Book Beginnings: Cold Hearts by Gunnar Staalesen

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays - The idea is 'to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.' Hash tag #BookBeginnings for twitter and a master linky list on the host's blog.

I'm reading Cold Hearts by Gunnar Staalesen, published by Arcadia Books.

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Here's the beginning...

'I was dancing the bridal waltz with Beate, but I was not in heaven; I was at Mari and Thomas's wedding in Loten one boiling hot day in June, 1997.

I had met her at Oslo Station. She had come from Stavanger, I had come from Bergen. Since the last time I saw her she had had her hair cut short and there were red flecks in it, but her eyes were as I always remembered them: cornflower blue with a touch of aggrieved sorrow She was dressed in a youthful style: jeans, pale green T-shirt and a light reddish-brown summer jacket. She gave me a quick hug, flashed me a wry smile and said: 'Event of the year? Our only son getting married...'

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Have you read this novel? What did you think of it? Do you like the beginning?

Have a great weekend whatever you are reading!

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About the book...

On a frosty January day in Bergen, Private Detective Varg Veum is visited by a prostitute. Her friend Margrethe has disappeared and hasn't been seen for days. Before her disappearance, something had unsettled her: she'd turned away a customer and returned to the neighbourhood in terror. Shortly after taking the case, Veum is confronted with a brutal, uneasy reality. He soon finds the first body - and it won't be the last either. His investigation leads him into a dark subculture where corrupted idealism has had deadly consequences.