The Mark of Shame

An outstanding mystery tale... a brilliantly composed cosmopolitan suspense story, which ultimately can be read as a warning against political and religious fanaticism. But above all this is a glorious tribute to the good old fashioned joy of reading, carried forth by time-honoured  stimulants like coded manuscripts, hidden treasures, conspiracies and betrayals. In a seemingly effortless way, Fauskanger sews together an extremely ingenious and still perfectly logical plot, where the ending is a lesson by example of how to collect every single thread without making it seem contrived or artificial

A sophisticated plot, not without gore and violence, betrayal and human lives on the edge of a precipice, but in a way it is the prose itself which drives everything forward ... The Mark of Shame offers clever twists and a captivatingly entertaining read, which certainly doesn't evaporate as soon as you close the book

A ripping yarn? Sure. A playful genre novel? Yes, that too. But it's very well done, with an alluring suspense at the base ... his originality, his passion and energy  - few others come close to matching him there

An incredibly suspenseful and thorougly researched cocktail of a crime novel. It mixes political history, treasure hunt, spiritualism, occultism and more in order to tell a trailblazing, boundary-crossing story, which turns out to be about something more, much more, than Norway's independence.

The Mark of Shame is above all a wonderful historical crime novel. I am thrilled with Fauskanger's ability to mix science, religious history (from different strands of faith) and history so successfully. He plays with words, fools us completely, and starts over again, following a new thread, which eventually turns out to be cleverly connected to the other threads.