The Cruel Stars of the Night

Ann Lindell #6

by Kjell Eriksson

Page edges tanned, bookseller's pencil marks. Orders received by 3pm Sent from the UK that weekday.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Scandinavian Literature, Sweden, Nordic Noir, Thriller

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Karl Stig Kjell Eriksson is a Swedish crime-writer, author of the novels The Princess of Burundi and The Cruel Stars of the Night, the former of which was awarded the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy Best Swedish Crime Novel Award in 2002. They have both recently been translated into English by Ebba Segerberg.

Series:
* Ann Lindell Mystery

Reviews

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm always hesitant to criticize the translation of a book from another language into English. After all, English is not an easy language, and I think it must be very difficult to convey the meaning of another language into English in a smooth, easy-flowing manner. That being the case, I still must say that I found this particular translation by Ebba Segerberg of Kjell Eriksson's The Cruel Stars of the the Night from Swedish into English to be particularly clunky and stilted. It is likely that it contributed to my overall somewhat negative opinion of the book.

Having recently read and been entertained by Eriksson's first book to be translated into English, The Princess of Burundi, I decided to push ahead with reading this second book in translation (actually the sixth in the series). I found it much less enjoyable.

The plot here was rather confusing. I was well over halfway through the book before I really started to sort it out and make sense of it.

It began with a woman reporting her father, a professor of around seventy years, as missing. We don't really learn too much about the police's response to this report. Presumably, they investigate, but we're given no particulars.

About a month after that disappearance, we have the first of three murders of seventyish men. The other two murders follow within weeks, but at first there doesn't appear to be any connection between the incidents, other than the fact that all three men were bashed on the head with a blunt instrument of some sort. They do not seem to have known each other in life and they all lived quietly and had no obvious enemies.

Meantime, we also get to know more about the woman who had initially reported her father missing - her father who has never turned up. Her name is Laura Hindersten and she seems to be quite crazy. She is obsessed with one of her male co-workers, whom we learn, somewhat belatedly, is married. Laura is determined to have him and vows to get the wife out of the way.

During all this time, the police investigation of the murders is proceeding in a seemingly leisurely fashion. There are no leads and they have little hope of being able to solve the crimes.

Then a former (I think) police official has an epiphany while playing chess. He sees that his opponent is using the strategy from a little known match that only a chess nerd would be familiar with, and, suddenly, he is convinced that the murderer is following the same moves in choosing his victims. He notifies the police of his theory and they take it seriously. It's a weird theory, but the author spends considerable time developing it.

Once again in this book as in the previous one, Inspector Ann Lindell who leads the team at the Uppsala police department's Violent Crimes division seems almost secondary to the story. We learn more about her lonely personal life and are told that she's devoted to her career. Her co-workers are apparently very fond of her and loyal to her, but we don't really know the source of those feelings. Perhaps they were developed in some of the books that have not been translated into English.

In addition to the stilted translation, there are red herrings galore in this book, to the point of their being distracting and ultimately annoying. There are more red herrings than red meat.

The plot develops slowly and methodically. There's nothing wrong with that, but after such a slow buildup, one hopes for a satisfying climax and it just doesn't come. The ending is so ambiguous as to leave us hanging. Is this to be continued in a later book? There's no indication of that, but it would certainly have been good to know exactly what happened to the villain of the piece.

[Mike Cuthbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eriksson is a stylist who seems to find a congenial spot in Nordic Noir. But he gets so involved in his sidebars and secondary characters and situations that the plot slows down, drags, and sometimes disappears. So it is here. Ann Lindell, the main detective, is feeling middle-aged and gets horny frequently without doing much about it. Laura Hindersten is mentally off and also horny. She finds her solution in Stig, a married man and thinks they will live happily in Italy once his divorce from Jessica comes through. Unfortunately for the plot, this story takes over and dominates the fact that four old men have been either murdered or disappeared recently, including her father. This being Nordic Noir, the relationship between Laura and her father is complex and often miserable, but since he has disappeared and cannot do anything about his problems at the moment, much of what is written about him merely serves to slow down the progression of the story. Fanciful scenarios for the old men are created by the police in order to start the cases but they are nothing but fancy. Nothing comes of them. As the novel gets to the place where it might save itself by coming to a thrilling conclusion, it merely peters out in those secondary plots that are not worth solving, or even considering. All the momentum of a good Noir is lost and Ann Lindell serves as a distraction rather than the center of the finale. I was anxious to finish this, not because of the absorbing nature of the events but merely to get Eriksson to just shut up and tell the story. This was not a good experience.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. This nicely lasted for exactly one whole return rail journey, perfect. It is clear fairly early on (to the reader) who the murderer is, but the reader is privy to a great deal which the police do not know, so the POV is not the usual one. We do not know why or how and we have to work out the motive, which is far from clear.
There is a great deal of wanton destruction in this story (if you're a lover of old books, be warned - there is an upsetting scene!) Also much broken glass and damage to various artefacts. Ann Lindell seems to be embarking on a new relationship, and she makes a serious mistake in the investigation. A good page-turner.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last fifty pages or so are great. The rest, however, are a little boring. A bit too slow moving for my tastes. The structure is very similar to The Princess of Burundi, and it's really not my cup of tea. I prefer police procedurals that are entirely from the police's point of view. I like the sense of discovery; it's lost in novels like this where you get to know more than the protagonists.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this, Eriksson’s second book to be translated into English, we once again meet up with Ann Lindell and her team from the Uppsala police department’s Violent Crimes division. This time, the team is called in to investigate the seemingly motiveless deaths of three elderly men, all very quiet, all living alone. The police, in the search for anything which might lead them to a killer, try to fathom why these men were killed and what tied their lives together. Lindell gets the idea that perhaps she should make the examination broader, and begins comes up with a man who turned up missing around the same area some time back. It seems that a Laura Hindersten had turned in a missing person report when her father, a professor with a love of Petrarch, went missing. Laura’s story interweaves with that of the police investigation, and the combination of the two lead to an incredible read.

