The Hunting Dogs

Praise for
The Hunting Dogs

‘Yet again the novelist convinces with a satisfying, credible police procedural. This
time, William Wisting faces a major life crisis: he is himself investigated, and forced
to examine his police career in a new light. His journalist daughter Line plays an
important role in the book, turning the novel into both a depiction of the father-daughter
relationship and a portrayal of the relationship between the police and the media.’

Riverton Prize jury’s comments on
The Hunting Dogs

‘All lovers of crime fiction should read his new book. It is simply sensationally
successful.’

Torbjørn Ekelund,
Dagbladet

‘Jorn Lier Horst narrates this story using the best devices of the genre, without
using any easy ways out. There is a feeling that the book comes with a built-in side-shift
mechanism.’

Geir Rakvaag, Dagsavisen

‘Strikes to the very heart of the reader.’

Kjell Einar Øren,
Haugesunds Avis

‘In
The
Hunting Dogs
, Jorn Lier Horst has delivered an outstanding novel – his best to date.’

Svend Einar Hansen,
Østlands-Posten

‘
The
Hunting Dogs
is a book to hunt for.’

Helge Ottesen,
Varden

‘It could hardly be more accomplished …
The Hunting Dogs
has everything you could wish for in this genre: intensity, intrigue of the most
exquisite kind and powerful character depiction containing complex psychological depth,
both of the central character and the perpetrators of crime. All carried off by a
writer who both builds up and propels forward the action of the novel in a way that
lends his material total conviction.’

Finn Stenstad,
Tønsbergs Blad

‘Listen up: 
The Hunting Dogs
is a sure-fire Christmas gift.’

Knut Holt,
Fædrelandsvennen

‘Successful hunting expedition.’

Gunn Magni Galaaen,
Trønder-Avisa

‘Jorn Lier Horst has produced a page-turner with his latest novel,
The
Hunting Dogs
. Once again.’

Eskil Skjeldal,
Telemarksavisa

‘A crime novel you’re guaranteed to be unable to put down.’

Moss
Avis

‘A brilliant crime novel that makes Horst one of my favourite Norwegian writers.’

Tarald Aano,
Stavanger Aftenblad

Praise for
Closed for Winter

‘Top class crime writing.’

Sindre Hovdenakk,
Verdens Gang

‘Lovers of crime fiction – read this!’

Knut Holt,
Fædrelandsvennen

‘
Closed for Winter
is a good, well-grounded crime story.’

Helge Ottesen,
Varden

‘Jorn Lier Horst has pulled it off again.’

Svein Einar Hansen,
Østlandsposten

‘This is a thoroughly good crime novel.’

Finn Stenstad,
Tønsberg Blad

‘Classic police procedural from an author who knows what he is doing … I recommend
that every fan of crime novels should dedicate some time to Jorn Lier Horst’s writing.
Make a pleasurable start with
Closed for Winter
.’

Torbjørn Ekelund,
Dagbladet

Praise for
Dregs

‘Jorn Lier Horst has, right from his debut in 2004, set a sensationally good pace
in his crime novels, and has today gained entry into the circle of our very best writers
in that genre.’

Terje Stemland,
Aftenposten
, Norway

‘Just as good are the descriptions of the characters in Jorn Lier Horst’s book. They
are nuanced and interesting, absolutely human. Many have known it for a long time,
but now it ought to be acknowledged as a truth for all readers of crime fiction: William
Wisting is one of the great investigators in Norwegian crime novels.’

Norwegian Book Club

(Book of the Month, Crime and Thrillers)

‘I’m impressed once again that he has created such a sterling crime mystery as
Dregs
. For he hasn’t only made use of his comprehensive knowledge, he has also done it
with creative finesse.’

Marius Aronsen, Secretary of
Riverton Club
, Norway

‘Once more Jorn Lier Horst has produced a sound criminal narrative with an intricate
plot, an action-packed story with Chief Inspector William Wisting as a credible central
character. Jorn Lier Horst has the great advantage of his own experiences as a police
investigator, and is able to bring real authenticity to such aspects as investigative
methodology and tactical planning.’

Svend E. Hansen
,
Østlandsposten
, Norway

Jorn Lier Horst
was born in 1970, in Bamble, Telemark, Norway. Between 1995 and 2013, when he turned
to full time writing, he worked as a policeman in Larvik, eventually becoming head
of investigations there. His William Wisting series of crime novels has been extremely
successful, having sold more than 500,000 copies in Scandinavia, UK, Germany, Netherlands
and Thailand.
Dregs
, sixth in the series, was published in English by Sandstone Press in 2011, and
Closed for Winter
, winner of Norway’s Booksellers’ Prize, in 2012.
Closed for Winter
was also shortlisted for the prestigious Riverton Prize or
The Golden Revolver
, for best Norwegian crime novel of the year. Subsequently,
The Hunting Dogs
, successor to
Closed for Winter
won both the
Golden Revolver
and
The Glass Key
, which widened the scope to best crime fiction in all the Nordic countries. Jorn
Lier Horst’s most recent William Wisting novel,
The Caveman
, will be published by Sandstone Press in 2015.

