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When a medium contacts the police department with claims about a murder at a rural home for wayward girls, detective Joona Linna investigates bizarre clues only to find himself confronting more violent truths and a figure from his past.Tags
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A detective with the National Police, Joona Linna is given the assignment to "observe" the investigation of the death of two people in a home for troubled girls. A girl is found, beaten repeatedly and placed on her bed with her arms covering her face (peekaboo style). The home's nurse, Elisabet, is the other victim, found in an outbuilding, beaten to death apparently with a hammer.
Another girl disappears from the home. A girl described as "nice" and never violent, she nonetheless soon is the chief suspect.
As Joona looks into the case he tends to go beyond observing, irritating the local detective on the job as well as his own superior. But he's not the type to let go. He finds out more about the missing girl, Vicky Bennet. She had show more indeed shown some signs of violence in her past, but nothing that was reported to the police or child protective services. Still, Joona has difficulty believing her to be the killer. There is evidence in her bedroom that she was involved but Joona isn't ready to believe it.
Meanwhile we get to know Flora Hansen a bit. Now in her forties, she lives with her foster parents from childhood, acting as their maid. She is not treated well and one way she hopes to get out from under is by acting as a medium. She holds seances when she can slip away from home to earn money. She knows how to read people and give them what they want.
But then she starts to see things that make her wonder if there really are ghosts.
In time, Joona's investigation spreads out to take in Flora and the pieces gradually start to come together. It's definitely a page-turner, or it was for me, but I haven't been sleeping well anyway!
One thing that bothered me in this time of forensic investigations. Nobody analyzed the blood spatter beyond Joona's informed review from his experience. Nobody measured to determine the approximate height of the killer or the intensity of the blows. These measurements should have given a clearer picture of how the murders happened and who committed them. These days, writers of procedurals need to be on top of forensics! show less
Another girl disappears from the home. A girl described as "nice" and never violent, she nonetheless soon is the chief suspect.
As Joona looks into the case he tends to go beyond observing, irritating the local detective on the job as well as his own superior. But he's not the type to let go. He finds out more about the missing girl, Vicky Bennet. She had show more indeed shown some signs of violence in her past, but nothing that was reported to the police or child protective services. Still, Joona has difficulty believing her to be the killer. There is evidence in her bedroom that she was involved but Joona isn't ready to believe it.
Meanwhile we get to know Flora Hansen a bit. Now in her forties, she lives with her foster parents from childhood, acting as their maid. She is not treated well and one way she hopes to get out from under is by acting as a medium. She holds seances when she can slip away from home to earn money. She knows how to read people and give them what they want.
But then she starts to see things that make her wonder if there really are ghosts.
In time, Joona's investigation spreads out to take in Flora and the pieces gradually start to come together. It's definitely a page-turner, or it was for me, but I haven't been sleeping well anyway!
One thing that bothered me in this time of forensic investigations. Nobody analyzed the blood spatter beyond Joona's informed review from his experience. Nobody measured to determine the approximate height of the killer or the intensity of the blows. These measurements should have given a clearer picture of how the murders happened and who committed them. These days, writers of procedurals need to be on top of forensics! show less
I discovered the Swedish husband and wife writing team of Lars Kepler with the first book in their Inspector Joona Linna series - The Hypnotist. I loved it and it only got better with the second book - The Nightmare. I've been eagerly awaiting the North American release of the third book - The Fire Witness. And up front, I have to tell you it was a five star read for me.
Inspector Joona Linna is on suspension, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. Linna doesn't play by the rules, he goes for results by whatever means he sees fit.
"It is a serious charge, but this is not the first time Joona has run up against the authorities. It seems to be his nature....But what they can't ignore is that in the almost fifteen years show more Joona's been on the job, he's solved more challenging cases than any other Scandinavian officer."
And the cases Kepler come up with for Linna are challenging - not just for him but for the reader as well. I read a lot of crime fiction and this series keeps me guessing right 'til the end.
In the Fire Witness, Linna is called to 'observe' a particularly nasty case. A young girl has been found brutally murdered in her group home. Her body has been arranged with her hands covering her eyes. None of the other girls saw anyone or anything. Or did they? These are girls with a myriad of problems and getting a straight answer out of them seems impossible. And of course Joona can't stand by and just be an observer - he sees much more at crime scenes than his colleagues - clues and connections that others don't. The case begins there and Kepler builds layer upon layer into the case, including a would be psychic who may actually be the real thing. (Gentle readers be warned - Kepler pulls no punches with descriptions)
I've used the word creepy before to describe Kepler's books and I would use it to again to describe The Fire Witness. The settings, the plot, the characters and their actions are all unsettling, keeping readers on their toes.
