Yours Until Death

Varg Veum

By: Gunnar Staalesen

Narrated by: Colin Mace

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

An unbearably tense novel of revenge, murder, bereavement and the destructive force of passion. First published in Norwegian in 1979, it was described by the critic Nils Nordberg as 'one of the finest, most serious, most ambitious books in post-war Norwegian crime writing'.

The single-mother families of the isolated community under the shadow of the Pyderhorn, Bergen's greatest mountain, are being terrorised by a teenage gang. But teenage violence is nothing compared to what awaits detective Varg Veum when he gets to know the blue-eyed Wenche Andersen.

©2010 Gunnar Staalesen (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Hammett meets Greene meets Rilke

Atmosphere like Maltese Falcon, Greene’s emotional characters and Rilke’s imagery. Not sure I’m moving forward with this series but if you love dark, moody and destitute - you’ll enjoy this.

Narrator is awesome.

Another fine book by Gunnar Staalesen

This is the second book I've read featuring private detective Varg Veum. I don't know how I missed this outstanding writer in my search for Scandanavian writers. But I am hooked by his prose, skillful character development, and the ability to make me care and understand even the most minor characters.

Great Scandinavian Mystery!

I've been listening to this series since "Where Roses Never Die" was a daily deal. Since Audible has been releasing these out of order, that's how I've been listening to them. Starting with ones set in the late nineties/early aughts, and moving to this one written in 1977 was very interesting. Still, the characters and plot were just as compelling as the more recent installments.

Varg Veum is a subtle character, but his light sense of humor is well portrayed. The stories are a little dark in general, though this one was less so. I wouldn't say that I was on the edge of my seat, but I certainly never lost interest. This was the second book in the series, and I think as they go on the mysteries become more complex, but I was still surprised by the ending.

In short, I would absolutely recommend this to a friend, and hope that Audible puts out more from this series soon!

Satisfying, as always!

I enjoy the Varg Veum series so much, I have just completed my third listen of all the audible books available in the series. Colin Mace, with his gravelly voice, is such a perfect narrator for this burned-out, soft-hearted wreck of a brilliant investigator. Varg is my perfect flawed-hero. And, Gunnar Staalesen writes so poetically — about justice, about relationships, about nature, and especially about women, who he clearly loves. His books make me laugh out loud, cheer the victor and mourn the wreckage we humans create in our lives. As stated above, his books are satisfying, as always. If you want books that provoke thought and you will want to read again and again, I highly recommend adding every book in this series to your library.

Likeable Varg . . . The Rest Not So Much

This just happens to be the second Varg Veum mystery I’ve listened to . . . and I’m glad. Where Roses Never Die was a FIVE STAR listen. This one was not. But as other reviewers have noted, I am going to trust that the author gets better and better. The redeeming quality for Yours Until Death is this: Varg Veum is a good guy. Honest, still trusting in a society where nothing is as it seems, and everyone is out to rip you off. In this book he is 36 years old, divorced and not yet ready to give up on love. I like that about him. And I like that he is always for the underdog . . . that is until they lie to him. What I did not like about this book is that there were few likeable characters other than Varg. It was a sad story about people who continuously make poor decisions based on selfish motives. I will probably try some more in the series, only because I loved Where Roses Never Die . . . oh, and I want to see what Varg will do to right things in a screwed up world.

Very returnable

This was not a very interesting story, not very well written in my opinion. Sometimes I enjoy the smart alec detective if he's actually funny. But this one was a sad sap, moaning over this beautiful woman and that beautiful woman. Always the guy without the girl or any money. I was hoping there would be something about it that would be distinctly Norwegian, something about the culture and landscape would come through. But mostly it was a guy with a head full of misery and it wasn't pleasant being in there with him. His writing style, the style of the protagonist, even the helpless-seeming beautiful women are all from the 50's? I like older books more than most of the new, but never liked this style much. I think this was his first book and he got better later in the series, according to other reviews.