The Rat Chatcher

Max Manus

RAT CATCHERS was the term for the Norwegian resistance fighters who performed the dirtiest jobs during the Second World War.
They liquidated informers, torturers and other Norwegians who worked for the Germans. "THE RAT CATCHER" was written by my stephfather, Max Manus (1914-1996), as early as in 1948. At that time, his two classic war books "Det vil helst gå godt" and "Det blir alvor" were already successful books. The manuscript of this novel laid for many years in the bottom drawer of a rose-painted cupboard in our living room at home on Landøya in Asker just outside Oslo, Norway.
In the late seventies the script was bound in a hard cover with a leather spine and was given to Max as a birthday present.
To this day no one in the family knows what happened to the book. A few years before my mother died she gave me a copy. Max was half Danish, and his language was marked by this. Moreover, he rose supremely above normalised spelling. In this English version I have translated it with great care in order to preserve all the original detail and story.

In 2008 the film "Max Manus" (English: "Man of War"), was released. It became a smash hit just like his books, and a blockbuster in Norwegian cinemas.
The Norwegian version of The Rat Catcher (Rottejegeren), was published in Norway in 2021 by Kagge Forlag AS, and became a best-seller. No one can explain why Max did not publish the novel while he was alive.
George Manus