I love the way Eriksson writes and I love the slow and methodical pacing of this novel, even though many readers complained that it was too slow. I liked the characters and I liked the dual plotline. What I didn’t like was that the author allowed his main character, Lindell, to make a really stupid mistake that I don’t think was in keeping with the police side of her character, in order to build to a bit of a hair-raising climax. This error, especially for a writer of Eriksson’s caliber, would normally be (for me) an unforgiveable lapse, but the rest of it was so good that I could overlook it, once I got past my initial annoyance. I can definitely recommend Cruel Stars of the Night to those who enjoy a really good police procedural, and to those who also enjoy psychological suspense. It’s also a bit more gritty than the lighthearted books cozy readers tend to enjoy, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it for that crowd. This author is also definitely a must for those who are exploring the realm of Scandinavian crime fiction.

[Geraldine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t connect or invest in any of the characters. There was too many being thrown in that I was desperately trying to distinguish and remember who people were. I think this was due to the lack of information around the characters. Physical descriptions were vague if they existed at all, and biographical descriptions were just as vague. I had nothing to anchor the characters to their names and stories. Perhaps this was something that was lost in the translation to English. Something that was also lost was the flow between sentences, paragraphs and chapters. Really did not enjoy this book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The current overall score of 3.67 seems just about right to me. The plot was consistently interesting, although I felt the pace dropped a little too often. The team is interesting but I think there a pre tow many of them, making it hard to identify with individuals. The spirit of Wallendar seems to run through the narrative. I have others to read and lol forward to them, without them having forc.ed their way up the pile.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is even less mystery than usual in this one - the narrative splits between the police, particularly the detective Ann Lindel (who is the central character) and her colleagues, and the murderer. The description of the murderer and her thinking I found terribly unappealing and I almost gave up on this one, but eventually got used to her. (I guess - anyway, I finished.)

A clever aspect that I liked is that at one point a failed track of the investigation suggests a conspiracy to assassinate the queen of Sweden - which creates a fair amount of fuss.

I spent some time trying to understand why I found the murderer so unpleasant to read about in this novel. Certainly many such police procedurals feature an insane perpetrator, so it can't be that alone. I think that the character as portrayed was so openly crazy that it seemed too improbable that she was not locked up already. The reaction of some central characters to her seemed all wrong - why didn't they see how crazy she was given how she was described?? And like that.

The description of the police makes up somewhat for the faults with the murderer and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Paul Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a rather slow reader, rarely is a book a "page turner" for me. An exception to this was Kjell Eriksson's The Cruel Stars of the Night. I read the book at record speed in two days! Why?

First of all I think that the translation must be excellent since the words flow smoothly without the jarring transitions that sometimes characterize translated works. It was poetic mystery writing.

Another reason for my enthusiastic reading was that the book "hooked" me. Not so much because of the typical whodunnit outcome but rather because of the in-depth character depiction and meaningful description. The characters, often in the process of doing one thing, find their minds reminiscing on a biographical memory that enhanced the meaning of their current actions. This created fully rounded characters that the reader gets to know and care about.

Many readers were frustrated that the serial killer was not particularly difficult to identify. True, but the book was so enjoyable that the guessing game was surpassed by its' providing an explanation of the human character and circumstances that co-wrote these tragedies; egotism, disloyalty, and family dysfunction.

