Synopses & Reviews
“Pranks can have lethal consequences, even when they seem harmless to start with . . . A poison bonbon that ranks with the best of Ruth Rendell.”—Stephen King in
Entertainment Weekly One mild summer evening, a young couple are enjoying dinner while their daughter sleeps peacefully in her stroller under a tree. When her mother steps outside she is stunned: the child is covered in blood.
Inspector Sejer is called to the hospital to meet the family. Mercifully, the child is unharmed, but the parents are deeply shaken, and Sejer spends the evening trying to understand why anyone would carry out such a sinister prank. Then, just before midnight, somebody rings his doorbell.
No one is at the door, but the caller has left a small gray envelope on Sejer’s mat. From his living room window, the inspector watches a figure disappear into the darkness. Inside the envelope Sejer finds a postcard bearing a short message: Hell begins now.
“No one can thoroughly chill the blood the way Karin Fossum can . . . will put you away, no questions asked.”—Los Angeles Times
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
"[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
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
"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
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
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 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
Synopsis
When Inspector Sejer receives a postcard with the message "Hell begins now," he sets out to uncover who's behind a string of cruel pranks that have thrown the peaceful town of Bjerkas into unrest, in this chilling new installment of the Inspector Konrad Sejer series from "the next Scandinavian literary superstar" (Chicago Tribune), acclaimed Norwegian mystery writer Karin Fossum.
Synopsis
When two teenagers steal a purse from a stroller, it results in an infants death. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his switchblade. In the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infants death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion outside mounts, the heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old womans home.Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small- town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives.
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
Karin Fossum's fourth chilling crime novel finds Inspector Sejer on the hunt for a brutal killer in a good town gone bad.
When long-time bachelor Gunder Jomann goes to India for two weeks and comes home married, the town of Elvestad is stunned. Then, on the day his bride is supposed to arrive, the battered body of a woman is found on the outskirts of town. The "good people of Elvestad" cant believe that anyone among them could be capable of such a crime. But in his quiet way, Inspector Konrad Sejer understands that no one is completely innocent—not the café owner who knows too much, the girl who wants the attention that comes with being a witness, or the bodybuilder with no outlet for his terrible strength.
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
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
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 friends, anyone 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 case: to 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.
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.