On the Verge

A newspaper article under a comparatively small headline says that a man has been found dead "in the street" behind the Deichmanske Library in Oslo. This is the first of a number of inexplicable deaths in the city. There are strong indications that these people, each with surprising qualities and interests, have been murdered ­ by one and the same person. Who is this unscrupulous and impulsive killer who is stalking Oslo's post-modern clique? The case soon becomes fraught with extra difficulties, not least when the murderer is given the responsibility for co-ordinating the police computer files. Gradually, as he is introduced to more and more facts about his victims, he begins to realise that, as a group, they hold the key to the riddle of modern civilisation.
Earnestly and ironically the reader is taken on an intellectual murder hunt, a journey on the floodtide towards the heart of darkness and a foray into our contemporary Western culture.

First published: 1990, Aschehoug
Jan Kjærstad: Biography and bibliography

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