The Unlucky Lottery

I've rarely enjoyed a police procedural as much as I did this one. A man is killed, violently, while sleeping off a drunken night out, in his bed. His wife finds him and will a little delay calls the police. Who could have done it? The doors were unlocked, but that was typical. Nothing was taken, and the violence suggests something personal. Munster starts investigating the friends, the family, and any other connections he can find. It's as if he's pulling up a whole rotten tangle of ropes and weeds long drowned in the canal. Excellent.

This book was okay, but overall I found it a bit weak. I happened to find all the detectives in the story likable, particularly Münster and Moreno with the others just a step or two behind. However, their detecting skills were both poor and lazy. Most of the findings / conclusions were readily obvious from the start, but when they came together in the end, the main story didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Sure, it could happen that way, but it was a hell of a lot of effort to create all the mayhem sparked by next to nothing and then pure happenstance that it did. I mean, it could have all played out organically in a similar fashion at any time over decades prior, or… never; THAT would have made sense.

Anyway, nothing much show more happens throughout and the police seem to be doing nothing but firefighting, going through the motions until something drops into their laps causing a frenzy of activity, rather than follow the normal lines of investigation when no clues are apparent. Every other character outside the police force, including the dead and disappeared, are a bunch of loners and freaks, but the police don't find that odd. Or odd enough to try and sleuth out how that is even remotely possible. Little effort is spend trying to solve that riddle – incomplete background checks – and they spend more time justifying the unjustifiable than trying to solve the mystery.

What happens to Münster at the end of the book, and finding the last dead body both qualify as supremely incompetent police work.

Okay, but that didn’t make for a great read. show less

An Inspector Van Veeteren mystery, but mostly without Van Veeteren. He's not on the case; in fact he's ensconced in an armchair, with a glass of wine and a boo, in his favorite bookstore, yet he still solves the puzzle first, without ever seeing the scene, or interviewing anyone. Nesser has a great style, presenting information in small chunks, but linking and looping it all to a satisfying conclusion. Even though I like my Nesser with a full dose of VV best, Munster is a great character, and a pleasing alternative, especially when he channels VV's teachings.

If I hadn't already been such a fan of the series, I might have abandoned this book half way through. There are only so many times that I want to read about interviews with the same people, with the same stonewalling results, and it got boring and didn't advance the story. The writing is great, with subtle humour, but the book should have been much shorter. The second half of the book did have me turning the pages. But I was not surprised by the ending, and found that one of the murders lacked a credible motive, considering the horrible butchery of the crime, and the lack of affection expressed by the family involved in it all. Van Veeteren only had a very minor roll in the story, as he had retired to run a used bookstore. Bring back show more Van Veeteren. show less

This novel is listed as number six in Nesser's Chief Inspector Van Veeteren series, but the Inspector plays only a peripheral role. Instead, most of the focus, and most of the burden of detection, falls on Intendent Munster, who was Van Veeteren's right hand man until the Chief Inspector retired. Now, Munster has to handle a case around the brutal murder of an old man, complicated by the disappearance of two other old people. The first half of the book doesn't take us very far, focussing on the investigation and on Munster's complicated personal life. The second half, however, picks up speed and interest, leading to an ending that surprises and surprises again. Overall, it's worth reading even if you miss the Chief Inspector; the show more characterization is strong, the plot grows more and more compelling, and the pages keep turning. show less

Brutal murder, unsympathetic victim, two missing persons, few clues. Just the thing to keep the reader going. There were so many twists and turns and lack of dots to connect. It could have been frustrating. Instead, I was intrigued until the end and surprised by the resolution.

Borkmann's Point is still Nesser's best after my reading of this, the sixth in the "Van Veeteren" series. Be warned: Van Veeteren plays only a cameo role of no consequence in this, a pity in my view, I like his character. Otherwise it's a solid enough read, with a good plot, is atmospheric if somewhat slow paced, and as ever with Nesser characterisation is strong. What makes Nesser's books all the more interesting is that the 'why' of the crime is as important as the 'who dunnit' aspect.