Death of the Demon by Anne Holt

First published in Norway in 1995; published in translation by Scribner on June 18, 2013

Anne Holt creates an ominous atmosphere in Death of the Demon ... or maybe the Scandinavian setting is enough to do that. Title notwithstanding, Death of the Demon is a fairly traditional murder mystery, not a tale of the supernatural, although several characters are possessed by demons of their own design.

Twelve-year-old Olav, confined to an institutional foster home in Oslo, is consumed by hatred. Foul-mouthed and ill-tempered, Olav is a chubby boy whose ravenous appetite is rarely satisfied. His mother cannot begin to control him. On the same night the foster home's director is stabbed to death, Olav disappears. Chief Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen investigates, assisted by Detective Billie T.  With Olav, the other foster kids, troubled staff members, and the director's husband and boyfriend to consider, there's no shortage of suspects in this whodunit.

From time to time, Olav's mother provides a first-person account of the difficult life she had raising the little terror and the unwillingness of social services agencies to help, until they finally showed up to take him away. The degree to which Olav's mother is responsible for Olav's misbehavior is unclear (she has a hands-off approach to parenting), but social workers and teachers are eager to blame her instead of reproaching themselves for failing to give her the assistance she persistently requested. Those passages are probably meant to add human interest while serving as an indictment of Norway's social services agencies, but (other than the very last one) they're a bit too obvious to add anything meaningful to the story.

Characterization is above-average for a whodunit. Hanne, who is more comfortable being an investigator than an administrator, has some regret over her decision to accept her promotion to Chief Inspector. Discord between Hanne and her domestic partner adds spice to the story without becoming melodramatic. Holt gives Hanne and Billie T. a workplace friendship without relying on the clichés that often accompany relationships of that nature. I can't say that any of the characters are particularly deep, but neither are they shallow.

The ultimate test of a whodunit is whether the "reveal" is surprising and whether the story is engaging. Death of the Demon gets a better-than-passing grade on both prongs of the test. Holt has a talent for misdirection, as evidenced by a final twist that gives the story an extra spark while imparting new meaning to the book's title.

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