I managed to squeeze in another thriller before year end.  A Necessary Death is a Norwegian crime thriller set across the backdrop of Oslo and into Norway’s rugged mountain ranges.

More of a political thriller, the story follows Selma Falck, an investigator who takes up the challenge of looking into the mysterious death of her son in law, a death she does not believe was an accident.

Unfortunately for Selma, looking into something others would prefer she leaves alone could have deadly consequences.  When she wakes in the middle of a burning cabin a top a snow covered mountain in the middle of nowhere her nightmare begins.  Badly beaten and bruised, naked and left for dead, Selma barely makes it out of the cabin before it explodes.  How did she get there?  Clearly someone wants her dead, but who? Now she must work out how to survive and make her way out of the mountain without dying from exposure.

The book is set across a six month period and jumps between past and present as the storyline is built and we try to understand how Selma came to be in this cabin.  The political backdrop to this book plays heavily across the storyline.  Right wing vs left wing.  Fanatics and conspiracy theorists, back-room dealings with deadly consequences, all in the name of protecting the country. These parts of the book were a little heavy for me but I still found it enjoyable, I just had to concentrate a bit harder to follow who was who.

Selma herself is a very flawed character.  Brusque, damaged and with a no nonsense attitude to life I really found myself liking her.  She didn’t pretend to be anything other than how she portrayed herself, it gave her credibility as a character.

This was book 2 in the Selma Falck series but can absolutely be read as a standalone book.

Thank you so much to Allen and Unwin for the opportunity to read this one.  Definitely recommend to anyone that loves a really good political thriller.