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Inspector Barbarotti #3
Das zweite Leben des Herrn Roos
Ante Valdemar Roos, 59 Jahre alt, ist der Prototyp des Langweilers: grau, unauffällig, in zweiter Ehe mit Alice verheiratet, seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren als Ingenieur in einer Firma beschäftigt, die mittlerweile nur noch Thermoskannen herstellt. Roos ist unzufrieden mit sich, dem Leben, seiner Ehe – bis eines Tages ein kleines Wunder geschieht. Er gewinnt im Toto. Doch anstatt seine Freude groß hinauszuposaunen, beginnt er ein Doppelleben in einem abgelegenen Häuschen im Wald. Schon bald wird die Idylle gestört – und Inspektor Barbarotti hat einen Mordfall zu klären …
525 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
59 people are currently reading
816 people want to read
About the author
Håkan Nesser
142 books1,108 followersHåkan Nesser is a Swedish author and teacher who has written a number of successful crime fiction novels. He has won Best Swedish Crime Novel Award three times, and his novel Carambole won the Glass Key award in 2000. His books have been translated from Swedish into numerous languages.
Håkan Nesser was born and grew up in Kumla, and has lived most of his adult life in Uppsala. His first novel was published in 1988, but he worked as a teacher until 1998 when he became a full-time author. In August, 2006, Håkan Nesser and his wife Elke moved to Greenwich Village in New York.
Series:
* Inspector Van Veeteren
* Inspector Barbarotti
Håkan Nesser was born and grew up in Kumla, and has lived most of his adult life in Uppsala. His first novel was published in 1988, but he worked as a teacher until 1998 when he became a full-time author. In August, 2006, Håkan Nesser and his wife Elke moved to Greenwich Village in New York.
Series:
* Inspector Van Veeteren
* Inspector Barbarotti
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
July 4, 2022
“Events, always so infernally overestimated, are nothing compared to the parentheses around the spaces in between. You do well to bear that in mind, all you people who blindly rush about the world and think you are on the way somewhere – everything is in the pauses. It is also worth noting that expensive whisky tastes significantly better than the cheap kind. Now I am done and have nothing more to add.”Let’s be clear from the start here: don’t pick up this book if you’re looking for a mystery or a murder or a detective story. It’s not crime fiction, and you’ll end up disappointed if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s something else entirely — a quiet story of life slowly wasted in monotony until one day, at nearly sixty, a man opens himself to the possibility of gentle, fragile almost-happiness.
“An hour and a half passed, and it was in the course of those ninety minutes, as Valdemar sat behind the wheel, watching the birds in flight beneath the clear skies of a May morning, with the light playing over the fields and over the veins on his hands, where his blood pumped round with the aid of his trusty old heart, that he realized it was at times like this his soul made a space for itself in the world and set up home there. At exactly these times.”
Valdemar Roos is viewed by people as an equivalent of a glass of tepid water. “Boring” is the word that comes to mind. His is not a life that lends itself to winning money, secretly quitting a job and finding a secret little cottage in the woods, unbeknownst to everyone around him - not like anyone would care. And it would take a sudden life turn to bring him face to face with a young runaway from a residential rehab program, and from that a turn in life that nobody would have predicted.
“What the devil is it you want to wring out of your remaining years here on earth, Ante Valdemar Roos?”
It’s a melancholic story, drenched in wistful sadness and quiet resignation. It combines sadness and gentle hint of humor in strange ways — like sad clowns that are anything but funny. In a way it made me remember A Man Called Ove, but less heartwarming and much more melancholic. There’s loneliness and sadness and meeting of two souls craving real human connection. And you know the brief happiness is doomed, and cherish it even more because of it. Because you never know when that flash of something blindingly real will burn up your dull existence.
Oh, and the side quest of a graffiti crime solving by Barbarotti also happens, for a much-needed moment of levity.
4 stars.
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Buddy read with William, Nat K, Mark and Neale — although I’m about 3 months late finishing it. Sorry ‘bout that…
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Also posted on my blog.
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Recommended by: William
February 4, 2022
The Secret Life of Mr Roos by Hakan Nesser is the third instalment in his Inspector Barbarotti series.
This is a book of two halves. The first, is a stellar five star read, but the second dropped to three stars for me. For some reason, Mr Nesser must have become distracted, maybe he was cooking, or watching Squid Game but the fizz of the beginning, became a little flat.
Valdemar Roos is a fifty-nine year old guy married to a woman he doesn’t really like, with two step-daughters who despise and disrespect him and an estranged son he hasn’t seen for years. He had a job in an accounts department at a local business – a job he hates, and he doesn’t like the people he works with. They don’t seem to like him either. Oh dear.
As Valdemar is the same age as me, there are aspects to his story, and the way he feels that swept through me. I found aspects of his character and his way of thinking very identifiable. Even though his situation is quite different in so many ways, it must be an age-thing. Maybe a bloke thing – I don’t know. I hope that makes sense. I liked him, but I probably wouldn’t have him as a friend – because he is so very sad.
He wins a lottery and decides to buy a little hut in the middle of the forest. He quits work, secretly buys his hut and pretends to drive to ‘work’ each day to spend quiet solitude in his new abode. He loves it. But things start to happen – of course. We meet new characters, some nice some not.
Even though I love Gunnar Barbarotti, this story didn’t really need him. It didn’t need a mystery. I would have been content with a story solely about Valdemar, his life and the lives of those around him. In many ways, the mystery spoiled it for me.
Oh, and the mystery really wasn’t that mysterious. Hence the lack-lustre, pedestrian three-star second half. I think my fellow group readers are going to lambast me for this view!
This author’s characters are so fascinating. Really human, and they’re always permeated with a nice touch of “funny”, here and there. I love Gunnar Barbarotti and his sidekick Eve Backman and their families and lives. At book number three, I am totally invested in this lot.
Thanks again to William, Nattington, Neale and Nataliya for the group read – it always makes it so interesting and I do like the way you set up the group William - Cheers mate.
Bring on number 4!
4 Stars
This is a book of two halves. The first, is a stellar five star read, but the second dropped to three stars for me. For some reason, Mr Nesser must have become distracted, maybe he was cooking, or watching Squid Game but the fizz of the beginning, became a little flat.
Valdemar Roos is a fifty-nine year old guy married to a woman he doesn’t really like, with two step-daughters who despise and disrespect him and an estranged son he hasn’t seen for years. He had a job in an accounts department at a local business – a job he hates, and he doesn’t like the people he works with. They don’t seem to like him either. Oh dear.
As Valdemar is the same age as me, there are aspects to his story, and the way he feels that swept through me. I found aspects of his character and his way of thinking very identifiable. Even though his situation is quite different in so many ways, it must be an age-thing. Maybe a bloke thing – I don’t know. I hope that makes sense. I liked him, but I probably wouldn’t have him as a friend – because he is so very sad.
He wins a lottery and decides to buy a little hut in the middle of the forest. He quits work, secretly buys his hut and pretends to drive to ‘work’ each day to spend quiet solitude in his new abode. He loves it. But things start to happen – of course. We meet new characters, some nice some not.
Even though I love Gunnar Barbarotti, this story didn’t really need him. It didn’t need a mystery. I would have been content with a story solely about Valdemar, his life and the lives of those around him. In many ways, the mystery spoiled it for me.
Oh, and the mystery really wasn’t that mysterious. Hence the lack-lustre, pedestrian three-star second half. I think my fellow group readers are going to lambast me for this view!
This author’s characters are so fascinating. Really human, and they’re always permeated with a nice touch of “funny”, here and there. I love Gunnar Barbarotti and his sidekick Eve Backman and their families and lives. At book number three, I am totally invested in this lot.
