Den mekaniske kvinnen

by Ingvar Ambjørnsen

Victor von Falk ist Privatdetektiv und wohnt in St. Georg, dem anrüchigen Viertel gleich hinter dem Hamburger Hauptbahnhof. Drogenprobleme sind sein tägliches Brot, und der Auftrag einer Prostituierten führt ihn einmalmehr ins Heroingeschäft.
Doch seine neue Klientin ist skurril: Ihre Beine sind Prothesen, aber ihre Geschäfte laufen nicht schlecht. Die «mechanische Frau» führt Falk an Orte und zu Menschen des Milieus, die selbst er als Insider der Szene bislang nicht kannte.

Genres: Roman, Mystery, Novels

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ingvar Even Ambjørnsen-Haefs (1956-2025) was a Norwegian writer. He is best known for his "Elling" tetralogy: Utsikt til paradiset (1993), Fugledansen (1995), Brødre i blodet (1996), and Elsk meg i morgen (1999).

Brødre i blodet ("Blood brothers") was turned into a successful movie, entitled Elling, which received an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category in 2001. The English translation of the novel is called Beyond the Great Indoors.

His debut novel was a semi-autobiography called 23-salen ("The 23rd Row"), in which he criticized Norway's efforts to take care of psychically challenged individuals. In all his novels he has spoken the outsiders' cause, as he did in his break-through novel Hvite Niggere ("White Niggers") in 1986. The novel is about a young man who leads a life somewhat on the edges of normal society.

He is also known for the youth's book series "Pelle og Proffen" which circles around two detective teenagers, getting involved in all kinds of mysteries or crimes involving drugs, pollution and neo-Nazism among other things. He started this project after having read some of Franklin W. Dixon's books about The Hardy Boys. The books Døden på Oslo S, Giftige Løgner, and De Blå Ulvene of this series were also turned into successful movies. In 2005 the book Drapene i Barkvik ("The murders in Barkvik") appeared, about the teenager Fillip Moberg attempting to solve an axe murder in a small Norwegian village.

Ambjørnsen has received many prizes for his writing. Among them is the prize for the 80s best book for children and young adults (Pelle and Proffen books), the Tabu prize in 2001, Telenor Culture Award 2002, and the Brage Prize 1995.

His three Samson and Roberto books have become particularly popular in Russia, in part due to the illustrations by Nikolai Vorontsov, which also contribute carefully orchestrated local Russian-related colloquialisms to the stories.

Reviews

[Mikkel Lahlum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Synes at Ambjørnsen i detektiv krim-format fungerer dårlig, og språket er på grensen til komisk til tider. Historien er lite fengende, og det er hverken særlig spennende eller smart til slutt. Synes at settingen i Hamburg fungerer, og detektiv von Falk kunne for all del vært på høyde med Harry Hole dersom han ble plassert i en bedre krimgåte enn dette. Det meste som funker i Pelle og Proffen-bøkene funker ikke her, og det overrasker meg litt at Ambjørnsen ga seg ut på en såpass lite original bokserie som dette da det virker som at han har ingenting nytt å tilføye i sjangeren.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stjerne til 4 minus

[Stein Roar]

Ingvar Ambjørnsen vant Rivertonprisen for den mekaniske kvinnen i 1990, et godt valg av juryen. Ambjørnsens beste krim-roman. Boka handler om privatdetektiv Victor von Falk i Hamburg. Han tar på seg et oppdrag fra den prostituerte Maria Dammert, som har fått tilnavnet den mekaniske kvinnen på grunn av sine to beinproteser. Han vikles etter hvert inn i et farlig spill med mord og narkotika. Godt skrevet og spennende!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of hard-pressed to say what I thought of this. It was a slow read, since my Norwegian reading speed is sooo much more sluggish than my English. The most enjoyable aspect, I think, was the language -- it was really great at times, there were some fabulous turns of phrase, and I was so astonished to see that the hard-bitten noir voice carried over successfully into Norwegian.

But the plot and characters were only so-so? I don't know. Ugh, I am too sleepy to say smart things.