The Fourth Man by K. O. Dahl (1958- ) was first published in Norwegian in 2005. The original title, Den fjerde raneren or “The
fourth robber” is not gender-specific. It is worth noting that the English title
removes any potential for female participation present in the original title of
this novel where the identity of the fourth person involved is critical to the
plot and where the narrative seems to have a problem with women. The Fourth Man was the first of Dahl’s
novels to be published in English (in 2007), but it is the fifth in his series
about the police detectives Gunnarstranda and Frølich.
Of these two main characters,
Gunnarstranda is much more interesting than Frølich, who wears his somewhat
chaotic and irrational heart on his sleeve. Gunnarstranda is an experienced, street-wise
detective – a man who trusts his instincts and does not believe in coincidences
(p47). We see Gunnarstranda through his actions, while the internal workings of
Frølich’s mind are exposed to us throughout. Perversely, this makes
Gunnarstranda’s character more engaging. Perhaps more by accident than design,
the other mechanism that gives Gunnarstranda depth is the way the narrative
gives us intriguing glimpses into his private life; his relationship with his
goldfish (p149) and his lady-friend Tove (p184). These create the impression
that there is more to the man than is revealed in these pages. As this is
the fifth story in the series, Gunnarstranda’s character has of course already been established
and built up in previous novels for Norwegian readers.
Frank Frølich’s love-life is
crucial in The Fourth Man. The
opening chapters establish his infatuation with Elisabeth Faremo. It is
described in terms of a disease: “Such thoughts are a virus.” (p10) The Fourth Man has a strong opening and
Dahl depicts the fluctuations of Frølich’s emotions well. In terms of
psychology, the first part of the novel, entitled “Pas de Deux” is the most
convincing one.
Frølich’s physical symptoms
resulting from his desire both for Elisabeth Faremo and for resolving the mystery
she is part of, are described in detail. His bodily sensations are given almost
as much attention as his thoughts (see, for example, pp116, 117, 121, 122, 132,
155, 190, 199, 236, 249). This gives the narrative a romantic and melodramatic
feel. Frølich’s intense involvement with Elisabeth Faremo leads him to be
entangled in robbery and murder in a way which compromises his professional
integrity. It
sounds like a good idea to intensify the tension of the story by deep emotional
involvement of the detective hero and his near mental breakdown under the
strain of the investigation that has become personal. But Dahl does not quite
succeed in pulling it off. Frølich’s motivations remain unclear: on the one
hand he is investigating a crime, but he
also acts out of emotional confusion and compulsion. This mix leaves some steps of the investigation and (thereby) of the narrative illogical and lacking rational
explanation.
More importantly, it is difficult to sympathize with Frølich’s situation because his
feelings for Elisabeth Faremo do not come across as convincing. The basis of
Frølich’s attachment to Elisabeth Faremo is a strong physical attraction
towards a beautiful, mysterious stranger. We do not get to know her. There is a problem with women in
this novel.
There are awkward misogynistic comments scattered in the text. For
example, it is not quite clear what is the significance of Emil Yttergjerde’s
lament about women and bad customer service at a Munkedamsveien whorehouse (p59). There are sentences that jump out
as crude from an otherwise neutral language. They may just be
a clumsy attempt to show the male characters as tough and the text as hard-boiled.
Gunnarstranda’s comment about an “alibi as thin as a pussy hair” (p61), a poster outside a bar showing “the regulation picture of a
stripper climaxing [?], wrapped around a fireman’s pole” (p129) and
Gunnarstranda’s conclusion that “Merethe Sandmo’s pussy is not necessarily a
motive here” (p98) add to a hostility against women
present in the narrative.
