Customer Reviews

Black Seconds

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Henning Mankell introduced me to the wonders of Scandinavian crime writing, and led me to Karin Fossum, who is even better at it than our venerable Swedish friend. She's a little bit different in approach though: Mankell, who we all know, sticks, in his Wallander books at least, to the police procedural style. Perhaps that's his weakness. Fossum takes some elements of the procedural and mixes them with psychological drama.

For comfort she holds on to a common central character or two; Inspector Sejer is the reassurring anchor-man and his junior, Jacob Skarre, the device through which we learn how clever Sejer is. It all works beautifully.

Often in her books (and 'Black Seconds' is no exception), there is an 'oddity', an outcast in society on whom suspicion naturally falls. Perhaps this method of revealing society's simplistic reactions is overused in her novels, but it is effective, and usually quite creepy.

Here, a middle-aged outcast of childlike intellect is involved in the disapppearance of a child. Fossum once again manages the clever trick of fooling us into believing that what seems obvious isn't. Actually it is.

What's really clever is the way the second plot revolves around the first. In fact it's the second plot (about a teenager who crashes his car) is really the most interesting part of the novel. It throws up all kinds of questions about ideal and actual morality. Nothing is clear cut (another theme of Fossum's).

The way these two strands are pulled together is beautifully done in the author's unpretentious but stylish hand. In a way, not much happens, but the way it happens is absolutely compelling. In just a few well-chosen words, Karin Fossum creates a world you care about, people you can see and feel, and an atmosphere you can touch. I don't know anybody who does this kind of thing better.

Creepy is an understatement when talking about Karin Fossum's detective series featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre. In "Black Seconds," readers get a glimpse into a dark world not too many authors can create as powerful and troubling as Fossum.

From the beginning of the series in "Don't Look Back" until now in "Black Seconds," Fossum knows how to create a believable and realistic sketch of her characters and their aging lives. As evidence, Konrad Sejer is not the same man we have seen in "Don't Look Back" or even in "The Indian Bride." He is more vulnerable, in private and in public life. Behind closed doors, we see his beloved dog Kollberg struggle with the aging process. He can hardly walk anymore, or find his cozy surroundings comfortable. Late one night, while Sejer comes home from work, he sits in his favorite chair by the window and stares across the room at his dog, who walks in circles a few times until he collapses on the floor. His hind legs hit the floor first, then his paws, and finally his heavy head falls in front of him. It is too difficult for Sejer to look his dog in the eyes.

At work, Sejer deals with a case that he finds most puzzling to date. As he interviews Emil Mork and his mother, Elsa, Sejer discovers how rewarding and debilitating his line of work really is. At one point in the novel when Sejer questions Elsa about her son's anger management problems, Sejer is seen as weak and scared for the first time. He sees Kollberg in her story, I think, and takes her confession personally.

The end of the story is Fossum at her best with the writings of nature and the human condition. Wonderful and haunting at the same time. I look forward to more Inspector Sejer and Skarre mysteries and hope we get a better look at Skarre's personality and private life. I really like these characters and pray we get more cases soon.

T.B. Grant

5/25/08

Characters that are real, not forced or overdrawn. Plot development that is believable and deceiving, with a style that smoothly involves the reader mentally, laying clues that may be clues or not, always with unexpected plot finishes that are satisfying. Read one of her books and you immediately want to start another. A detective mystery writer of the highest order.

If you haven't read any Fossum I would recommend starting with The Indian Bride. The British TimesOnline named her one of the 50 greatest crime writers. If you like anything in this genre you will love this author.

Karin Fossum is a remarkable writer, and "Black Seconds" is a very powerful -- yet subtle -- novel. I don't think you could find a truer example of the genre -- there is not a single false note here.

I read this book just after reading a Ruth Rendell book, and the two authors share the ability to turn what could be merely genre novels into literature. I think Fossum and Rendell write very differently than most of the male mystery writers I admire (George Pelecanos, for example).

This book is a page-turner, but so much more than that. The characters are very human -- each is different but each is real. This book has so many small touches that add up to a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Fossum must be a dog lover, because there are several very moving scenes involving dogs -- none really significant in terms of plot, but each with real emotional power.

All Fossum's books are very good -- but I think this may be her best. Inspector Sejer is a fascinating character -- a unique policeman and a unique man, at least in my experience. He is quieter in this book, more introspective -- perhaps what separates him from most fictional detectives is his empathy for both the victims and the perpetrators.

Fossum's imagination and her insight into the human condition are very impressive.

I have been reading mystery novels for over forty years, at a pace of about a hundred books a year. Karin Fossum's "Black Seconds" is her third book I read, and to me it is the best. I began with "When the Devil Holds the Candle" and I liked it. I loved "Don't Look Back", especially the masterful way the author teases the reader at the beginning, by way of a "false start". I found "Black Seconds" among the very best books I have ever read. Yes, it is a mystery, and it sort of keeps you guessing to the end, but that is not important at all. The psychological portraits of the characters are drawn so well that I felt I had known these people for years. The gentle "interrogations" towards the end of the book are reminiscent of Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment". There is not much action, but there is so much truth about people instead. Ms. Fossum writes extremely well, and the translator did a splendid job in managing not to spoil the dry, to-the-point style.

