man, it turns out, was a Norwegian tourist, and the friend he was traveling with is the prime suspect. FBI agent Bob Lecuyer flies in a detective from Oslo, Eirik Nyland, who befriends Hansen. Hansen is just as intrigued by the story of a murdered Native American in the 1800s as he is in the current murder, and finds some ominous ties to his own family. The landscape is a big part of the story, as is the history of the area, making this a fascinating look at Minnesota as well as a suspenseful thriller. The novel will certainly appeal to Scandinavian crime-fiction fans, but the vivid Minnesota setting should expand its audience considerably. A fine mix of history and mystery. --Stacy Alesi
Review
"The Land of Dreams is a brilliant investigation into the darkest of all mysteries—the human heart. In its complexity and beauty, the story is every bit the equal of the landscape in which it is set, the stunning North Shore of Minnesota." —William Kent Krueger, author of Ordinary Grace
"Scandinavian noir meets Minnesota noir. . . . Sundstøl weaves a rich sense of Northland history and heritage into his crime novel. His deep knowledge of—and love for—the Lake Superior region comes through on every page." —Brian Freeman, author of The Cold Nowhere
"The first of Sundstøl’s Minnesota trilogy to be published in the U.S. is literate, lyrically descriptive, and mystical. The next can’t come too soon. " —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Norwegian crime novelist Sundstøl’s stellar psychological thriller, the first in his Minnesota Trilogy, stunningly evokes the North Shore of Lake Superior and its people. Nunnally’s convincing translation helps bring it all to unforgettable life." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Sundstøl’s superb first entry in his acclaimed Minnesota trilogy, now published for the first time in the United States, interweaves a Nordic noir flavor with the history and heritage of Minnesota’s Cook County. Fans of Scandinavian crime novels and mysteries with a Minnesota setting will enjoy this chilling psychological thriller." —Library Journal
"The novel will certainly appeal to Scandinavian crime-fiction fans, but the vivid Minnesota setting should expand its audience considerably. A fine mix of history and mystery." —Booklist, starred review
"The novel’s most gripping theme: that history can be like an “ancient monster” hiding, waiting, unseen and unspoken, until a storm exposes it — and then we must confront that which we’ve silenced, ignored or simply forgotten." —Star Tribune
"What wonders there are in America’s own backyard, if we only think to look. That’s what the Norwegian writer Vidar Sundstøl does in The Land of Dreams." —The New York Times
"Vidar Sundstøl has written an epic Scandinavian-American crime novel, with a deep and dark sense of mystery both in its memorable characters and original setting." —Johan Theorin, author of The Darkest Room
"Sundstøl’s dialogue with the universe, with nature’s physical contact, reaches mythological heights. Its lyricism strikes like an arrow in the heart of the target." —Le Figaro (France)
"The highlight of this year’s crime harvest." —Politiken (Denmark)
"Crime of the highest quality . . . powerful and well-written. Vidar Sundstøl’s Minnesota Trilogy is one of the best that has been written in this country for many years." —Dagbladet (Norway)
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Direct download links available for Epub The Land of Dreams (Minnesota Trilogy) Hardcover
- Series: Minnesota Trilogy
- Hardcover: 344 pages
- Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press (October 7, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0816689407
- ISBN-13: 978-0816689408
- Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Epub The Land of Dreams
Lance Hanson is a Law Enforcement Officer for a national park in northern Minnesota on the shore of Lake Superior. When he stumbles upon the naked and dead body of a Norwegian tourist, he is thrown. Once he reports the murder, he no longer needs to be involved but he can't let it go. This is especially true when he comes across information that could incriminate a relative. The knowledge is tearing him up because he knows what he should do but knows he can't even after a man he thinks is innocent is charged.
The Land of Dreams is as much a psychological study of how our pasts and our relationships effect us as it is a murder mystery. As such, the pace tends to be rather slow and the story frequently wanders off in other directions seemingly unrelated to the crime: Hanson's family genealogy, the history of the early fur trade in the area and the Voyageurs, the influx of people of Scandinavian descent, and even some interesting details of the small towns in the area like Grand Marais and the Grand Portage Reservation. Hanson spends a great deal of time trying to solve another murder which happened over a hundred years ago which may explain something about the new murder. Personally, I found all of this as interesting as the mystery itself but I lived in Thunder Bay where the fur trade moved after Grand Portage was closed to the British at the beginning of the 19th c., I have been to Grand Marais and have eaten at Sven & Ole's and I really like history. However, I'm not sure how others who don't know the area and who don't care about history would feel about all of this. I suspect many will find it boring which is a real shame.
When a young Norwegian man is brutally murdered on the shores of Lake Superior, his body is discovered by Lance Hansen, a US Forest Service cop. As the investigation gets underway, suspicion quickly falls on the victim's friend and companion. Lance is on the sidelines of the investigation, but realises he saw something that night that casts a different light over what may have happened. Will he put his family at risk by telling what he suspects?
The first chapter or two of this novel are very effective - Lance's discovery of the body is dramatic and chilling. However, we are very soon bogged down in a mass of local and family history, as Lance, an amateur genealogist, begins to wonder if this is the first murder committed in the area. There is an attempt to draw parallels between the current crime and an event over a century ago, when Norwegians were beginning to populate this area of Minnesota. This drags the whole book down to a crawl, as we are given endless and repetitive stories about the early days of the settlers and details of the family history of almost every character, while there is very little actual investigation of the murder. Suffice it to say that, since the investigators soon find DNA at the scene, it ought to have been possible to wrap the whole thing up fairly quickly, but for reasons unbeknownst to this reader (who suspects that the writer got himself bogged down in an inconsistency that he hoped the reader wouldn't spot) the police don't seem to bother to try to match the DNA to that of their suspects.