W późny piątkowy wieczór pogrążona w myślach kobieta wraca do domu obok cmentarza w spokojnym Oskarshamn. Zza ogrodzenia dobiegają dziwne odgłosy. Kiedy próbuje wezwać pomoc, nieoczekiwanie wyrasta przed nią jakaś postać. Napastnik zadaje cios nożem i znika. Ordynator Veronika Lundborg, żona komisarza Claesa Claessona, pełni ostry dyżur w szpitalu i zajmuje się ranną. Operacja przebiega bez komplikacji, pacjentka w stanie stabilnym trafia na salę. Zaledwie kilka godzin później zostaje znaleziona martwa w swoim łóżku. Czy Veronika Lundborg popełniła błąd podczas operacji, czy też za śmiercią kobiety coś się kryje?
I chose this book rather randomly at the library one afternoon on my way home, because I needed a new read for my bedtime session of reading before going to sleep. I didn't know of the author in advance. This novel seemed promising to me in many ways , and in many ways, it did meet my expectations by being very character driven, and by dealing with "ordinary people" and by not being full of gore and gory violence, while still being gifted with a pretty exciting , mystic plot that I wanted to explore and solve. And it was also rather well-written.
I don't know exactly how it fell short (to me) all the same.
Usually, I want as much personal stuff from the chartacters in a mystery novel as possible, and as little action-filmish action as possible .. but I did amazingly sometimes feel a bit bored during this novel while reading the personal parts. I also got a little annoyed about Veronica and her husband and their new pregnancy. I didn't even want this pregnancy to progress. I just thought "Bruh!" (It's not that I'm cold-hearted, as a rule, though).
I can hardly believe that I felt this way, myself. I mean, a bit bored with many of the characters. Maybe it was just that I was not really subconsciously appreciating the main characters, Monica and Claes.. Not really , although they were nice people. I was haPPIEST WHEN READING ABOUT sARA-iDA, Daniel and Louise. They had a kind of literary "X-factor" to them.
Well, as to the story line/plot, it started out well, with a double layered mystery which was yummy in combination with the character drive and the many pages it would last. But it progressed to become too drawn out. We didn't even get to know the cause of death for our vicitm in the hospital till near the end of the story, and it dulled it out. Of course, it was a good aspect that we got knowledge of the trouble Veronica had to go through when she was suspected of medical malpractice, but is seemed strange that the result of the autopsy was so drawn out, also to her and the public , "in the name of the investigation "and that her husband didn't tell her earlier, in spite of his vow of silence, knowing the hell she went through. But now, I will get to my main "complaint": We were enriched with an omniscient narrator, which meant that we saw the story from the side of a lot of different people. We were "inside them" and followed their thoughts and feelings. This naturally also applied to Sara-Ida, whom we got to know well through thick and thin. How could it be that, when we saw it all from her point of view, we were never ever told that she was deeply involved in the murder of the patient, so deeply involved that she could not possibly go around suppressing this completely , mentally, in her everyday life ? It seemed strange to me and perhaps it ultimately helped to make the story flat and untrustworthy for me. If one was in the habit of trying to guess who was the culprit, how could Sara-Ida get into consideration, when we knew what she was thinking and feeling all along in the story, but did not get THAT big deed that she was involved in entwined in all her other thoughts and emotions?
Another thing I didn't understand is why the book is called "The Comforter". The name in itself is really good and mystic, but the book was not so much about Daniel, or about Daniel and Sara-Ida's relationship, that it could justified the title. It was not even enough about Sara-Ida's relationship with men, in general, or her relationship with Daniel specifically, so significant that her nickname for him deserved to be the title of the book. Unless , of course, it applied to all men as a title?!
One more thing is, that the girl who gave birth to the lost child, was also an anti-climax in that she was not really belonging to anything /anyone else in the story - and we never knew who the father of the kid was, or the ENTIRE back- story of it all. I get that one of the themes in the book WAS pregnancy/children/parenting/childlessness -- but still, the lost child was an appendix which was pretty useless , all in all, although it did provide one aspect of women's possible situation with unwanted pregnancy.
PS. Good twist that Sara-Ida's ex-"boyfriend" turned out to be someone we knew. In that way, the story line was tied together well.
Sorry for all my criticism. It is otherwise a good book with a lot of potential.
Jag blev besviken på denna bok. Jag är osäker på om jag har läst Wahlgrens samtliga tidigare böcker med Veronika Lundborg, men i alla fall flera. Denna var trög och långsam att läsa, och själva "thriller"-delen kändes som om den var en bisak - huvuddelen av boken verkade fyllas av matinköp, oro för en dotter, relationsdiskussioner och annat för fallets lösning ovidkommande saker.