Thanks again to William, Nattington, Neale and Nataliya for the group read – it always makes it so interesting and I do like the way you set up the group William - Cheers mate.
Bring on number 4!
4 Stars
December 11, 2023
1 star
It's official. This is the end of the road for me and Håkan Nesser. It's clear that we just don't get along and must, alas, part ways.
"Mr Roos" was an exercise in patience for me. I kept listening hoping the story would get better at some point...or at least show a heartbeat.
And it almost did. Almost. At the very very end.
Before that, there was a very long stretch of flat lining with cliched and foreseeable events/characters that culminated in a not terribly engaging situation in which...oh no...a murder happened.
I tried to care. Found I couldn't.
Bye bye Håkan and pleasant sailing. ⛵
It's official. This is the end of the road for me and Håkan Nesser. It's clear that we just don't get along and must, alas, part ways.
"Mr Roos" was an exercise in patience for me. I kept listening hoping the story would get better at some point...or at least show a heartbeat.
And it almost did. Almost. At the very very end.
Before that, there was a very long stretch of flat lining with cliched and foreseeable events/characters that culminated in a not terribly engaging situation in which...oh no...a murder happened.
I tried to care. Found I couldn't.
Bye bye Håkan and pleasant sailing. ⛵
February 10, 2022
Winning the pools gives Ante Valdemar Roos the chance to escape a life that he can’t stand, and a life that seems to be bored with him. Valdemar by just about everybody’s account is quite a dull fellow. His second wife compares him to a couch, his first wife a tepid glass of water. However, he is trapped in a life he simply cannot bear any longer. Married to a nagging wife he doesn’t love, who also comes with two stepdaughters who have no respect for him, and he barely talks to. He finds himself lost in thought, pondering when he started to dislike people. Probably around the same tine he wished he was born a cat.
So, when his numbers, numbers that his departed father used for eight years, numbers that Valdemar had continued to use for over fifty years, all come up in the pools, Valdemar knows that his life has changed instantaneously. He decides not to tell any of his family, and why would you with a family like his, about the win. He also knows immediately what he is going to spend his winnings on. He buys a cozy little cottage way out isolated in the woods. He quits his job and spends his time at this quiet secluded spot. Whatever makes you happy.
Anna is running away from Elvafors. An institution for drug and alcohol addiction. Anna’s mother called the authorities when Anna stole money from her to feed her heroin addiction. Her mother has bouts of depression and mood swings, not so easy to live with, but placing Anna in Elvafors is very much an act of love from Anna’s mother. She loves her deeply and wants her to heal. But Anna wants out, not prepared, or able to last the six to twelve months stay.
Is it serendipity at work that Anna comes across Valdemar’s cottage? Did fate or destiny always have it planned for the two to meet? Regardless of how it happened, fate, destiny, fluke, it happened and the two, despite their vast difference in age form an instantaneous bond. Enjoying each other’s company. However, Anna’s old boyfriend, a psychotic drug dealer, has tracked her down and is coming to get her.
Part two and finally Barbarotti enters the story. You would be forgiven for thinking he is not the main character sometimes. After falling off a roof and landing in a wheelbarrow, Barbarotti is recovering in hospital from a broken leg when Valdemar’s wife, who Barbarotti knew vaguely at school, informs him that her husband is missing and asks for his help. Has Anna’s boyfriend found them in their idyll in the woods? Are they still alive? Will Barbarotti catch the graffiti artist? Haha, yes, I did say graffiti artist. Nesser has a wonderful sense of humour.
Barbarotti and his partner, Eva Backman, struggle to find what has happened because everybody’s description of Valdemar is incongruous to his actions. Everything he has done is the last thing anybody would have expected of him. Who would have expected a dull “couch” of a man to drop everything and disappear from his life? The reader is privy to what has happened, but everybody else is lost in the dark.
Barbarotti nails it succinctly,
“Ultra-dull fifty-nine-year old bales out of his life.”
It makes you wonder how easy it is for misconceptions to arise. Marianne, Barbarotti’s wife, describes Valdemar and Anna as,
“A junkie girl and an old lecher.”
We are quick to judge without knowing the facts and circumstances of a situation. We look for the obvious, discarding the improbable. As part two and three unfold we realize that there is much more to Valdemar and Anna than the simple perceptions and views of their family and friends. Violent acts contained in both their past. We also find that a single instant in time, in a life, can change everything forever.
This is the third novel of the Barbarotti series and is equally as enjoyable as the first two. Just like the first two novels, Nesser captures the “ordinariness” of solving a case. The daily grind of following leads and interviews. The case slowly coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. Very realistic, and very enjoyable to read. Also again, there is that wonderful, witty, but subtle humour, that weaves through Barbarotti’s and Backman’s banter as they work. These two characters are a joy to read.
Thanks again to William, Natto, Mark, and Nataliya for the buddy read.
So, when his numbers, numbers that his departed father used for eight years, numbers that Valdemar had continued to use for over fifty years, all come up in the pools, Valdemar knows that his life has changed instantaneously. He decides not to tell any of his family, and why would you with a family like his, about the win. He also knows immediately what he is going to spend his winnings on. He buys a cozy little cottage way out isolated in the woods. He quits his job and spends his time at this quiet secluded spot. Whatever makes you happy.
Anna is running away from Elvafors. An institution for drug and alcohol addiction. Anna’s mother called the authorities when Anna stole money from her to feed her heroin addiction. Her mother has bouts of depression and mood swings, not so easy to live with, but placing Anna in Elvafors is very much an act of love from Anna’s mother. She loves her deeply and wants her to heal. But Anna wants out, not prepared, or able to last the six to twelve months stay.
Is it serendipity at work that Anna comes across Valdemar’s cottage? Did fate or destiny always have it planned for the two to meet? Regardless of how it happened, fate, destiny, fluke, it happened and the two, despite their vast difference in age form an instantaneous bond. Enjoying each other’s company. However, Anna’s old boyfriend, a psychotic drug dealer, has tracked her down and is coming to get her.
Part two and finally Barbarotti enters the story. You would be forgiven for thinking he is not the main character sometimes. After falling off a roof and landing in a wheelbarrow, Barbarotti is recovering in hospital from a broken leg when Valdemar’s wife, who Barbarotti knew vaguely at school, informs him that her husband is missing and asks for his help. Has Anna’s boyfriend found them in their idyll in the woods? Are they still alive? Will Barbarotti catch the graffiti artist? Haha, yes, I did say graffiti artist. Nesser has a wonderful sense of humour.
Barbarotti and his partner, Eva Backman, struggle to find what has happened because everybody’s description of Valdemar is incongruous to his actions. Everything he has done is the last thing anybody would have expected of him. Who would have expected a dull “couch” of a man to drop everything and disappear from his life? The reader is privy to what has happened, but everybody else is lost in the dark.
Barbarotti nails it succinctly,
“Ultra-dull fifty-nine-year old bales out of his life.”
It makes you wonder how easy it is for misconceptions to arise. Marianne, Barbarotti’s wife, describes Valdemar and Anna as,
“A junkie girl and an old lecher.”
We are quick to judge without knowing the facts and circumstances of a situation. We look for the obvious, discarding the improbable. As part two and three unfold we realize that there is much more to Valdemar and Anna than the simple perceptions and views of their family and friends. Violent acts contained in both their past. We also find that a single instant in time, in a life, can change everything forever.
This is the third novel of the Barbarotti series and is equally as enjoyable as the first two. Just like the first two novels, Nesser captures the “ordinariness” of solving a case. The daily grind of following leads and interviews. The case slowly coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. Very realistic, and very enjoyable to read. Also again, there is that wonderful, witty, but subtle humour, that weaves through Barbarotti’s and Backman’s banter as they work. These two characters are a joy to read.
