Samuel Bjork is a Norwegian writer, and I’m Traveling Alone is his first novel in a series with 2 main characters, Mia and Munch.  They have worked as detectives together for a long time, but at the start Mia has retired and secluded herself. Indeed, she is planning to kill herself, because she sees no point in life and she has no family left. But Munch visits her to explain that they need her back, because they have a serious case. A 6-year-old girl has been found murdered and staged in a doll’s dress, hanging from a tree. Munch is a grandfather himself and he needs to find the killer, who is smart and is taunting the police. This is a gruesome detective story in the tradition of many other dark Scandinavian thrillers with deeply troubled detectives leading the search for twisted killers. This novel describes some of the ways the killer treats their victims, and while no actual deaths are described, it does include violence towards children. But children also are shown as inventive and courageous here, while some adults are completely submissive and gullible, so the book takes a complex view of people. There are many characters early on in the novel, and it isn’t at all clear what is going on. But the central characters gradually emerge and looking back at the start after having finished the novel, it all makes a lot more sense. The unabridged audiobook is performed by Laura Paton, who has a soothing voice that belies the often horrific subject matter. The plot is fast-paced and there are plenty of interesting characters. The narrator takes the point of view of many of them, including some of the people who are up to no good. At various points, the plot becomes particularly silly, but it is easy to just move on towards the satisfying conclusion. Maybe the most interesting aspect of the book is the readiness to bring in discussion of Norwegian artist Edward Munch, best known for his painting The Scream, who becomes relevant to the plot.

© 2017 Christian Perring

Christian Perring teaches in NYC.