Weapon of choice

Weapon of choice

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE

In my army days, we were issued used M1 rifles. They were heavy and either had hair triggers or they had to be pulled way back before firing, by which time the target had moved.

Battle Sight Zero by Gerald Seymour 442 pp. 2019 Hodder 81 Staughton paperback Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 595 baht.

What little interest I had in firearms since has been academic. Rifles have improved since then. Different countries make and sell their own, a profitable business. Each claims theirs is best.

But is there a best? The Russian AK-47 and the US M-16 have their advantages, not to mention the Chinese AK-74 and Belgian Assault Rifle. But even as I write, they are all becoming obsolete as a new level of rifle is being designed. Still, it may be said that the AK-47 is the most popular. It's the simplest to assemble and is hardly affected by climate. The brainchild of Mikhail Kalashnikov shortly after the Second World War, Russian factories have mass-produced them ever since.

In Battle Sight Zero, Brit author Gerald Seymour has penned a paean to the AK-47, fictitiously tracing the spread of its popularity from 1956 to the present, focusing on his country's efforts to keep it from bring imported. No easy job, as homegrown terrorists mean to use it in their war against the Establishment. Rather than wait until the rifle bearers have reached Customs, MI-5 sends operative Andy Knight to back trace the stock of AK-47s ready for shipment. The price needs be agreed on. He meets Yorkshire girl Zeineb. On whose side is she? Will she betray him when he tries to go undercover?

The book's title refers to the sight on the rifle, enabling the shooter to clearly see his target 300m away. The trail takes the twosome to Marseille, the author giving us a history of the city. Fearing that Andy might be a plant, the terrorists put him through a rigorous interrogation. Zeinab appears to join in. His passing it is sure to raise an eyebrow. Nevertheless, we know he'll survive for Seymour's 36th novel.

That the AK-47 does enter the UK is a matter of record. And it killed more than a few innocent men, women and children. Yet many of the culprits are behind bars and life goes on.

A cold case

The Katharina Code By Jorn Lier Horst 506 pp. 2018 Penguin paperback Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 350 baht.

A fan of the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, I was stuck by how much darker in content they were than movies made elsewhere. This reviewer has since come to realise that Scandinavian literature shares this trait. Which is why they can't be mentioned in the same breath as other novels.

Bergman attributed it to low-hanging clouds, which he said tend to become depressing. Not being a psychologist, I can't say for sure whether this is the case. What I do say is that The Katharina Code, a crime thriller by Norway's Jorn Lier Horst, is a downer. But not a thumbs-downer by any means.

The story focuses on a 24-year-old cold case. Katharina Haugen, a pregnant but unfaithful wife, is last seen driving away from a party of friends with her husband, Martin. She has been kidnapped. He receives a coded ransom note. Her boyfriend is arrested. For decades Martin agonises over whether she's alive or dead. He is not alone. The detective on the case takes a personal interest.

Every year on the anniversary of Katharina's disappearance, the two get together to talk about her. The clothes she left behind are still hanging in her closet. Now Chief Inspector, the case still haunts William Wisting. Then another woman disappears and so does Martin. Bodies are found. Martin is the suspect. Had his friend been wrong about him all those years?

A computer search indicates that a fellow officer had a murky past while growing up abroad. A TV producer is doing a show one real-life crime suspects. Martin is being targeted.

In a nationwide chase, William catches up to his quarry. What he learns turns the plot right around.

Scandinavians are turning out stories at a prodigious rate this century. My favourite Norwegian piece, though, is still Henrik Ibsen's 100-year-old play An Enemy Of The People.

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