Thanks again to William, Natto, Mark, and Nataliya for the buddy read.
February 14, 2022
”Hmm, life doesn’t always turn out the way we imagined it would.”
Mr.Roos is unhappy with his life. Home and work blending into one boring, yawning chasm. Then as luck would have it, Mr. Roos wins the lottery, using the same numbers his father had faithfully played for many years, before hanging himself at the age of fifty four.
Mr. Roos doesn’t tell his wife about the win. Instead he buys a little cottage, prettily named Lograna, twenty kilometres out of the city. Like a weekend getaway if you will, but instead this is his Monday to Friday retreat. While his wife thinks he’s at work, Mr.Roos is in his little home away from home, pondering about the world, and enjoying nature and his newfound freedom from the shackles of life.
But fate has other plans, as it tends to do. A runaway from a local centre for female addicts stumbles upon his idyll in the forest, and so unfolds a chain of events neither could have foreseen or have much control over.
I had so many conflicting feelings and perspectives reading this story. At first I was happy for the unfolding friendship between Mr. Roos (approaching sixty) and Anna (roughly twenty), as it truly was a meeting of two lost souls, seeking comfort in the safety of another. Who didn’t know each other's backstory. Who accepted them for who they were, right here, right now, in this moment. They would sit together on the back step, having a coffee, enjoying the sounds and freshness of nature, the cool air, the changing colours. There was nothing untoward about their friendship at all.
”He laughed. 'Fifty-nine. Well, it's never too late to try something new, is it?'
She laughed too. 'You know what, I like talking to you. You seem so...well, so kind in a way.'
'Hmmm, I suppose I'm not the worst.'”
But idylls are meant to be broken. And break this one did. In a desperately heartbreaking way. For a moment I was repulsed by their friendship, wondering what was “in it” for either of them, before again coming full circle and again feeling they were meant to meet.
Such is the ability of Nesser’s writing. To really dig deep, and get into the feelings and psyche of his characters. To make you feel empathy for them and the dire situations they find themselves in. By the end of the story, and especially the last page, I felt such inexplicable sadness. That’s what good writing can do to you. It takes you into the world of the characters and the fear, loneliness and misapprehensions they’re feeling. You know they’re making a mistake, but you watch it unfold anyway.
Did I mention that this is meant to a crime novel featuring Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti? The crime itself (or crimes) while horrific, are such a minute part of the story. The focus is absolutely on the two main characters, Mr. Roos and Anna. Really, it’s about the fact that you quite possibly don’t have a clue about what’s going on in the heart or head of the people closest to you. Even those you live with or are intimate with. You may have absolutely no idea.
Book 3 of the Barbarotti series.
*** Shout out to my fellow buddy readers, even though we were all running our own race with this one. Big thanks to Amigo Bill, for again creating and running the discussion board. Book fiend Marko, the wonderful, talented Mr. Neale-ski, and thoughtful Nataliya (who I believe is still reading this), as is Bill. Please make sure you have a look at their reviews to see their thoughts too. ***
”Life never gets any better than this.”
Mr.Roos is unhappy with his life. Home and work blending into one boring, yawning chasm. Then as luck would have it, Mr. Roos wins the lottery, using the same numbers his father had faithfully played for many years, before hanging himself at the age of fifty four.
Mr. Roos doesn’t tell his wife about the win. Instead he buys a little cottage, prettily named Lograna, twenty kilometres out of the city. Like a weekend getaway if you will, but instead this is his Monday to Friday retreat. While his wife thinks he’s at work, Mr.Roos is in his little home away from home, pondering about the world, and enjoying nature and his newfound freedom from the shackles of life.
But fate has other plans, as it tends to do. A runaway from a local centre for female addicts stumbles upon his idyll in the forest, and so unfolds a chain of events neither could have foreseen or have much control over.
I had so many conflicting feelings and perspectives reading this story. At first I was happy for the unfolding friendship between Mr. Roos (approaching sixty) and Anna (roughly twenty), as it truly was a meeting of two lost souls, seeking comfort in the safety of another. Who didn’t know each other's backstory. Who accepted them for who they were, right here, right now, in this moment. They would sit together on the back step, having a coffee, enjoying the sounds and freshness of nature, the cool air, the changing colours. There was nothing untoward about their friendship at all.
”He laughed. 'Fifty-nine. Well, it's never too late to try something new, is it?'
She laughed too. 'You know what, I like talking to you. You seem so...well, so kind in a way.'
'Hmmm, I suppose I'm not the worst.'”
But idylls are meant to be broken. And break this one did. In a desperately heartbreaking way. For a moment I was repulsed by their friendship, wondering what was “in it” for either of them, before again coming full circle and again feeling they were meant to meet.
Such is the ability of Nesser’s writing. To really dig deep, and get into the feelings and psyche of his characters. To make you feel empathy for them and the dire situations they find themselves in. By the end of the story, and especially the last page, I felt such inexplicable sadness. That’s what good writing can do to you. It takes you into the world of the characters and the fear, loneliness and misapprehensions they’re feeling. You know they’re making a mistake, but you watch it unfold anyway.
Did I mention that this is meant to a crime novel featuring Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti? The crime itself (or crimes) while horrific, are such a minute part of the story. The focus is absolutely on the two main characters, Mr. Roos and Anna. Really, it’s about the fact that you quite possibly don’t have a clue about what’s going on in the heart or head of the people closest to you. Even those you live with or are intimate with. You may have absolutely no idea.
Book 3 of the Barbarotti series.
*** Shout out to my fellow buddy readers, even though we were all running our own race with this one. Big thanks to Amigo Bill, for again creating and running the discussion board. Book fiend Marko, the wonderful, talented Mr. Neale-ski, and thoughtful Nataliya (who I believe is still reading this), as is Bill. Please make sure you have a look at their reviews to see their thoughts too. ***
”Life never gets any better than this.”
July 16, 2022
But there must be something wrong, he’d thought the previous year, something seriously wrong with life itself, if in your sixtieth year or thereabouts you couldn’t think of any better solutions than going to a party and locking yourself in the toilet.
Ante Valdemaar Roos is not a happy penguin. As an accountant, he hates the job he has been doing for more than two decades and dislikes all his colleagues. At home, he has nothing to say to his second wife or to his two adoptive daughters, who only look at him as a source of pocket money. At parties, he is boring and uncomfortable, locked inside himself yet dreaming of childhood walks with his father in wild forests.
Valdemar Roos was dreary, withdrawn, uncomfortable in social settings and not much liked. A slow, dull and predictable fellow who never raised anyone’s spirit and from whom no one expected anything extra or surprising.
This man is the protagonist of the novel, and a more unlikely lead character in a murder story you can hardly imagine.
This is my second novel by Hakan Nesser, and I’m starting to really like his approach to storytelling. He spends a lot of time building up his characters, but it is time well spent because it gives the reader the chance to get truly immersed in the plot and to discover the secret levers that make these people act, the distance between their public image and their inner landscape.
The pauses, he would think, it’s in the pauses between events – and as the ice forms on a lake on a November night, if you want to be a touch poetic – that I belong.
I and people like me.
I didn’t even realize this is part of a series featuring Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti, since he doesn’t even appear until the middle of the novel. The first half is all about two lonely people who meet by accident in a desolate place, who try to carve an oasis of peace outside the rat race but are caught up by the past and driven to crime.
Valdemar Roos I have already introduced. He yearns for escape from his life with an almost suicidal intensity. In his sixtieth year, Valdemar is granted his wish by a lucky lottery ticket. With the unexpected windfall, the man buys himself an isolated cottage in the middle of nowhere, resigns from his job and hides his whereabouts from his family and friends. Somehow, in the middle of that emptiness, he finds the pause that allows him to re-evaluate his life choices. Valdemar Roos even starts keeping a journal, where he hopes to put down the newly acquired wisdom.