The writing is fine. The plot is okay. But there is surprisingly little to recommend this book. I read mysteries mostly for character, place and atmosphere. To learn a bit about what makes us tick and what makes places distinctive. The character development in this novel is almost non-existent, including, surprisingly, that of Inspector Sejer. The description of place, a small Norwegian village, is equally undeveloped. I read it in an afternoon and forgot it by the evening. There are so many mysteries being published and so many better ones than this.

I've been reading Scandinavian and Northern mysteries for several years now: Mankell first, then Indridason (Icelandic), followed by a flood: Larsson, of course, Nesbo (currently my favorite), Nesser, and many others, including Fossum. Though I like Fossum's Inspector Sejer series, I find that she recycles plots - especially one involving abducted or missing children - and themes and stays inside her 250-300 page formula. That was no problem with her earlier books, but this time I wanted more. Police procedurals can be programmatic, that's the nature of the beast, but I've noticed that Mankell, Nesbo, Rankin, Burke (as in James Lee) and others learn their craft and then stretch themselves. Even Mo Hayder, an English writer whom I've just discovered, is much better in Gone, her most recent, also about an abduction of children, than in her earlier books. I can recommend Black Seconds without blinking to readers, both those of you who know her work and those of you who don't. (It's better, of course, to start with the first translation and work your way towards this one if you don't know Inspector Sejer and his partner Skarre.) You'll guess who did it too quickly, perhaps, since it's as much a psychological mystery as a straight who done it, and you'll find the cast of characters suitably complicated and bewildered rather than evil, but things get wrapped up too quickly. I'd like to see Fossum take a few risks in her next book in the series, maybe give us a big, fat read where she explores the world she's created and forces Sejer out of his comfort zone.

are her game. Another masterpiece by a genius of a different order. She will push buttons you may not have known you had. No author in any literary genre has portrayed the mysteries of abnormal psychology with as much vividness and compassion. You know how you forget who did what to whom a few days after you put down that mystery you read a few days past? We Fossum fans can safely say that will not happen with this writer. Her characters are going to be with you for a very long time.

Potential recruits should start with the early books and read them in order to follow the career of wonderful Inspector Sejer.

Henning Mankel is good, but try Fossum, she will change your book-life.

In "Black Seconds," by Karin Fossum, nine-year-old Ida Joner of Glassverket, Norway, happily rides off on her brand new yellow bicycle, but does not return at the expected time. At first, her mother, Helga, tries to convince herself that her little girl went to a friend or relative's house. She calls around to find out if anyone has seen Ida. No one has. As the minutes tick by, and the child does not show up, Helga fears that her beautiful daughter may be gone forever.

Helga is forty-nine and lives alone; her whole life revolves around Ida. On the verge of hysteria, Helga turns to her caring younger sister, Ruth, for help. The two women drive around looking for Ida and when they cannot find her, Helga breaks down completely. Ruth calls the police, and Inspector Konrad Sejer and his younger colleague, Jacob Skarre, drive to Helga's home. Thus begins a case that will test the investigative ability and patience of the dogged Sejer, who is determined not only to solve crimes but also to understand them.

Fossum's evocative and well-chosen words, skillfully translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund, heartbreakingly express a mother's bottomless anguish at the loss of the most important person in her life. "Helga could not speak. Eating was out of the question. She did not want to move or go anywhere." As time passes with no trace of the girl, the police are baffled. Who could have taken her? Why has her body not been found?

The author gradually ratchets up the suspense as we hold onto the fragile hope that Ida will miraculously reappear unharmed. Ruth's children, eighteen-year-old Tomme and his twelve-year old sister, Marion, are extremely distraught. One individual who inevitably comes under police scrutiny is Emil Johannes Mork, an eccentric fifty-two year old who lives alone, dresses oddly, and rarely speaks. His seventy-three year old mother, Elsa, regularly visits her son's home to clean up after him. Could Emil have befriended the self-confident, curious, and friendly Ida?

"Black Seconds" shows how a tragic event both distresses the members of a small community and brings out their altruistic instincts. Volunteers come forward and spend many hours searching for the missing girl. The detectives do whatever they can, but without a body or forensic evidence, Sejer and Skarre have almost nothing to work with. The usually unflappable Sejer is disconcerted when certain facts come to light that simply do not add up. The gifted Karin Fossum has written an engrossing and disturbing psychological thriller in which she demonstrates how foolish and reckless behavior results in disaster--for both the victim and the perpetrator.

A child can't go missing into thin air ... or can she? A parent's nightmare is about to begin. A 10-year old girl on a yellow bicycle, sets off for the village shop to buy the latest issue of her favorite magazine and some sweets. She doesn't return home and nobody appears to have seen her or her bicycle.

With no apparent clues and massive search parties turning up empty handed after a number of days, hope dims. All Inspector Sejer needs is a break but does he get one, or does what appears to be a break lead to more puzzles, puzzles that are difficult to answer unless he can think creatively think of a different way to communicate with some unique individuals.

Yet another page turner from Ms Fossum, of whom I am now a staunch fan.