Karin Fossum

Black Seconds by Karin Fossum is the 6th installment in the Inspector Sejer series. Set in Norway, this outstanding police procedural deals with the tragic disappearance of a little girl. She set off on her bike to the local store and simply vanished. After days of searching, first her bike turns up and then, in a highly visual spot, her body was found.

The author’s accurate and sensitive writing and the slow step-by-step investigation felt extremely realistic. Although it is quite obvious show more to the reader who the perpetrator is from the early pages, we experience the frustration the police feel as they try to figure out what happened. Fossum often writes about crimes that aren’t open and shut cases and allows the reader to see all sides of the situation. Sejer’s empathetic and detailed handling of the suspects allows him to peel back the layers and get to the real truth of what happened.

I found Black Seconds to be an engaging read, the author digs a little deeper into the origins of the crime and allows us access to the thought process of not only the police and the mother of the missing child, but all other characters as well. I am looking forward to reading more of Karin Fossum books that feature Inspector Sejer as I find him, with his calm and refined manner, to be very charming. show less

When the Devil Holds the Candle by Karin Fossum is the third book in her Inspector Konrad Sejer series to be published in North America. The story follows a couple of young men who are looking for adventure and the money to fund it. There is an incident where they try to rob a young mother and then later Andreas and his friend Zipp decide to follow an older woman through the dark streets and then break into her home. Andreas is the one to enter the house while Zipp waits in the dark back show more yard. But Andreas never comes out.

The author builds the tension slowly over the course of the book, and by the final third of the story, the pages were turning quickly. Each character in the book is skilfully developed and all appear to be hiding secrets. This is a tense, psychological thriller where the police are mostly sidelined till the end of the book and while the conclusion was very dark and very chilling it was all too believable. Every book in this series is better than the one that went before it and Karin Fossum has become an author that I know I can totally rely on to deliver a superb story. show less

Oh, how delightful. Fossum's characters are so real to me, the honorable ones and the screw-ups both. A madman walks away from his asylum, a petty thief robs a bank, an enormously fat, troubled boy practices archery in the woods. Bringing them together, Fossum lets each reveal the other's hurts. The police are not always wise. And Sejer is restored to life, in a way that promises more joy in subsequent episodes. Lovely.

La Norvegia è un mondo per noi abbastanza sconosciuto, dove, per esempio, si può andare in prigione per irregolarità amministrative e lo si fa prendendo un appuntamento con la prigione stessa, e le sue comunità rurali sono enclave chiuse, dove matura una diversità che facciamo fatica a sospettare.
I protagonisti sono appunto tre disadattati, due lupi, e un futuro lupo, agli occhi dei benpensanti, pronti ad attribuire loro tutte le colpe.
Ci vorrà una grande umanità ferita per show more riconoscere, anche se tardivamente, la vittima nell'elemento ritenuto più pericoloso di tutti, e il predatore già formato nel giovane ritenuto ancora recuperabile.
Come sempre negli scrittori nordici è presente l'elemento sociale, che attribuisce correttamente le colpe dei fallimenti alla società in disfacimento. show less