Life never gets any better than this. That was the first thing he would write down, that would be the nub of it all. Perhaps he could add that you had to stop, because if you didn’t stop and slow the pace, as it were, you would never notice that moment when it was at its very best.
In another dreary place, a very young girl named Anna Gambowska is suffering under the despotic and arbitrary rule of the administrator of a recovery house for addicts. Anna has been sent there for drug dealing and, like Valdemar Roos, she cannot fit in and is despised for her introverted, artistic nature and for her intellectual pursuits.
Young girl, dumb girl, dreaming in the grass
Sad girl, bad girl, wannabe a dead girl
When she can take no more persecution in the safe house, Anna runs away but is immediately abused by the driver who picks her up on the road. She escapes into the wild forest and by chance she comes upon the cabin of mr. Roos.
Despite the age difference, the two depressed people discover that they are kindred souls and tentatively try to help each other over the hard times.
As long as she had the right clothes on and something to eat, she liked wandering around amongst the trees, the moss-covered rocks, the tussocks of twiggy lingonberry, with no plan beyond doing just that. She felt safe. Calm and contended.
A violent spectre from the past finds them in this remote refuge and forces Anna and Valdemar to become fugitives from the law. This is the cue for Inspector Barbarotti to announce his presence, which he does in a spectacular fashion that introduces a much needed dose of black humour into this downbeat tale. I am not familiar with the first two episodes in the series, but I must say I really like this guy who is capable of making fun of his own predicament yet displays the same dogged insistence in following leads as other famous Scandinavian detectives. Gunnar Barbarotti is more than adequately supported by his colleague and friend Eva Backman, who has her own brand of sly humour to help deal with work related stress and a dysfunctional family.
So instead of commenting on the plot, I would rather reiterate how good Hakan Nesser is with his character studies. It makes the actual murder investigation almost irrelevant, as it happened for me with ‘The Summer of Kim Novak’.
Being closer in age to Ante Valdemar Roos, I found it easier to identify with him and with Barbarotti than with the teenage characters – both in regards the need to stop and smell the roses before life passes you by and in the complaints about old age.
Like a cork that wants to sink but can’t, he would think, because that was more or less how he felt. Sleep was down there in the depths, a good invigorating sleep, but up on the bright and wakeful surface, Ante Valdemaar Roos floated around at a loss.
On a more personal note, I was intrigued by the prominent place given to a Romanian author in the economy of the novel. Valdemar’s favorite book is written by Mircea Cartarescu – an author I kept at a distance until now, but I might reconsider in light of the praise this Swedish author heaps on. Cartarescu is granted high marks for wisdom and insightful aphorisms that I found too pretentious and precious in the past. The quotes Valdemar uses to make his point still fail to impress, but they are taken out of context, so maybe the fault is with me.
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I wasn’t going to mention the plot, but I find the need for a final observation to explain why I liked the characters and the style very much, yet I cannot go full in with five stars. Both the actions of Valdemar and the clues in the investigation are contrived, forced to fit the story, and so unconvincing to me.
In conclusion, I am now planning to read the first couple of books of the Barbarotti series, and will probably place the author high on the list of my favourite Scandinavian crime writers.
This combination of depressing and uplifting story in the same container is quite a performance from him.
October 13, 2021
Surprisingly this really slow burn wasn't anything like I was expecting, but at the same token I ended up enjoying it so much more.
I had hoped for something a bit creepy for this time of year, instead this quirky tale soon had me hooked.
Much of the opening follows 59 year old Valdemar Roos who's bored of his monotonous job alongside his wife who he barely talks too.
The author brilliantly portrays this over various chapters, it might seem slow but vital in understanding Roos motives.
We can all imagine winning the lottery and jacking our jobs in, which is exactly the opportunity that's presented to Valdemar - he buys a cottage in the woods and keeps up the pretense of still working to his wife.
The story really kicks into gear when 21 year old recovering drug addict Anna Gambowska runs away from her rehab center and finds shelter in the cabin.
Soon an unlikely friendship firms between the two.
Well that is until Anna's ex-boyfriend shows up...
Despite being the third book in the series, Inspector Barbarotti doesn't appear until the second half of the novel.
His viewpoint of Roos actions of randomly buying a cottage, potentially shacking up with a young girl and the appearance of a dead body actually makes his choices seem so much more suspicious.
It's such a clever way to tell a fascinating crime drama.
I had hoped for something a bit creepy for this time of year, instead this quirky tale soon had me hooked.
Much of the opening follows 59 year old Valdemar Roos who's bored of his monotonous job alongside his wife who he barely talks too.
The author brilliantly portrays this over various chapters, it might seem slow but vital in understanding Roos motives.
We can all imagine winning the lottery and jacking our jobs in, which is exactly the opportunity that's presented to Valdemar - he buys a cottage in the woods and keeps up the pretense of still working to his wife.
The story really kicks into gear when 21 year old recovering drug addict Anna Gambowska runs away from her rehab center and finds shelter in the cabin.
Soon an unlikely friendship firms between the two.
Well that is until Anna's ex-boyfriend shows up...
Despite being the third book in the series, Inspector Barbarotti doesn't appear until the second half of the novel.
His viewpoint of Roos actions of randomly buying a cottage, potentially shacking up with a young girl and the appearance of a dead body actually makes his choices seem so much more suspicious.
It's such a clever way to tell a fascinating crime drama.
November 2, 2021
The Secret Life of Mr. Roos (The Barbarotti Series) by Hakan Nesser.
I packed my bags and was all set for my journey. where am I headed? I'm headed on a long journey into another novel by Hakan Nesser. there's no short end of the stick with this author. It was a long journey that brought me into the picture and the scheme of the situation.
Ante Valdemar Roos is a boring man approaching 60 years. He has nothing much to offer or that he's actually interested in. Fate brought him and his wife Alice together and now even fate was in question. A boring going nowhere job that he drags himself to at the same boring rate each day. And then he hits the jackpot! Literally the jackpot. and things haven't been the same since.
As the situation and environment take a turn for the better an unforeseen element in the form of a young girl enters the scene. Life begins a new for Roos and he couldn't be happier. but...this is just the beginning.
Gunner Barbarotti and his right hand woman Eva Backman enter the picture. They work well together as first rate detectives on the force. The only draw back is Barbarotti's leg...he broke it falling off the roof into a wheel barrel. That simply can't deter Barbarotti for long. He just moves along with a cast on his leg.
This author stands alone as my favorite. This story in the Barbarotti series is the best yet. don't let the length keep you from diving in.
I packed my bags and was all set for my journey. where am I headed? I'm headed on a long journey into another novel by Hakan Nesser. there's no short end of the stick with this author. It was a long journey that brought me into the picture and the scheme of the situation.
Ante Valdemar Roos is a boring man approaching 60 years. He has nothing much to offer or that he's actually interested in. Fate brought him and his wife Alice together and now even fate was in question. A boring going nowhere job that he drags himself to at the same boring rate each day. And then he hits the jackpot! Literally the jackpot. and things haven't been the same since.
As the situation and environment take a turn for the better an unforeseen element in the form of a young girl enters the scene. Life begins a new for Roos and he couldn't be happier. but...this is just the beginning.
Gunner Barbarotti and his right hand woman Eva Backman enter the picture. They work well together as first rate detectives on the force. The only draw back is Barbarotti's leg...he broke it falling off the roof into a wheel barrel. That simply can't deter Barbarotti for long. He just moves along with a cast on his leg.
This author stands alone as my favorite. This story in the Barbarotti series is the best yet. don't let the length keep you from diving in.