The secondary plot line deals with Joona Linna's past. It has been alluded to in the past two books and at last we get to know what has happened to him. Not what I expected or imagined at all. (again, I love that I can't predict where Kepler is going to go next) The ending - oh, what an ending. I will be waiting on the edge of my seat for the North American release of the fourth book -The Sandman.
Definitely recommended. Kepler just gets better and better. Fans of Jo Nesbo and Jussi Adler-Olsen would enjoy this series show less
Inspector Joona Linna is on suspension, pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. Linna doesn't play by the rules, he goes for results by whatever means he sees fit.
"It is a serious charge, but this is not the first time Joona has run up against the authorities. It seems to be his nature....But what they can't ignore is that in the almost fifteen years show more Joona's been on the job, he's solved more challenging cases than any other Scandinavian officer."
And the cases Kepler come up with for Linna are challenging - not just for him but for the reader as well. I read a lot of crime fiction and this series keeps me guessing right 'til the end.
In the Fire Witness, Linna is called to 'observe' a particularly nasty case. A young girl has been found brutally murdered in her group home. Her body has been arranged with her hands covering her eyes. None of the other girls saw anyone or anything. Or did they? These are girls with a myriad of problems and getting a straight answer out of them seems impossible. And of course Joona can't stand by and just be an observer - he sees much more at crime scenes than his colleagues - clues and connections that others don't. The case begins there and Kepler builds layer upon layer into the case, including a would be psychic who may actually be the real thing. (Gentle readers be warned - Kepler pulls no punches with descriptions)
I've used the word creepy before to describe Kepler's books and I would use it to again to describe The Fire Witness. The settings, the plot, the characters and their actions are all unsettling, keeping readers on their toes.
The secondary plot line deals with Joona Linna's past. It has been alluded to in the past two books and at last we get to know what has happened to him. Not what I expected or imagined at all. (again, I love that I can't predict where Kepler is going to go next) The ending - oh, what an ending. I will be waiting on the edge of my seat for the North American release of the fourth book -The Sandman.
Definitely recommended. Kepler just gets better and better. Fans of Jo Nesbo and Jussi Adler-Olsen would enjoy this series show less
In this latest novel by the Swedish writing team known singularly as Lars Kepler, a murderer has killed two people in a home for delinquent girls. The suspected murderer, a young girl named Vicki Bennet steals a car with a four-year-old boy in the backseat. When the car is found at the bottom of the lake, it is assumed that both the girl and boy are dead even though their bodies are not found. But Detective Inspector Joona Linna is not convinced and, despite orders to the contrary, he refuses to stop hunting for the pair.
There is a great deal going on in this fast paced thriller but it never becomes confusing. There is, for example, a fake medium who keeps phoning the police offering 'tips' for money but seems to have real knowledge show more about the case; there are bits and pieces about Linna's back story; and there is Vicki's own story as well as that of a woman who once fostered her and now wishes to act as her champion. In some ways, I found these other issues more interesting than the murders themselves especially as I figured out who the killer was fairly early in the story. Normally, this fact would make me want to pass on the rest of the story but these other questions kept me wanting to read even when the main one was answered.
It should be noted that there is some rather strong language in the book especially from the girls in the home who, after all, are really bad girls and there is some sex which may seem a bit gratuitous. Personally, I thought it helped to make the characters more 'real' - there is nothing romantic here to dispel the sense of sadness and hopelessness that many of the characters seem to live with.* I only bring this up because I read some reviews which criticize the book for this.
*Side note: is there something about Scandinavian countries which makes their stories often so bleak going back at least to Hans Christian Anderson or maybe even Beowulf. Not that I'm complaining. I prefer bleak over peppy and romantic any day. What can I say - life without suffering bores me and when I say suffering I'm not referring to 50 shades of crap type suffering. I'm talking about the kind of suffering which, except in the case of psychopaths, makes us empathetic towards others.
But enough of the gratuitous side note...
The Fire Witness is the third in the Swedish starring Joona Linna. Although it helps to have read the other books, it isn't absolutely necessary. There are some references to actions outside this story but they really don't interrupt the flow or pace of the narrative. My guess is, though, after you read this one, you will definitely want to read the rest of the series. show less
There is a great deal going on in this fast paced thriller but it never becomes confusing. There is, for example, a fake medium who keeps phoning the police offering 'tips' for money but seems to have real knowledge show more about the case; there are bits and pieces about Linna's back story; and there is Vicki's own story as well as that of a woman who once fostered her and now wishes to act as her champion. In some ways, I found these other issues more interesting than the murders themselves especially as I figured out who the killer was fairly early in the story. Normally, this fact would make me want to pass on the rest of the story but these other questions kept me wanting to read even when the main one was answered.
