It has been interesting to watch the progression of the publishing of Anne Holt’s Hanne Wilhelmsen series in the United States, given that the books have appeared on these shores wildly out of sequence, due to the particular fault of no one (and least of all Anne Bruce, who does a fine job of translating ODD NUMBERS, the most recently published volume in the US). The series, in its real time, has wound down; this installment, we are informed, is the ninth and penultimate Wilhelmsen novel, with what is apparently the final one --- I støv og aske (which roughly translates to IN DUST AND ASHES) --- scheduled to appear sometime within the next 12 months. Those who have stayed with the series and even reread the books in order will find their perseverance rewarded with ODD NUMBERS, which, while complete in itself, certainly sets up events for a majestic conclusion to come.

"Those who have stayed with the series and even reread the books in order will find their perseverance rewarded with ODD NUMBERS, which, while complete in itself, certainly sets up events for a majestic conclusion to come."

Following an enigmatic introduction, ODD NUMBERS opens with the paraplegic and semi-reclusive Hanne Wilhelmsen receiving an unexpected visitor, Billy T. The two were formerly colleagues in the Oslo Police Department and were close friends before an incident left them all but irrevocably estranged. Billy, seemingly at the end of his rope, has come to Hanne in a last-ditch effort to obtain help for his son Linus, who has begun to hang out with a strange crowd and exhibit disturbing changes. Hanne, who is officially off the Security Service and whose only contact with her colleagues is as a special advisor on cold cases, is reluctant to get involved and even more hesitant to renew her acquaintance with Billy.

Their conversation is cut short, though, when a bomb goes off at the nearby offices of a local political interest group, killing 23 people and injuring several more. An extremist group quickly claims responsibility, but as far as the police are concerned, things don’t quite add up. Billy finds himself professionally and perhaps personally involved in the matter as he is drawn into the investigation almost in spite of himself.

Hanne, meanwhile, continues to investigate cold cases, including one involving the disappearance of a teenage girl, apparently into thin air. She is assigned an assistant, a rookie investigator named Henrik Holme (yes, the name appears to be a tribute to another detective with a similar moniker). Henrik is unusual in appearance and manner, subject to some occasional though harmless tics and eccentricities. One would think that he and Hanne --- she of the somewhat abrasive personality, which existed even before the line-of-duty incident that left her with limited mobility --- would not be able to work together, but their unusual and different ways of looking at the world mesh well and, in the author’s always-capable hands, believably so.

Holt lets the reader know a bit more than the police do (but not everything), so that it is quite entertaining and suspenseful to watch Hanne, Billy and the Security Service, each with different clues that would help the others as they all move to a cataclysmic and foreboding conclusion.

It is actually the missing persons case that is a bit more interesting here, especially given that events have overtaken the subject matter and the main plot, making it somewhat less than believable with respect to the choice of the villains and victims of the piece. ODD NUMBERS is still more than worth your time, effort and, yes, krones, particularly for the close focus upon Henrik Holme and the run-up to the series finale.