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Hellfire
A mother and child are found dead in an old caravan on a remote piece of land. There is a bloody footprint at the scene.
Meanwhile, another mother confesses to her son that he is adopted. The man who abandoned them, now the focus of the boy's obsession, is not his real father.
Chief Inspector Sejer is tasked with investigating the murder – and soon receives important information about the two families...
Meanwhile, another mother confesses to her son that he is adopted. The man who abandoned them, now the focus of the boy's obsession, is not his real father.
Chief Inspector Sejer is tasked with investigating the murder – and soon receives important information about the two families...
288 pages, Paperback
Published July 25, 2017
117 people are currently reading
790 people want to read
About the author
Karin Fossum
60 books1,138 followersKarin Fossum (née Mathisen) is a Norwegian author of crime fiction,often known there as the "Norwegian queen of crime". She lives in Oslo. Fossum was initially a poet, with her first collection published in 1974 when she was just 20. It won the Tarjei Vesaas' Debutant Prize. She is the author of the internationally successful Inspector Konrad Sejer series of crime novels, which have been translated into over 16 languages. She won the Glass key award for her novel "Don't Look Back", which also won the Riverton Prize, and she was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger in 2005 for "Calling Out For You".
Series:
* Inspector Konrad Sejer
* Eddie Feber
Series:
* Inspector Konrad Sejer
* Eddie Feber
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 224 reviews
June 21, 2016
3.5 Had a hard time deciding what to rate this one because I did admire what the author did here. Somewhat of a departure in format from her others. Starts with the finding of a mother and son stabbed to death in a caravan and it is not graphically described for the squeamish, or at least not overly so. So from the beginning we know the who, and shortly will know who the killer is but not why nor how they connect. Then the back stories of these characters are described in alerting chapters. Of course Inspector Sejer and his team are investigating so we learn about the current investigation. Two mothers and two sons relentlessly marching toward their unknown fate.
Missed seeing more of Sejer, but this is a tightly plotted and well written story. Not as dark as many of hers but just dark enough to entice. There are still many secrets to be revealed, but I am not a big fan of knowing who did it at the beginning of the book. Still, well worth reading especially for Fossum fans and those who like solid, well done stories.
ARC from publisher.
Missed seeing more of Sejer, but this is a tightly plotted and well written story. Not as dark as many of hers but just dark enough to entice. There are still many secrets to be revealed, but I am not a big fan of knowing who did it at the beginning of the book. Still, well worth reading especially for Fossum fans and those who like solid, well done stories.
ARC from publisher.
December 25, 2018
The paths of two single mothers & their sons converge to an inexorable head in a story that is less police procedural and more of a social commentary.
Karin Fossum never flinches from addressing the most heinous of crimes and offering her readers a brutal and devastatingly accurate portrait of the broken society that allows so many to fall by the wayside. Her exactingly precise style of writing with pared-back prose makes for an almost clinical rendering of a cruel fate. In her twelfth novel to feature the thoughtful and compassionate Inspector Konrad Sejer he takes something of a backseat in a story that is less of a police procedural and more of a social commentary. Fossum’s crime novels are not without suspense however and despite the perpetrator being in little doubt from the first few chapters she manages to sustain an extraordinary tense narrative throughout, with an ending that leaves the reader aghast all over again.
July 2005 and the novel opens with Inspector Sejer called to investigate the frenzied murder of a thirty-seven-year-old single mother and her young son, who is just a few days shy of his fifth birthday. Discovered in a dilapidated caravan in a remote area of farmland, one bloodied and distinct footprint and the evident haste of the perpetrators retreat give Sejer every reason to believe that there was a deeper underlying motive driving their murders. How the killer knew where to find the pair on a rare night away from their home and just what they have done to arouse such wrath are just two of many unanswered questions he muses on. The victims are identified as home help, Bonnie Hayden, and her son, Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety and the twosome are devoted to each other. Bonnie’s infirm and geriatric clients and her boss, Ranghild, are all in little doubt as to her kind-hearted nature and devotion to her job. But together with her parents and sole close friend they are of little help to the police as Sejer struggles to build a picture of Bonnie Hayden’s life.
