Customer Reviews

The Return: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery

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The Return is the book in which Hakan Nesser really pulls away from his prior books in many different ways and delivers a very solid work with which it is difficult to find any fault.

Leopold Verhaven is a man twice convicted of murder. As the book begins, he is released from prison the second time and then he disappears. At the same time, a headless and handless body is found wrapped in a carpet off the beaten path in a remote stretch of woods in Sweden.

Inspector Van Veeteren is in the hospital for removal of a cancer in his abdomen, and must direct his team's efforts from his hospital room. Nesser is paying homage to a novel by Josephine Tey and openly acknowledges the point in one of the Inspector's musings.

Unlike his first two books, the narrative bounces back and forth between several different points in time over 50 years. This is a very strong improvement over the linear narrative of the first two books of the series. Nesser has really done a good job constructing this flow, and in developing many of his characters.

It's hard to review books like this without announcing spoilers. Let it suffice to say that this book is very well written, poses many questions about identity and morals in our post-modern world, and resolves itself with an act fraught with moral ambiguity that leaves the reader wanting more.

I liked the first two books, but The Return shows Nesser at a whole new level of the game. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and I suspect you will alsop.

A prisoner is released from jail after serving a twelve year sentence. A little girl on a school trip in the woods comes across a man's body wrapped in a carpet. Inspector Van Veeteren is called in. His job is made harder not only by the fact that the body has been dismembered and decapitated, but it's also been lying there for about a year. And, as if that wasn't enough, Van Veeteren is due to go into hospital for a serious operation and is facing his own mortality. Nesser is an excellent writer. This is a clever and brilliantly plotted book that spans twenty years, but it is the character of Van Veeteren which is really special. He's slightly glum but with a great sense of understated humour. He's also realistic about justice, without being totally cynical. He doesn't suffer fools gladly, and he's not an easy man to get to know but he's sympathetic and likeable character, a good man and an excellent policeman.

I enjoyed the other books in the series and really like the central character, but hated this particular novel. Worth persisting with the series as the next two books are much better.

I found the story line weak. Having lived in Europe, the made-up family and place names bothered me. I first became acquainted with Scandinavian mystery writers through Stieg Larsen. Moving on to Henning Mankell and Inspector Wallender was very satisfying. Frankly, reading Hakan Nesser's book was a major disappointment. Van Veeteren cannot carry Wallender's truncheon.