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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Didn’t really work for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75. Nice to read #1 in the series after having read #2 several years back!
I liked the shifting point of view in this book and how various scenes were replayed from different perspectives. I read #2 in the Inspector Sejer series before this one which I'm glad I did as this wasn't as strong as that and I may not have continued the series otherwise.
Told from the viewpoint of the investigator as well as the killer (or at a killer), Eva’s Eye is the start of the Sejer mysteries. While not as engrossing as some of the later books, it still is an enjoyable read.
Over the years I have read several of Karin Fossum's perceptive crime novels. In the Darkness, first published in her native Norway in 1995, has recently been translated into English for the first time. It is the first book in her landmark Inspector Sejer series.
The story focuses on single mother and struggling artist Eva Magnus. One sunny day she is walking along the river with her seven-year-old daughter, Emma, when they discover a man's body in the water.
Emma urges her to phone the police, but when Eva finds a public phone box to make the call she only pretends to do so. Instead, she speaks to her father and makes no mention of what she has found. She then takes Emma to McDonald's for a Happy Meal — and tries to ignore the body in the river.
Of course, the police eventually discover the man and it's clear his death wasn't the result of drowning: he had 15 stab wounds in his lower back, bottom and abdomen.
Investigations by Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Karlson reveal that the man had been missing for six months. He was 38 years old, married and had a six-year-old son. He was last seen when he took his car to meet a prospective purchaser: the vehicle was later found abandoned in the municipal dump.
Was he the unwitting victim of a "desperado wanting money" or did he have a large debt or know something he shouldn't have known?
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
The story focuses on single mother and struggling artist Eva Magnus. One sunny day she is walking along the river with her seven-year-old daughter, Emma, when they discover a man's body in the water.
Emma urges her to phone the police, but when Eva finds a public phone box to make the call she only pretends to do so. Instead, she speaks to her father and makes no mention of what she has found. She then takes Emma to McDonald's for a Happy Meal — and tries to ignore the body in the river.
Of course, the police eventually discover the man and it's clear his death wasn't the result of drowning: he had 15 stab wounds in his lower back, bottom and abdomen.
Investigations by Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Karlson reveal that the man had been missing for six months. He was 38 years old, married and had a six-year-old son. He was last seen when he took his car to meet a prospective purchaser: the vehicle was later found abandoned in the municipal dump.
Was he the unwitting victim of a "desperado wanting money" or did he have a large debt or know something he shouldn't have known?
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
So so crime novel with some clunky changes of point of view. No real tension as the meat of the story is told in retrospect so we already know what has happened. Also now a bit dated - pre mobile phones etc.
This is the first in the series, but just released in English. A good plot with an interesting twist.
"In the first novel in the Sejer series, Eva and her young daughter Emma are walking by the river when Emma spots something floating in the water. It's the body of a man, and what's more, a man Eva recognizes. Sejer and Skarre piece together the stories behind two unsolved murders . . . does it all lead back to Eva?"
"In the first novel in the Sejer series, Eva and her young daughter Emma are walking by the river when Emma spots something floating in the water. It's the body of a man, and what's more, a man Eva recognizes. Sejer and Skarre piece together the stories behind two unsolved murders . . . does it all lead back to Eva?"
Eva es una pintora abstracta que no vende nada. Vive acuciada por las deudas desde que su marido y ella se separaron. Come poco, cuida de su hija Emma y pinta. Lo primero que sabemos de ella es que la han detenido y está en comisaría, con la ropa sucia y un poco zaleada.
En un flash back nos enteramos de que encuentra el cadáver de un hombre en el río, pero en vez de llamar a la policía llama a su padre para quedar con él. Y a continuación se larga con su hija a comer al McDonalds como si encontrarse un cadáver en el río fuera lo más normal del mundo.
Poco a poco sabemos que su amiga Maja ha aparecido muerta. Una amiga de la infancia a la que había reencontrado sólo unos días antes de su muerte. Esta amiga, a diferencia de ella, nada en la abundancia y gasta sin mesura; y está ahorrando para irse a vivir al sur de Francia y poner un restaurante. Maja es prostituta y trata de convencer a su amiga Eva de que ejerza junto con ella.
Empecé a leerla, pero cuando supe que Mankell había sacado otra novela de Wallander tuve que dejarla. Me reenganché un día después y no sé si es por eso o porque el protagonista, Sejer, no me acaba de gustar (y no sé por qué, porque es un tipo normal), me la he leído pero no me ha acabado de calar. Trataré de leer algo más del comisario Sejer a ver si fue mi mala predisposición o es que realmente no merece la pena.
En un flash back nos enteramos de que encuentra el cadáver de un hombre en el río, pero en vez de llamar a la policía llama a su padre para quedar con él. Y a continuación se larga con su hija a comer al McDonalds como si encontrarse un cadáver en el río fuera lo más normal del mundo.
Poco a poco sabemos que su amiga Maja ha aparecido muerta. Una amiga de la infancia a la que había reencontrado sólo unos días antes de su muerte. Esta amiga, a diferencia de ella, nada en la abundancia y gasta sin mesura; y está ahorrando para irse a vivir al sur de Francia y poner un restaurante. Maja es prostituta y trata de convencer a su amiga Eva de que ejerza junto con ella.
Empecé a leerla, pero cuando supe que Mankell había sacado otra novela de Wallander tuve que dejarla. Me reenganché un día después y no sé si es por eso o porque el protagonista, Sejer, no me acaba de gustar (y no sé por qué, porque es un tipo normal), me la he leído pero no me ha acabado de calar. Trataré de leer algo más del comisario Sejer a ver si fue mi mala predisposición o es que realmente no merece la pena.