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55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REVIEW OF KARIN FOSSUM'S HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF BY JOHN CHUCKMAN, December 18, 2005
This review is from: He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Sejer Mysteries) (Hardcover)
I am not a regular reader of mysteries, but my wife has encouraged me to read a number of interesting writers in this genre. One of my favorites is Norwegian writer, Karin Fossum.
He Who Fears the Wolf is a story with her appealing character, Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer, a quiet, thoughtful man with unusual powers of observation and a somewhat melancholy personal life that keeps him immersed in his work. The contrast with gun-waving, bellowing American detectives is notable and welcome. In this character, as in so many of Ms. Fossum's characters, there is a deep sense of humanity and decency.
In Wolf, Ms. Fossum creates another wonderful character, Erkki Johrma, an insane-asylum escapee. Ms. Fossum always displays an interest in the disturbed and rejected of society, but with Errki she has worked something of a miracle.
This story contains what must be one of the most memorable series of scenes in mystery books, to say nothing of literature. It involves the escape of a bank robber and a hostage, and there is a quality here that reminds me of Don Quixote - pathos, absurdity, and subtle humor combined with a very sympathetic view of the human condition. I cannot give any details without spoiling it for you.
Ms. Fossum is also a poet, and her descriptive powers are considerable, but she manages her descriptive passages with quick brushstrokes. She never creates a burden for those who like mystery books to move along briskly. Some might even regard her descriptions of bloody scenes as a bit overpowering.
Please don't think this is an "artsy" book despite its literary qualities, this is a genuine murder mystery, well-paced and gripping. It is a book you will not want to put down.
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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"All the interesting people in the world are losers.", July 15, 2005
This review is from: He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Sejer Mysteries) (Hardcover)
From the dramatic opening paragraphs, in which a person believes that his face is sliding off and his insides are falling out, Fossum captures the bizarre inner worlds of several characters barely holding onto their sanity. Errki Johrma, a 24-year-old who has been committed to a residential lockup for the disturbed, escapes the residence in rural Norway and seeks solitude in the woods. There he sees an elderly woman, Halldis Horn, working outside her cabin.
Suddenly the point of view shifts, and a 12-year-old boy, Kannick Snellingen, runs into the police station saying that Halldis is dead, with a hoe embedded in her face, and that he has seen Errki lurking nearby. Kannick, like Errki, is also disturbed, living in a home for children with behavioral problems. A sudden shift to the next morning, and Detective Inspector Konrad Sejer, after noting a strange person entering the bank, soon hears a gunshot and learns that it has been robbed and a hostage taken--Errki.
The intersecting worlds of Errki, the robber (known as Morgan), Kannick Snellingen, and Inspector Sejer and his assistant, Jacob Scarre, create a fascinating series of psychological portraits and interactions. Morgan and Errki, hiding out together in an abandoned cabin, try to avoid the police and stay alive, remaining wary of each other but starting to communicate about the voices Errki hears from The Coat and a spirit named Nestor. Kannick, who wants to become a national archery champ, wallows in the attention he gets from his peers at the home, describing the gory condition of Halldis's body in exchange for candy. At the same time, Sejer, a widower for eleven years, confers with Errki's psychiatrist in order to understand Errki more fully, and finds himself powerfully drawn to her as he tries to solve Halldis's murder and the robbery of the bank by apprehending Errki and Morgan.
Developing the story in clean, straightforward prose, Fossum reveals the disturbing thoughts of Errki, Morgan, and Kannick, along with their traumatic backgrounds, stories which need no additional melodrama. As the reader comes to know the characters and feel empathy for them, she creates fine dramatic tension and a suspense-filled story in which nothing is as it appears to be. Occasionally, the ironies are leavened with dark humor. A climactic meeting involving all the major characters leads to a full resolution and, ultimately, a greater understanding of the characters' interior worlds. Fascinating, well-drawn, and concise, this novel, the second in the Inspector Sejer series, is a psychological mystery of the first order, filled with intriguing characters and unusual plot twists. Mary Whipple
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"...shouldn't go into the forest", June 22, 2005
This review is from: He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Sejer Mysteries) (Hardcover)
When an elderly woman is found murdered on the front steps of her house shortly after a schizophrenic escapes from the nearby mental institution, there is a witness, an overweight young man who lives in a home for boys, Kannick Snellingen. Kannick runs to inform local law enforcement and Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer is called to investigate the crime, but gets sidetracked by a bank robbery/ hostage situation that occurs moments after Sejer sees a suspicious character entering the bank. The security tapes of the robbery are of poor quality, but it appears that the hostage taken by the bank robber is none other than Errki Johrma, the escaped mental patient, his long black hair and feminine gait fooling the Inspector into assuming the hostage is a woman.
Set in Norway, this translation is the second of Fossum's novels to be published in this country, following Don't Look Back, again featuring the enigmatic Inspector Sejer, a widower and his young detective, Skarre, as they ponder the strange connections of this most bizarre case. Certainly the bank robber, Morgan has a problem, saddled with a mentally unbalanced companion who is completely unpredictable and may have murdered an elderly woman, Halldis Horn. Sejer seeks guidance from Errki's psychiatrist, Dr. Struel, a woman who intrigues the policeman, striking a spark of curiosity in a man who has buried himself in his work since the death of his wife. Dr. Struel paints a different picture of the troubled young man, explaining the dynamics of Errki's illness and his emotional vulnerabilities.
Random events occur one after another, setting in motion a chain reaction that leads from disaster to disaster, as the three misfits, Morgan, the bank robber, Errki, the schizophrenic, and Kannick, the obese boy with a talent for archery, are drawn together in a macabre dance that leaves them reeling and one of them dead. Using the fragmented lives of the unwanted and unsound, Fossum's tale is both shocking and sad, a study on the fate of society's unfortunates.
Errki brings another dimension to this murder mystery for Inspector Sejer, introducing the psychological complexities that confuse and confound, because Errki's motives and actions are totally spontaneous and self-protective. As Sejer and Skarre sift through the forensic evidence to find a murderer, another drama plays out as Errki, Morgan and Kannick circle each other in confusion and distrust, forming odd temporary alliances, their fates linked for a short time on that devastating summer day.
As the Inspector well knows, it is dangerous to jump to conclusions, guided, as always, by his logic and intuition. The taciturn Sejer finds himself on the verge of a new beginning in spite of the tragedy that unravels around him, finding hope in a world where he expects only darkness. Luan Gaines/2005.
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