There are several scenes that depict the relationship between men and women as
uneasy and confrontational: Frølich’s visit to a strip-club (pp153-154), his
explanation why he became a police officer (p36), Narvesen’s passion for the painting
of Madonna and Child, kept in his, as Frølich puts it, “wank hole” (p240) and
the equation of this painting with Elisabeth Faremo as an object of desire to
be possessed by men (p241). There appears to be a special unease with the idea
of women preferring other women to men. Elisabeth Faremo is reading poetry by
Gunvor Hofmo. Wikipedia describes Hofmo as “often considered one of Norway's
most influential modernist poets,” for Dahl she is simply “the deceased lesbian
writer” (p122).
The gender conflict is most
explicit in a scene of Frølich’s visit to the house of Reidun Vestli, Elisabeth
Faremo’s lesbian lover. This is a satisfyingly robust scene. Vestli is
described as ugly and Frølich wonders how Elisabeth Faremo could possibly have
been drawn to her (p73). Frølich finds the whole female environment in Vestli’s
house irritating: “irritation at everything she stood for, the snobbish
arrogance, academia, all the mess in this room, all the secrets she had hoarded
in this nest of hers.” (p72) “Share the pleasure of something intellectual, my
arse!” he shouts at Vestli (p74) This scene illustrates how women and men in The Fourth Man inhabit different worlds
and, it seems, the women’s world remains a mystery as well as a source of
irritation for the male detective. Later Frølich explains to
Gunnarstranda: “This Reidun Vestli sees me as a masculine avenger from the
heterosexual world. … The woman cannot connect her relationship with reality.”
(p86). Frølich operates in the reality of the criminal investigation and just
because Vestli does not share his priorities, she is detached from reality.
Throughout The Fourth Man, all the way to its misleading English title, one
can discern the uncomfortable fault line between women and men. This is a serious plot spoiler, but it is
worth noting that all female characters with any part to play in the action of
the novel are dead by the end of it.
The plot of The Fourth Man is complex; it includes robbery, murder, attempted
murder, suicide, art theft, blackmail, arson, grievous bodily harm, fraud,
mental illness, identity theft, and breaking and entering. The plausibility of
the plot suffers somewhat when in the course of the story two critical clues
are found by Frølich in his own flat, where they have been waiting to be
discovered from the very start. Unfortunately the plot also relies
heavily on coincidence. Elisabeth Faremo happens to walk into the middle of a
police raid, where she is tackled by Frølich (p4). This sets the whole story in
motion and creates a good point of narrative tension: was their meeting a
coincidence or was it calculated? But then several more coincidences follow: Frølich
arrives at Elisabeth’s flat at the same time as her brother Jonny (p50); he
arrives at the power station in Glomma while Gunnarstranda is there, too (p80),
Gunnarstranda bumps into main suspects in the street (p90), Frølich comes
across Ramstad on a petrol station (p191). Oslo is clearly a small
place; it is also a place where little changes: Frølich is able to
intercept businessman Narvesen, because he recalls that in 1998 the man used
to have lunch at a regular table at the Theatre Café (p141) and six years later, of course, he
still does.
As many other Norwegian crime
writers, Dahl is very specific about Oslo’s geography (pp 90, 106, 124,
126, 141, 143, 159 181, 243, 248). As a student Dahl drove a taxi in Oslo, and
one can argue that it shows: the routes Frølich takes across Oslo feel like
taxi rides (pp190. 207, 249). Also, like Jo Nesbø and Unni Lindell, Dahl cannot
resist making a snide remark about the wealthy western part of Oslo: “each
drive with its own BMW” (p70).
The quality of writing is uneven. In addition to crude outbursts and Frølich's melodramatic internal monologues, Frølich as well as the narrative are annoyingly hooked on the
image of “long bones in the ashes.” After Gunnarstanda first speaks these words
(p115), they are repeated endlessly (pp117 twice, 118, 122, 126, 133, 137, 187,
189, 195,196, 240). On the other hand, descriptions of weather and nature are
very good (pp78, 88-9, 124).
The Fourth Man is adequate as light reading. As a psychological
thriller it backfires: the psychology in the story is shallow, but the psychology
revealed in the text is more interesting: why does The Fourth Man have such a problem with women?
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