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During the early hours of the 7th of April 1990, a catastrophic fire erupted aboard the MS Scandinavian Star, a passenger ferry traveling between Frederikshavn and Oslo. Inadequate staff preparedness along with jammed fire doors accelerated the spread of the fire, while deadly cyanide gas emitted from combusting materials caused the deaths of 159 people. At first, the tragedy was attributed to a passenger—a lorry driver with a history of fire-setting. Since this suspect also perished in the fire and was unable to refute himself, the complete truth about the event stayed hidden for many years. It wasn't until 2020 that a comprehensive investigation revealed the fire was probably set intentionally as part of an fraud scheme.

Nordenhof's Literary Sequence: An Overview

Within the initial book of Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star sequence, the preceding volume, 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 feels an “eerie sense” that she is taking a part of him with her. Driven to repeat the route in search of him, the narrator finds herself in a landscape that is both alien and strangely known. She presents readers to a couple named Maggie and Kurt, whose connection is tested by the burdens of their conflicted histories. In the final pages of that volume, it is suggested that the source of Kurt's discontent may stem from a disastrous investment made on his behalf by a individual known as T.

The Devil Book: A Unique Narrative Style

This second installment begins with an extended prose poem in which the writer describes her struggle to write T's narrative. “Within this second volume,” she states, “we were meant / to follow him / from childhood up until / the evening / when he sat anticipating for / the news that / the blaze / on the ferry / had effectively been / set.” Overwhelmed by the task she has assigned herself and derailed by the global health crisis, she tackles the story indirectly, as a type of allegory. “It occurred to me / that I / can do / whatever I want / so this / is my book / this is / for you / this is / an erotic thriller / about entrepreneurs and / the dark force.”

A tale gradually emerges of a female character who experiences lockdown in London with a virtual stranger and over the course of those days tells to him what happened to her a ten years before, when she accepted an proposal from a figure who claimed to be the devil to fulfill all her desires, so long as she didn't question his motives. As the threads of the two stories become more intertwined, we start to suspect that they are one and the same—or at minimum that the nature of T is multiple, for there are devils all around.

Another blaze is present: a passionate, magnetic commitment to literature as a political act

Deals with the Devil: A Thematic Examination

Classic stories teach us that it is the devil who does deals, not God, and that we engage in them at our risk. But what if the protagonist herself is the malevolent force? A additional narrative eventually emerges—the story of a young woman whose childhood was marred by mistreatment and who was placed in a mental health facility, under duress to comply with social expectations or endure more of the same. “[This entity] knows that in the game you've created for it, there are two results: surrender or stay a beast.” A alternative path is ultimately revealed through a collection of poems to the darkness that are simultaneously a call to arms against the influences of capital.

Parallels and Readings: From Fiction to Real Events

Numerous British readers of the author's series novels will reflect right away of the London tower fire, which, though accidental in origin, bears parallels in that the ensuing tragedy and fatalities can be linked at in part to the dangerous trade-off of prioritizing profit over human lives. In these first two books of what is planned to be a seven-book sequence, the blaze on board the ship and the series of deceptive business deals that culminated in multiple deaths are a ominous underlying presence, showing themselves only in brief glimpses of information or inference yet casting a growing influence over all that transpires. Some individuals may question how much it is possible to interpret The Devil Book as a independent piece, when its purpose and significance are so deeply tied into a broader whole whose ultimate shape, at present, is uncertain.

Innovative Prose: Art and Morality Intertwined

There will be others—and I count myself as one of them—who will become enamored with the author's project purely as written art, as truly innovative literature whose ethical and creative purpose are so deeply entwined as to make them inseparable. “Compose verses / for we need / that as well.” Another kind of blaze exists: a passionate, attractive devotion to the craft as a statement. I intend to continue to follow this series, no matter where it leads.