Don't Look Back

I picked this up at an airport bookstore, of all places. I generally like Scandinavian detective novels, so when I saw it, I grabbed it. This was the first of the Sejer novels that I have come across and it was a pleasure to read. The dialogue is crisp and realistic, the characters are deftly sketched, and the prose is absolutely wonderful. This particular book differs from some of the other Scandinavian mysteries in that the author seems more interested in character and psychology than in contemporary events and social issues. In some odd way, this reminded me of some of Ross McDonald's Lew Archer mysteries, in that much of the book is really about the detective uncovering hidden connections among a group of seemingly unrelated people, and eventually tying the case to a buried secret from the past. The pacing accordingly is relatively slow, with much of the action consisting of Sejer interviewing and reinterviewing the villagers to uncover the web of connections between them. In terms of Scandinavian mysteries, this represents an interesting contrast with Mankell, Tursten, and the earlier Sjowall and Wahloo, whose books tended to be very topical, with crimes straight out of the headlines today, and with frequent asides from the main characters that tie the developments in the story to larger social issues. Those are all fine books as well, of course, just in a different vein. Because of the emphasis on character and psychology over current events and social critique, I suspect that this book will age better than Mankell's and some of the others. As with the Lew Archer mysteries, this is fairly self-contained, and there isn't much that ties it to a particular time. It could have taken place 30 years ago, or yesterday, or 30 years from now. This is a fine book and I look forward to reading the other Sejer mysteries.

One morning the 6 year old Ragnhild disappears. When ispector Sejer arrives at the house of the deparate mother, the girl soon returns, but the inspector gets another challenge: the dead body of another girl, the 15 year old Annie Holland, a beautiful, athletic and friendly girl that has gone through a dramatic character change in the last year. There are a whole bunch of suspects: her boyfriend Halvor, the ex-husband of her mother, a very vague neighbour, the handball trainer, a father and son who live a little bit further down the road and also a young man with Down syndrome. Sejer and his colleague Skarre have problems finding out who did it and especially the motive behind the murder. A very readable book that gives a nice insight into the lives of the inhabitants of an ou of the way Norwegian village. A real Scandinavian police novel: not a horrendous lot of action, but very good psychologival description of the various characters.

This fascinating psychological thriller makes you want to know what other gems have been published in Europe and are waiting for a translator. Japanese writer Matsuo Karino's "Out" was last year's inkling of the great stuff that is slowly finding its way into English. Felicity David's translation of Karen Fossum's book is fluid and immediate, and "Don't Look Back" is a novel that will appeal to readers who like their thrillers flavored with the spice of different cultures.

This fifth book in the Norwegian Inspector Konrad Sejer series, but the first to be published in the US, begins with the most chilling of scenes: 6-year-old Ragnhild accepting a ride from a strange, too eager man. Next we cut to her distraught, terrified mother being gently questioned by Sejer, who shares her dread.But this scenario does not have the expected conclusion. The search party combing nearby Kollen mountain turn up the naked body of a local teenager, and Ragnhild is deposited on her doorstep by the lonely Downs-syndrome boy who had taken her to his home.It's a small, close, valley community where everyone knows everyone else, though not as well as they think they do. The dead girl, Annie, had been bright, outgoing and well liked by everyone. Sure, she'd been subdued, even a bit withdrawn in the last few months, but her family and friends put it down to adolescence. Sejer thinks she had a secret.As he and his assistant, young Jacob Skarre, begin to probe, they peel away layers of deception and self-deception, uncovering cracks and chasms under the tranquil surface. No surprise to Sejer, there are lots of secrets in this respectable, idyllic village, starting right in Annie's family. And there's the boyfriend - brutalized into passivity, he hardly seems her type.Fossum is particularly adept at revealing character through details. A neighbor views Sejer's approach: "He assumed a strained expression, but then realized that this might make them suspicious; so he pulled himself together and tried a smile instead. Then he remembered that Annie was dead, and went back to the strained mask."She steeps the story in its semi-rural, woods and mountain atmosphere, but just as telling are the characters' surroundings - a toy-strewn house or a muddy farmyard or a teenager's bedroom. Shifts in point of view heighten the psychological suspense and narrative depth. Sejer is a complex, thoughtful, empathetic character. Readers will hope to spend more time in his company.

After being widely translated in Europe, it's about time that Fossum's excellent police procedurals are becoming available in English. Unfortunately this first book in translation is the fifth in the series, and so a bit of the background is lacking. The story starts with the disappearance of a young girl in a small Norwegian village, but adroitly segues into a murder investigation as the search for the girl turns up an unrelated naked corpse. The town is one of several small communities served by the city police, and grizzled Inspector Sejer and his younger partner Skarre are assigned to the case.This is above all a psychological mystery, as Sejer and Skarre carefully poke and prod the small community, where everyone knows everyone else, in order to unravel the tale that led to the killing of a well-liked teenage girl. Although the townspeople have plenty of skeletons in their closets, the story never strays into cliché, as it might have under a less assured hand. Sejer is a placid and cunning detective of late middle age, living alone with his dog after being widowed (again, one senses that his personal life has been detailed in previous books). He bears a certain similarity to Det. Inspector Charlie Resnick, the protagonist of John Harvey's long-running Nottingham procedural series. Skarre works well as his younger, more informal partner, slightly treading on eggshells around his more experienced superior.With no forensic evidence, no witnesses, and no apparent motive, there's little for them to go on. Thus, Sejer and Skarre spend the whole novel interviewing and reinterviewing everyone who knew the girl and might have seen something. As the tension builds, and various red herrings are dispensed with, Sejer grows convinced that the key to the murder lies in an abrupt change in the girl's behavior almost a year previously. This leads seamlessly to yet another layer within the story. Throughout, every character comes to life, and sometimes, the story shift to their perspective for several pages to add a richer depth to the unfolding investigation. Norway never really emerges as a distinct setting, it's a story that really could have been set in any small town in the first world, but it's an absorbing tale, which ends with a potentially unsettling coda. PS. Danish television produced a four-hour miniseries from the book under the title "Se Deg Ikke Tilbake." With luck, it might be subtitled in English at some point...