February 24, 2016
Herr Ante Valdemaar Roos blickt auf sein Leben und ist nicht besonders glücklich mit dem was er sieht. Die Angst vieler von uns, dass wir unser Leben vergeuden, ist für ihn mit seinen 59 Jahren bereits Realität. Die Frage, ob "dies schon alles gewesen sei", beantwortet sich bei ihm mit einem klaren "Ja!".
Doch dann gewinnt er eine große Menge Geld im Toto Glücksspiel und kann sich nun sowohl von seinem sterbenslangweiligen Job trennen, als auch eine Zufluchtsmöglichkeit in Form einer einsam gelegenen Hütte im Wald kaufen.
Jeden Tag verbringt er allein, aber glücklich in seiner Hütte und verlässt sein bisheriges Leben wie ein Haus, in dem man die Tür hinter sich schließt.
Herr Roos bleibt jedoch nicht lange allein: Anna, eine junge Drogensüchtige, die aus ihrer Entzugsklinik geflohen ist, taucht auf. Ebenfalls einsam und missverstanden. Trotz der 40 Jahre Altersunterschied entwickelt sich eine Freundschaft in Form einer Vater-Tochter Beziehung. Beide fliehen vor ihrer eigenen Außenwelt und vor den Rollen, die sie in dieser einnehmen und sind für kurze Zeit glücklich in ihrer eigens geschaffenen "Insel".
Dieser Zustand hält nicht lange an, denn die Tür zu ihrem eigentlichen Leben lässt sich nicht so leicht schließen wie gedacht.
Hier wechselt nun die Perspektive und Inspektor Barbarotti erscheint auf der Bildfläche, obwohl die erste Hälfte des Buchs bereits vorüber ist.
Ein Mord ist geschehen und Hr. Roos und Anna begegnet man erst später wieder, als klar ist, dass dies wohl kein gutes Ende für sie nehmen wird.
Wie bereits in anderen Rezensionen beschrieben, ist dies kein üblicher Krimi. Tatsächlich ist das Krimi-Element eher Nebensache. Das Tempo des Buches ist langsam und gemächlich, ganz entsprechend seinem Hauptprotagonisten. Es gibt allerlei Beobachtungen über das Leben und den Sinn, den Hr. Roos darin sucht.
Mir gefiel die Grundidee der Geschichte und ich hatte eigentlich eine spannende Wendung erwartet. Der Mord, der den Inspektor auf den Plan ruft, wirkt jedoch etwas gezwungen eingepflanzt in die Handlung. Ganz nach dem Motto: Hauptsache man kann einen Inspektor Barbarotti Roman daraus basteln.
Die Stärke des Buchs liegt in der Entwicklung des Herrn Roos und weniger im eigentlichen Kriminalfall. Die melancholisch, nachdenkliche Stimmung des Romans ist nicht für jeden Leser in jeder Lebenslage etwas, aber wer sich darauf einlässt findet bestimmt auch hier ein oder zwei kleine Wahrheiten, die einen direkt ansprechen.
Doch dann gewinnt er eine große Menge Geld im Toto Glücksspiel und kann sich nun sowohl von seinem sterbenslangweiligen Job trennen, als auch eine Zufluchtsmöglichkeit in Form einer einsam gelegenen Hütte im Wald kaufen.
Jeden Tag verbringt er allein, aber glücklich in seiner Hütte und verlässt sein bisheriges Leben wie ein Haus, in dem man die Tür hinter sich schließt.
Herr Roos bleibt jedoch nicht lange allein: Anna, eine junge Drogensüchtige, die aus ihrer Entzugsklinik geflohen ist, taucht auf. Ebenfalls einsam und missverstanden. Trotz der 40 Jahre Altersunterschied entwickelt sich eine Freundschaft in Form einer Vater-Tochter Beziehung. Beide fliehen vor ihrer eigenen Außenwelt und vor den Rollen, die sie in dieser einnehmen und sind für kurze Zeit glücklich in ihrer eigens geschaffenen "Insel".
Dieser Zustand hält nicht lange an, denn die Tür zu ihrem eigentlichen Leben lässt sich nicht so leicht schließen wie gedacht.
Hier wechselt nun die Perspektive und Inspektor Barbarotti erscheint auf der Bildfläche, obwohl die erste Hälfte des Buchs bereits vorüber ist.
Ein Mord ist geschehen und Hr. Roos und Anna begegnet man erst später wieder, als klar ist, dass dies wohl kein gutes Ende für sie nehmen wird.
Wie bereits in anderen Rezensionen beschrieben, ist dies kein üblicher Krimi. Tatsächlich ist das Krimi-Element eher Nebensache. Das Tempo des Buches ist langsam und gemächlich, ganz entsprechend seinem Hauptprotagonisten. Es gibt allerlei Beobachtungen über das Leben und den Sinn, den Hr. Roos darin sucht.
Mir gefiel die Grundidee der Geschichte und ich hatte eigentlich eine spannende Wendung erwartet. Der Mord, der den Inspektor auf den Plan ruft, wirkt jedoch etwas gezwungen eingepflanzt in die Handlung. Ganz nach dem Motto: Hauptsache man kann einen Inspektor Barbarotti Roman daraus basteln.
Die Stärke des Buchs liegt in der Entwicklung des Herrn Roos und weniger im eigentlichen Kriminalfall. Die melancholisch, nachdenkliche Stimmung des Romans ist nicht für jeden Leser in jeder Lebenslage etwas, aber wer sich darauf einlässt findet bestimmt auch hier ein oder zwei kleine Wahrheiten, die einen direkt ansprechen.
October 24, 2020
his is the third novel in Håkan Nesser's Barbarotti series that has been translated into English, after The Darkest Day and The Root of Evil, and it is the best so far. It should be noted that the first book was published in 2006 and introduced the brooding Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti to the readers. Nesser has written seven books, until now, in total featuring the pensive protagonist, but unfortunately, only the first three installments have been translated into English, thus leaving the author's loyal fans feeling disappointed and eager for more of his work. Nesser is most well-known for his Van Veeteren series, featuring ten books, the last one being The G File that was published in 2006 and ended an excellent collection of crime novels that has been also adapted into the television screen, starring Sven Wollter as chief Inspector Van Veeteren. Whoever is familiar with Van Veeteren books, knows about the fictitious city of Maardam, the setting of the series, which was also featured in Nesser's Intrigo, a collection of novellas that were adapted into cinema by the Swedish director, Daniel Alfredson. The Barbarotti novels have a different setting, the city of Kymlinge, another fictional creation of the author's imagination who seems to enjoy to fabricate imaginary landscapes where his stories unravel. Whereas the previous book, The Root of Evil, was written as a classical police procedural with some intervening chapters where the perpetrator of a series of homicides narrated events that had happened several years before, The Secret Life of Mr. Roos is not so much about the mystery and the ingenious plot, but rather a blend of literary and crime fiction that moves slowly forward, emphasizing on the two protagonists, Mr. Roos and Anna. Gunnar Barbarotti enters the scene around the middle of the story and after that, Nesser monitors both the police investigation and the two protagonists' actions.
To read my full review, visit https://tapthelinemag.com/post/the-se...
To read my full review, visit https://tapthelinemag.com/post/the-se...
December 28, 2020
Cannot find the English digital edition....
The Secret Life of Mr Roos, Barbarotti #3. Håkan Nesser. iBook pre order 15/10/20. 5/5.
Life never gets any better than this! Valdemar heard his father say this and it remains a running measurement of his life! His job has gone on too long, his life with his second marriage to Alice with her two teenage daughters, frustrates him....he’s desperate for freedom. He spends his break in nature, dreaming of perfect solitude freedom. A lifelong habit to buy a lottery ticket pays off and it’s his way to claim some time and space for himself secretly. He does some clever banking, quits his job and finds a remote cabin to make his own retreat. Monday to Friday he plans his solidarity time, shopping, stocking up, getting things working. His focus completely on his secret.