[Deane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read of Eriksson's....first was The Princess of Burundi...and like that one, I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery which involves the police in Uppsala, Sweden with Inspector Ann Lindell being the main character. I like the way we are getting to know more personal information about Lindell and her co-workers and look forward to getting the next book from the library today "Stone Coffin".

The murderer was the person I thought it would be but it was a maze to wander through to find I was correct and that maze kept me reading until 1 a.m.....a very interesting page turner for me.

[Helen G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was my first book by this author and introduction to the main protagonist. I found her interesting and liked the personal and professional look at her life. Although I though her reaction to the ‘new man’ a bit unusual.
As to the main story I though the portrayal of the troubled Laura realistic and as tormented as she is. I felt like shouting at ‘Stig’ to run away even before we find out her history.
Enjoyable intro to the author.

[Glennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I simply could not get into the book. I didn't have any interest in the characters. Maybe something gets lost in translation, but I find the writing style to be very choppy and it was not holding my interest. I've marked it as "read", just to leave a review, but I didn't finish it.

[LuAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last 100+ pages of this book were the most engaging in the book. The rest of the book dragged on and the end of the book was rather disappointing and unsatisfying. Hard to keep track of who's who and how they all relate to one another at times.

[Mary Ahlgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant exploration of a disturbed mind.

[Chris Demer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engrossing murder mystery by a Swedish writer featuring Inspector Ann Lindell. The setting is Uppsala. A young woman comes into the police station to report that her father, with whom she lived, has gone missing. Within a few days, two local farmers are found bludgeoned to death.

The father has apparently disappeared for good, but is there any connection between his disappearance and the murders of the two farmers? It seems strange, but with her team of investigators, some apparently unimportant finds form a tenuous connection.

Meanwhile, the daughter of the missing professor seems to be becoming unraveled. She holds a job, but begins a torrid affair with a married co-worker. She claims she will become free by burning a large collection of books belonging to her father and clearing out the house of all his things.

Then there is the premature death of her mother who supposedly fell down the cellar steps and died years ago

As Lindell and her team get closer to suspecting Laura, their persistence puts Anne in serious jeopardy

Threads coalesce as Laura becomes ever more deranged. There are in fact connections.

I look forward to other mysteries by this author!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When The Princess of Burundi was published last year by Thomas Dunne Books, American critics hailed Kjell Eriksson as Sweden's Ed McBain, and they compared him to Henning Mankell. Now The Cruel Stars of the Night, the next in this internationally acclaimed crime series, unveils a spellbinding new tale again featuring police inspector Ann Lindell.

The Cruel Stars of the Night opens one snowy day when thirty-five-year-old Laura Hindersten goes to the police to report that her father, a local professor, is missing. Inspector Ann Lindell and her colleagues can find no motive for the man's disappearance. And when the corpses of two elderly men do turn up, neither of the dead men is the missing academic.

Unexpectedly, the police get help from one of the professor's colleagues, who believes there is an astonishing link between the murders and the disappearance of Professor Hindersten. But as the pressure on Lindell increases dramatically, she is shocked to discover that the killer has many more diabolical schemes in store.

Combining heart-pounding suspense with brilliant psychological insight, The Cruel Stars of the Night moves like a comet as it approaches the cliff-hanging climax. It is sure to win Kjell Eriksson a whole new galaxy of American fans. (less)

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second title in a series that has good potential. Here, unfortunately, there is not one appealing character beyond the main one, Ann Lindell, a young single mother and detective.

The main bad person was just unnatural, even for a crazy person. Not calculating enough. Not evil enough. Ann's love interest did not have an ounce of sex appeal beyond being nice looking. Really? Her boss was pretty ineffective. Another couple was cold on one half and simply ridiculous on the other half. All of these could have been developed to move the story toward a darker tone or some action that added to the tension.

Names: I like Swedish noir, but for once the sheer number of unfamiliar hyphenated names got in the way. Hard to figure out who was who and even if they were a male or female character.

Last - there were many references to Italy and Roman history in particular. This seemed to detract a bit from the Swedish setting. These were old literary references and I suspect most readers would find this being a bit over their head or beyond their ken or interest.

[Carolyn Crocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The psychology of the deranged killer and the psychology of the individual cops who together must make sense of the murders alternate throughout this mystery. The dreams, fantasies and obsessions of the killer contrast with the mundane, everyday work-life and relationship issues that preoccupy the police trying to solve the crime, but also live their own lives. Ann Lindell and her colleagues are not Sherlock Holmes.

