Jens Henrik Jensen

This is the first volume in a new series for me. Super exciting and I will certainly continue with this series.
Oxen. Niels Oxen. The most decorated Danish elite soldier of all time. Numerous deployments abroad have left their mark. Severely traumatised, Oxen wants peace and quiet and makes himself at home in the largest forest in Denmark. The only people at his side are Mr White, a Samoyed Spitz, and the seven demons that give him nightmares. War memories of unimaginable atrocities. He wants to put an end to this in seclusion, but near his improvised sleeping quarters is Norlund Slot Castle, which Oxen has never seen before. And so he pays it a visit one night and is surprised by the strict security precautions; guards and cameras. Not for someone who doesn't want to attract attention. So he retreats, but comes across an unconscious security guard and a dog that has been hung up.
A few days later, the lord of the castle, the former top diplomat and ex-ambassador Corfitzen, is found dead. Unsurprisingly, the police need to talk to Oxen. As soon as they arrive at the police station in Aalborg, the local investigation is halted because the domestic intelligence service PET gets involved. Their boss Mossmann offers Oxen a deal; he is to work for the PET. Oxen is assigned the attractive agent Margarethe Franck as his contact person. However, the co-operation proves to be extremely difficult at first.… (more)

I didn't like this book as much as I had expected.
To me it felt like the same story all over again. A secret society, plotting to get revenge. At first I wanted to shake Niels and get him to wake up that he needs to address his son in a different way. Then I lost track in all the events that happened and that seemingly were not connected.

What disturbed me most was the repetition of how good, brave and unique Niels is, how pig headed and schemy Mossman and how brave Frank is, living with a leg prothesis. The characters almost become a caricature of themselves and that doesn't benefit the story at all imho.

Not sure if this is because I read all Oxen-books in a row or not. I think that reading the one after the other should be possible both for 'row readers' as well as for readers that prefer a gap between books from one series. The first should not be bored/annoyed with too many repetitons that go back to previous books, the latter should still be able to understand the book without having to reread a previous book.

I do't think I'll return to this series/character again. Maybe to another bok by this author, maybe.… (more)