Det var lätt att räkna ut ganska tidigt vem som var inblandad; därmed blev enda osäkerhetsfaktorn "varför" och inte "vem".
Jag gillar att Wahlberg inte frossar i detaljer om skadade/döda människor - helt onödigt i min mening.
Wahlberg skriver hyfsat, men här hade hon kunnat göra texten avsevärt mer stringent utan att tappa något, och hade hon därutöver gjort händelseförloppet lite mindre förutsägbart hade det kunnat vara en riktigt trevlig bok.
Man börjar känna igen Wahlbergs stil: småputtrigt och slingrande. Skönt när våldet inte blir huvudsaken. Dock undrar jag om jag var okoncentrerad någonstans i mitten, om någon sida saknades eller om passager strukits, för plötsligt dök det upp namn och skeenden som inte hängde ihop med det jag läst tidigare.
3,5 Tydliga personbeskrivningar och bra flyt i berättelsen. Ingen actionrökare, precis, utan istället gediget utredningsarbete - säkerligen realistiskt. Slutet lagom överraskande.
Trøsteren er 3. del af den danske udgivelse om kriminalkommissær Claes Claesson og hans hustru lægen Veronika.
Jeg startede i omvendt rækkefølge, og stiftede mit første bekendtskab med Walberg i de. 4. bog: Tæppehandlerens død. Og blev så begejstret, at jeg simpelthen bare MÅTTE læse alt hvad der ellers var på dansk.
Og denne tredje bog er fuldt på højde med de andre, linjen fortsætte og den sublime forfatterkunst bare fortsætter.
Walbergs univers er mangfoldigt og vanvittig godt beskrevet. Hele miljøet er så varmt og nært beskrevet, så jeg igen er inde under huden på alle i persongalleriet, og lever i Oscarshamn :D
Som vanligt er det ikke de store blodsudgydelser som tager fart, men derimod et plot som psykologisk udvikles og holder hele vejen hjem. Vi læsere er igen med på sidelinjen, og opklaringsarbejdet er atter en gang som taget ud af virkeligheden. Alt er velbeskrevet og ingen lette løsninger finder denne vej.
Karin Wahlberg kan kunsten at skrive en rigtig god ”gammeldags” krimi, hvor personerne og miljøet er i højsædet. Jeg vil igen vove den påstand, at denne forfatter, på mange måder, er uden lige.
Bogen er i stil med de andre, meget let læselig og en pageturner, vupti er den færdig :)
Thilde: jeg er dig evig taknemmelig for at have ført mig ind i dette fantastiske univers :D
Karin Wahlberg: Smid ALT hvad du har i hænderne, og skynd dig at skrive den næste :D
Niet echt spannend boek want het was al snel duidelijk wat er echt aan de hand was. Op een avond wandelt Charlotte naar huis na een samenzijn met enkele vriendinnen bij een van hen thuis. Wanneer ze langs het kerkhof komt, hoort ze een vreemd geluid en gaat erop af. Daarna een knal, pijn en dan niets meer. Kort daarna wordt ze in het ziekenhuis binnengebracht, schotwond in de buik. Chirurg Veronika Lundborg opereert haar en ze komt erdoor. Het gaat zelfs erg goed met haar en al snel verhuist de vrouw naar een gewone kamer. Niet snel daarna sterft ze. Nalatigheid van de chirurg? Die krijgt in ieder geval een klacht aan de broek. De man van Veronika werkt bij de politie en was in eerste instantie betrokken bij het onderzoek naar de schietpartij. Maar nu zijn vrouw verdacht wordt, moet hij zich terugtrekken uit het onderzoek. Veronika en haar mijn zijn veertigers, hebben een volwassen dochter en een peuter en nu komt er nog een baby bij. Extra zorgen want op die leeftijd nog zwanger worden is altijd een risico.
Het boek was niet echt spannend omdat iedereen die geregeld thrillers leest al snel doorheeft wat er aan de hand is. De spanning was er dan ook al snel af. Geen boek dat zal blijven hangen.
Good, but somewhat long and meandering and slow to resolve even when the guilty party seemed clear fairly early on. The question becomes "how did he do it" and even more importantly "will he get away with it?" The author put her main concern into the main characters' feelings and personalities, and in that, the book was excellent. It would be nice if Karin Wahlberg someday got translated into English--her detective/physician husband-and-wife team are very appealing and would fit in the Nordic mystery genre well.