Fossum then takes the story back to December 2004 as she chronicle Bonnie’s day to day life as she goes about her cheerless menial work and buoys the spirit of her gentle son. As their lives move forward to their ultimate fate a second narrative strand is interleaved throughout, this one recounting the story of Thomasine “Mass” Malthe and her twenty-one-year-old son, Eddie. Despite being inquisitive and bright, Eddie suffers from an undiagnosed personality disorder and is on incapacity benefit and classified unfit for work. Strong as an ox and stubborn as a mule, his overriding obsession with locating the father who abandoned them to start a new life with a younger woman dominates their story. Now deceased and buried in Copenhagen, Eddie’s primary interest is in locating his fathers grave and the narrative evidences his determination and focus as he goes about his quest, whilst occasionally pondering on poisoning his nosy neighbours cat and trying not to about a future without his mother.
Fossum’s thoughtful fifty-five-year-old Inspector Konrad Sejer and his junior partner, Jacob Skarre, are an understated presence throughout the novel however their deliberations and gentle but pressing inquiries are handled in the most sensitive of manners. That both detectives are extraordinary affected and intent on seeing justice done is obvious, despite the perpetrator clearly being mentally disturbed and the awareness of the leniency of the Norwegian justice system, which as Sejer reminds Skarre, is the nature of the beast.
As the narrative moves back and forth and the characters develop into fully conceivable figures they each elicit a measure of sympathy. It feels inevitable that the paths of these two families, both of whom have been dealt a difficult hand, will converge and yet exactly how remains shrouded in doubt until just prior to the close. The readers knowledge that the vibrant mother and son who are portrayed in the present-tense are just six-months away from a violent death adds a brooding tone of finality to the entire story.
Gut-wrenching and brilliantly poignant, much of the skill of this novel is in Fossum’s narrative structure and stunningly well realised characters. A moving story of the complicated lives we lead and the secrets we maintain to protect each other.
Karin Fossum never flinches from addressing the most heinous of crimes and offering her readers a brutal and devastatingly accurate portrait of the broken society that allows so many to fall by the wayside. Her exactingly precise style of writing with pared-back prose makes for an almost clinical rendering of a cruel fate. In her twelfth novel to feature the thoughtful and compassionate Inspector Konrad Sejer he takes something of a backseat in a story that is less of a police procedural and more of a social commentary. Fossum’s crime novels are not without suspense however and despite the perpetrator being in little doubt from the first few chapters she manages to sustain an extraordinary tense narrative throughout, with an ending that leaves the reader aghast all over again.
July 2005 and the novel opens with Inspector Sejer called to investigate the frenzied murder of a thirty-seven-year-old single mother and her young son, who is just a few days shy of his fifth birthday. Discovered in a dilapidated caravan in a remote area of farmland, one bloodied and distinct footprint and the evident haste of the perpetrators retreat give Sejer every reason to believe that there was a deeper underlying motive driving their murders. How the killer knew where to find the pair on a rare night away from their home and just what they have done to arouse such wrath are just two of many unanswered questions he muses on. The victims are identified as home help, Bonnie Hayden, and her son, Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety and the twosome are devoted to each other. Bonnie’s infirm and geriatric clients and her boss, Ranghild, are all in little doubt as to her kind-hearted nature and devotion to her job. But together with her parents and sole close friend they are of little help to the police as Sejer struggles to build a picture of Bonnie Hayden’s life.
