Saturday, 09:07. The subway rattles softly along the tracks, its few passengers sluggish from the summer heat, with one exception. A woman is sitting in the back, trembling, eyes wide with terror. A scream pierces through the thick air. A bomb. She has a bomb. The bomb vest strapped to her chest counts down as the impending doom nears. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
The explosion shakes the capital, dulling the bright day and cloaking the sky in a thick haze of smoke. The city reels in shock, and Oslo is immediately set on lockdown with all national units called in. Holger Munch’s elite team quickly starts to investigate the attack. They are joined by the bright and promising Mia Krüger, who has just dropped her sister off at a rehab.
Mia quickly realizes that something doesn’t add up; the woman was a successful lawyer at a prestigious firm and witnesses describe her as being frozen in fear. Mia and Munch cannot fathom what possible motive she would have had for an act of terror of this caliber. Did this woman act alone, or even of her own volition? The case grows even more strange when the police find three strange objects in the woman’s house – items that don’t belong yet seem placed there with purpose. Mia’s instincts flare. She is certain the objects are a message left behind – it almost seems as if someone is toying with them. Meanwhile, a local journalist receives a horrifying phone call from a man claiming responsibility for the attack: She was only the first. More will follow, one every 24 hours… The clock is ticking, and it’s ticking fast.
As the hours drag on, the team is running on caffeine and fear, with few leads and mounting pressure as dawn breaks on Sunday morning. When the clock approaches 09:07, a terrified man in a wheelchair is spotted at a local park with a death sentence strapped to his chest. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. All that is left are sprinkled pieces of a body, a life once lived.
Amid the chaos, the police notice a strange man and detain him immediately. In one of his pockets, they find a notebook filled with specific details that only the mastermind behind the bombings would know. Once the man confesses, the nation breathes a sigh of relief. The danger, it seems, has passed. However, when three strange objects are also found on display in the second victim’s home, Mia is certain that the game hasn’t ended. So far, the perpetrator has seemed cunning, intelligent. Why would he then suddenly slip up so badly, as to get himself arrested?
When a third bomb detonates at exactly 09:07 the next day, Mia’s theory proves right. The bomber is still out there – watching, calculating, stringing them along. The team is running out of time, out of leads, and Mia is desperately trying to grasp the clues. Every second brings them closer to the next detonation – will they have enough time to beat the bomber at his own twisted game?
The Bomber is the sixth installment of the Mia and Munch series, set in 2001 after the gripping prequel, The Wolf. Here, Samuel Bjørk takes the readers back to one of Mia and Munch’s very first and most violent cases, serving a masterclass in suspense. With razor-sharp twists and relentless tension, Bjørk returns with an extremely thrilling and fast-paced rollercoaster of a ride.
Extra Materials
Netherlands, Luitingh-Sijthoff