Anna has taken to drugs and a destructive boyfriend and been put into a rehab place but she soon discovers she doesn’t fit so she walks away with her backpack and guitar. She stumbles upon the cabin!
It’s half way into the book when the reader encounters DI Gunnar Barbarotti and he’s injured his foot, had surgery and to push off boredom or aggravation being around his brother in law he’s returned to work with a cast on and he involves his colleague Eva Backman in a mystery his old school mate has asked him about in hospital....Alice asks him about her missing husband Valdemar. While taking on a colleague’s case regarding graffiti they make inquiries regarding Valdemar.
Strange format...all of a sudden the reader is left wondering about Anna and Valdemar....but each part of the book switches nicely. They are unlikely friends. A series of events require that they are being hunted.
It’s not always the crime that’s the mystery with this writer’s books and his ability to delve into what drives a character, the flaws and searches of people to make sense of their life and relationships is what keeps me coming back each book.
The twists to this good read regarding all characters are really worth a read. Things and people are often not what they seem! Thought provoking, good read. More please. Good series.
The Darkest Day, Inspector Barbarotti 1 of 5, Håkan Nesser / Sarah Death, Pre-ordered iBook. 2 November 2017.
The Root of Evil. Barbarotti #2. iBook pre ordered. November 15, 2018 ✅
Berättelsen om Herr Roos (working title: The Secret Life of Mr Roos)Barbarotti #3. iBook pre order 15/10/20.
The Lonely Ones, Barbarotti #4. Not found yet.
The Secret Life of Mr Roos, Barbarotti #3. Håkan Nesser. iBook pre order 15/10/20. 5/5.
Life never gets any better than this! Valdemar heard his father say this and it remains a running measurement of his life! His job has gone on too long, his life with his second marriage to Alice with her two teenage daughters, frustrates him....he’s desperate for freedom. He spends his break in nature, dreaming of perfect solitude freedom. A lifelong habit to buy a lottery ticket pays off and it’s his way to claim some time and space for himself secretly. He does some clever banking, quits his job and finds a remote cabin to make his own retreat. Monday to Friday he plans his solidarity time, shopping, stocking up, getting things working. His focus completely on his secret.
Anna has taken to drugs and a destructive boyfriend and been put into a rehab place but she soon discovers she doesn’t fit so she walks away with her backpack and guitar. She stumbles upon the cabin!
It’s half way into the book when the reader encounters DI Gunnar Barbarotti and he’s injured his foot, had surgery and to push off boredom or aggravation being around his brother in law he’s returned to work with a cast on and he involves his colleague Eva Backman in a mystery his old school mate has asked him about in hospital....Alice asks him about her missing husband Valdemar. While taking on a colleague’s case regarding graffiti they make inquiries regarding Valdemar.
Strange format...all of a sudden the reader is left wondering about Anna and Valdemar....but each part of the book switches nicely. They are unlikely friends. A series of events require that they are being hunted.
It’s not always the crime that’s the mystery with this writer’s books and his ability to delve into what drives a character, the flaws and searches of people to make sense of their life and relationships is what keeps me coming back each book.
The twists to this good read regarding all characters are really worth a read. Things and people are often not what they seem! Thought provoking, good read. More please. Good series.
The Darkest Day, Inspector Barbarotti 1 of 5, Håkan Nesser / Sarah Death, Pre-ordered iBook. 2 November 2017.
The Root of Evil. Barbarotti #2. iBook pre ordered. November 15, 2018 ✅
Berättelsen om Herr Roos (working title: The Secret Life of Mr Roos)Barbarotti #3. iBook pre order 15/10/20.
The Lonely Ones, Barbarotti #4. Not found yet.
October 16, 2020
I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy of The Secret Life of Mr Roos, the third novel to feature Inspector Barbarotti of the Swedish Police.
Ante Valdemar Roos, 59, hates his life so a big win on the pools becomes life altering. He quits his job and buys a cabin in the woods where he spends his days, never telling his wife or stepdaughters about it. Anna Gumbowska has run away from the rehab unit where she resides and stumbles across Valdemar’s cabin. They strike up an easy friendship until Anna’s violent ex turns up and things change.
I enjoyed The Secret Life of Mr Roos, which is the first novel in the series that I have read and it isn’t quite what I expected. I admit that it is a good few years since I read the van Veeteren series but I remember them as more eventful while this novel is more character driven. Yes, there is a crime but in many ways it’s less central to the novel than the existential question of how to approach life and living.
This is a novel of two halves as there is no hint of a crime or a detective in the first half at all. Instead it is an examination of how Valdemar approaches life, his dissatisfaction and his nostalgia for his childhood, and what leads to his meeting with Anna. Her story is more prosaic, a dysfunctional upbringing leading to drug addiction. For a crime fiction addict like myself it should be frustratingly slow, with little happening and a protagonist who is difficult to understand, and yet it is appealing and immersive. Valdemar Roos is a strange mixture of naive and cynical who grows on the reader. I may be wrong about this but it seems to me that he is searching for something that he can’t quite articulate but probably doesn’t exist and this is the nub of the novel, ambiguity. It’s all maybe, perhaps, possibly.
The second half of the novel centres on Barbarotti and his partner Eva Backman’s investigation of a body found at Valdemar’s cabin. Again this is a slow burner with information trickling in and theories abounding. I like Barbarotti and Backman’s relationship, which has a bounce to it that the rather boring Valdemar and Anna don’t, although they can get a bit existential as well.
The Secret Life of Mr Roos is a good read that I can recommend.
Ante Valdemar Roos, 59, hates his life so a big win on the pools becomes life altering. He quits his job and buys a cabin in the woods where he spends his days, never telling his wife or stepdaughters about it. Anna Gumbowska has run away from the rehab unit where she resides and stumbles across Valdemar’s cabin. They strike up an easy friendship until Anna’s violent ex turns up and things change.
I enjoyed The Secret Life of Mr Roos, which is the first novel in the series that I have read and it isn’t quite what I expected. I admit that it is a good few years since I read the van Veeteren series but I remember them as more eventful while this novel is more character driven. Yes, there is a crime but in many ways it’s less central to the novel than the existential question of how to approach life and living.
This is a novel of two halves as there is no hint of a crime or a detective in the first half at all. Instead it is an examination of how Valdemar approaches life, his dissatisfaction and his nostalgia for his childhood, and what leads to his meeting with Anna. Her story is more prosaic, a dysfunctional upbringing leading to drug addiction. For a crime fiction addict like myself it should be frustratingly slow, with little happening and a protagonist who is difficult to understand, and yet it is appealing and immersive. Valdemar Roos is a strange mixture of naive and cynical who grows on the reader. I may be wrong about this but it seems to me that he is searching for something that he can’t quite articulate but probably doesn’t exist and this is the nub of the novel, ambiguity. It’s all maybe, perhaps, possibly.
The second half of the novel centres on Barbarotti and his partner Eva Backman’s investigation of a body found at Valdemar’s cabin. Again this is a slow burner with information trickling in and theories abounding. I like Barbarotti and Backman’s relationship, which has a bounce to it that the rather boring Valdemar and Anna don’t, although they can get a bit existential as well.
The Secret Life of Mr Roos is a good read that I can recommend.
October 12, 2020
The Secret Life of Mr Roos is a thrilling crime novel by author Hakan Nesser. It's the third in a series, but it's not necessary to have read the previous novels to understand this one.
Originally written in Swedish, this book translates extremely well. Its a gripping story that had me continuing reading long after I'd planned to stop.
I definitely recommend this one to crime fans! It was such an entertaining read.
