Synopses & Reviews
In the wake of Stieg Larssons best-selling novels, readers are discovering the rich trove of modern Scandinavian crime fiction. If youve devoured the Millennium trilogy and are looking for your next read, Karin Fossum and her bone-chillingly bleak psychological thrillers have won the admiration of the likes of Ruth Rendell and Colin Dexter (of Inspector Morse fame).
In Bad Intentions, the newest installment in the Inspector Sejer series since The Waters Edge in 2009, Konrad Sejer must face down his memories and fears as he struggles to determine why the corpses of troubled young men keep surfacing in local lakes.
The first victim, Jon Moreno, was getting better. His psychiatrist said so, and so did his new friend at the hospital, Molly Gram, with her little-girl-lost looks. He was racked by a mysterious guilt that had driven him to a nervous breakdown one year earlier. But when he drowns in Dead Water Lake, Sejer hesitates to call it a suicide.
Then another corpse is found in a lake, a Vietnamese immigrant. And Sejer begins to feel his age weigh on him. Does he still have the strength to pursue the elusive explanations for human evil?
Review
PRAISE FOR KARIN FOSSUM
"With sharp psychological insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer."—The Baltimore Sun
"In spare, incisive prose, Fossum turns a conventional police procedural into a sensitive examination of troubled minds and a disturbing look at the way society views them . . . A superb writer of psychological suspense."—The New York Times
“The Story The latest novel from Norwegian author Fossum to feature Inspector Sejer begins when a couple out on a Sunday hike discover the body of a child. TV Pitch Imagine the shambling, gray-haired, unflappable Sejer as the Norwegian Columbo. Lowdown Foosum's concise, elegant writing perfectly captures the panic of a small town gripped by a heinous crime." — Entertainment Weekly
Review
PRAISE FOR
HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF"A superb writer of psychological suspense."--The New York Times
"Fossum's presentation of her characters is marked by an intelligence and compassion that is not often found in the pages of crime fiction."--The Sunday Times (London)
Review
PRAISE FOR KARIN FOSSUM "A superb writer of psychological suspense." — THE NEW YORK TIMES "With sharp . . . insight and a fine grasp on police procedure, Fossum is easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer." — THE BALTIMORE SUN
Review
Praise for BLACK SECONDS: "It doesn't take a terrorist, a serial killer or some paranormal force to rattle the insular Norwegian communities Karin Fossum writes about in her quietly unnerving thrillers. In BLACK SECONDS, all it takes is the disappearance of a child." -- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review "What a spare, artful novel this is: how lean, how swift, how bitterly sad." --Washington Post
Review
PRAISE FOR DON'T LOOK BACK
"There's no mistaking this psychologically astute, subtly horrifying crime study for a cozy village mystery or its soulful detective for one of those brainy European sleuths who make a parlor game of homicide."-THE NEW Y ORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Sejer belongs alongside the likes of Adam Dalgliesh and Inspector Morse-a gifted detective and troubled man, whom I am grateful to have met and look forward to knowing better."
-THE BOSTON GLOBE
Review
PRAISE FOR WHEN THE DEVIL HOLDS THE CANDLE"Either somebody just slid an ice cube down your back or youre reading the opening pages of When the Devil Holds the Candle, a psychological tour de force."O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE"The story is so chillingly told that we can only marvel at the authors skill at illustrating how a random sequence of events can cause so many lives to intersect in so many horrifying ways."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Review
They never last very long, those anonymous joggers and dog-walkers whose only purpose in a crime story I to trip over the body in the woods. Unless, of course, they figure in a novel by Karin Fossum, who makes it her business - and the business of her uncommonly sensitive Norwegian detective, Inspector Konrad Sejer - to scrutinize in great depth and detail every person touched by a murder. In
The Water's Edge (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25), Kristine and Reinhardt Ris discover the abused corpse of 7-year-old Jonas August Lowe when they're out walking in the woods. Being a kind and gentle person, Kristine is appalled. But her bullying husband is so fascinated by the savage crime that he intrudes on the police investigation, revealing his own secret urges and destroying his marriage. And they aren't even the central characters.
Fossum takes an insightful, mostly sympathetic view of everyone in the novel, including a disarming sex offender who does his best to help the police understand the mind of a pedophile - helpful advice when a second boy goes missing. And while this happens to be an exceptionally fine story, Fossum's real narrative appeal, readily apparent in Charlotte Barslund's translation, rests on her ability to see the humanity in even the most wretched soul.
Review
“
The Story The latest novel from Norwegian author Fossum to feature Inspector Sejer begins when a couple out on a Sunday hike discover the body of a child.
