American by Day

I picked up American By Day whilst meandering around the piles of novels in a well known high street bookseller and, based solely on the blurb written on the back (which sold the book as a Scandi-flavoured crime thriller with a fish-out-of-water lead), decided to take a punt. And, whilst the précis on the rear of the book is technically correct, there is much more to this tale than the crime that leads our Norwegian protagonist across the pond; this a slow, measured social satire that uses a visitor's experience of small town America to take a wry, raw look at the US as a whole (as well as providing a text book take on how best to evade your pursuer if you're ever cornered in a supermarket or department store). Definitely recommended.