It should be noted that there is some rather strong language in the book especially from the girls in the home who, after all, are really bad girls and there is some sex which may seem a bit gratuitous. Personally, I thought it helped to make the characters more 'real' - there is nothing romantic here to dispel the sense of sadness and hopelessness that many of the characters seem to live with.* I only bring this up because I read some reviews which criticize the book for this.
*Side note: is there something about Scandinavian countries which makes their stories often so bleak going back at least to Hans Christian Anderson or maybe even Beowulf. Not that I'm complaining. I prefer bleak over peppy and romantic any day. What can I say - life without suffering bores me and when I say suffering I'm not referring to 50 shades of crap type suffering. I'm talking about the kind of suffering which, except in the case of psychopaths, makes us empathetic towards others.
But enough of the gratuitous side note...
The Fire Witness is the third in the Swedish starring Joona Linna. Although it helps to have read the other books, it isn't absolutely necessary. There are some references to actions outside this story but they really don't interrupt the flow or pace of the narrative. My guess is, though, after you read this one, you will definitely want to read the rest of the series. show less
The third book in the Lars Kepler Joona Linna series, The Fire Witness, is a bit of a mash-up for small and large reasons. [Spoiler Alert.]
Some of the small reasons: First, the title of the book doesn't come into play in the novel until at the very end when an immolation is witnessed by the main character, an event that has nothing to do with the novel's overriding plot. Second, the perpetrator of the murders(s) started the killing spree at six years of age (and the targets weren't small, furry animals even then) which seems unusually and unrealistically young.
Some of the large reasons: First, as any reader of murder mysteries or police procedurals knows, the authorities look at close family members or friends of victims, at least show more initially, when trying to suss out the perpetrator, but, in this case, the detectives didn't look in that direction at all. Second, the last seven chapters of the novel, almost 50 pages, are not structured as the novel's denouement, but rather are used to set up the next novel in the series. All the information given in those 50 pages will need to be tediously reviewed in the next novel. Not a wise choice.
All of these disparate plot directions left this reader, for the first time while reading the series, very aware that author Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for a husband and wife Scandinavian writing team. If writers choose to partner and decide to use a nom de guerre, they are challenged with meshing all aspects of a novel as seamlessly as though one writer is at work.
In this novel, Lars Kepler failed at this task. show less
Some of the small reasons: First, the title of the book doesn't come into play in the novel until at the very end when an immolation is witnessed by the main character, an event that has nothing to do with the novel's overriding plot. Second, the perpetrator of the murders(s) started the killing spree at six years of age (and the targets weren't small, furry animals even then) which seems unusually and unrealistically young.
Some of the large reasons: First, as any reader of murder mysteries or police procedurals knows, the authorities look at close family members or friends of victims, at least show more initially, when trying to suss out the perpetrator, but, in this case, the detectives didn't look in that direction at all. Second, the last seven chapters of the novel, almost 50 pages, are not structured as the novel's denouement, but rather are used to set up the next novel in the series. All the information given in those 50 pages will need to be tediously reviewed in the next novel. Not a wise choice.
All of these disparate plot directions left this reader, for the first time while reading the series, very aware that author Lars Kepler is a pseudonym for a husband and wife Scandinavian writing team. If writers choose to partner and decide to use a nom de guerre, they are challenged with meshing all aspects of a novel as seamlessly as though one writer is at work.
In this novel, Lars Kepler failed at this task. show less
Definitivo este libro es por mucho mejor que los dos primeros, no solo se nota en el estilo narrativo, en la manera de manejar la historia y en los personajes, se nota también un cambio de ritmo, algo muy diferente a las dos primeras entregas, se sientan las bases de los personajes principales, esto generalmente lo vemos en el primer libro, pero en este caso, no es sino hasta esta entrega que comenzamos a ver el rol que cada quien tendrá en esta serie y además nos deja ver al principal enemigo de Joona. Además es algo muy diferente a lo que le he leído a escritores nórdicos, no digo que no se note la frialdad, pero no es para nada deprimente como lo suelen ser las novelas negras de los escritores de esa parte del mundo.
Me ha show more gustado mucho esta historia, no es únicamente el asesinato si no la manera en que esta presentado, escalofriante y una investigación bien manejada y que nos va sorprendiendo a cada paso, aunque este si que es un sello de estos escritores.