TV Pitch Imagine the shambling, gray-haired, unflappable Sejer as the Norwegian Columbo.
Lowdown Foosum's concise, elegant writing perfectly captures the panic of a small town gripped by a heinous crime."
Review
"Easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer"
Review
"A superb writer of psychological suspense"
Review
"Fossum raises interesting questions throughout...That she doesn't pretend to have all the answers only adds to the force of her story."
Review
U.K. PRAISE FOR DONT LOOK BACK
“Shows just how well Fossum deserves her continental fame . . . It is a tribute to [her] skill that, even when the mystery is unraveled, the reader shares Sejers pained understanding of the killers deed.”—SUNDAY T I M E S (LONDON)
Review
PRAISE FOR
THE INDIAN BRIDE "Devastating . . . Fossum [is] able to see into the soul of an entire village."Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
"An irresistible page-turner that's like a Nordic Sherlock Holmes story, with characters by Bergman and blood by Tarantino. A-."Entertainment Weekly
Review
"Fossum is a master at drawing finely detailed suspects. The result: an irresistible page-turner that's like a Nordic Sherlock Holmes story, with characters by Bergman and blood by Tarantino. A-"
Review
"[I]t is an impossible book to put down, a psychological thriller that will haunt you long after the final page has been turned."
Review
"A stunning exploration of social isolation... Masterfully plotted."
Review
"Fossum . . . writes like Ruth Rendell with the gloves off."
Review
"This is not your usual police procedural -- Fossum's third Sejer novel ... is psyhcological suspense at its best."
Review
"[T]he story is so chillingly told that we can only marvel at the author's skill at illustrating how a random sequence of events can cause so many lives to intersect in so many horrifying ways."
Review
"Either somebody just slid an ice cube down your back or you're reading the opening pages of When the Devil Holds the Candle...a psychological tour de force."
Review
"Skillful characterization and revealing detail lift Fossum's third mystery to be published in the U.S featuring thoughtful and intelligent Insp. Konrad Sejer."
Review
PRAISE FOR DON'T LOOK BACK
"You should be as delighted as I am to welcome to American book-shelves Inspector Konrad Sejer."-CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Sejer belongs alongside the likes of Adam Dagliesh and Inspector Morse-a gifted detective and troubled man, whom I am grateful to have met and look forward to knowing better."
-THE BOSTON GLOBE
Review
"Heart-stoppingly suspenseful...terrific...[Sejer and Skarre] make such an agreeably civilized pair that if I had to be a crime victim and could chose the locale, I would pick Norway....Fossum is a master at probing the plague of guilt that infects a community in which just about everyone has something they think they need to hide..."
Review
PRAISE FOR HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF
"A superb writer of psychological suspense . . . In spare, incisive prose, [Fossum] turns a conventional police procedural into a sensitive examination of troubled minds and a disturbing look at the way society views them."--THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
PRAISE FOR DON'T LOOK BACK
"A stunning U.S. debut from a European standout . . . Rarely in a modern novel are the characters so vividly rendered . . . The plotting is flawless."--THE PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland)
Synopsis
Inspector Sejer returns in this expertly crafted mystery about troubled teenagers—and two tragic deaths.
Synopsis
"An intimate study of broken lives that showcases Fossums poet past." —Bloomberg
In this chilling addition to the internationally best-selling Inspector Konrad Sejer series, the detective must face down his memories and fears as he investigates the deaths of two troubled young men. The first victim, Jon Moreno, was getting better after a mysterious guilt had driven him to a nervous breakdown one year earlier. His psychiatrist said so, as did his new friend at the hospital, Molly Gram, with her little-girl-lost looks. So when he drowns in Dead Water Lake, Sejer hesitates to call it a suicide.
Then the corpse of another young man is found, a Vietnamese immigrant. And Sejer begins to feel his age weigh on him. Does he still have the strength to pursue the elusive explanations for human evil? A harrowing, masterfully wrought mystery from the celebrated Karin Fossum.
