THE FOURTH MAN

The American debut of Oslo police inspector Frank Frølich, who succumbs to sexual obsession.

In the course of a routine store shootout, Frølich rescues Elisabeth Faremo. He’s mesmerized by her blue eyes and even more entranced when she appears, uninvited, sitting cross-legged in her undies in his living room. But Elisabeth is cagey, never revealing much about herself. So it’s up to Frølich to uncover the facts: that she also has a lesbian lover and that her brother Jonny is part of a gang responsible for killing a security guard. Then Jonny drowns; Elisabeth’s girlfriend is attacked and commits suicide; and bones found in a burned-out chalet retreat indicate that someone has killed Elisabeth. Put on leave because of his past relationship with Elisabeth, Frølich antagonizes his former associate Gunnarstrada by gnawing at the connected crimes until he comes face-to-face with a billionaire as obsessed with a Bellini painting as Frølich is with Elisabeth. Two attacks—one involving a motorcycle, the other a sauna—don’t deter Frølich, who soldiers on, ultimately piecing together what lay behind those enchanting blue eyes.

An absorbing study of sexual enthrallment, dogged police work and a harrowing twist or two: Fans of procedurals and prurience will snap this one up.