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Exposed at the Back
A crime novel set in the world of pro soccer by a former Norwegian international and Aberdeen FC player
Norway's most powerful soccer agent, the charismatic and ruthless Arild Golden, is found brutally murdered. Rumors circulate about infidelity and secret deals, about billions that cannot be traced and stories about talented African players who are dumped without papers when they fail to make the grade in the professional game. The lawyer Steinar Brunsvik, a former player for Ajax and the Norwegian national team, as asked to represent murder suspect Taribo Shorunmo. Shorunmo is a former pro soccer player living in Norway without a visa. Brunsvik discovers that his own soccer career has a connection to Golden's murder and realizes he caught in the middle of a dirty game that could prove fatal.
Norway's most powerful soccer agent, the charismatic and ruthless Arild Golden, is found brutally murdered. Rumors circulate about infidelity and secret deals, about billions that cannot be traced and stories about talented African players who are dumped without papers when they fail to make the grade in the professional game. The lawyer Steinar Brunsvik, a former player for Ajax and the Norwegian national team, as asked to represent murder suspect Taribo Shorunmo. Shorunmo is a former pro soccer player living in Norway without a visa. Brunsvik discovers that his own soccer career has a connection to Golden's murder and realizes he caught in the middle of a dirty game that could prove fatal.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 31, 2025
this book is essentially a 20-21 Spurs team playing against a top 6 club, promising in first 20 minutes then bland and a sudden nose-dive in the second half, let's talk about this
I found this book perchance, was checking out someone's old blog. The cover page blurb "Finally, a football crime book" made me go "WEEEEEEE!" Two of my favourite things together - football AND murder yes, please!
Exposed at the Back has all your classic Scandinavian crime novel tropes - an attractive blonde female lead who will not stop chasing the truth no matter what the cost, an aloof male lead with a mysterious past with darkness he can' reveal until we're 60% through the book, a questionable frienemy character who you don't know it with or against you, a creepy middle-aged man who is defo going to be misogynistic and a child because why not.
The central pitch of "Norway's most powerful football agent is murdered" was a gripping plot. (nope, Haaland transfer and my dislike for Railo has nothing to do with my interest in the plot). The story, much like the current Tottenham Hotspur squad, had so much potential. Alas, you can see that potential go down the drain as the author tries to overfit more storyline than defenders in a Spurs game. (should I stop with this spurs parallel? therapy is expensive, complaining about spurs on goodreads is free - so deal with it, sorry)
You have the health implications of artificial turf, the corruption and exploitation of players from the African continent, doping young talent, celebrity power couple, gay players, life-ending injuries, under-the-table deals with clubs and investigative football journalism. I understand that Arild Stavrum is *not* a professional author but a footballer and with that perspective, this is a great first book. It was entertaining for the most part (even if the cliches made me do mini eye-rolls) but I do feel this book could have gone through a more thorough editorial process and the focus of the book could have been trimmed down to a single focus. So many diverse plotlines are started and abandoned in the next few pages much like spurs attacking strategy (okay this is the last one, I promise).
What I absolutely despised was i) treatment of the lead female whose whole presence was to be some sort of a (sexual?) motivation for the male lead. who unironically says, "okay, we will have sex once this case is solved" seriously, who does that? who finds that hot? argh!
ii) undertones of Islamophobia and homophobia - I despise when brands, storytellers or movie makers use "wokeness" and "activism" as plot device or marketing gimmicks. the absence of LGTBQ+ members in men's football is a serious issue and concern for the sports. if you plan to use this as an integral plot device, please do it in a better way that does not make it sound problematic and rely on harmful stereotypes. especially in the second half, you see a lot of problematic portrayal of minority groups (women, people of colour, lgbtq members) that seems completely unnecessary.
TL;DR the book starts very strong, feels promising but over the course gets bored of itself, repetitive and slightly annoying. You could give it a shot once but I am very much in the market for more football murder mystery books with far more focused plot and better writing. As a debut novel from someone who played professionally for their national team - good stuff!
The title of the book is a major giveaway to the identity of the killer and I think that's super cool. If you're into football but also want to read a footy-ish book, I'd recommend this.