Thank you so much to Panmacmillan for providing me with a copy of this book to review.
Originally written in Swedish, this book translates extremely well. Its a gripping story that had me continuing reading long after I'd planned to stop.
I definitely recommend this one to crime fans! It was such an entertaining read.
Thank you so much to Panmacmillan for providing me with a copy of this book to review.
December 26, 2022
Nezinu gan, vai to vispār var nosaukt par detektīvromānu.
Bet man patika Rūsa kungs, un Annai arī nebija ne vainas.
Ļoti rāms darbs, kur pēdu dzīšana ir tikai blakusprodukts.
Atļāvos 3,5 🌟 noapaļot uz augšu.
Bet man patika Rūsa kungs, un Annai arī nebija ne vainas.
Ļoti rāms darbs, kur pēdu dzīšana ir tikai blakusprodukts.
Atļāvos 3,5 🌟 noapaļot uz augšu.
November 2, 2020
Ante Valdemar Roos is 59 and bored with his life. He has worked for the same company for most of his life and lives with his wife and two stepdaughters, all of whom seem to ignore him. His most treasured memories are of time spent with his father in the woods and when Roos wins on the pools he decides to make changes. Without telling his wife he quits his job and buys an isolated cabin in the woods, every day he sets off for work as normal but spends the day in quiet contemplation until one day he finds a stranger has taken up residence. Anna is 21 and has run away from an addiction centre and an abusive relationship. She and Roos find companionable comfort in a strange friendship until one day Anna’s crazy ex catches up with her.
This book is a real slow burn. Roos is an engaging and curmudgeonly character who spends the first half of the book being introduced and developing his odd double life. The second half of the book suddenly becomes a murder investigation with the team of Barbarotti and Backmann, quirky detectives in pursuit of the truth. This half is also incredibly satisfying and the final act is given a little bit of uncertainty because that just seems right.
This book is a real slow burn. Roos is an engaging and curmudgeonly character who spends the first half of the book being introduced and developing his odd double life. The second half of the book suddenly becomes a murder investigation with the team of Barbarotti and Backmann, quirky detectives in pursuit of the truth. This half is also incredibly satisfying and the final act is given a little bit of uncertainty because that just seems right.
January 10, 2014
I keep liking the Barbarotti books more by each volume in the series. This one was definitely the best one of the three I've read so far. A very special tone, a very special soul – philosophical and existential... and a page-turner crime novel. All in one. I can't think of any author besides Nesser who'd pull that off...!
January 7, 2021
Morality. The bigger picture. 'It doesn't get much better than this' is the theme and phrase woven throughout. Intriguing characters. Different characters, Valdemar is compared to a glass of tepid water, a sofa... and yet is endearing in his own right. Well worth a read if only to take you into the calmness and reflection of a cottage deep in the Swedish woods.
November 1, 2020
Nesser is a master storyteller. The most exciting element in his work is his magnificent characterization and well-crafted prose.
The Secret Life of Mr. Roos excels in this and is the strongest of the three Barbarotti novels translated to English so far.
The Secret Life of Mr. Roos excels in this and is the strongest of the three Barbarotti novels translated to English so far.
November 9, 2020
Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the arc of The Secret Life Of Mr Roos.
4 star read- this was a great read for me, loved everything about this book, characters, plot, just all around great book, recommend to all who like the sound of this book!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 star read- this was a great read for me, loved everything about this book, characters, plot, just all around great book, recommend to all who like the sound of this book!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
April 9, 2018
Read it in German. I really enjoyed this book! First one from Nesser I read. Loved the sense of humor!! Just felt that the very end was a bit dissatisfying. I’ll surely read more of nesser’s books.
February 16, 2024
La forma de narración es muy original pero le quita misterio a la trama.
March 30, 2023
Da jeg skaffet meg denne tredje boka i Håkan Nessers «Barbarotti-serie», tenkte jeg at «Beretningen om Herr Roos» var en merkelig tittel på en krimroman. Etter å ha lest den, er ikke det merkelig i det hele tatt. Dette ER nemlig beretningen om 59 år gamle Ante Valdemar Roos, og hvilken tsunamibølge av hendelser han blåser liv i ved å (for første gang) reise seg fra stolen, og gjøre noe ingen forventer av ham. Herr Roos er nemlig ikke hvem som helst. Eller … det er vel kanskje akkurat det han er …? Vi snakker tross alt om verdens kjedeligste mann her. Han er så satt, så hverdagslig, så humørløs og så dørgende flat, at en kjenner angsten krype nedover ryggen de første sidene.
Så kan en jo spørre seg … Er en slik karakter noe å skrive en krimroman om? Vel, Nesser gjør det, og han gjør det (selvsagt) helt mesterlig. Faktisk gjør han det så grundig at vår politietterforsker Gunnar Barbarotti og hans team blir avspist med en tredjedel av boka. Resten er satt av til Valdemar Roos, og hans besynderlige oppvåkning fra dvalen.
Uten å røpe for mye, kan vi si såpass som at den dagen Herr Roos først reiser seg fra stolen, setter seg i bilen, og tilsynelatende forsvinner fra jordens overflate, etterlater han et jordskjelv av hendelser som innbefatter et rystende drap, et ubegripelig svik, og en reise ut i verden med en narkoman jente som er nesten 40 år yngre enn ham.
Som vanlig, klarer Nesser å gjøre en slik historie både interessant, fascinerende og gripende. Språklig vakkert og nesten hjerteskjærende melankolsk. Nydelige karaktertegninger. En nesten absurd hang til skjebnesvangre tilfeldigheter, og en menneskelig innsikt en lar seg imponere av. Ikke akkurat halsbrekkende spennende til krim å være, kanskje … men det gjør liksom ikke så mye. Et lite trekk på terningen for at jeg savner mer av Barbarotti. Halve boka går før han dukker opp.
Så kan en jo spørre seg … Er en slik karakter noe å skrive en krimroman om? Vel, Nesser gjør det, og han gjør det (selvsagt) helt mesterlig. Faktisk gjør han det så grundig at vår politietterforsker Gunnar Barbarotti og hans team blir avspist med en tredjedel av boka. Resten er satt av til Valdemar Roos, og hans besynderlige oppvåkning fra dvalen.
Uten å røpe for mye, kan vi si såpass som at den dagen Herr Roos først reiser seg fra stolen, setter seg i bilen, og tilsynelatende forsvinner fra jordens overflate, etterlater han et jordskjelv av hendelser som innbefatter et rystende drap, et ubegripelig svik, og en reise ut i verden med en narkoman jente som er nesten 40 år yngre enn ham.
Som vanlig, klarer Nesser å gjøre en slik historie både interessant, fascinerende og gripende. Språklig vakkert og nesten hjerteskjærende melankolsk. Nydelige karaktertegninger. En nesten absurd hang til skjebnesvangre tilfeldigheter, og en menneskelig innsikt en lar seg imponere av. Ikke akkurat halsbrekkende spennende til krim å være, kanskje … men det gjør liksom ikke så mye. Et lite trekk på terningen for at jeg savner mer av Barbarotti. Halve boka går før han dukker opp.
January 4, 2021
Mr. Nesser is writing the BArbarotti series in a different "set up" . The entire first half of the book is all about the background and lives of the victims. Detective Barbarotti does not even get mentioned until the 2nd half of the book. I haven't quite decided if I like that or not yet LOL I mean, it is nice to have all of that information about the victims - but Barbarrot does not even get mentioned until page 235
Anyway - Mr. Roos leads a very boring life - and is not a particularly happy man and is around 59/60 years of age. He wins the lottery - but doesn;t tell anyone - including his wife. Instead he quits his job - and buys a little house out in the woods. He stilll lives at home with his wife - and seems to go to work every day as usual - except he goes to his little house in the woods - instead of his job.
