Black Seconds

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 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 show more 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

A nearly ten-year-old girl leaves home on her new bike and disappears, seemingly without a trace. Even the Inspector, after initial investigation, is a bit puzzled. It will be the hard work of our detective and his sidekick, and the help of many others in the community that will solve her disappearance and keep the attention of the reader….

I enjoy Fossum’s series because they are pure police procedurals; detailed investigations without all the guns and thriller bits. The detectives’ investigations are a puzzle to be enjoyed, their two-step-forward-one-step-back thinking process is more realistic and certainly refreshing,

While Karin Fossum's focus on children in danger can be quite disturbing, I find her characters wonderfully drawn, and their problems securely embedded in the problems of real life. I am seeing a pattern of mental disfunction, of course, but not always the source of evil - I'll have to see if this continues. In the meantime, it is a book I enjoyed although (or perhaps because) I knew what happened and who did what before Sejer did.

“But now the wall clock in Helga Joner’s house was approaching 7 p.m. and Ida had still not come home. Helga experienced the first prickling of fear. And later that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her stand by the window from which she would see Ida appear on her yellow bicycle any second now ... But Ida did not come.” (Ch 1)

Nine-year-old Ida Joner vanishes, seemingly into thin air, after setting off on her brand new bike one afternoon to buy candy. The police are called in, and hundreds of volunteers comb the neighbourhood and surround area – nothing. Helga, Ida’s mother, reaches her breaking point, and other close relatives follow suit. Sejer struggles to remain reassuring. He knows that when missing show more children are not found within 48 hours, the result is most often tragic.

Fossum introduces several suspect characters: Willy Otherhals, an auto body tech, well known to police; Emil Johanes, a mentally challenged neighbourhood man; Tomme Skarre, Ida’s first cousin, who is keeping company with Otherhals and behaving furtively around family. But Sejer has precious little to go on. Finally, as the search is called off, he discovers letters that Ida has exchanged with a pen pal in Hamburg – which just might hold a lead. And, at last, the story begins to unravel. Still, even as the case is seemingly solved, something still does not sit right with Sejer: “They considered the case closed. Sejer did not.” (Ch 28)

Black Seconds is a well-written, intriguingly layered mystery. I love that Fossum keeps Sejer so personal. Here, I was taken, again, with Kollberg, his faithful dog – struggling now with old age, but still a part of Sejer’s routine every evening. Novel and series highly recommended. show less

A little girl disappears and when her body is found in a ditch, it appears someone has cared for her remains long after death. It's not too difficult to guess the who in the whodunnit and how the murder happened, but the red herring characters are so very interesting and, even if you are not tricked into believing they're the guilty ones, they're so psychologically engaging that the story keeps pulling you in.

Very accomplished, and probably my favourite out of the Karin Fossum books I've read so far.

Should you believe that Scandinavian novels are variations on a theme of dark, brooding angst, then this may dispel that belief. The subject matter is indeed very serious but the treatment doesn't have the slightest hint of sensationalism, and has a very deft human touch.

Recommended if your tastes veer towards spare evocative writing, "whydunnit" more than "whodunnit", and if you are a reader who doesn't prefer that every single loose end be tied up by the conclusion.

I have to confess I did what I've rarely done before and skipped through the chapters concentrating on the Morsks to find out what was behind the closed bedroom door! I just couldn't bear to wait for an answer and share the excruciating pain of the mother waiting for her daughter to return home. This isn't a criticism: it's a testament to Fossum's skill at inhabiting her characters's worlds.