This book picks up a month after the ending of the afore-mentioned first book but reading that one first isn't necessary to following the plot of this one. Norwegian police chief Sigrid Odegard is still recovering from the events of the first book when her father, Morten, asks her to go to America to see if she can find her brother, Marcus. Her brother has been semi-estranged from her father and Sigrid and has been living in the U.S. for the past 20 years. Recently, however, Marcus has begun corresponding with Morten but his last letter was unsettling and he hasn't been heard from since.Reluctantly, Sigrid agrees. As soon as she arrives in Watertown, NY, she begins looking for Marcus - only to find that he has disappeared. As if that weren't bad enough, he is the main suspect in the death of a well-known African American professor with whom he was in love.
Sigrid's search leads her to the local sheriff, Irving Watson, and a crash course in all things American. Race relations, gun control, police investigative tactics, politics circa 2008, to name only a few. While Sigrid and Irv, sometimes working together and sometimes working separately, rush to find Marcus, they discuss and wonder at what unites them and what divides them.
The author is an American currently living in Oslo, Norway with his Norwegian wife and their two children. As such, he has a unique perspective on life in both countries. If he sometimes comes down a little hard on his native country, it is easy to understand when compared with Norway.
This book is a wonderful combination of laugh out loud humor and thoughtful analysis. I can't wait for his next book and I hope that Sigrid and Irv figure prominently in it.
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