Petrona Award Winner – The Katharina Code, Jørn Lier Horst

Submitted: 12th May 2019

2019 Petrona Award Winner: The Katharina Code by Jørn Lier Horst

Jørn Lier Horst, author of a gripping thriller set in the icy cold landscape of Norway, is the winner of the prestigious Petrona Award. The Petrona Award is the Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

Winner Jørn Lier Horst receives a pass to and a guaranteed panel at next year’s CrimeFest.

BookTrail the locations in The Katharina Code

Plot:

Katharina went missing twenty-four years ago. Each year on the anniversary of her disappearance Chief Inspector William Wisting visits her husband, the man he could never help.

He re-reads her files, searching for the answer he could never find. The code he could never solve. Until now.

This year is going to be different. Another woman is missing. And so is Katharina’s husband. Wisting has to find him, but is he rescuing a

BookTrail the locations in The Katharina Code

Judges statement:

“THE KATHARINA CODE is a twenty-year-old mystery and failure of justice that haunts its investigator. From the code’s intriguing introduction in the novel’s opening pages to the duel of wits at its end, Jørn Lier Horst has crafted an outstanding and thrilling police procedural. The judges were particularly impressed with how the author takes established tropes – the ‘cold case’, the longstanding suspect, the dogged nature of police work – and combines them in ways that are innovative and fresh. THE KATHARINA CODE is the seventh novel in Horst’s ‘William Wisting’ series to be superbly translated by Anne Bruce from Norwegian into English, and a highly worthy winner of the 2019 Petrona Award.”

BookTrail review:

Wisting is a great character and really comes into his own in this book. He wants to solve this case and another one from the past. Could there be a link between the two? That’s what got me here – the past and present and how they would come together with two such cases.

What I really liked about this book was the fact that Wisting is not your cliched detective with troubles and a messy life and a penchant for the bottle. He’s dogged and determined and the insights into his life and friendships were a fascinating part of the book. What drives this man, what makes him do what he does and who he really is?

And all the while, that cold and remote Norwegian landscape shimmers with chilly excitement…