Jonathan Svane’s youngest son died in an arson attack. The perpetrators were never arrested and have vanished without a trace. Jonathan is numb with grief and guilt and wants to find the truth about the fire, wants to get justice for his son.
He works as an Investigative journalist and as part of his job Jonathan travels to Marbella to investigate what happened to Norwegian investor Ove Lekmann. He disappeared from the “Costa del Sol” without a trace only to reappear six months later, distraught and with an alleged amnesia.
Interviewing him, Jonathan finds that Lekman’s story has many improbabilities. Slowly he realizes that Lekman’s disappearance might be connected to the long series of events that ended in the fire that killed Eden, his son.
Throughout his body of work, Nikolaj Frobenius has shown a particular interest in uncovering what lies beneath apparent prosperous facades. In Extermination, he delves even deeper into the theme in this compelling and emotional psychological thriller.
Frobenius’ concise psychological thriller has elegant twists, and a quivering sense of unease, charged by the protagonist’s worldview, builds up.
Statement from the Jury, The Riverton Award, 2024
…Extinction addresses themes of hatred, the thirst for revenge, and attitudes toward violence as a solution – all through a well-constructed narrative. […] The novel is a thrilling page-turner with believable characters and actions.
Stavanger Aftenblad
It is to Frobenius’s merit that Jonathan Svane’s dealings with anguish, paranoia and choices come across as genuine – and necessary. The action is compact and effective, while other parts, such as the grief, linger – sometimes even beautifully – on the main character’s suffering.
NRK
The alternation between the inner monologues and the external tension-driven elements is – as always with Nikolaj Frobenius – written with sensitivity and a sense of tact and variation.
Dagsavisen
Creepy and dark, I’ve never read such an eerie and gloomy Norwegian psychological thriller. These are 200 compact, concise and concise pages, a rare page-turner.
Randabergposten24
Everything isn’t what it seems, and is revenge really always as sweet? ….. It literally starts explosively before Frobenius slows down the pace and lets reflections on identity, the nature of vengeance, and consequences carry his new and well-written psychological thriller.
Bok365, on Swan Song