PS. If someone has a copy of Steve Bruce's book Striker! Please share <3
I found this book perchance, was checking out someone's old blog. The cover page blurb "Finally, a football crime book" made me go "WEEEEEEE!" Two of my favourite things together - football AND murder yes, please!
Exposed at the Back has all your classic Scandinavian crime novel tropes - an attractive blonde female lead who will not stop chasing the truth no matter what the cost, an aloof male lead with a mysterious past with darkness he can' reveal until we're 60% through the book, a questionable frienemy character who you don't know it with or against you, a creepy middle-aged man who is defo going to be misogynistic and a child because why not.
The central pitch of "Norway's most powerful football agent is murdered" was a gripping plot. (nope, Haaland transfer and my dislike for Railo has nothing to do with my interest in the plot). The story, much like the current Tottenham Hotspur squad, had so much potential. Alas, you can see that potential go down the drain as the author tries to overfit more storyline than defenders in a Spurs game. (should I stop with this spurs parallel? therapy is expensive, complaining about spurs on goodreads is free - so deal with it, sorry)
You have the health implications of artificial turf, the corruption and exploitation of players from the African continent, doping young talent, celebrity power couple, gay players, life-ending injuries, under-the-table deals with clubs and investigative football journalism. I understand that Arild Stavrum is *not* a professional author but a footballer and with that perspective, this is a great first book. It was entertaining for the most part (even if the cliches made me do mini eye-rolls) but I do feel this book could have gone through a more thorough editorial process and the focus of the book could have been trimmed down to a single focus. So many diverse plotlines are started and abandoned in the next few pages much like spurs attacking strategy (okay this is the last one, I promise).
What I absolutely despised was i) treatment of the lead female whose whole presence was to be some sort of a (sexual?) motivation for the male lead. who unironically says, "okay, we will have sex once this case is solved" seriously, who does that? who finds that hot? argh!
ii) undertones of Islamophobia and homophobia - I despise when brands, storytellers or movie makers use "wokeness" and "activism" as plot device or marketing gimmicks. the absence of LGTBQ+ members in men's football is a serious issue and concern for the sports. if you plan to use this as an integral plot device, please do it in a better way that does not make it sound problematic and rely on harmful stereotypes. especially in the second half, you see a lot of problematic portrayal of minority groups (women, people of colour, lgbtq members) that seems completely unnecessary.
TL;DR the book starts very strong, feels promising but over the course gets bored of itself, repetitive and slightly annoying. You could give it a shot once but I am very much in the market for more football murder mystery books with far more focused plot and better writing. As a debut novel from someone who played professionally for their national team - good stuff!
The title of the book is a major giveaway to the identity of the killer and I think that's super cool. If you're into football but also want to read a footy-ish book, I'd recommend this.
PS. If someone has a copy of Steve Bruce's book Striker! Please share <3
August 3, 2016
Oh Arild, I wanted to like this more than I really did. It's not bad, it's just a book that feels like it needed another round or two of drafting. Arild Stavrum was probably the best thing for about 18 months in one of the worst teams I ever had the misfortune to regularly watch - a genuine goalscorer, in a terrible side, but one marked by a chronic inability to grasp the concept of 'onside'. An intelligent, erudite guy, who quickly ended up with a weekly column in a Scottish broadsheet that was genuinely up there with any of the pundits or sports journos. When the rest of the footballers went to Magaluf, he spent his summer breaks backpacking round Thailand.
So I had higher hopes for this novel (but wasn't expecting Wallander though). Norway's top football agent is murdered, and the book is a whodunnit, and whydunnit that goes straight into the murkey world of agents, and sets out some other dodgy dealings. But none of it really sticks - the lead, a footballer who retired in dramatic circumstances, walking out half way through an international never to return, and now a lawyer, was just a bit flat. He could have been more interesting, but just didn't quite feel to develop.
Similarly the female lead, a sports journalist started quite well, but by the last third hadn't developed at all from the first couple of chapters. All a little bit cartooney, with sudden things or background introduced, and then never referred to or developed - at one stage mid way through the book we're told the female lead had leukaemia as a child, and so had tough times. That's a good couple of pages. And then there's one line about ten chapters later that makes passing reference. But that's it, and if you'd glossed over those two pages, it wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference. There's quite a lot of frustrating stuff like that throughout.
