1222 metres above sea level, train 601 from Oslo to Bergen careens off iced rails as the worst snowstorm in Norwegian history gathers force around it. Marooned in the high mountains with night falling and the temperature plummeting, its 269 passengers are forced to abandon their snowbound train and decamp to a centuries-old mountain hotel. They ought to be safe from the storm here, but as dawn breaks one of them will be found dead, murdered. With the storm showing no sign of abating, retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is asked to investigate. But Hanne has no wish to get involved. She has learned the hard way that truth comes at a price and sometimes that price just isn't worth paying. Her pursuit of truth and justice has cost her the love of her life, her career in the Oslo Police Department and her mobility: she is paralysed from the waist down by a bullet lodged in her spine. Trapped in a wheelchair, trapped by the killer within, trapped by the deadly storm outside, Hanne's growing unease is shared by everyone in the hotel. Should she investigate, or should she just wait for help to arrive? And all the time rumours swirl about a secret cargo carried by train 601. Why was the last carriage sealed? Why is the top floor of the hotel locked down? Who or what is being concealed? And, of course, what if the killer strikes again?
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
'1222 is an homage to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - or Miss Marple as a badass, paralysed Norwegian lesbian detective... Holt translates the classic locked room mystery into a modern thriller.' The Times 'Like a mash-up of Steig Larsson, Jeffery Deaver and Agatha Christie.' Daily Mirror 'Step aside, Stieg Larsson, Holt is the queen of Scandinavian crime thrillers.' Red 'Anne Holt is the latest crime writer to reveal how truly dark it gets in Scandinavia' Val McDermid 'A splendidly chilling read' The Observer 'If you haven't heard of Anne Holt, you soon will... A variation on the classic locked room mystery, Holt had capitalized on old-fashioned suspense to great effect' Daily Mail 'It's easy to see why Anne Holt, the former minister of justice in Norway and currently its bestselling female crime writer, is rapturously received in the rest of Europe - the build up of tension is slow but superbly effective. Holt's vivid depiction of claustrophobia, petty squabbles and mob hysteria is just as convincing as her evocation of the storm outside.' The Guardian
About the Author
Anne Holt spent two years working for the Oslo Police Department before founding her own law firm and serving as Norway's Minister for Justice in 1996/97. Her first book was published in 1993 and she has subsequently developed two series: the Hanne Wilhelmsen series and the Vik/Stubo series. Both series will be published by Corvus.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I need to read this Agatha Christie classic. I'm overdue, because this is the second novel I've read in the past few months that owes a significant debt to Ms. Christie's novel. And that's not a criticism. It's a brilliant structure, and it's used to good effect in Anne Holt's latest, 1222.
I'll start by noting the unusual title of the novel refers to the elevation (meters above sea level) of the novel's setting, and the name of a hotel at that elevation. In the opening pages there is a train crash high up in Norway's snowy mountains. Most of the 269 passengers and crew get off with fairly minor injuries, but they're trapped in the mountains by a severe winter storm. It'll be several days before organized help can arrive. Fortunately, a handful of locals form a rescue team and evacuate the passengers to the nearby hotel, which opens its doors wide to accommodate everyone.
The main character of the novel is a wheelchair-bound former police inspector named Hanne Wilhelmsen. I believe that Hanne has appeared in prior novels by Holt, but this is the first of the series to be published in the US. She's not a warm and fuzzy first-person narrator. In fact, she's rather prickly, but she's an interesting lady with a complex back-story, and she's a keen observer of human nature. In other words, she's exactly the sort of person you might want around when you're trapped in a remote location with a bunch of quirky strangers--and suddenly people start turning up dead.
Ms. Holt kept me guessing along with everyone else for the duration of this very enjoyable who-done-it. She embellishes the basic plot with several other side mysteries and red herrings. I warmed up to Hanne enough that I'd love to continue reading her series. Other characters were used more to fulfill their functions within the plot, but they were ably handled. 1222 isn't a major literary work, but I don't have a single complaint to voice. It was written to entertain, and on that count, I found it to be entirely successful.
I'll start by noting the unusual title of the novel refers to the elevation (meters above sea level) of the novel's setting, and the name of a hotel at that elevation. In the opening pages there is a train crash high up in Norway's snowy mountains. Most of the 269 passengers and crew get off with fairly minor injuries, but they're trapped in the mountains by a severe winter storm. It'll be several days before organized help can arrive. Fortunately, a handful of locals form a rescue team and evacuate the passengers to the nearby hotel, which opens its doors wide to accommodate everyone.
The main character of the novel is a wheelchair-bound former police inspector named Hanne Wilhelmsen. I believe that Hanne has appeared in prior novels by Holt, but this is the first of the series to be published in the US. She's not a warm and fuzzy first-person narrator. In fact, she's rather prickly, but she's an interesting lady with a complex back-story, and she's a keen observer of human nature. In other words, she's exactly the sort of person you might want around when you're trapped in a remote location with a bunch of quirky strangers--and suddenly people start turning up dead.
Ms. Holt kept me guessing along with everyone else for the duration of this very enjoyable who-done-it. She embellishes the basic plot with several other side mysteries and red herrings. I warmed up to Hanne enough that I'd love to continue reading her series. Other characters were used more to fulfill their functions within the plot, but they were ably handled. 1222 isn't a major literary work, but I don't have a single complaint to voice. It was written to entertain, and on that count, I found it to be entirely successful.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I must be honest and state that I am either frustrated by Anne Holt's writing or my reaction to it. Anne Holt's works should be books that I thoroughly enjoy as I rate most of her contemporaries in the area of Nordic Noir in the 4/5 star range, yet her books start off really promising and then they fizzle out to me. This should not be the case as she is really able to write without weighing her books down with romantic scenes that some of her female contemporaries can't seem to get around. Yet, her characters are unable to be "emotionally attached" to and fall flat. This really bothers me as a reader and I keep hoping that it will change for me, yet, I believe this is my second or third book of hers I have read and it doesn't.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I didn't have high expectations when I picked up this book. I mean, the title is so meaningless and the cover rather dull. But I was gripped from the very first page. After a train derailment in the alps of Norway, the passengers are stranded in a remote hotel for the duration of a violent storm. The protagonist is an ex-policewoman who is now confined to a wheelchair. Closed off from the world, the heroine is forced to connect with the other members of the hotel when one of the passengers is murdered.
If I were to sum up this book, it would be Ice Station Zebra meets House. The atmosphere the author creates is claustrophobic with the tension increasing in line with the rising winds and the number of victims. The ex-policewoman is a lot like the character of House, socially phobic but with an eagle eye for detail and a keen mind. Watching her wind her way through the suspects, reluctantly forming relations with a small group of trusted allies, and solving the murder - which subsequently turns into murders - is a pure joy.
The denouement was classic Columbo with the suspects gathered in the same room and the heroine targetting one person after the next, slowly revealing each clue until she finally corners the murderer and solves the mystery. I could not put this book down. It was like curling up beside a warm fire with a drink of hot chocolate and watching those wonderful old tv shows.
If I were to sum up this book, it would be Ice Station Zebra meets House. The atmosphere the author creates is claustrophobic with the tension increasing in line with the rising winds and the number of victims. The ex-policewoman is a lot like the character of House, socially phobic but with an eagle eye for detail and a keen mind. Watching her wind her way through the suspects, reluctantly forming relations with a small group of trusted allies, and solving the murder - which subsequently turns into murders - is a pure joy.
The denouement was classic Columbo with the suspects gathered in the same room and the heroine targetting one person after the next, slowly revealing each clue until she finally corners the murderer and solves the mystery. I could not put this book down. It was like curling up beside a warm fire with a drink of hot chocolate and watching those wonderful old tv shows.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
"How fragile life is."
Anne Holt's "1222" takes place during a monstrous winter storm in Norway. When their train derails, hundreds of passengers take shelter in a nearby hotel called Finse 1222, "a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by E. Bukowsky
Locked Room Mystery Reminiscent of Christie
At 1222 metres above sea level, the train to Oslo is derailed by icy tracks and the passengers are forced to move to a nearby hotel. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Maxine McLister
A mystery just the way I like it
Whenever I come across a new book from Anne Holt I buy it and read it in anticipation. She is a master not only in creating a certain atmoophere of cold tension but also in making... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Pedro Araujo
A foreign mystery
This is only the second Anne Holt book I've read. I enjoyed it. There is not alot of action. It is a murder mystery and the main characters use deduction to solve the mursers. Read more
Published 13 months ago by micki 2
Henning Mankell meets Agatha Christie
This book is a modern re-working of the traditional 'country house' murder mystery genre. It is a generally enjoyable book with more than a nod to Agatha Christie (although has... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Bob
Murder in the snow
Anne Holt's latest novel is "1222". The numbers refer to the height above sea level of the town where this modern version of the classic crime story takes place. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Cloggie Downunder
Average thriller with a sensationalist spin
It doesn't take too long to establish that 1222 is a thriller of the drawing-room murder-mystery variety, where a group of people are holed-up together in a remote, isolated... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Keris Nine
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