THE BERSERKERS

Vic Peterson

THE BERSERKERS

Vic Peterson

Berserkers-ebook-cover
BUY EBOOK

THE BERSERKERS

A novel

When a beautiful woman is found stabbed and frozen in the ice of Lake Munch, dressed only in the costume wings and tight corset of a Norse Valkyrie, the small and underfunded police department of Fulaflugahål is under pressure to find her killer. Grammaticus Kolbitter, precinct records clerk by day and electronic keyboardist in the Viking heavy-metal band, The Berserkers, by night, is unwillingly pulled into the investigation. What does a records clerk know about solving crime, much less, bringing murderers to justice?

As Grammaticus embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, picking up magical friends and spiritual guides along the way, he soon learns he knows more than he thought. A rollicking ride filled with dark humor, wit, and plenty of Viking heavy-metal riffs, this Nordic mystery will keep you laughing, and thinking, all the way to the final mosh pit.

When a beautiful woman is found stabbed and frozen in the ice of Lake Munch, dressed only in the costume wings and tight corset of a Norse Valkyrie, the small and underfunded police department of Fulaflugahål is under pressure to find her killer. Grammaticus Kolbitter, precinct records clerk by day and electronic keyboardist in the Viking heavy-metal band, The Berserkers, by night, is unwillingly pulled into the investigation. What does a records clerk know about solving crime, much less, bringing murderers to justice?

As Grammaticus embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, picking up magical friends and spiritual guides along the way, he soon learns he knows more than he thought. A rollicking ride filled with dark humor, wit, and plenty of Viking heavy-metal riffs, this Nordic mystery will keep you laughing, and thinking, all the way to the final mosh pit

Reviews

The Berserkers is original and surprising in all the right ways . It’s extremely well written—not only is the prose clean and clear, there’s a real spark of life in the language that makes the book hum. The author throws off exquisite sentences like he's broadcasting birdseed.
—Jack Livings, author of The Blizzard Party and winner of the 2015 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Rome Prize for literature.

 

This is an engaging, tightly written experimental novel, full of evocative storytelling and full of narrative drive. I particularly enjoyed the narrator’s confusion about being chosen to investigate, his protestations and the rather opaque world of Scandinavian policing. It adds a rather wonderfully dark, almost comedic effect and lightens the drama in just the right way.
—Wyl Menmuir, author of The Many, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016
The Berserkers is original and surprising in all the right ways . It’s extremely well written—not only is the prose clean and clear, there’s a real spark of life in the language that makes the book hum. The author throws off exquisite sentences like he's broadcasting birdseed.
—Jack Livings, author of The Blizzard Party and winner of the 2015 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Rome Prize for literature.

 

This is an engaging, tightly written experimental novel, full of evocative storytelling and full of narrative drive. I particularly enjoyed the narrator’s confusion about being chosen to investigate, his protestations and the rather opaque world of Scandinavian policing. It adds a rather wonderfully dark, almost comedic effect and lightens the drama in just the right way.
—Wyl Menmuir, author of The Many, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016

Hear excerpts and discussions on The Strange Recital podcast

Excerpt from The Berserkers

 The Berserkers—Chapter One

raven-300x300
raven-300x300

About the author

Vic Peterson was educated at Kenyon College, the University of Texas (Dallas), and the University of Chicago. He worked as a business executive and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. His poetry, essays, and book reviews have appeared in Sparrow, Contemporary Poetry Review, The Dactyl Review, Foreword, Arts Indiana, and elsewhere. The Berserkers is his first novel (Originally published in paperback by Hawkwood 2022)

Vic-Peterson-240x300-portrait
Vic-Peterson-240x300-portrait

Vic Peterson was educated at Kenyon College, the University of Texas (Dallas), and the University of Chicago. He worked as a business executive and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. His poetry, essays, and book reviews have appeared in Sparrow, Contemporary Poetry Review, The Dactyl Review, Foreword, Arts Indiana, and elsewhere. The Berserkers is his first novel (Originally published in paperback by Hawkwood 2022)

The Author's Choice

We ask authors to recommend a book.

Orlando

by Virginia Woolf

Originally published by Hogarth, October 1928

 

"Imaginative, time-bending, and playful yet a serious exploration of human nature. It was as if Woolf was channeling the spirit of the TV show Black Adder."