We increase our numbers substantially again for 1222 by Anne Holt (translated from the Norwegian by Marlaine Defargy). It’s a crime novel from a series featuring the author’s detective Hanne Wilhelmsen. I have read several in this series (see here for a review) but this is a much later one than any of the others I have previously read. I think that the very end of the book would have been illuminated by having read more of the previous volumes but my understanding of the plot and enjoyment of the story weren’t seriously impaired by this lack. I picked up this book from a charity shop in Frinton-on Sea last summer when I was visiting my sister in Essex – I highly recommend Frinton for readers as it has a wealth of charity shops including one solely devoted to books.
Hanne is now paralysed and a wheelchair user after being shot. She is on a train heading North to Bergen when it is derailed by ice on the line. A storm means that the passengers are stranded in the local hotel and cannot be reached. They have warmth and food but they do not have safety – a passenger is murdered very shortly after they arrive. Still cut off by the storm and lying snow those in charge try to find out what has happened and enlist Hanne in their investigation. Then there is another murder.
This is a brilliant crime novel. It is effectively a locked room mystery as no one can reach the stranded passengers – the title 1222 is the height in metres of the hotel above sea level and it is about the height of the top of Ben Nevis. Hanne is a difficult heroine. She tries very hard not to be involved with people and limits her emotional involvement – she also deeply resents the necessity of having to ask for help because of her disability. The author adds some other notable passengers – a popular cleric, a podcaster, a destitute boy, a young mother and her baby, to name but a few. She also adds a mystery about a locked carriage and some passengers who secrete themselves away from everyone else. Hanne does disentangle events and the book is brought to a satisfying conclusion.
This is a book that I found difficult to put down. I enjoyed it a lot. It’s not in great condition so I shall put it on the book table in my local Sainsbury’s for someone else to enjoy.
Anne Is Reading 