The Mountain King – Asker Series #1

Author: Anders de la Motte
Genre: Crime Fiction, Nordic Noir
464 pages
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2024 English translation
Translator: Alex Fleming

Synopsis
Criminal inspector Leonore Asker seems to have the leading position at Malmö’s Major Crime Division within reach. But things go awry when, in the middle of a high-profile kidnapping case, management relegates her to the so-called Department of Lost Souls—the unit for odd, cold cases banished to the basement of the police station.

Despite the humiliation, Asker is drawn into one of the more peculiar cases. Someone is placing small ominous figures in town and one of them seems to represent the missing woman from the kidnapping case. As Asker’s investigation takes her to abandoned buildings, she reaches out to a local architecture expert and together they explore the sinister recesses of the city and discover that an unusual kind of evil lurks in the shadows.

My review
The Mountain King by Anders de la Motte is a Nordic Noir crime novel and the first book in the Asker series. This was my first time reading de la Motte, and I’m already excited for the next installment coming later this year. The story is expertly crafted – there’s a lot happening, but de la Motte weaves it all together seamlessly, like a giant puzzle with plenty of moving pieces. Discovering a new author is always a thrill, especially one with such a dark and intricate imagination that kept me hooked from start to finish.

Leonore—better known as Leo—Asker is the main character, leading the serious crimes division as they investigate the disappearance of Smilla, the daughter of a wealthy family. But just as she’s beginning the case, she gets an unexpected “promotion” to a basement office, stuck working cold cases as head of The Department of Lost Souls. What she finds is a misfit team that doesn’t exactly play by the rules and seems to be chasing a string of strange, unrelated cases. As Leo digs deeper, she realizes the previous cold case investigator was looking into a series of disappearances—and oddly enough, small figures connected to the missing people keep turning up on an elaborate model train set.

I’ve seen this setup before – a skilled detective gets shoved into a dead-end department full of cold cases, weird cases, or cases no one cares about anymore. But does that stop Leo? Not a chance. As she digs in, she realizes this so-called misfit department isn’t quite what it seems. She presses on, mostly on her own, trying to piece together what happened to these two young people and a few others.

Leo’s backstory is both fascinating and horrifying, shaping her strengths as well as her quirks. The story is packed with twists, including the involvement of some model train enthusiasts and the eerie detail that tiny figurines keep appearing at the locations where people vanish. The plot is intricate and far-reaching, told through multiple perspectives, but de la Motte masterfully weaves past and present into a seamless, engaging narrative that’s complex yet easy to follow. I was hooked the whole way through.

I have just a couple of minor critiques. The beginning felt a bit stiff, and it took me a little while to really get into the story, though that could be due to the translation from Swedish to English. I also found it a bit jarring when a new POV was introduced toward the end. I get why it was done, and I have a feeling this character will play a bigger role in future books, but it disrupted the overall flow just a bit.

The Mountain King was a thoroughly entertaining crime fiction puzzle and I’m very much looking forward to the next installment, The Glass Man.

My recommendation: definitely worth the read!