Por otro lado, Joona Lina, no es el típico policía amargado, triste y mala leche, con problemas de alcohol, drogas o de ningún tipo, es inteligente, es amable pero con los pantalones bien puestos para imponer su punto de vista.
Muy bueno, muy recomendable y honestamente yo solo recomendaría leer los dos primeros en caso de que no se quieran quedar sin leerse la serie completa, porque bien se puede comenzar desde este libro porque son completamente independientes y algo me dice que a partir de aquí si que tendremos que seguir una secuencia de hechos. show less
Me ha show more gustado mucho esta historia, no es únicamente el asesinato si no la manera en que esta presentado, escalofriante y una investigación bien manejada y que nos va sorprendiendo a cada paso, aunque este si que es un sello de estos escritores.
Por otro lado, Joona Lina, no es el típico policía amargado, triste y mala leche, con problemas de alcohol, drogas o de ningún tipo, es inteligente, es amable pero con los pantalones bien puestos para imponer su punto de vista.
Muy bueno, muy recomendable y honestamente yo solo recomendaría leer los dos primeros en caso de que no se quieran quedar sin leerse la serie completa, porque bien se puede comenzar desde este libro porque son completamente independientes y algo me dice que a partir de aquí si que tendremos que seguir una secuencia de hechos. show less
FIRE WITNESS is set in Sweden and arouses all of the gloomy noir ambiance of its Scandinavian counterparts. The intricate plot has many moving parts but these sometimes appear to be contrived and a bit clunky. Elements seem to have been added by a committee (indeed Lars Kepler is a committee of two) designed to drop multiple clues that only Linna will understand. Certainly, his bumbling colleagues have no hope of either finding them of correctly interpreting their significance. The plot moves along at a brisk pace with multiple wrinkles that are designed to keep the pages turning as fast as possible, but many seem implausible. There is no theme unless, as the epigraphs and title suggest, liars can expect to be punished by show more fire.
Birgittagarden is a youth home for troubled teenage girls. One of these, Miranda, has been brutally murdered and the body posed with the hands over her face (see the book jacket). A caregiver, Elisabet, also has been bludgeoned to death in an outlying building. The case seems open and shut since one of the other girls, Vicky Bennet, has disappeared leaving behind a bloody murder weapon. The search for Vicky drives the story.
The protagonist is Joona Linna, a detective who is assigned to observe the case, but can’t resist taking over. Linna appears in other crime mysteries written by Kepler. He is pretty much a cliché in modern detective fiction. He is brilliant, tenacious and compassionate; but has a troubled past, many personal flaws and a tendency to flaunt authority and go-it-alone. The other characters lack nuance and thus are difficult to care about. Instead they act like puzzle pieces designed to drive the plot forward while adding mystery. Vicky is a tough, but almost irredeemable hard luck kid with a heart of gold. Anja Larsson is a wealthy divorced philanthropist who was once briefly Vicky’s foster mother and, for some reason feels guilty about how she turned out. Flora Hansen is a fake mystic, bilking people by purporting to commune with the departed. The police and Linna dismiss her as a crank; Daniel Grim is the psychological counselor at Birgittagarden. At first one wonders why each of these fairly minor characters is even there but as the plot heats up, one begins to see that they have important roles to play in resolving the mystery—just examples of some of clunky plot elements. The girls in the home are all pretty extreme, not well developed as individuals and tend to blend together.
FIRE WITNESS clearly deserves all of the blurb superlatives: it is cinematic, cleverly plotted, suspenseful, fast-paced, and a page-turner with a surprising climax. It, however, is not for the faint hearted because of extreme and brutal murders, violence, mental illness and sexual abuse. The novel is definitely light reading fare designed for commercial success. The final chapters are a testament to Kepler’s marketing savvy. They have nothing to do with the plot, but instead seem to be there merely to set the stage for future Joona Linna mysteries. show less
Birgittagarden is a youth home for troubled teenage girls. One of these, Miranda, has been brutally murdered and the body posed with the hands over her face (see the book jacket). A caregiver, Elisabet, also has been bludgeoned to death in an outlying building. The case seems open and shut since one of the other girls, Vicky Bennet, has disappeared leaving behind a bloody murder weapon. The search for Vicky drives the story.
