A cool head looks at an ice-cold evil

Award-winning Norwegian foreign correspondent, Asne Seierstad is best known as the author of the remarkably successful, The Bookseller of Kabul. She admits that "I had not written anything about my own country . . . it was my refuge, not a place to write about". Contracted by Newsweek to write an article about the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, she took her "seat in the courtroom and found myself knocked sideways". The result is One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway.

Beginning with Breivik's birth to Wenche and Jens Breivik on February 13, 1979, Seierstad documents the factors which contributed to the emergence of the ultra-conservative, anti-Marxist terrorist, the self-styled Commander of the Norwegian Anti-Communist Resistance Movement.

Breivik's troubled childhood, with a mentally disturbed mother and little contact with his father, produced an obsessive narcissist with a fascination for graffiti in his teenage years. He spent his years after school in spurious money-making projects before becoming absorbed in World of Warcraft in his 20s.

Breivik becomes convinced that immigration and multiculturalism are destroying Norwegian culture. He wrote in his diary on June 11, 2011, that unless God wanted "the Marxist-Islamic alliance and the certain Islamic takeover of Europe to completely annihilate European Christendom within the next hundred years he must ensure that I succeed with my mission and as such; contribute to inspire thousands of other revolutionary conservatives/nationalists; anti-communists and anti-Islamists throughout the European world".

Breivik carried out his "mission" one month later on July 22, detonating a bomb outside the Norwegian government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people and then driving to the island of Utoya where he murdered 68 men, women and teenagers attending a Labour party youth camp. Breivik deemed his victims to be the next generation of Marxists.

One of Us is also the story of those young victims, especially Kurdish-born Bano Rashid, the charismatic Simon Saebo and the extraordinary survival of Viljar Hanssen. In her epilogue, Seierstad thanks the families and friends of the  victims for sharing "their family histories" and stories of comradeship. She asked all the parents whether they wanted their child's "moment of death" to be included in the book because "it was important to describe for posterity exactly how horrible the day was".

It is certainly the most harrowing section of the book to read but it clarifies why at the end of the book, Seierstad calls Breivik, "that man. A man many are reluctant to refer to by name". A man who has shown no remorse and after he murdered his last victim waited patiently to give himself  up to police so that he could have his day in court.

One of Us reveals a nightmare on many levels. Breivik's actions and hatred shocked Norwegians because he was one of them and he considered himself to be a patriot.  The inadequacies of the Norwegian police were highlighted on the day of the massacre: only one police helicopter; complete confusion after the Oslo bomb and a delayed response to the pitiful calls for help from Utoya which meant Breivik could continue to kill. The grief and incomprehension of the parents of the young people who died make for difficult reading.

Seierstad is giving all of her Norwegian royalties to the En av oss (One of Us) Foundation, which supports a wide range of causes nationally and internationally in the areas of development, education, sport culture and the environment. Those who contributed most to the book will decide which causes will receive support. Seierstad says "I think that would have been in the spirit of their children."