I’ve been thinking about Scandinavian crime fiction lately: why I like it, why it’s different from American or English crime fiction. One of the underlying themes for many of these authors, whether it’s Åsa Larsson or Yrsa Sigurdardottir or Karin Fossum, is that the detectives and the people they serve are all intensely affected by the crimes described.
Too many American crime stories will have multiple innocents shot down in cold blood, and our protagonist still blithely soldiers on as if he had had only one egg instead of two for breakfast. Sure, he or she solves the crime, but is there anything more than that? It all seems so jaded. In Karin Fossum’s THE WATER’S EDGE, there is no jadedness.
Here, the weathered Inspector Sejer is deeply affected by the deaths that occur on his watch, and the depiction of the families of the victim is heart-rending and showcases something that seems missing from many of the mysteries I read. You end up feeling the story. Which is probably for the best, because while the translation by Charlotte Barslund flows smoothly in the first third of the novel, it tends to bog down in philosophical conversations and strangely untied loose ends in the finale. This may be nothing more than leading into the next book, but there was an unfinished aspect to this story that left me wanting more.
Reinhardt and Kristine Ris see an oddly behaving man leaving the park where they have chosen to taken a walk. When they discover the body of a brutalized young boy, they connect the two and call the police. From here, Fossum tells the dual story of members of the Ris family — who are merely spectators, but whose lives end up spiraling out of control — and the story of Sejer and his sidekick, Jacob Skarre, as they attempt to discover the identity of the mysterious man and prevent any further attacks.
Fossum isn’t afraid to jump into the mind of the criminal, with occasional chapters written in his voice. And her distanced, yet still warm characterizations of Sejer, Skarre and various ancillary characters all ring true. She looks deep into every single person who lives in her work, and sometimes, what she sees and writes isn’t all that pretty. This is intense crime fiction — some of the best in the entire genre — and it’s highly recommended. —Mark Rose
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Too many American crime stories …. Sure, he or she solves the crime, but is there anything more than that? It all seems so jaded.
Total agreement. Seen documentaries where the investigators explain that the only way to solve the crime and keep one’s sanity intact is to gain emotional distance. No doubt true in real life but in fiction I want the protag to feel some of the pain, not blithely carry on at the bloodied crime scene or at the autopsy table like it’s no big deal.