Customer Reviews

He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Sejer Mysteries)

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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.

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

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.

The latest Inspector Sejer novel to appear in English is just as suspenseful and moody as Don't Look Back, and yet isn't as strong. One reason for this is the relative absence of Det. Inspector Sejer and his junior partner, Skarre. The other reason is the the story is built upon the concordance of three disturbed minds and series of coincidences. It's a testament to Fossum's skill as a writer (not to mention Felicity David's translation) that the book is as gripping as it is.

The story starts off with the escape from an psychiatric asylum of Errki, a strange young man haunted by inner demons. He disappears into sparsely populated woods and is next seen at an old widow's farmstead, around the time of her murder. The woman's body and Errki's presence at the scene is reported to the local police by Kannick, a fat youth on walkabout from a nearby home for troublesome boys, who was also there. Since Errki has a history of being at the scenes of fatal accidents, he is the primary suspect for the killing. The following morning, a bank is robbed in town, and the robber and hostage disappear.

Much of the book is spent on the strange relationship between the robber and his hostage, who coincidentally turns out to be Errki (this is revealed right away to the reader). The gunman is kind of dim, and a bit of an amateur, and as they hike through the woods to escape the police dragnet, he grows increasingly pathetic. Meanwhile, Sejer and Skarre are running down leads on the widow's killing and working the bank robbery case, but they don't get nearly as many pages as might be desired-and are relegated to supporting cast status. When they are around, they're great, as Sejer struggles with his own widower status and a potential romantic interest emerges.

It's a little hard to critique the book further without revealing some of the further coincidences and how vital they are to the plot, so I'll leave it by noting that while Don't Look Back always felt real, this book requires much more suspension of disbelief. It's shame that Fossum decided to dovetail all the plotlines, although it's too her credit that it works as well as it does. I'll look forward to the next two Sejer books: When The Devil Holds the Candle, and Beloved Poona.

...there lived a buxom woman in her third bloom of life.

Halldis Horn (for that was her name) was an independent woman, who lived alone after the death of her husband, quietly tending her garden and keeping to herself.

Now in these woods also lurked Errki Johrma, a schizophrenic with a murderous reputation, who had recently liberated himself from the nearby mental institution, and Kannick Snellingen, a 12 year old reform school resident, with a free pass to the woods, and a passion for a bow and arrow.

One day, Kannick comes across the particularly gruesome body of poor Halldis Horn, and when he spies Errki lurking nearby, he runs as fast as his fat legs will carry him to the nearest police station.

As fate would have it, there is a robbery at the town bank, and the unsuspecting robber, Morten Garpe (a.k.a. Morgan) takes Errki hostage, and whisks him away in a little white car, and into the deep dark woods.

Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer is investigating both crimes, and while he lays the groundwork, a psychological battle of minds is taking place in a little cabin in the woods between the befuddled bandit and his disturbed hostage. When Kannick unwittingly finds himself as the third guest in the cabin, the three come to uneasy understanding before the day’s events catch up with them.

A tightly wound and enthralling tale, with fascinating characters and traces of humor.


Amanda Richards, December 10, 2005

I am a fan of Karin Fossum's Insp Sejer mysteries and have read three of her works [two others are on my nightstand waiting to be read]. In "He Who Fears the Wolf", Ms Fossum delves into the world of a troubled individual afflicted with schizophrenia. Errki has spent a great portion of his life in and out of mental institutions, and on the day he escapes from his latest confinement, an elderly lady living in a remote location deep in the woods is found brutally murdered. The only witness apparently is a troubled, obese young delinquent, Kannick Snellingen who informs the local police chief. Because of the gravity of the crime, Chief Insp Konrad Sejer is brought in to investigate the case. Matters are complicated by another crime - a bank robbery, in which the chief murder suspect from the previous case, Errki, is found to have been taken hostage by the unidentified robber.

This a tautly-written suspense and psychological thriller - one of the most interesting story arcs in this novel is the dynamics of the relationship between the robber, Morgan and Errki. Though Morgan holds a weapon and seems to be the one in charge,the reader gets the sense that this is not really the case, especially as the story progresses. The way these two individuals interact really drives the story and makes for interesting psychological analysis.