At the same time we have, Ann. She is a young girl who has gotten mixed up with the wrong people. And she goes to a retreat for young women to get clean from drugs. A place that is not exactly very well run. - and she runs away from the retreat - but no one reports her missing. Ann has a boyfriend who is a "very bad" person - and she does not let him know where she is either - because he is dangerous.
This is where 'things" begin to happen -Mr. Roos and Ann intersect
And at that point Detective Barbarotti is introduced
I enjoyed the book - and I "think" I like this new set up. One more book and then I'll know for sure. And yes, I will buy the next book. Because even though I always think the first part is rather long while I am reading it - I somehow really get pulled in.
Anyway - Mr. Roos leads a very boring life - and is not a particularly happy man and is around 59/60 years of age. He wins the lottery - but doesn;t tell anyone - including his wife. Instead he quits his job - and buys a little house out in the woods. He stilll lives at home with his wife - and seems to go to work every day as usual - except he goes to his little house in the woods - instead of his job.
At the same time we have, Ann. She is a young girl who has gotten mixed up with the wrong people. And she goes to a retreat for young women to get clean from drugs. A place that is not exactly very well run. - and she runs away from the retreat - but no one reports her missing. Ann has a boyfriend who is a "very bad" person - and she does not let him know where she is either - because he is dangerous.
This is where 'things" begin to happen -Mr. Roos and Ann intersect
And at that point Detective Barbarotti is introduced
I enjoyed the book - and I "think" I like this new set up. One more book and then I'll know for sure. And yes, I will buy the next book. Because even though I always think the first part is rather long while I am reading it - I somehow really get pulled in.
September 25, 2020
Visit the locations in The Secret of Mr Roos
There's always a reason to read a Håkan Nesser
Book 3 of the Barbarotti series. This is what I would call slow paced Swedish Noir with a sting in its tail. Characters with more layers than an onion and just as tricky to get to without it affecting your breathing and ability to see clearly. Motivations and secrets come to light and you never know who or why...
Take this story - a man comes into a windfall but decides not to tell his family. He moves into a small cabin in the woods. He's just lost his job but pretends to his wife that he's going to work each day. He's an odd character in more ways than one too!
What follows is a slow building novel with red herrings, shades of doubt and twisty characters blending in that Swedish forest. When Mr Roos goes to his woodland cabin, he's not the only one no -one else knows is there....
November 9, 2022
Hakan Nesser has always been one of my favorite authors. This is another great story told by a master story teller. Poor Valdemar is unhappy with his life and when the unlikely opportunity arrises to do something about it, he jumps at the chance. He is very clever and then a stranger enters his life. At first he is wary but the stranger actually enhances his life but a tragedy forces them to flee. The story is told with feeling. The ending was something that I felt would happen but I did feel that a bit was left hanging.
April 2, 2021
I loved this book. The characters and plot had depth and credibility, unlike so much crime fiction these days. In fact, the crime and investigators don’t even appear until the middle of the novel, although the mystery is there from the start. This is a thinking person’s novel which digs deep into the psyche and motivations of the protagonists. They are fleshed out as real human beings who question their actions and feelings and are not mere caricatures or stereotypes. I have discovered a new favourite author and I’m looking forward to reading more of his excellent writing.
December 18, 2021
Tāds Nesera stila stāsts ar visu ko - dzīvi, fantāzijām, humoru, līķīti. Viss it kā labi, bet mazliet aizpļāpājās vietām, un galvenā loģikas kļūda - manuprāt - kāpēc gan tāda veida cilvēks kā Valdemārs neizdarīja loģiskāko sev atbilstošo darbību - nenoraka līķītī kaut kur dziļi mežā un nedzīvoja tālāk?
Jā, šis jutājums mani patiešām nomoka vairāk, nekā tasm kur tagad ir Valdemārs - Buenosairesā vai citur:)
Jā, šis jutājums mani patiešām nomoka vairāk, nekā tasm kur tagad ir Valdemārs - Buenosairesā vai citur:)
March 9, 2021
This is an extremely unusual crime thriller in its impressive character development and scene-setting. More of a philosophical reflection than a book with a true “mystery”, but I loved it for that. Beautifully translated.
December 5, 2023
Life never gets any better than this. That was the first thing he would write down, that would be the nub of it all. Perhaps he could add that you had to stop, because if you didn’t stop and slow the pace, as it were, you would never notice the moment when it was at its very best. p122
Håkan Nesser is firmly up there as one of favourite Scandi Crime authors and the Inspector Barbarotti series never fails to disappoint. The Secret Life of Mr. Roos is one of the more unique Nordic Noir novels that I have ever read. It is the third in the series and Nesser plots an intriguing narrative that is less about crime than it is about a seemingly boring and dull 59 year old man whose life trajectory undergoes a serious transformation in a way that seems perfectly obvious and yet so unexpected and inexplicable.
Ante Valdemar Roos (gosh I love that name) seems like a perfectly ordinary man, completely dissatisfied yet somehow unable to change anything when suddenly he is propelled on a pathway that he would hardly be able to fathom yet seems so logical for him. Creating a safe space where he can just exist on his own for even a few hours every day seems wonderful and indeed this secret life is in so many ways. Before he knows it, life is changed forever, seemingly for the worst but actually for the better.
This is a story of life. The story of post mid life for a man. I found myself totally rooting for Mr. Roos and feeling like I understood him in so many ways. In some ways I think men would identify with this book more than women. Not sure if that’s correct or even something I should write. It just seems like there is so much for to Ante Valdemar Roos than meets the eye. Misunderstood to himself and others, yet at an opportunity, seizes the moment to somehow find himself, charting a trajectory that seemed safe and predictable but set a course of events that altered life forever.
I’ve got so much to reflect on with this one. 5 stars from me.
Håkan Nesser is firmly up there as one of favourite Scandi Crime authors and the Inspector Barbarotti series never fails to disappoint. The Secret Life of Mr. Roos is one of the more unique Nordic Noir novels that I have ever read. It is the third in the series and Nesser plots an intriguing narrative that is less about crime than it is about a seemingly boring and dull 59 year old man whose life trajectory undergoes a serious transformation in a way that seems perfectly obvious and yet so unexpected and inexplicable.
Ante Valdemar Roos (gosh I love that name) seems like a perfectly ordinary man, completely dissatisfied yet somehow unable to change anything when suddenly he is propelled on a pathway that he would hardly be able to fathom yet seems so logical for him. Creating a safe space where he can just exist on his own for even a few hours every day seems wonderful and indeed this secret life is in so many ways. Before he knows it, life is changed forever, seemingly for the worst but actually for the better.
This is a story of life. The story of post mid life for a man. I found myself totally rooting for Mr. Roos and feeling like I understood him in so many ways. In some ways I think men would identify with this book more than women. Not sure if that’s correct or even something I should write. It just seems like there is so much for to Ante Valdemar Roos than meets the eye. Misunderstood to himself and others, yet at an opportunity, seizes the moment to somehow find himself, charting a trajectory that seemed safe and predictable but set a course of events that altered life forever.
I’ve got so much to reflect on with this one. 5 stars from me.
February 29, 2024
Tento díl nemá s detektivkou nic společného. Kdo čeká severskou krimi, bude zklamán. Já jsem se těšila na Barbarottiho kšefty s bohem, ale ani těch jsem se nedočkala. To bylo ale moje jediné zklamání.
Jinak jsem si román (audioknihu) moc užila. Bylo to příjemné až relaxační čtení. Jen nečekejte tu detektivku, no.
Jinak jsem si román (audioknihu) moc užila. Bylo to příjemné až relaxační čtení. Jen nečekejte tu detektivku, no.
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