‘Smoke Screen’ by Thomas Enger & Jórn Lier Horst, trs by Megan Turney | @OrendaBooks @RandomTTours | #blogtour #extract

Delighted to welcome you all to my stop on the blog tour for Smoke Screen by Thomas Enger and Jórn Lier Horst, or as I like to call them : the Dream Team. I reviewed this second instalment in the Blix and Ramm series a while ago for ebook publication day and you can read my review HERE. Today, I’m sharing an extract to whet your appetite. First, that all important bookish information.

Author : Thomas Enger & Jørn Lier Horst
Title : Smoke Screen
Series : Blix and Ramm #2
Pages : 308
Publisher : Orenda Books
Publication date : February 18, 2021 (paperback)

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Oslo, New Year s Eve. The annual firework celebration is rocked by an explosion, and the city is put on terrorist alert. 

Police officer Alexander Blix and blogger Emma Ramm are on the scene, and when a severely injured survivor is pulled from the icy harbour, she is identified as the mother of two-year-old Patricia Smeplass, who was kidnapped on her way home from kindergarten ten years earlier and never found.

Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the unsolved case, as public interest heightens, the terror threat is raised, and it becomes clear that Patricia’s disappearance is not all that it seems.

| EXTRACT |

Emma caught sight of Blix again. He was sat in the open door of a police car, wrapped up tight in a blanket. Steam was rising from the top of his head. 

Blix had saved her life once too, nineteen years ago, in an incident the media had subsequently named ‘the Teisen tragedy’. Blix had shot Emma’s father – he hadn’t had any other choice; he had to do it before her father had a chance to shoot Emma too. He had already shot and killed his wife, Emma’s mother, only minutes before, leaving her in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. 

Emma hadn’t fully understood Blix’s role in the events of that day, not until circumstances had brought them together again years later, with both of them working towards solving the countdown murders. He had kept an eye out for her then, giving her information he hadn’t shared with the other journalists. But that wasn’t the reason that Emma had grown to appreciate his presence in her life – even more so as time went on. It was because she felt that he actually cared. In conversations with her therapist, she had come to realise that she saw Blix as a kind of father figure. 

Emma took a step closer to him. Blix’s lips were blue, contrasting with the stark white of his face. One of his hands was bundled up in a bloody bandage. She snapped a photo of him without him noticing, and moved on. A reply from Irene had popped up on her screen, but Emma swiped it away, resolving to read it later. Kasper hadn’t called or sent a single message to check if she were safe. 

Now that there were fewer people inside the perimeter, the extent of the damage was much clearer. Her gaze was drawn to the black hole in the ground, about a metre wide. Emma held her phone in front of her, continuing to take photos of the scene. She zoomed in closer to one of the casualties – a man on his back. He was wearing a grey coat with a high collar. It was singed from the explosion, and was drenched in blood. He had black trousers and black gloves. Matching black shoes too. They were made of leather, and they looked like, as if they could be… 

Emma drifted towards him, stepping over to the other side of the body. She heard a voice shouting her name, but didn’t look to see who it was. She only had eyes for the man on the ground in front of her, refusing to acknowledge who she was looking at. It was not Kasper. It was impossible, it couldn’t be him. 

‘You can’t be here,’ the voice said behind her, closer this time. ‘You have to stay behind the cordon, Emma, like everyone else.’ 

But Emma wasn’t listening, she just edged closer and closer to the man lying there on his back, staring straight up at the sky. At the fireworks and the stars. The ground and snow around him were stained with the blood that had drained from the open wound in his stomach. 

No, Emma whispered softly. It can’t… 

She shook her head, gasping for air. She felt a hand on her side, but didn’t turn to see who was talking to her, pulling at her. All she could do was stare at his black curls against the white snow. His stubble. His eyelids. She desperately hoped they would start blinking, but they remained as they were, just as motionless. Just as dead.

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How’s that for a teaser? You want to find out more, don’t you? Luckily for you, Smoke Screen is available to buy!

Amazon UK | Bert’s Books | Bookshop UK | Hive UK | Kobo | Waterstones

| ABOUT THE AUTHORS |

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are the internationally bestselling Norwegian authors of the William Wisting and Henning Juul series respectively.

Jørn Lier Horst first rose to literary fame with his No. 1 internationally bestselling William Wisting series. A former investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense.

Thomas Enger is the journalist-turned-author behind the internationally acclaimed and bestselling Henning Juul series. Enger’s trademark has become a darkly gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer. 

Death Deserved was Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller. They are currently working on the third book in the Blix & Ramm series.