Forty Days Without Shadow, Olivier Truc
Forty Days Without Shadow, Olivier Truc
1 Rating(s)
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
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Forty Days Without Shadow
An Arctic Thriller

Author: Olivier Truc

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 15 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/18/2014


Synopsis

The international award-winning, bestselling phenomenon, now available in English for the first time.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise for the first time in 40 days. Thirty minutes of daylight will herald the end of the polar night in Kautokeino, a small village in northern Norway, home to the indigenous Sami people.

But in the last hours of darkness, a precious artifact is stolen: an ancient Sami drum. The most important piece in the museum's collection, it was due to go on tour with a UN exhibition in a few short weeks.

Hours later, a man is murdered. Mattis, one of the last Sami reindeer herders, is found dead in his gumpy.

Are the two crimes connected? In a town fraught with tension--between the indigenous Samis fighting to keep their culture alive, the ultra-Lutheran Scandinavian colonists concerned with propagating their own religion, and the greedy geologists eager to mine the region's ore deposits--it falls to two local police officers to solve the crimes. Klemet Nango, an experienced Sami officer, and Nina Nansen, his much younger partner from the south of Norway, must find the perpetrators before it's too late...

THIS EDITION INCLUDES A READING GROUP GUIDE

Reviews

Goodreads review by Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede on January 31, 2016

Thank you Trapdoor for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! A priceless local relic is stolen from Kautokeino, a village in Lapland, that lies in the middle of the isolated snowy tundra. Two reindeer polices, Klemet Nango, an experienced police, and Nina Nansen, fresh from the local po......more

Goodreads review by Malin on January 29, 2015

Being Swedish I have to take into account that the author is not from this part of Europe. One of the main characters, Nina, is from the south of Norway, but I don't for a second believe anyone from Scandinavia can be so totally ignorant of the history and reality of life in Sapmi. Especially not on......more

Goodreads review by Veronika on July 26, 2023

Ilgai trunkanti naktis pamažu atsitraukia ir dienos pradeda ilgėti. Kiekvienas skyrius ir pradedamas dienos trukme. Ar galite įsivaizduoti, kad diena truktų tik pusvalandį, valandą..? Man ypač patiko gamtos aprašymai. Sniegynai, šaltis, elniai.. viską pajutau. Neįprasti papročiai, gentis, simboliai.......more

Goodreads review by Marina on November 02, 2014

There's something about the cold reaches of the Far North which appeals to me endlessly. I loved M.J. McGrath's series set in the Northern Territories of Canada and I love this depiction of cross-border Lapland and the Reindeer Police. I keep hesitating between 3 and 4 stars, because the atmosphere,......more


Quotes

"Against the backdrop of the polar night, ancient religious traditions, and the fierce rivalries of reindeer-herders, Olivier Truc's remarkable, triumphant thriller is far more than a colourful stroll through an exotic culture."—Télérama magazine, "Best Crime Novels of 2012"

"It's always a pleasure to encounter a really unusual setting for crime fiction, but novelty alone is no good - it needs a decent story to go with it. Luckily, Forty Days Without Shadow by Olivier Truc scores both ways...This dense but tense thriller is full of local colour."—Morning Star (UK)

"Olivier Truc's debut novel is a fascinating thriller by a writer who is already a master of the genre."—Librairie Garin

"A beautiful thriller that carries us away to a mysterious land."—L'Unita

"A powerful 'Nordic' thriller... At last, a French writer has succeeded in reviving the genre, in fine style. I can't remember the last time I read a truly dark, gripping crime novel by a home-grown author."—Librairie l'usage du monde

"A unique setting, the snow, the freezing cold, reindeer, unforgettable characters...make this novel a must-read book."—Il Fatto Quotidiano

"A dark, highly original novel."—Livres Hebdo

"The bone-numbing cold of a snowy vastness underlines a chilling story. 8 stars."—Peterborough Telegraph (UK)

"A really well-written, masterly novel, and a tremendous pleasure to read. Original, fascinating, with no concessions to surface "exoticism". A terrifically successful crime novel."—Librairie L'Atelier

"This is a superb story....Truc stands out in his masterful depiction of characters."—La Razón


Awards

  • Prix Biblioblog
  • Prix Inter polar du festival polar de Reims
  • Prix du Polar des médiathèques d'Antony
  • Prix du Polar des médiathèques dÂAntony
  • CWA International Dagger
  • Prix Robinsonnais
  • Le Grand Prix du Roman Noir Français
  • Prix des lecteurs Plume Libre Bronze Thriller
  • Prix Sang d'Encre de la Ville de Vienne
  • Prix Mes-Sou-Thu
  • Prix Sang dÂEncre de la Ville de Vienne
  • Prix Mystère de la critique
  • Prix polar Michel Lebrun
  • Prix du premier roman Rotary Club et Salon du livr
  • Prix des Lecteurs de Quais du Polar
  • Prix des lecteurs Plume Libre  Bronze Thriller
  • Prix Thierry Jonquet
  • Trophée 813 du festival Paris Polar
  • Prix 1001 Feuilles Noires de la Bibliothèque de La
  • Prix SNCF du Polar