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From debut novelist Saija Kuusela comes a new psychological thriller, a story of passion, revenge, and burning darkness, set in Northern Norway.
Mystery and atmosphere combine when the cold sea breeze greets a newcomer Nea Guttorm to the community.
After walking out on her rapidly deteriorating marriage, half-Sámi police officer Nea decides to leave Oslo and move up north, settling in an isolated village between the fjords and the fells. Putting the jealousy and anger of her controlling relationship behind her, Nea can’t think of anything better than embracing the solitude of the mountains by starting a quiet job in the local police unit.
But almost as soon as Nea has arrived, the community is shaken to its core when an unidentified man’s body is discovered in an icy mountain stream, with his eyes removed.
The police, with the empathetic and driven Nea Guttorm at the fore, get to work identifying the body and interviewing potential suspects. But as the days stack up, the police aren’t getting any closer to finding any answers. Who does the body belong to? How is almost every witness unreliable? To make matters worse, Nea finds herself haunted by disturbing memories of her ex-husband and the fights that consumed the end of their relationship. Then, one day, she has a vision of a hand grasping a long-bladed knife.
Why can’t Nea shake off the uncomfortable feeling that the key to solving the mystery lies within her visions?
The Gaze is a story of passion, revenge, and the burning darkness that resides within each of us. In the tradition of Stina Jackson and Camilla Läckberg, Saija Kuusela masterfully describes the Scandinavian wilderness, taking her readers to some magnificently dark places.
‘A powerfully promising new crime series.’–Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
‘In accordance with the characteristics of the genre of Nordic Noir, the harsh natural world and landscapes of the north play an essential role in THE GAZE. The unpredictable winter of the coasts of the northern Norway form a vivid backdrop to the events, and at the end, a mountain glacier takes the center stage. –Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
‘We are in northern Norway. In Kuusela’s idiom, the poetic and the forbidding alternate along with the terrain. THE GAZE is not your ordinary crime novel. In literary expression, it is an extraordinarily ambitious case.” –Kansan Uutiset newspaper
‘THE GAZE culminates in Nea’s long, irresponsible, and life-threatening trek across the glacier in pursuit of a witness to a murder or haunted by her own visions. The depiction of her lonely struggle for survival is once again magnificent.’ –Kansan Uutiset newspaper
‘Her debut novel predicts to Saija Kuusela a long career as a fixed star of the Finnish psychological thriller scene’. –Kauppalehti newspaper
THE GAZE is a magnificent, almost 400pp suspense novel combining criminal investigation, psychological suspense, interesting setting, and characters who are not what they seem to be. Multilayered, even literary.’ –Ruumiin kulttuuri magazine (specializing on crime novels)
‘Kuusela’s assured narrative and crystalline language are gripping.’–Savon Sanomat newspaper
‘THE GAZE is a brilliantly constructed thriller and a somewhat unconventional police novel with a strong psychological element spiced with mysticism. The northern landscape is described impressively. The author does not paint picturesque descriptions of the scenery, but rather nature intrudes into the characters’ everyday lives and work. The northern landscape is enchantingly beautiful, but also frightening, even cruel.’ – Kirsin kirjanurkka literary blog
‘Stylistically THE GAZE is not your traditional light-read crime novel: the language is gorgeous and descriptive. With its atypical approach’, the case nudged off-center, and a main character who is not a member of the investigative team, it could well be literary fiction with a substantial frisson of suspense.” –Kirjan jos toisenkin literary blog
‘This debut is rock solid, an exhibit of true skill. Saija Kuusela is a talent and a diamond.” –Joukon kirjablogi literary blog
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