What is Mine [Hardcover]

Anne Holt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2006

One afternoon after school, nine-year-old Emilie doesn't come home. After a frantic search, her father finds her backpack in a deserted alley. A week later, a five-year-old boy goes missing. And then another. Meanwhile, Johanna Vik, a former FBI profiler with a troubled past and a difficult young daughter, is buried in crimes of the past, trying to overturn a decades-old false murder conviction. Police Commissioner Stubo has personal reasons for wanting to solve the case of the missing children: not long ago he lost his wife and only daughter in a terrible accident, and now all he has left is his young grandson. When he tries to enlist Johanna to help him crack the case, she's resistant. However, when the bodies of the missing children start appearing in their family's homes with notes that say, "You got what you deserved," Johanna decides to help Stubo. While the rest of the Norwegian media is out hunting pedophiles, Stubo and Johanna manage to uncover a complex story of revenge. A singularly clever crime story combined with a serious discussion of children and our responsibilities towards them, What is Mine is the first installment in the the Stubo/Johanna crime series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Scandinavian crime fiction juggernaut continues with Norwegian Holt's U.S. debut, a well-written if overly long suspense thriller set in Norway. The novel opens with the abduction of nine-year-old Emilie Selbu, the first of several such kidnappings, and the complex backstory of Aksel Seier, a man imprisoned in the 1950s for a young girl's murder and inexplicably released from prison eight years later. Johanne Vik, a former FBI profiler now working as an academic psychologist, is looking into the Seier case when Det. Insp. Adam Stubo asks her to help out with the case of the missing children, which gets more intense when the body of one of them is delivered to his mother with a chilling note: "Now you've got what you deserved." Both plot lines are compelling, but the author expends far too much narrative energy on the backgrounds of her many characters, and the connection linking the cases feels contrived. Nonetheless, this first in a three-part series to feature Vik and Stubo is a thoughtful, deeply disturbing exploration of a heinous crime. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Oslo University psychology professor Johanne Vik hardly misses the emotional chaos of her former career as an FBI profiler. The Norway-born divorcee still has plenty on her plate, caring for her mentally handicapped six-year-old daughter and researching the case of Aksel Seier, a Norwegian man imprisoned for crimes she suspects he did not commit. When a series of young Norwegian children are abducted, Johanne becomes consumed by dark thoughts of the deviant mind behind the crime. At first, she steers clear of the case, which is spearheaded by Police Inspector Adam Stubo, a hulk of a man softened by grief over the recent deaths of his wife and young child. But when two of the children's lifeless bodies are returned to their parents' homes with attached notes that read, "You got what you deserved," she and Stubo join forces to stop the vengeful perpetrator before he strikes again. Meanwhile, the case of Aksel Seier is never far from Johanne's mind. Holt is a former minister of justice, a lawyer and journalist, and one of Scandinavia's most successful crime writers. Her American debut (the first of a three-book series starring Stubo and Vik) is both an impassioned commentary on the responsibilities of parenthood and an engrossing mystery with an ingenious final twist. Add this to the growing list of Scandinavian crime writers now being published in the U.S. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446578029
• ISBN-13: 978-0446578028
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page turner from Norway, August 8, 2006

By 

John Carsten "Eclectic Reader and Critic" (E. Berne, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What is Mine (Hardcover)

This book was given to me recently. Anne Holt has done very good work here, especially in the character development department. I strongly disagree with the editorial review by Publishers Weekly that said less time could have been spent on character descriptions. The plot, a serial killer in Norway develops quickly- Almost too quickly. The interplay between Vik, the psychologist/academic and Stubo, the methodical detective is well done. Getting to know them is a significant part of the story. As stated in prior reviews young children disappear and turn up with no apparent cause of death. We get to meet the psychopath early on but have to wait for the conclusion to get the whole story.

I enjoyed the book- Style and story. While sometimes finding translations difficult to get into this one is an exception. Ms Holt had me losing sleep.

The only criticism I offer is that the story almost appeared to be rushed towards the end. For this reason alone I would have given it a 4.5 if that was offered. I was enjoying it so much I could have gone another 75 to 100 pages if the story could have continued to be supported. All in all I expect to be reading more Anne Holt.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Thrills Translate into any Language, July 1, 2006

By 

Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What is Mine (Hardcover)

An eight-year-old girl is kidnapped walking home from school, sending the low-crime country of Norway into a tailspin. On the heels of that atrocity, a five-year-old disappears only to be returned to his parents' home days later, dead. A serial child murderer is on the loose and detective Adam Stubo turns to former FBI agent, now lawyer Johanne Vik for a profile of the killer. Together they race against the clock to find the kidnapper before another child turns up dead.

Originally written in Norwegian, this book is a fast-pace thriller with a twisting plot and intricate details. In addition to the suspense, Anne Holt fills the pages with well-rounded characters, each with their own personal struggle. Readers will empathize with Adam's loss of his wife and Johanne's attempts to successfully parent a mentally handicapped child. Together they make the pages of this book come to life, and readers will have hard time putting it down until the very end. However, while this is an enjoyable book, there are a few too many convenient coincidences in the final pages to satisfy typical readers of this genre.

Perhaps most notable is that, unlike most thrillers, this story lacks graphic violence. While many might be disturbed at the idea of a child serial killer, there is nothing bloody or gory about What Is Mine, which will appeal to a wide cross-section of readers.

Reviewed by Joelle Charbonneau-Blanco
6/26/2006

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story!, August 13, 2007

By 

Arnold Slater "arnie" (Germantown Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What is Mine (Hardcover)

Wow! Great Characters! depth and feeling! I loved it. I cannot wait for more. A fantastic Tale from Mrs. Holt