A good but ever so slightly identikit Scandi thriller, that is nonetheless entertaining. Anyone who has run out of Hening Mankell may not yet have found an adequate substitute  (hint: it’s Jo Nesbo) but The Return will do nicely while the search continues (hint: it’s Jo Nesbo).

Set in an unnamed Northern European country that is a cross between Sweden and the Netherlands, The Return features the crotchety and enigmatic (aren’t they all) Inspector Van Veeteren. Yet since one of Nesser’s neat tricks is to keep Van Veeteren in the wings, The Return is more of an ensemble piece and all the better for it. The good inspector  is hospitalised for most of the novel but still runs the investigation from his hospital bed, so the action unfolds via conversations between other more prosaic police officers. For the most part, these tricks and tropes work very nicely.

The story itself is rather slight featuring a headless corpse and a decades old crime and unassuaged collective guilt. Of course it’s a decades old crime and unassuaged guilt. Again not exactly unchartered waters. No matter, Nesser is a good prose stylist and the story flicks back and forth between the past and the present day, forcing the reader to pay attention in order to keep up. He’s good at it too, revealing a bit more of a fairly unmysterious mystery each time.

Less good is the ending, which is meant to be devastating but is actually a bit ho hum and a bit unbelievable.  After the ratcheting up of tension it is a tad underwhelming. In the end the grumpy detective might be more Morse than Wallander, but The Return is still an enjoyale diversion.

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