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alexblackreads's review against another edition
1.0
I don't think I got anything out of reading this book. Perhaps it was the translation or it could have just been Fossum's style, but the writing didn't work for me. It felt awkward and stilted throughout the book. None of the characters felt like real people, a lot of the time their emotions seemed painted on rather than genuine, and their behavior rarely seemed to fit the circumstances.
Plus it was painfully predictable. I realized the ending on page six. Literally page six. I kept hoping there was going to be a different twist or something more, but it was literally just the incredibly basic story I predicted. And it seemed ridiculous that none of the cops realized it sooner.
I literally kept forgetting that I was reading this book even though it only took me a day and a half to get through.
Plus it was painfully predictable. I realized the ending on page six. Literally page six. I kept hoping there was going to be a different twist or something more, but it was literally just the incredibly basic story I predicted. And it seemed ridiculous that none of the cops realized it sooner.
I literally kept forgetting that I was reading this book even though it only took me a day and a half to get through.
ariena's review against another edition
3.0
Ich fand diesen Thriller ganz in Ordnung. Spannung war da, obwohl man die ganze Zeit über schon eine Idee hat, wie alles abgelaufen sein könnte. Da ich nicht allzu viele Thriller lese, habe ich bis zum Schluss nicht alles durchblickt, obwohl es im Nachhinein eigentlich offensichtlich war.
Irgendwie hatte ich manchmal das Gefühl, dass sich die Geschichte etwas zieht, aber eigentlich stellt das ja nur die Realität da und deshalb fand ich das jetzt auch nicht weiter schlimm.
Also alles in allem ein solider Thriller!
Irgendwie hatte ich manchmal das Gefühl, dass sich die Geschichte etwas zieht, aber eigentlich stellt das ja nur die Realität da und deshalb fand ich das jetzt auch nicht weiter schlimm.
Also alles in allem ein solider Thriller!
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
A very well crafted book with tension and interesting characters that kept me second-guessing myself until the very end. Very dark in many ways, this search for a missing young girl and her bicycle and later for the person who killed her. Interlocking characters all with their own darkness inside them, many of whom may have had a hand in the events that happened to that young girl. A man who does not speak except to say "No," his elderly mother who tries to keep him safe from the world and vice versa, the young girl, her mother, her aunt and uncle, her teenaged cousin with the dented car, his drug-dealing mechanic friend who is unnaturally interested in what might have happened to the child. And the detectives, Sejer and Svarre, both with their own secret sorrows and worries. This was my first book featuring Konrad Sejer, but I would gladly read others, because he has an interesting mind and a great level of patience.
abevigodless's review against another edition
2.0
Although I really enjoy Inspector Sejer as a character and protagonist, this book was overly ambitious in putting disparate storylines together, only to finally show their relationship in a disappointingly obvious way. It's just not a twist if you can see it coming from halfway through the book. That said, Sejer is reassuringly different from his dysfunctional Scandinavian police brethren - not a brooding alcoholic but a melancholy, quietly principled man. For that I'll probably read another of Fossum's books somewhere down the line.
juniperusxx's review against another edition
4.0
Tämä oli kolmas lukemani Fossumin dekkari, pidin, kuten niistä aiemmistakin. Jollain tapaa ei häirinnyt, vaikka murhaaja oli alusta saakka aivan ilmeinen, mukavaa psykologista jännitettä tarina piti sisällään loppuun saakka. Kirjan rytmi oli verkkainen, mutta tämän sai luettua tosi nopeasti.
bougainvillea's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this, although I wasn't crazy about the French translation. I liked how Fossum wasn't only concerned with solving the mystery, but also in showing how the little girl's disappearance affected so many different people. and I really enjoyed the relationship between Emil and his mother. I thought that was superbly crafted.
judithdon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
lolaleviathan's review against another edition
1.0
My objection to this book has nothing to do with the subject matter (I read a lot of really dark crime novels) and everything to do with the shoddy police work. What was actually a really obvious solution, as improbable and absurdly coincidental as it was, remained obscured until the end because the cops just didn't ask the right questions, the obvious questions to ask. It's several days into a child's disappearance before you bother to find out why her parents are divorced? You can't know that's irrelevant until you solve the mystery. I had high hopes for this book, given the "Norwegian Queen of Crime" hype, and I was pretty disappointed. It did make me want to be a cop though, just because I would be better at it than these clowns.