Monday, March 16, 2015

Book reports


A shy life long Norwegian bachelor goes to India to look for a wife after his sister gives him a book about people who live in foreign countries.  He meets a woman and miraculously she agrees to marry him and go live with him back in Norway.  He goes back ahead of her to give her time to tidy up her life in India.  On the day of her arrival his sister gets in a terrible auto accident and he must go to her bedside which prevents him from meeting his wife at the airport.  His Indian bride takes a taxi to meet her new husband in his home land, but something goes wrong and she ends up brutally beaten and dead.  The cops are baffled.  Uncomfortable secrets arise in the ensuing investigation and no one knows who to trust anymore.

The interesting premise of this Inspector Sejer novel isn't borne out in the execution of the story.  Like many modern Nordic crime mystery novels this one really doesn't have a satisfying conclusion.  It ends with many questions unanswered and many loose ends left to twist in the cold Norwegian wind.  


I enjoyed this Inspector Sejer mystery much more than the previous one, perhaps because I had figured it out about two thirds of the way into it.

In this one a beautiful little girl goes missing and the main suspect is a troubled loner who refuses to speak other than to say, "No."  The girl's family is devastated and the small town is awash with fear, then resignation, then relief after her body is finally found.

The suspense is quite good in this one, Ms. Fossum builds her story up brick by brick and before you know it, you're hooked.

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