The protagonist is Joona Linna, a detective who is assigned to observe the case, but can’t resist taking over. Linna appears in other crime mysteries written by Kepler. He is pretty much a cliché in modern detective fiction. He is brilliant, tenacious and compassionate; but has a troubled past, many personal flaws and a tendency to flaunt authority and go-it-alone. The other characters lack nuance and thus are difficult to care about. Instead they act like puzzle pieces designed to drive the plot forward while adding mystery. Vicky is a tough, but almost irredeemable hard luck kid with a heart of gold. Anja Larsson is a wealthy divorced philanthropist who was once briefly Vicky’s foster mother and, for some reason feels guilty about how she turned out. Flora Hansen is a fake mystic, bilking people by purporting to commune with the departed. The police and Linna dismiss her as a crank; Daniel Grim is the psychological counselor at Birgittagarden. At first one wonders why each of these fairly minor characters is even there but as the plot heats up, one begins to see that they have important roles to play in resolving the mystery—just examples of some of clunky plot elements. The girls in the home are all pretty extreme, not well developed as individuals and tend to blend together.
FIRE WITNESS clearly deserves all of the blurb superlatives: it is cinematic, cleverly plotted, suspenseful, fast-paced, and a page-turner with a surprising climax. It, however, is not for the faint hearted because of extreme and brutal murders, violence, mental illness and sexual abuse. The novel is definitely light reading fare designed for commercial success. The final chapters are a testament to Kepler’s marketing savvy. They have nothing to do with the plot, but instead seem to be there merely to set the stage for future Joona Linna mysteries. show less
This was much better than the last one. This is the third in a series of what will be eight novels about inspector Joona Linna. It´s a crime novel and there are some gruesome murders in it. I liked the characters and found them credible, I like Joona Linna, and in this novel we get to know a little bit more about him and his past. The story has many aspects and even though it swirls and shift focus it never looses it. Of course it´s a bit freaked out - but I don´t mind that in a crime story as long as the author keep it together, and they have.
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Author Information
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Lars Kepler is a Swedish pseudonym used by Alexander and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. Their works include The Hypnotist and The Paganini Contract. These Swedish authors created the pen name by using two of the people they most admire, Swedish author Steig Larsson and German scientist Johannes Kepler. Alexander and Alexandra are married to each other show more and live in Sweden. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Fire Witness
- Original title
- Eldvittnet
- Original publication date
- 2011; 2013-07-13 (English) (English)
- People/Characters
- Joona Linna; Saga Bauer; Anja Larsson; Elisabet Grim; Vicki Bennet (runaway girl); Flora Hansen (psychic) (show all 41); Daniel Grim (therapist); Elin Frank (Vicki's former foster mother); Jack Frank (Vicki's former foster father); Robert Bianchi (Elin's assistent); Mikael Båge (head of Prosecution Authority); Helene Fiorine (Mikael's secretary); Lu Chu (girl 1); Nina (girl 2); Caroline Forsman (girl 3); Indie (girl 4); Tuula Lehti (girl 5); Almira (girl 6); Miranda (murdered girl); Dante Abrahamsson (kidnapped boy); Pia Abrahamsson (Dante's mother); Holger Jalmert (professor of criminology); Mirja Zlatnek (local police officer); Nassim DuBois (Vogue photographer); Carlos Eliasson (Joona's boss); Susanne Öst (prosecutor); Olle Gunnarsson (local detective); Hasse Boman (diver); Sara Bengtsson (dog handler); Carl Rimmer (Daniel's doctor); Ewa (Flora's landlord); Hans-Gunnar (Ewa's husband); Rolf Wikner (local police); Sonja Rask (local police); Rosa Bergman / Maja Stefansson; Jimi Sj́öberg (crime scene technician); Siri Karlsson (crime scene technician); Mads Jensen (truck driver); Bosse Norling (local police); Lisa Jern (psychologist); Julian Borg (Flora's client)
- Important places
- Sundsvall, Sweden; Stockholm, Sweden
- Epigraph
- All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone...
Revelation 21:8 - First words
- Elisabet Grim is fifty-three years old. Her hair is streaked with grey, but her eyes are bright and happy, and when she smiles, one of her front teeth juts out impishly.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Die Kondensschicht löst sich auf, und sie sehen, dass Jurek Walter auf dem Bett sitzt wie zuvor, als hätte er sich nie bewegt.
- Original language
- Swedish
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 839.738
- Canonical LCC
- PT9877.21.E65
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Mystery
- DDC/MDS
- 839.738 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures Other Germanic literatures Swedish literature Swedish fiction 2000-
- LCC
- PT9877.21 .E65 — Language and Literature German, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures Swedish literature Individual authors or works 2001-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 974
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- 26,845
- Reviews
- 36
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- 21 — Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Croatian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 95
- ASINs
- 11