"the place suggested peacefulness, but loneliness even more, especially like this in the final days of October. May probably looked different, more optimistic. Now nature was switching off, dropping leaves, closing in around piles of rock and underbrush. She stopped and looked right into the vegetation surrounding the house. Static. The wind had died down. She imagined funeral wreaths. Fir branches. Bells that rang out in a doomsdayish way on a bare autumn day over a cowering congregation that tried to minimize its movements." p.13

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little on the plodding side, partly because of the steady attention to Ann Lindell's personal life. The elongated ending felt like a conventional action-movie climax, but with a little less action (and with no real suspense). Also found Lindell a rather frustrating character here; she is supposedly the best detective on the team but is prone to acting without informing colleagues what she is doing and to not entirely trusting them, as well as making odd decisions about her personal life. The worst moment of the story: one of her older colleagues describe what he thinks the murder suspect is like, and Lindell remains oblivious to the fact that she has just had a long talk with a person very much like that about a day earlier. Thought I'd continue reading Eriksson's work because I liked his Princess of Burundi somewhat better. Now it seems to fall into a category of too much sticking to genre conventions and too little tight editing.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

The structure of this book was not for me. Equal time was given to the solving of the murders and the painfully boring why of the murders.

I did enjoy the Eriksson characters. Both main and minor. Their personalities were revealed through conversation and reaction to other characters. Almost like a play unfolding. Quite lean writing here and I was happy to discover this aspect of the book.

His two main women characters though...I cannot decide if the author wrote them flawed or if he actually thinks this of women.
These two are not complete without a man. Having a man is the priority.

I enjoy Scandinavian thrillers. But from this author?? Not so much.

[Steve Wilkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An effort to create a compelling psychological mystery. The premise is that three seemingly unrelated murders and one disappearance have taken place. The clues are few and far between, so the Uppsala detectives keep revisiting the murder sites in an effort to find more clues. The principle detective and protagonist, Ann Lindell, is herself something of a psychological case, so there are behavioral parallels between her and the murderer, as both display obsessive behaviors. Lindell's obsessive behavior leads to one of the tensest endings I've read in a while. It's a good mystery -- well plotted with good characters and good dialogue.

[Marssie Mencotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful combination of crazy and gentle. The detectives support one another. The chief of detectives supports his staff. They are meticulous but the connection is so personal to the killer that the clues are vague and from long ago. This was a slow moving but nicely building detective novel. I appreciated all of the well written characters and their weaknesses and strengths. It was more psychological than some but everything is supported and enhanced by their behavior. It is a thoughtfully written crime story with a twisted quest at its heart. Excellent reading. I can't wait to read another of Eriksson's books.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another crime audiobook to fill my holiday but this one was a bit of a dud for me. It was too slow, alternating between the detective chapters and other characters, including the murderer. I quite liked the chapters with Detective Lindell and probably would have enjoyed a standard police procedural book that was more about her and her team. The rest, with the other characters, were either dull or seemed superfluous to the story and felt like filler, especially later in the book when the main events were reaching their climax.

[Frances Donovan]

I am amazed at the sloppiness in the last chapters of this book. If the Swedish police are so stupid as the detective Lindell who knows who the murderer is but still offers herself up as a sacrifice Sweden is in trouble. Then, unbelieveably, the entire force is too stupid to check out the cases Lindell has been working on, too unintelligent to send people to check on 3 murder sites and 1 possible?? Then she's almost left to die under a bathtub?
This book became a cruel one in its' insulting last chapters..no more of this author for me.

[Rob Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this book, largely through reading in a disjointed way. And that probably explains why it took me a while to understand who the killer obviously was. But after that I really appreciated the way the book was constructed to bring our heroine closer and closer to the baddie, and also the way the two protagonists were portrayed as very human people. A series to read more of.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished my first book by this writer. Perhaps it is the difficulty of translating into English that made this a bit awkward in spots. There were great ideas to build the plot and the characters but they all seem to have been cut short. For example there seemed to be too many investigative characters with no real role in the book.

[Jane Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at a charity shop as I wanted something to read and was too far from the library. I'm glad I did. Sometimes books like this get a little lost in translation but the story line and characters were well described and mostly believable - certainly could relate to the police. Pulled me in enough to want to read another by this author.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this book was wonderful. Loved the psychological aspects but a detective doing something illogical that endangered his/her life grated on me. Would a detective really be that stupid? I would have given this five stars if not for that. Can’t wait to read more in the series and will hope for less stupidity!

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is too bad that I didn't write about this book soon after I read it. I now only remember small bits. I remember liking it, thinking about the title, appreciating the complexity. But I don't remember details at all.

[hugo van der wildt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Een van de betere Zweeds vertellers. Misschien want het was soms langdradig.
We weten vrij snel wie de dader is en daar door verliezen we veel en zeer snel de spanning in het verhaal. Enkel het motief is niet duidelijk.
De schrijver zou behoren tot de allerbeste maar zeker niet met deze thriller.