When a bomb goes off on New Years Eve, at the stroke of midnight, there are many victims injured or worse. A woman is thrown into the water from the blast at the harbour, and Detective Alexander Blix jumps into the almost freezing waters to save her. When he manages to drag her out he recognises the woman’s face, it is the mother of a child that went missing 10 years ago and the case was never properly solved. What seemed like a bad coincidince, a case of wrong time and wrong place, when Blix go...

Finished reading: January 30th 2021 "Just as the winter darkness began to set in, the darkness within welled to the surface." *** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***(view spoiler)[I've become a big Nordic Noir fan over the years, and last year I added the author duo Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger to my must-read list after a fantastic first experience with their writing. It is no exaggeration when I say that I

I'm a fan of both Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger, as storytellers and just great blokes too (oh for the days when we all perhaps took for granted the many opportunities to hang out at crime writing festivals). So I was intrigued by their teaming up for a series starring Oslo cop Alexander Blix and online journalist Emma Ramm (interestingly the two protagonists reflect Horst and Enger's prior careers - though I don't know if this means they each write that particular character's viewpoint). SMO...

Review to follow

I was a little worried about reading Smoke Screen, not because I believed that it would be a terrible read but because I just loved Death Deserved so much and wanted Smoke Screen to have that lasting impact also. This review is the proof that this writing duo know just how to deliver time and time again. An intriguing title, a mysterious cover and a synopsis that promises to deliver a narrative balancing on a tripwire. Enger and Horst have penned another addition that will create a shadow on my

Well, they left the main characters who weren't killed all ready, to suffer some more in other episodes.It was a pretty good read, but you had to go back and forth with then and now. Which can b e good as long as it makes sense. I liked Blix and also the reporter Emma but I would have liked to know how they faired. So it starts in Norway and it ends in Denmark. No I take that back, really it ends in Norway. There's some interesting dialog and moves between people that really make this book tick....

It's delightful to read a crime novel, created by the collaboration between two of your favorite Nordic authors, Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. Horst is widely known for his Inspector Wisting book series which has been adapted into a successful television show (for a full review click here) while Enger is the man behind the popular Henning Juul novels and some great standalone ones like the superb Inborn. Horst has also worked as a Senior Investigator Officer at the Norwegian police force and...

Smoke Screen is the second instalment in the Blix and Ramm series but you can easily jump in at this point if you missed the first one, Death Deserved, although I must warn you that you’ll want to go back once you’ve read this one, so you might as well start at the beginning (just saying).New Year’s Eve 2018-2019. Emma Ramm is still reeling from the events in Death Deserved. She just wants to enjoy her job as the new crime reporter for news.no and her budding relationship, but she nonetheless fo...

The events in Smoke Screen take place very soon after those in Death Deserved. You don't need to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this - it works perfectly as a standalone - but as always with a series I feel you will have a richer reading experience if you check out the first book before coming to this one. Revellers are celebrating the turn of the year at the harbour close to Oslo City Hall including journalist Emma Ramm who is determined to put to bed a fearful notion she's had...

Smoke Screen is the second co-written thriller following the excellent Death Deserved by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger to feature experienced police officer, Alexander Blix and young blogger-turned-journalist Emma Ramm. It's not necessary to have read the first book in the series but I would highly recommend it, not least because it's a superb novel which was one of my favourite reads last year but also because there are mentions of the previous case which will resonate more with returning re...

This is the second in a series written by two of Norway’s top crime-writers, featuring police officer Alexander Blix and journalist Emma Ramm. Both are separately attending the New Year’s firework display near Oslo harbour when a bomb, hidden in a garbage bin, explodes. One of the fatalities is Emma’s boyfriend Kaspar. Another is identified as the mother of a two-year-old girl who disappeared ten years earlier as was never found. It was a case which Blix investigated and is still haunted by.As t...

4 Stars - Terrific Scandinavian crimeThe second in this series by the Norwegian writer team Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger. Maybe not as nail biting thrilling as the first book but in every way very good. Longing for more books from these authors.Read December 26, 2020

Smoke Screen is book two in the Blix & Ramm series, which is a collaboration between two of Norway’s most popular crime fiction writers. In my review of book one, Death Deserved, I called Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst a dream team of crime writers and a force to be reckoned with. Bold statement but after reading Smoke Screen, my belief in those words has only been cemented even more firmly and the Blix & Ramm series is fast becoming one of the best crime fiction series out there.It’s New Year...

Visit the locations in the novelA novel to place you in Oslo at New Year This is a novel, a series to really get your Nordic Noir teeth into. It’s the brainchild of two writers at the top of their game.It’s an explosive introduction to Oslo. Literarily. We are there at New Years and witnessing the fireworks when an explosion rocks the harbour. People are killed or injured. Emma Ramm is at the fireworks and sees events unfold. The city is put on high alert and Blix and Ramm come together to get

*I voluntarily reviewed this book from the tour organiser.Intense, gripping, and with plenty of twists and misdirections along the way, SMOKE SCREEN by Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst, is one of the best Nordic crime fiction books that I have read in a long time. When an explosion happens on New Year's Eve, terrorism is the word on everyone's lips. But when police officer, Alexander Blix discovers a severely injured victim from the scene it isn't long before he suspects that something else could

A longtime fan of Jørn Lier Horst and his writing, I was eager to see how this would translate into some collaborative work with Thomas Enger. The pair have come up with a great new series, with a Norwegian police officer and crime reporter working together to solve crimes. Alexander Blix and Emma Ramm are both at New Year’s Even celebrations in Oslo when a bomb explodes and kills many. Emma is able to help a woman who is in the water, only to realise that it is the mother of a young girl who ha...

If my rating was exact, it would be 3.75 stars. I enjoyed it as much as the first in the series, but it perhaps felt a little too complicated for my liking. The title is rather apt though,because everthing that's happening is a smoke screen. Also, recommended if you like fast oaced nordic thrillers which isn't very dark n gory.

So I read the first in the Blix/Ramm series last year, Death Deserved, which was one of my top reads of 2020, so I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of Smoke Screen!The story starts off with a bang, literally. Journalist Emma Ramm is on the scene at a bombing during the annual New Year's eve festival. One of the victims is identified as Ruth-Kristine Smeplass, whose daughter Patricia disappeared as a baby years earlier. It's up to Blix and Emma to find out if she was just in the wrong p...

It was great catching up with both the protagonists from the first novel in this series, "Death Deserved".Blix is clever, a born copper, who follows his gut instincts to conduct his behavior at work. His workaholic mentality has jeopardized his relationship with his wife and daughter. Now divorced, he lives in an impersonal flat in which he spends as little time as possible. This time out, his daughter Iselin moves in with him...I enjoyed witnessing the evolving work partnership between Blix and...

Smoke Screen is #2 in the series featuring Blix and Ramm, but can also be read as a stand-alone.Emma Ramm is a crime reporter, she attends the New Years Eve firework display when there’s a large explosion.One of the victims was the mother of Patricia, who had gone missing 10 years earlier. This case had been one of Alexander Blix’s…..and one that still bothers him.Who caused the explosion and why?As the investigation begins more questions are raised than answers.This mix of police procedural and...