“Fascinatingly readable and very cleverly done.” —Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series
Synopsis
Praise for Karin Fossum
“A truly great writer and explorer of the human mind.”—Jo Nesbø
“I always eagerly await a new novel from Karin Fossum.”—Ruth Rendell
Praise for The Indian Bride
“[It] takes subtle thought to interpret a café owners surliness or a schoolgirls eagerness to be a murder witness. What it takes is a writer like Fossum, able to see into the soul of an entire village.”—New York Times
Praise for Black Seconds
“Fossum crafts remarkably incisive psychological suspense: novels that carry the headlong momentum of thrillers and the acuity and weight of literary fiction.”—Washington Post Book World
Praise for The Waters Edge
“Fossums concise, elegant writing perfectly captures the panic of a small town gripped by a heinous crime.”—Entertainment Weekly
Synopsis
Reinhardt and Kristine Ris, a married couple, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy and see the figure of a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Reinhardt, to Kristines horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cell phone. Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre begin to make inquiries in the little town of Huseby. But then another boy disappears, and an explanation seems more remote than ever. Meanwhile, the Rises marriage unravels as Reinhardt becomes obsessed with the tragic events and his own part in them.
The Waters Edge is a riveting portrayal of a community in turmoil from Karin Fossum, Norways Queen of Crime.”
Synopsis
Following her critically acclaimed debut, Don't Look Back, Karin Fossum's next mystery finds Inspect Sejer at the scene of a brutal murder in a stark, strange town.
Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution. The only witness is a twelve-year-old boy, overweight, obsessed with archery, and a resident at a home for delinquents. When a demented man robs a nearby bank and accidentally takes the suspect hostage, the three misfits are drawn into an uneasy alliance. Shrewdly, patiently, as is his way, Inspector Sejer confronts a case where the strangeness of the crime is matched only by the strangeness of the criminals, and where small-town prejudices warp every piece of information he tries to collect.
Synopsis
When perpetual bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. On the day the Indian bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found in a meadow on the outskirts of town. None of the "good people of Elvestad" can believe that anyone among them would be capable of such a brutal murder. But in his quiet, formal way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that good people can commit atrocious deeds, and that no one is altogether innocentincluding the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants to be a chief witness, and the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.
Another brilliantly conceived, dark novel from one of Europes most successful crime writers.
Synopsis
Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off toward town. A good-natured, happy girl, she is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother starts to worry. She phones store owners, Idas friendsanyone who could have seen her. But no one has.
Suspicion immediately falls on Emil Mork, a local character who lives alone and hasnt spoken since childhood. His mother insists on cleaning his house weeklyalthough shes sometimes afraid of what she might find there. A mothers worst nightmare in either caseto lose a child or to think a child capable of murder. As Idas relatives reach the breaking point and the media frenzy surrounding the case begins, Inspector Konrad Sejer is his usual calm and reassuring self. But hes puzzled. And disturbed. This is the strangest case hes seen in years.
Synopsis
Meet Inspector Sejer: smart and enigmatic, tough but fair. At the foot of the imposing Kollen Mountain lies a small, idyllic village, where neighbors know neighbors and children play happily in the streets. But when the body of a teenage girl is found by the lake at the mountaintop, the town's tranquility is shattered forever. Annie was strong, intelligent, and loved by everyone. What went so terribly wrong? Doggedly, yet subtly, Inspector Sejer uncovers layer upon layer of distrust and lies beneath the town's seemingly perfect façade.
Critically acclaimed across Europe, Karin Fossum's Inspector Sejer novels are masterfully constructed, psychologically convincing, and compulsively readable. They evoke a world that is at once profoundly disturbing and terrifyingly familiar.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
A married couple, Rikard and Kristine, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy. And a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Rikard, to Kristine's horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cellphone. The imperturable Sejer and Skarre begin the investigation. The boy was an only child and it appears that he died from an asthma attack following the trauma of being raped. Meanwhile, the couple's marriage begins to unravel as Rikard becomes obsessed with the case and his own part in it. Soon thereafter another boy disappears and the mood in the town grows more tense as parents fear a predatory pedophile is on the loose.
Fossum explores here the subject of pedophilia with great intelligence and sensitivity, even as she builds an atmosphere of almost unbearable suspense.
Synopsis
For the first time, Fossum shows her hand-- a novel about an author whose latest creation is the melancholy tale of a complacent man whose life is ripped apart by a young drug addict.
Synopsis
Awoman wakes up in the middle of the night. A strange man is in her bedroom. She lies there in silence, paralyzed with fear.The woman is an author and the man one of her characters, one in a long line that waits in her driveway for the time when shell tell their stories. He is so desperate that he has resorted to breaking into her house and demanding that she begin. He, the author decides, is named Alvar Eide, forty-two years old, single,works in a gallery. He lives a quiet, orderly life and likes it that wayno demands, no unpleasantness. Until one icy winter day when a young drug addict, skinny and fragile, walks into the gallery. Alvar gives her a cup of coffee to warm her up. And then one day she appears on his doorstep. Broken is an unconventional, subtle, and disturbing mystery from a master of the form.
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.