This is the first book in the series featuring Inspector Sejer, and is set in Norway. In this book, the body of a popular, athletic teenage girl is discovered beside the lake in a popular wooded hiking area near the small village where she lived. There are few clues and Sejer must keep digging to learn more about the girl. She was universally well-liked, so it seems that no one would have a motive for killing her. On the other hand, at 15 she was a beautiful young woman who might have captured the imagination of any man in town who could have gotten carried away by a fantasy gone wrong. Suspects include the down's syndrome man who discovered the body and who, as everyone knows, has a "thing" for girls. Or it might have been her sullen boyfriend, 18 years old, whose father died under suspicious circumstances. Or maybe her mother's first husband, a man who was angry at having been denied access to his own daughter. Or it could have been somehow related to the death of a neighborhood boy several months earlier - a hyperactive 2-year old that she used to babysit - the timing of which coincides with an unexplained change in her personality. Or the coach of the handball team that she suddenly quit at about the same time - a man who had earlier served a prison sentence for rape. Or it might have had to do with a secret that she was keeping to herself that was discovered by police.

Sejer methodically plods through all the evidence, interviewing the suspects over and over, uncovering something new each time until the pieces finally all fall into place. Not a fast paced thriller, but it does not drag. Sejer is also introduced, a widower who lost his wife to cancer. He thinks about her often, ponders his relationship with his daughter, and dotes on his grandson. He lives on the top floor of the only high-rise apartment in town and keeps a large dog inside the no-pets building. He is alone, but can't quite decide if he is lonely.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Set in Norwegian village, evokes the landscape and the people perfectly. A child disappears and the village is found to have many more secrets than were suspected.

Although the writing was good, the ending was poorly done. Too many loose ends. ( )

Don’t Look Back opens with the disappearance and apparent abduction of a six-year-old girl. A second shock follows when the drowned corpse of a teenage girl is found at the edge of a nearby lake. With scant clues and no witnesses or motive, the detectives examine all the aspects of the victim’s life hoping to uncover the reason for her murder. What was it that changed the girl’s attitude so markedly in the past several months? Did she know something that someone wanted kept quiet? ( )

This is one of those mystery books you read on a rainy Saturday afternoon in one sitting. The story flows in a simplistic but compelling manner; An easy read with a great story line. As someone from LibraryThing once said suggested for a genre, "a bring-to-the-beach kind of book." In that case Don't Look Back was summer fare read too early (for me). It is the mystery of the death of a teenage girl. Known throughout her small town she was loved by nearly everyone. How could someone so charming, so lovable, so perfect die so young? Inspector Sejer is the lead investigator on the case. With calm and quiet tenacity he unravels a seemingly sweet life only to reveal lies and suspicions. This is the kind of mystery that keeps the pages turning as things become more and more complicated. Originally written in Norwegian and translated by Felicity David, Don't Look Back urges the reader to keep turning the pages until compulsively, the entire book has been read from cover to cover. ( )