Fossum then takes the story back to December 2004 as she chronicle Bonnie’s day to day life as she goes about her cheerless menial work and buoys the spirit of her gentle son. As their lives move forward to their ultimate fate a second narrative strand is interleaved throughout, this one recounting the story of Thomasine “Mass” Malthe and her twenty-one-year-old son, Eddie. Despite being inquisitive and bright, Eddie suffers from an undiagnosed personality disorder and is on incapacity benefit and classified unfit for work. Strong as an ox and stubborn as a mule, his overriding obsession with locating the father who abandoned them to start a new life with a younger woman dominates their story. Now deceased and buried in Copenhagen, Eddie’s primary interest is in locating his fathers grave and the narrative evidences his determination and focus as he goes about his quest, whilst occasionally pondering on poisoning his nosy neighbours cat and trying not to about a future without his mother.
Fossum’s thoughtful fifty-five-year-old Inspector Konrad Sejer and his junior partner, Jacob Skarre, are an understated presence throughout the novel however their deliberations and gentle but pressing inquiries are handled in the most sensitive of manners. That both detectives are extraordinary affected and intent on seeing justice done is obvious, despite the perpetrator clearly being mentally disturbed and the awareness of the leniency of the Norwegian justice system, which as Sejer reminds Skarre, is the nature of the beast.
As the narrative moves back and forth and the characters develop into fully conceivable figures they each elicit a measure of sympathy. It feels inevitable that the paths of these two families, both of whom have been dealt a difficult hand, will converge and yet exactly how remains shrouded in doubt until just prior to the close. The readers knowledge that the vibrant mother and son who are portrayed in the present-tense are just six-months away from a violent death adds a brooding tone of finality to the entire story.
Gut-wrenching and brilliantly poignant, much of the skill of this novel is in Fossum’s narrative structure and stunningly well realised characters. A moving story of the complicated lives we lead and the secrets we maintain to protect each other.
June 23, 2016
Norwegian writer Karin Fossum never fails to impress me with her diverse varied format approaches in writing crime fiction. My favorite, THE INDIAN BRIDE, transcends genre and fits more squarely into literature. Her focus is on characters and/or communities, but her novels have such varied design that you can be sure of a fresh structure to each book.
HELLFIRE is an Inspector Sejer story, like most of Fossum’s books. Konrad Sejer is a laid-back, middle-aged widower-detective who is both thorough in his work and benevolent in his humanity. He is trying to solve the murder of a mother and her five-year-old son who were found in an abandoned caravan, stabbed to death. The bloodied knife was left at the crime scene, without fingerprints. In this crime, the questions are who and why.
There are two separate narratives that each focus on a single mother and son. One storyline is of the victims--Bonnie Hayden and her son, Simon. Bonnie is an attractive woman who has made the best of her hardships. She’s very protective of Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety when she drops him off at nursery school. To barely make ends meet, she works cleaning homes and running basic errands for the elderly and disabled.
Twenty-one-year-old Eddie Malthe lives at home with his single mother, and barely remembers his father. He has no formal diagnosis, but is clearly on the autism spectrum (I am a psychiatric nurse, specializing in autism, and I recognize Eddie’s key features). Abandoned by his now deceased father, who ran off with another woman, Eddie is obsessed with finding his grave somewhere in Copenhagen.
As the storylines alternate, and Sejer pursues the investigation, the reader is pulled deeper into the lives of the mothers and their sons, and the secrets that can shatter families. Fossum, as always, does a meticulous job of rounding out her characters. But, as fleshed out as the cast is, I wasn’t that invested, because they didn’t compel me. The lack of early intervention for Eddie seemed more urgent than the sharing of family secrets, but I don't think Fossum intended it that way. I was more concerned with the medical resources he was lacking than the need to hear the truth about his father.
As for Bonnie and her parents, the past devastation had an impact on her life, but the ties to the theme felt late and forced. Fossum generally hooks me in more fruitfully to her social issues, but in this book, I thought it sputtered. The plot advancement occasionally stalled, and was redundant, and at times I just wanted to get on with it.
