Tundra Airport
1 September 1939. Captain Stig Blumfors lands at a small, isolated military airfield deep in Swedish Lapland, carrying sealed orders: war has broken out, Sweden has declared its neutrality, and the airfield is to be cut off from the outside world. Thus begins a long and gruelling confinement, interrupted only by the arrival of lost or distressed British and German aircraft. As second-in-command of the airfield, he sees his mission as maintaining Sweden’s neutrality at all costs, a near-impossible task given the base commander’s pro-German sympathies. In this context, Blumfors begins to write a personal journal.
12 February 2023. As Sweden’s accession to NATO is being blocked by Turkey, Captain Guy Puech and his company of French paratroopers begin a month of Arctic warfare exercises at the former airfield, now a Swedish army training centre, under the command of Captain Maria-Pia Tedelius. Then a notebook that had belonged to Blumfors is discovered and it contains a startling revelation: a French pilot, Joseph Vivarès, was murdered at the airfield. As Maria-Pia and Guy attempt to solve the mystery of Vivarès’s death, the revelations they discover along the way will alter both their understanding of history and their personal relationship.
A gripping story of heroism and espionage, love and betrayal. A cast of characters by turns hateful and deeply compelling, inhabiting a rich and vibrant world. Tundra Airport shows Olivier Truc at the height of his craft, once again.
Request more informationOriginal Language
FRENCH | Éditions Métailié
Prizes
Shortlisted for the Jean Giono Prize 2026
Reviews
“Olivier Truc has crafted a remarkable adventure story that echoes the tensions of our time. A gripping novel that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.” Fabien Jouatel, Ouest-France
“A new high point in the combination of adventure and espionage. […] Past and present intertwine in an investigation driven by conflicts of power and competing interests, offset by love stories from both yesterday and today. […] One could shower this novel with a ton of superlatives, but calling it ‘complete’ is undoubtedly the most fitting tribute.” Jean-Luc Manet, Livres Hebdo
“A fascinating journey through the tundra of yesterday and today.” Isabelle Mity, Historia
“We remember the immense success of Olivier Norek’s Winter Warriors, devoted to the Soviet-Finnish War. Today, another major crime writer, Olivier Truc, turns his attention to a neighboring country, Sweden, still on the fringes of the Arctic, in Tundra Airport. He brings the same ability to convey the cold and the extreme conditions of these inhospitable regions, particularly in wartime.” Marianne Payot, L’Express
"Patriots, traitors, spies, lovesick souls, and indigenous Sami reindeer herders cross paths in this tightly woven plot centered on past and present conflicts—leading to a resolution that reveals the prevailing law is often the law of silence." Thierry Boillot, L'Alsace
“Masterful aerial combat scenes, political compromises, a murder investigation, Sami resistance during the war, and a touch of romance… Olivier Truc succeeds in blending several genres in this utterly unputdownable novel.” Béatrice Arvet, La Semaine de Nancy
"Tundra Airport is as much a war and espionage novel as it is a historical narrative, taking on a particular dimension in the current geopolitical context, with an increasingly aggressive Russia forcing European countries to choose sides." Karen Lajon, La Vie en noir
"Between heroism and espionage, love and betrayal, against the ever-present struggle of reindeer herders and the breathtaking landscapes of the Far North, Olivier Truc brilliantly creates a world in which aviation and war become a gripping adventure novel." Bookseller review from Librairie Tome 7 (Paris)
"A transportive and illuminating novel." Bookseller review from 47°Nord (Mulhouse)
"Olivier Truc’s Tundra Airport gives Sweden what Franck Thilliez’s Winter Warriors gave Finland. More than that, it crosses the borders of the Nordic countries alongside the Sámi and their reindeer. For all those who, like us, adored Forty Days Without Shadow and Olivier Truc’s original Reindeer Patrol series, here is a gripping, twist-filled story about the generation that came before." Bookseller review from La Buissonnière (Yvetot)