Anne Bruce
, who lives on the Isle of Arran in Scotland, formerly worked in education and has
a longstanding love of Scandinavia and Norway in particular. Having studied Norwegian
and English at Glasgow University, she is the translator of Jorn Lier Horst’s
Dregs
and
Closed for Winter
, and also Anne Holt’s
Blessed are
Those who Thirst
(2012) and
Death of the Demon
(2013), as well as Merethe Lindstrøm’s Nordic Prize winning
Days
in the History of Silence
(2013).

Also published by Sandstone Press

Dregs

Closed for Winter

First published in Great Britain

and the United States of America

Sandstone Press Ltd

PO Box 5725

One High Street

Dingwall

Ross-shire

IV15 9WJ

Scotland.

www.sandstonepress.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without
the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS 2012

[All rights reserved.]

Translation © Anne Bruce 2014

Published in English in 2014 by Sandstone Press Ltd

English language editor: Robert Davidson

The moral right of Jorn Lier Horst to be recognised as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patent Act, 1988.

This translation has been published with the financial support of NORLA.

The publisher acknowledges support from Creative Scotland towards publication of this
volume.

ISBN: 978-1-908737-63-2

ISBNe: 978-1-908737-64-9

Cover design by Freight Design, Glasgow

Ebook by Iolaire Typesetting, Newtonmore

WILLIAM WISTING

William Wisting is a career policeman who has risen through the ranks to become Chief
Inspector in the Criminal Investigation Department of Larvik Police, just like his
creator, author Jorn Lier Horst.
The Hunting Dogs
is the eighth title in the series, the third to be published in English, and finds
him aged fifty-two, the widowed father of grown up twins, Thomas and Line.
Wisting
’s wife, Ingrid, went to Africa to work on a NORAD project but was killed there at
the end of
The Only One
, the fifth title in the series.

Thomas serves in the military, in Afghanistan at the time of
The Hunting Dogs
. Daughter Line is an investigative journalist based in Oslo, whose career frequently
intersects with that of her father. Wisting, at first apprehensive, has come to value
how she is able to operate in ways that he cannot, often turning up unexpected clues
and insights.

After Ingrid’s death Wisting became involved with another woman, Suzanne Bjerke, a
former child welfare worker who, at the beginning of
The Hunting Dogs,
has recently opened a café-bar in Stavern. However, for Wisting, Ingrid remains the
absence around which all else revolves. The development of this new relationship is
charted in subsequent books, including this one.

Crucial to the series are Wisting’s colleagues in the police. Audun Vetti, the arrogant
Assistant Chief of Police who was also the police prosecutor, came to the fore in
Dregs
, when the question of how much information to divulge to the press was bitterly contested
between the two. In
Closed for Winter
, he had been promoted to the post of Deputy Chief Constable. Wisting has more positive
relationships with certain trusted colleagues: old school Nils Hammer, whose background
in the Drugs Squad has made him cynical, the younger Torunn Borg whom Wisting has
come to rely on thanks to her wholly professional approach and outlook, and Mortensen,
the crime scene examiner who is usually first on the scene.

The setting is Vestfold county on the south-west coast of Norway, an area popular
with holidaymakers, where rolling landscapes and attractive beaches make an unlikely
setting for crime. The principal town of Larvik, where Wisting is based, is located
105 km (65 miles) southwest of Oslo. The wider Larvik district has 41,000 inhabitants,
23,000 of whom live in the town itself, and covers 530 square km. Larvik is noted
for its natural springs, but its modern economy relies heavily on agriculture, commerce
and services, light industry and transportation, as well as tourism. There is a ferry
service from Larvik to Hirsthals in Denmark.

At the beginning of
The Hunting Dogs
, we learn that Wisting has added to his duties as head of CID by becoming a visiting
lecturer at the recently opened Police College campus in Stavern. A lecture he had
given recently had been about ethics and morality, a topic that becomes the central
focus of this new novel. Jorn Lier Horst’s own deep experience of police procedures
and processes brings a strong sense of the novels in the William Wisting series being
firmly grounded in reality.

The
Hunting Dogs
won the Norwegian Riverton Prize (Golden Revolver) in 2012 as well as the Scandinavian
Glass Key in 2013. Jorn Lier Horst worked as a policeman in Larvik between 1995 and
2013 when he turned to full time writing.