Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm join forces to track down a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high-profile murders, in the first episode of a gripping new Nordic Noir series…

‘Grim, gory and filled with plenty of dark twists … There’s definitely a Scandinavian chill in the air with this fascinating read that loses none of its terror and fun in translation’ Sun

‘An exercise in literary tag-teaming from two of Norway’s biggest crime writers with a bold new take on the serial-killer-as-twisted-artist … the start of a series with potential’ Sunday Times

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Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always Number One. When celebrity blogger Emma Ramm visits Nordstrøm’s home later that day, she finds the door unlocked and signs of a struggle inside. A bib with the number ‘one’ has been pinned to the TV.

Police officer Alexander Blix is appointed to head up the missing-persons investigation, but he still bears the emotional scars of a hostage situation nineteen years earlier, when he killed the father of a five-year-old girl. Traces of Nordstrøm soon show up at different locations, but the appearance of the clues appear to be carefully calculated … evidence of a bigger picture that he’s just not seeing…

Blix and Ramm soon join forces, determined to find and stop a merciless killer with a flare for the dramatic, and thirst for attention.

Trouble is, he’s just got his first taste of it…

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‘This tale often surprises or shifts in subtle ways that are pleasing and avoid cliché. As the opener for a new series this is a cracker, long live the marriage of Horst and Enger’ New Books Magazine

‘Death Deserved is a fast-moving, punchy, serial killer investigative novel with a whammy of an ending. If this is the first in the Blix and Ramm series, then here’s to many more!’ LoveReading

‘A stunningly excellent collaboration from Thomas Enger and Jorn Lier Horst …. It’s a brutal tale of fame, murder, and reality TV that gets the pulse racing’ Russel McLean

‘Now — what happens when you put two of the most distinguished writers of Nordic noir in tandem? Death Deserved by Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst suggests it was a propitious publishing move; a ruthless killer is pursued by a tenacious celebrity blogger and a damaged detective’ Financial Times

‘A clever, gripping crime novel with personality, flair, and heart’ Crime by the Book

Translated by: Anne Bruce