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When the Devil Holds the Candle Inspector Sejer Mysteries Karin Fossum Felicity David Random House Uk Books

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When the Devil Holds the Candle Inspector Sejer Mysteries Karin Fossum Felicity David Random House Uk Books

Norwegian author Karin Fossum shuns convention and spins another offbeat crime novel in "When the Devil Holds the Candle", a refreshingly off-the-beaten track Scandinavian mystery that is as well written as it is quirky.

Andreas Winther is an aimless eighteen-year old, a not uncommon slacker holding down a minimum wage job while flirting with the mildest fringes of crime. Irma Funder is 60ish, a mostly reclusive divorcé with a semi-estranged adult son and memories of a childhood of benign neglect. A young mother walks her four-month old child along Oslo's beach. Guided by Fossum's talented hand, the unlikely crossing of these dissimilar lives makes for an explosive literary feast of suspense and depravity, a novel so rich in conflicting themes, sinister undercurrent, and depth of character that it nearly bursts out of the mere 259 pages that try to confine it. This is a masterpiece of darkness, a somber and psychologically chilling tale that leaves no winners as it takes twists and turns to its unexpected and powerful conclusion.

Drawing parallels to this author's work is mostly futile. Sure, the fatalistic tone recalls Arnaldur Indridason or Jo Nesbo, but living in a cold, damp place with no sun for half of the year probably makes it hard to write like say, Carl Hiaasen. Fossum's plots are fresh and unexpected, her villains unlikely, her settings surrealistic, even haunting. Where most writers deal in blacks and whites and good vs. evil that lead to a clean finish, Karin Fossum's mastery stems from her rich ambiguity. Where most authors cast their protagonist in the central role, spinning the story around their whims and deductions and forensic brilliance, Fossum's inspector Sejer is nearly an observer, a keen but detached bystander who never seems fully engaged with the crime at hand.

So if you're looking for a different path - intelligent fiction that will prod and pester and make you want to put your life on hold until you're forced to finish, then you've got to meet Karin Fossum. But a word of warning - don't expect relief when it's finally placed on the bookshelf. Fossum's prose will continue to haunt long after you've turned the last page.


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When the Devil Holds the Candle Inspector Sejer Mysteries Karin Fossum Felicity David Random House Uk Books Reviews

This book kept me thoroughly engrossed, so much so that I read it in only one sitting, which is rare for me as I am not an especially fast reader.

What is meant by a "psychological thriller"? As opposed to an "action thriller," I suppose it refers to the characters' thoughts and feelings being described in greater detail than a "non-psychological thriller." Perhaps even some analyses being conjectured by the author. Even maybe some analyses being offered by the characters themselves.

As long as the action still keeps up its pace, these are interesting additives. And in this book, it did, with one exception. The scenes flash from one setting to another, from and to different characters. One of the characters speaks a monologue in the first person. I found these to be "dips" into monotony in an otherwise interesting and flowing story.

A couple of juvenile delinquents (petty crimes so far) get themselves into more trouble than they bargained for in a small Norwegian costal town (one of them eventually disappears). A woman pushing a stroller gets mugged, the stroller toppling over with the baby inside. There is another woman of questionable sanity. And a couple of interesting inspectors (never fully developed, however) are in on solving the matters.

There is a twist ending that is extremely clever. The author definitely has a gift with words and is very talented. I'd put her up there almost with, in my estimation, the best women mystery writers (e.g., Agatha Christie, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell). Almost, but not quite.
There are two new fronts in European mystery writing the well-named Tartan Noire coming out of Scotland, which is represented by a whole cadre of young, new, irreverent talent; and an as-yet-named current of excellent police procedurals coming out of Scandinavia. The great Swedish writer, Henning Mankell, started the flow for me, followed by the excellent debut novel by Icelander Arnaldur Indridason entitled Jar City. helpfully suggested that if I like these two, I might like Karin Fossum, and, so I tried her (don't you love that helpful old ?). As with Mankell, it took me a book or two to get into the rhythm, but I think Fossum's third book, When the Devil Holds the Candle, is superb. It was the winner of the Gumshoe Award for Best European Mystery in 2007.

This is a fresh approach to police procedurals where we actually know the facts of the crimes quite early in the book. The journey we take is in discovering the twists of history and fate that put the main characters into a collision course with each other. It is also an incisive commentary on the narrow boundaries between idle youth/criminal behavior, and isolation/insanity. Irma is a strange and solitary older lady like anyone we might see and ignore on our city streets. She is beneath notice. But she harbors powerful and disturbing insights. Andreas and Zipp are, respectively, formless and gormless youth, but they are capable of far-reaching damage due to their short-focus selfishness. These three end up in a desperate synergy that moves like a runaway train and takes strangers, friends, family, and the police along with them. And Fossum continues to develop Inspector Sejer and his colleagues and family in ways that benefit the story without competing with the action. I look forward to the next installment.

P.S. Notice should be given to the excellent work of the translator, Felicity David.
Norwegian author Karin Fossum shuns convention and spins another offbeat crime novel in "When the Devil Holds the Candle", a refreshingly off-the-beaten track Scandinavian mystery that is as well written as it is quirky.

Andreas Winther is an aimless eighteen-year old, a not uncommon slacker holding down a minimum wage job while flirting with the mildest fringes of crime. Irma Funder is 60ish, a mostly reclusive divorcé with a semi-estranged adult son and memories of a childhood of benign neglect. A young mother walks her four-month old child along Oslo's beach. Guided by Fossum's talented hand, the unlikely crossing of these dissimilar lives makes for an explosive literary feast of suspense and depravity, a novel so rich in conflicting themes, sinister undercurrent, and depth of character that it nearly bursts out of the mere 259 pages that try to confine it. This is a masterpiece of darkness, a somber and psychologically chilling tale that leaves no winners as it takes twists and turns to its unexpected and powerful conclusion.

Drawing parallels to this author's work is mostly futile. Sure, the fatalistic tone recalls Arnaldur Indridason or Jo Nesbo, but living in a cold, damp place with no sun for half of the year probably makes it hard to write like say, Carl Hiaasen. Fossum's plots are fresh and unexpected, her villains unlikely, her settings surrealistic, even haunting. Where most writers deal in blacks and whites and good vs. evil that lead to a clean finish, Karin Fossum's mastery stems from her rich ambiguity. Where most authors cast their protagonist in the central role, spinning the story around their whims and deductions and forensic brilliance, Fossum's inspector Sejer is nearly an observer, a keen but detached bystander who never seems fully engaged with the crime at hand.

So if you're looking for a different path - intelligent fiction that will prod and pester and make you want to put your life on hold until you're forced to finish, then you've got to meet Karin Fossum. But a word of warning - don't expect relief when it's finally placed on the bookshelf. Fossum's prose will continue to haunt long after you've turned the last page.