But it clips along, and you learn to suspend disbelief quite a bti (not at the agent's antics of course, I've no difficulty in believing that they're deeply corrupt, especially around African players in Europe). But it has either a few too many angles or undeveloped ideas thrown in for a full length book that would have benefitted from editing down and deepening. Or it could have been broken into a few short stories with other themes developed more, but without the need for as deep characterisation.
So basically, if this was a short story or novella at half the length it would certainly get an extra star. But as I conclude, it's a bit like watching the man himself play football, there's talent in there, but it's either not in the right supporting team, or trying to be either too clever or just off from where he should be. Be interesting to see if he writes more with these characters, or if/where he goes next.
I'd love to have him write more regular journalism though.
So I had higher hopes for this novel (but wasn't expecting Wallander though). Norway's top football agent is murdered, and the book is a whodunnit, and whydunnit that goes straight into the murkey world of agents, and sets out some other dodgy dealings. But none of it really sticks - the lead, a footballer who retired in dramatic circumstances, walking out half way through an international never to return, and now a lawyer, was just a bit flat. He could have been more interesting, but just didn't quite feel to develop.
Similarly the female lead, a sports journalist started quite well, but by the last third hadn't developed at all from the first couple of chapters. All a little bit cartooney, with sudden things or background introduced, and then never referred to or developed - at one stage mid way through the book we're told the female lead had leukaemia as a child, and so had tough times. That's a good couple of pages. And then there's one line about ten chapters later that makes passing reference. But that's it, and if you'd glossed over those two pages, it wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference. There's quite a lot of frustrating stuff like that throughout.
But it clips along, and you learn to suspend disbelief quite a bti (not at the agent's antics of course, I've no difficulty in believing that they're deeply corrupt, especially around African players in Europe). But it has either a few too many angles or undeveloped ideas thrown in for a full length book that would have benefitted from editing down and deepening. Or it could have been broken into a few short stories with other themes developed more, but without the need for as deep characterisation.
So basically, if this was a short story or novella at half the length it would certainly get an extra star. But as I conclude, it's a bit like watching the man himself play football, there's talent in there, but it's either not in the right supporting team, or trying to be either too clever or just off from where he should be. Be interesting to see if he writes more with these characters, or if/where he goes next.
I'd love to have him write more regular journalism though.
August 9, 2016
Full disclosure: I don't really like this kind of crime fiction very much and would never have bothered with Exposed at the Back if it weren't for the novelty of reading a novel by a former Aberdeen FC player. I'm sure Darren Mackie's magnum opus will redefine the way we perceive the written word, but until then we'll have to make do with his one-time strike partner's efforts.
I actually found Exposed at the Back to be likeable and readable enough. It seemed a bit oddly paced. The plot just kind of steadily floats along without any real tension to it. There's never really any doubt or danger. Sure, none of the characters seem to have a clue who the real killer is until the very end, but that seems to be because none of them really care enough to investigate very deeply. Maybe this is a trait common in Scandinavian crime fiction but I haven't read anything else in the genre and so have nothing to compare. The narration and dialogue feel a little stilted at times, possibly due to translation issues. It's never really a problem as the whole thing is light enough to skate by anyway.
By the end of the novel, though, there's a pretty interesting crew for a detective series.
I actually found Exposed at the Back to be likeable and readable enough. It seemed a bit oddly paced. The plot just kind of steadily floats along without any real tension to it. There's never really any doubt or danger. Sure, none of the characters seem to have a clue who the real killer is until the very end, but that seems to be because none of them really care enough to investigate very deeply. Maybe this is a trait common in Scandinavian crime fiction but I haven't read anything else in the genre and so have nothing to compare. The narration and dialogue feel a little stilted at times, possibly due to translation issues. It's never really a problem as the whole thing is light enough to skate by anyway.
By the end of the novel, though, there's a pretty interesting crew for a detective series.
January 14, 2023
Decent book by a former Aberdeen player.
June 7, 2015
Awful - saturated well with reference to Everton FC but sadly got worse from there - I will not be recommending this book to anyone anytime soon.
July 29, 2015
Disappointed with this book. i maybe expected too much.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews