Customer Reviews

What Is Mine

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

I am an ardent fan of Scandinavian crime thrillers and there are many good authors to choose from: Karin Fossum, Arnaldur Indridason, Johan Theorin, Henning Mankell, Mari Jungstedt, and many more. I got "What is Mine" as a Kindle title (though less than what it is currently priced), and enjoyed it. The story centers around the mysterious abductions of several young children, which sparks a frantic police investigation headed by Detective Adam Stubo, a 45-year-old widower. Stubo has a certain feel for the cases he handles, acting as much on his hunches and instincts as he does based on police procedures. His instincts tell him to solicit the services of Johanne Vik, a psychology professor at Oslo University. Vik is a single mom to a young child, Kristiane (who seems to have an undiagnosed psychological/neurological problem),and has a background in profiling, experience which she obtained whilst at school in the United States. Vik also happens to be working on a case to do with a much older crime involving the sexual assault and murder of a young child. The person convicted of the crime, Aksel Seier, was later released after serving nine years behind bars, and has since moved to the United States. The dying woman who has solicited Vik's services is convinced of Seier's innocence and wants Vik to help prove it.

Eventually Stubo and Vik's paths cross - partly prompted by the desperate situation as some of the abducted children turn up murdered and delivered to their parents. Apparently, there is a serial killer of children on the loose and Norway is in a panic. What makes the cases even more puzzling is the inability of the pathologist to pinpoint the exact cause of death. To complicate matters, one of the abducted children, nine-year-old Emilie Selbu, may possibly still be alive and it is left to Stubo and an initially reluctant Vik to connect the dots and race against time to solve the case, just as another victim is found.

Though the story gets mired in overly detailed descriptions at times, I felt the story was deftly plotted.The story is told from multiple perspectives and makes for a fascinating, if at times uneven read. There is an element of suspense throughout (though I confess I guessed a major revelation halfway through the book). The characters are credibly portrayed and well-developed - Stubo is a hardened cop who relies on his gut instincts to solve cases; Vik is a beautiful yet conflicted mom who struggles to balance her myriad roles; Seier is hard to define, a man who has tried to disconnect from his past yet finds himself haunted by it; and finally, the killer - what are the killer's motives and will the killer be found in time before it's too late? "What is Mine" is a strong debut from Anne Holt and I look forward to reading her follow-up novel featuring Stubo and Vik once again.

I recently picked up "What Is Mine," also known by the title "Punishment" by Norwegian author Anne Holt, the first book in her so-called Vik/Stubø series. This is a Scandinavian interpretation of the whole "profiler" craze that has dominated television and crime novels for the past decade. The story revolves around researcher and psychologist Johanne Vik and Oslo police detective Adam Stubø, and their attempts to apprehend the perpetrator of a series of child-murders. As a researcher, Vik is also involved in clearing the name of a suspect who was convicted of raping and murdering a child many decades ago.

The story is told from many perspectives: that of the murderer, whose chilling mission is slowly revealed through his sociopathic reactions; that of one of his captives, who witnesses a series of his victims pass through her dismal prison; that of the police detective, whose relationships with his workmates is far from ideal; and most importantly, that of the reluctant profiler Vik, who is unwillingly pulled deeper and deeper into the case as the killer's list of victims grows.

My reaction is mixed. I felt that the writer was capable of better writing, and I was expecting that a book which bore the blurb "The International Bestseller" would have been better than it turned out to be. On the one hand the plot and some of the characterization were first-rate. Also Holt's sense of setting was excellent - she spent much time as a journalist in the US Northeast and brings it to life, and she also describes Norway in a compelling way. But the book suffered from many distracting, often infuriating faults that I would scarcely expect from an author who already had 8 novels under her belt. Firstly, people's emotional reactions are portrayed as being somewhat perverse. This would not be a bad thing, but there is little character development supplied to help the reader understand the source of such odd reactions, such as the police detective wanting to embrace and kiss the corpse of one of the child victims. Another trait I found annoying was Holt's rather affected way of having one character start a conversation with another, without telling the reader who the other person is in the dialog until the next page. There were also many other needless distractions, like having a book group murmur with remorse over the manner of an author's suicide, which is then never revealed to the reader. Due to these and many other sins, either self-indulgent or immaturely crafted, the book comes off as average when it could have been brilliant.

Perhaps the most grievous defect is the length of the story arc in which the self-tortured Vik allows herself to be talked into helping Stubø. No ethical psychologist that I know would wait through three murders before agreeing to help stop the killing of defenseless children. Especially not one who, like Vik, is a mother. Holt is trying to show that her character has some internal demons that are holding her back, but since these are not dealt with other than by fleeting mention, it becomes very difficult to have any empathy in the reader's mind for Vik.

There is another title in this series in print, and apparently a translation of her third book coming out soon. I am on the fence about reading the next one. While there was a great deal of promise in this book, an author who is playing games with her readers after 8 novels is unlikely to change her ways.

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

"Now you've got what you deserved," states the note attached to Kim Oksøy's body when it is mysteriously returned to his home. Five-year-old Kim had been taken from his bedroom during the night just six days after eight-year-old Emilie Selbu disappeared while walking home from school. Even more puzzling, Kim's autopsy failed to find a cause of death while Emilie's fate remains unknown.

Detective Chief Inspector Adam Stubo of the Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) very much wants lawyer/psychologist Johanne Vik to serve as profiler on the case. After all, Vik had taken an FBI profiling course in the U.S. several years ago and came highly recommended by her F.B.I. Instructor. She had also authored a research paper on sexually motivated crimes. But Vik wants nothing to do with these disappearances. As the single mother of a four-year-old, she doesn't want to think about crimes against children. Yet she is currently working on a project to prove the innocence of Aksel Seier, a man convicted of the brutal murder of an eight-year-old girl more than thirty years ago who was released from prison without explanation after serving just a few years of his sentence. A former attorney who worked on Seier's parole application has been haunted by his case and would like to confirm his innocence before she dies. Vik has agreed to find Seier and investigate his case.

With "What Is Mine," Anne Holt has crafted a riveting mystery told from multiple perspectives in which much of the information about the crimes and characters is scattered among several narrative threads. Holt proves an expert storyteller, dangling details in just the right tantalizing amounts to create a great page-turner whose two central characters have lives that extend beyond the plot to form narratives of their own. Readers should not miss this complex and satisfying mystery.

I'm a huge fan of Scandinavian literature but it's difficult to find many books translated into english. I was thrilled to find a new author to read and was not disappointed after reading this book. The book starts in the voice of what appears to be an ordinary father, the next chapter is from the point of view of a former FBI profiler, then the voice of a child who has been kidnapped, etc. I think it's very difficult to write this way and do it well, but Anne Holt not only manages to succeed, she comes up with an unusual and intriguing storyline that makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author!

Scandinavian mysteries are the new rave in the crime world. Authors that we met in the last few years are strikingly original and ,as you would expect, appropriately glum and depressing. Anne Holt joins this amazing group of writers with this serial killer novel.

It is very competently written, but for the most of the book lacked certain unique tone or color. Fortunately it all came together in the end, and left a very positive impression.

This is a strong debut and I can't wait for more.

European crime fiction fans have been able to enjoy the works of Anne Holt for years. Now, it's our turn. Her first novel to be translated into English, WHAT IS MINE, just came out.

Wow! What an incredible talent. This is the first book in a trilogy and I can't wait for the rest of them.

A serial killer is murdering children. He abducts them and returns their bodies with the same gruesome note attached. Who is doing this horrible stuff in peaceful Norway?

Police inspector Adam Stubo wants to know. He recruits the reluctant academic (former FBI profiler) Johanne Vik to help him to solve the crimes. Are those sparks flashing between this unlikely pair?

Holt does an amazing job of creating mystery layers that seem totally unconnected. She pulls off dazzling twists. Then she ties the whole thing together. Shockingly good stuff! No loose ends. Reading is believing. Holt is a force.

My mother gave me this book and insisted that I read it. I'm not a big mystery/suspense fan, but I have to say that this one was a vast improvement on the Mary Higgins Clark novels that my mother usually suggests. I have to admit that I couldn't put it down because I wanted so badly to know what would happen. I also enjoyed Ms. Holt's writing style, although maybe the style wasn't exactly hers considering this was a translation. I can't read Norwegian, so I guess I'll never know :o). However, the "heroine", Johanne Vik, was nothing short of annoying. She was indecisive and in my opinion, a "witch with a 'b'". The only question I have is--is "stocky" considered an attractive trait in Norway? Because Ms. Holt described most of the "attractive" men as "stocky" as well, and those two words usually aren't used together when American authors describe men. Just curious about that.

Anyway, if your a mystery/suspense book kind of person, like I said, this one was a vast improvement on some of those types of books written by American authors.