Meanwhile, Insp Sejer tries to solve the case in his usual style - calm, intuitive and deliberate, leaving no stones unturned, and in the process even experiencing a romantic epiphany [Sejer has been widowed a number of years and has been leading a rather quiet existence].

I'd recommend this book to fans of insightful psychological thrillers.

My greatest admiration for the authors of this amazing novel. It's not at all a who-dun-it; instead, the main characters are created in totally absorbing worlds of their own. I would like to applaud the creation of the working of mental illess as absolutely the most remarkable I have ever come across in 30 years of reading widely and teaching both fiction enjoyment and creative writing. I'm looking forward to the next work from these authors.

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.

Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer and his team are called into investigate the murder of Halldis Horn, an elderly woman who lives alone in the woods near a small village. It seems that the chief suspect is Errki Johrma, a loner who is probably psychotic and has recently escaped from a mental institution. Many people fear Errki because bad things seem to happen around him, including the death of his mother. The only witness is Kannick Snelligen, a twelve year old boy with problems of his own and who lives at a nearby home for delinquents.

While police are seeking Errki for questioning, a nearby bank is robbed and a hostage is taken. The police need to track down the robber and his hostage. The two cases become linked as it becomes clear that Errki is the hostage. Errki and his kidnapper, Morten Garpe (Morgan), form a temporary but meaningful bond. This bond which is tested when Kannick Snellingen joins them, but by then Errki's story has been slowly revealed and it is hard not to feel sorry for him rather than afraid of him.

This story is more about Errki than Sejer, but Sejer's painstaking information-gathering is critical to solving the case and also in understanding how prejudice and disadvantage can play their own role. The ending is tragic, but probably inevitable. In this case, at least, the disadvantaged do not triumph.

Although `He Who Fears the Wolf' is the third book in the Inspector Konrad Sejer series, it is first one I've read. It was recommended to me by a friend, and I'll certainly be looking to read some more. As far as I can find out, the first book in the series has not yet been translated into English.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

As Karin Fossum's "He Who Fears the Wolf" opens, it is a sweltering July day. A twenty-four-year-old schizophrenic named Errki Johrma has escaped from an asylum in Norway. He takes shelter in an abandoned cabin, listening to voices inside his head that tell him what to do. Errki, who is filthy and undernourished, can hike for hours without tiring; he knows the area intimately and neighboring residents recognize him on sight. As long as he takes his medication, he can "arrange his thoughts in acceptable order." Unfortunately, Errki has a tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When an elderly woman, Halldis Horn, is brutally murdered in her farmhouse, Errki happens to be wandering nearby. A witness reports this fact to the police, and naturally, Errki becomes a suspect. When he is taken hostage during a robbery, both Errki and the robber disappear. All of these events give Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer and his associate, Jacob Skarre, a gigantic headache.

Fossum is a master of descriptive writing. In addition, she expertly builds up psychological suspense as she sets her characters on a collision course with one another. The witness who identifies Errki is an obese twelve-year old boy named Kannick Snellingen, who lives in a group home for troubled youngsters. The aforementioned robber calls himself Morgan, and he is an impulsive and none-too-bright criminal who finds Errki disgusting, weird, yet strangely magnetic. Inspector Sejer approaches this case with his usual brisk efficiency. He and his associates try to make sense of the forensics in Halldis's farmhouse and they launch a search for the robber and Errki, wondering if this usually harmless man has suddenly turned violent.

The mystery in "He Who Fears the Wolf," riddled as it is with several gaping holes and far too many coincidences, is not the strongest aspect of the novel. More significant is Fossum's thoughtful and eloquent exploration of mental illness. With the right trigger, the author implies, anyone can cross the thin line between sanity and psychosis. Moreover, just as society puts disturbed people in cages "for their own good," ordinary people may create their own cages that keep them from living fulfilling lives. For example, Sejer, a widower for almost a decade, lives a painfully lonely existence. He pines for and dreams about his dead wife, unable to move on--until he finally meets a woman who piques his interest. Fossum shows how people who display no outward signs of pathology often sow the seeds of their own destruction. The most frightening place of all is not a dark cellar or a haunted house, but the human psyche, with its power to conjure up visions more terrifying than those in any horror movie.