Synopses & Reviews
When the theft of a purse from a stroller results in an infant's death, two teenagers are in trouble. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing still another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his ever-reliable switchblade. Motionless in the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.
Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant's death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion in the world outside mounts, the chilling, heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman's home.
Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small-town tranquillity in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives. Another brilliantly observed, precisely rendered psychological mystery from the highly acclaimed Karin Fossum.
Review
"All of the characters are victims of a kind, and all are trapped in one way or another. We feel equally trapped, by our proximity to so many lives gone wrong, and by our inability to close the book." Booklist
Synopsis
A psychological thriller, where the line between victim and killer is fine, and easily crossed.
Teenage troublemakers, Zipp and Andreas, unwittingly commit murder when they accidentally kill a baby in the course of a petty crime. Unaware, the pair move onto their next crime. Having followed an elderly lady home, Andreas enters her house armed, as always, with his trusty knife. Zipp waits nervously outside, but his friend never reappears. He will never see him alive again.
Fossum toys with the roles of victim and killer and pens the inner monologue of her characters to chilling effect. It is the mental processes behind the sinister act that form the real pieces to this puzzle, and they fall gradually into place as Irma and Andreas converse and reveal more information about themselves. We are forced to question the familiar stereotype -- that it is always bad people who do bad things.
While the reader may be party to the truth of this crime, the police remain flummoxed. There is no reason for Inspector Sejer to see a connection between the infant's death and the disappearance of a town troublemaker. With Zipp too frightened to come forward, the police must wait for the evidence to present itself before they can begin to comprehend the unsettling nature of the case on their hands.
About the Author
KARIN FOSSUM is the author of the internationally successful Inspector Konrad Sejer crime series. Her recent honors include a Gumshoe Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller. She lives in Norway.