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In the early hours of the 7th of April 1990, a devastating fire erupted on board the MS Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry traveling between Oslo and Frederikshavn. Insufficient staff preparedness combined with jammed safety doors accelerated the propagation of the flames, while toxic cyanide gas released from combusting laminates led to the deaths of 159 people. At first, the disaster was attributed to a passenger—a truck driver with a record of fire-setting. Since this individual also died in the incident and was not able to defend himself, the full facts regarding the event remained concealed for a long time. Only in 2020 that a detailed investigation revealed the fire was likely set intentionally as part of an insurance fraud.

Nordenhof's Literary Sequence: An Overview

In the initial book of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star series, Money to Burn, an unidentified narrator is riding on a bus through the Danish capital when she observes an older man on the street. As the vehicle drives away, she experiences an “uncanny feeling” that she is carrying a part of him with her. Driven to retrace the journey in search of him, the narrator finds herself in a landscape that is both unfamiliar and deeply familiar. She presents us to Maggie and Kurt, whose relationship is strained by the burdens of their troubled histories. In the concluding section of that book, it is suggested that the root of Kurt's discontent may stem from a poor investment made on his account by a individual known as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Narrative Style

The Devil Book begins with an lengthy prose poem in which the writer describes her challenge to compose T's story. “In this volume, two,” she states, “we were meant / to trace him / from childhood up until / the night / when he sat waiting for / the report that / the blaze / on the ferry / had effectively been / ignited.” Overwhelmed by the task she has assigned herself and disrupted by the global health crisis, she tackles the story indirectly, as a type of parable. “I came to think / that I / can do / whatever I want / so this / is my book / this is / for you / this is / an sensational story / about businessmen and / the devil.”

A narrative gradually emerges of a woman who experiences quarantine in the UK capital with a near-unknown person and over the course of those days relates to him what occurred to her a ten years earlier, when she accepted an proposal from a man who professed to be the evil entity to fulfill all her wishes, so long as she didn't question his intentions. As the threads of the dual narratives become more intertwined, we begin to suspect that they are one and the same—or at minimum that the nature of T is legion, for there are demonic forces all around.

Another blaze is present: a passionate, magnetic dedication to writing as a political act

Pacts and Consequences: A Thematic Exploration

Classic stories teach us that it is the dark figure who makes bargains, not a divine being, and that we enter into them at our peril. But what if the protagonist herself is the devil? A additional storyline eventually emerges—the story of a girl whose childhood was scarred by abuse and who spent time in a mental health facility, under pressure to comply with social expectations or endure further harm. “[The devil] knows that in the game you've set for it, there are a pair of outcomes: submit or remain a monster.” A third way out is finally revealed through a series of verses to the night that are also a call to arms against the influences of capital.

Parallels and Interpretations: From Fiction to Real Events

Many UK audience members of Nordenhof's series books will think immediately of the London tower tragedy, which, though accidental in origin, bears parallels in that the ensuing tragedy and loss of life can be attributed at in part to the devil's bargain of prioritizing profit over people. In these first two books of what is projected to be a seven-book series, the blaze on board the ship and the chain of fraudulent transactions that culminated in mass murder are a ominous underlying element, revealing themselves only in fleeting flashes of detail or inference yet projecting a growing shadow over all that occurs. Certain individuals may question how far it is feasible to interpret this volume as a stand-alone work, when its purpose and significance are so intricately tied into a larger whole whose ultimate shape, at present, is unknowable.

Experimental Writing: Art and Morality Intertwined

Some individuals—and I count myself as among them—who will fall in love with the author's project purely as written art, as properly innovative literature whose moral and artistic intent are so profoundly interlinked as to make them inextricable. “Compose verses / for we need / that as well.” Another kind of blaze exists: an intense, attractive commitment to writing as a statement. I intend to continue to pursue this literary journey, no matter where it goes.