It took a while for the tension to mount, while moving toward a few surprise twists towards the end. But, despite a late reveal being organic to the characters, it was also less imaginative and nuanced than the Fossum books that have grabbed me in the past. It could be just individual preferences, but I wasn’t rewarded in the end. It lacked the understated charisma, or the impact, that I usually associate with her books. There was satisfactory closure, but I merely sighed at the end.
HELLFIRE is an Inspector Sejer story, like most of Fossum’s books. Konrad Sejer is a laid-back, middle-aged widower-detective who is both thorough in his work and benevolent in his humanity. He is trying to solve the murder of a mother and her five-year-old son who were found in an abandoned caravan, stabbed to death. The bloodied knife was left at the crime scene, without fingerprints. In this crime, the questions are who and why.
There are two separate narratives that each focus on a single mother and son. One storyline is of the victims--Bonnie Hayden and her son, Simon. Bonnie is an attractive woman who has made the best of her hardships. She’s very protective of Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety when she drops him off at nursery school. To barely make ends meet, she works cleaning homes and running basic errands for the elderly and disabled.
Twenty-one-year-old Eddie Malthe lives at home with his single mother, and barely remembers his father. He has no formal diagnosis, but is clearly on the autism spectrum (I am a psychiatric nurse, specializing in autism, and I recognize Eddie’s key features). Abandoned by his now deceased father, who ran off with another woman, Eddie is obsessed with finding his grave somewhere in Copenhagen.
As the storylines alternate, and Sejer pursues the investigation, the reader is pulled deeper into the lives of the mothers and their sons, and the secrets that can shatter families. Fossum, as always, does a meticulous job of rounding out her characters. But, as fleshed out as the cast is, I wasn’t that invested, because they didn’t compel me. The lack of early intervention for Eddie seemed more urgent than the sharing of family secrets, but I don't think Fossum intended it that way. I was more concerned with the medical resources he was lacking than the need to hear the truth about his father.
As for Bonnie and her parents, the past devastation had an impact on her life, but the ties to the theme felt late and forced. Fossum generally hooks me in more fruitfully to her social issues, but in this book, I thought it sputtered. The plot advancement occasionally stalled, and was redundant, and at times I just wanted to get on with it.
It took a while for the tension to mount, while moving toward a few surprise twists towards the end. But, despite a late reveal being organic to the characters, it was also less imaginative and nuanced than the Fossum books that have grabbed me in the past. It could be just individual preferences, but I wasn’t rewarded in the end. It lacked the understated charisma, or the impact, that I usually associate with her books. There was satisfactory closure, but I merely sighed at the end.
July 23, 2016
I love Karin Fossum's novels and this one is no exception. It is a continuation of her Detective Konrad Sejer series but is quite different from previous books in this series. Like the others, it takes place in Scandinavia, mostly Norway and Denmark. It opens up with a brutal murder but focuses primarily on two parallel character studies of very different people. From the outset, the reader wonders how the characters are connected and it takes virtually the whole novel to figure this out.
Bonnie Hayden and her young son Simon are murdered brutally with a knife at beginning of the book. They are spending the night in a trailer on a farmer's property when the murder occurs. Bonnie is a single mom who works as a 'home help' in Norway. She and her son are very close and every day when Simon is let off at daycare, he cries for his mom.
Eddie Malthe and his mother Mass are very enmeshed. Eddie is 21 and his mother is 56 but Eddie acts like he's a child with a mean streak in him. Eddie is on disability for some obscure psychiatric disorder. They have a dog named Shiba who is old and ill and is much-loved by Mass. Eddie takes joy in pulling Shiba's tail every chance he gets because he is jealous that Shiba takes his mother's attention. Eddie is obsessed about finding out about his dead father who left Mass for a younger and prettier woman when Eddie was a young boy.
Sejer is the detective assigned to Bonnie's murder and, unlike previous books in this series, he does not play a very prominent role. There is the usual police work and interrogations but the novel focuses on the character studies of Bonnie, Eddie and Mass. Chapters alternate between Bonnie and Eddie's past, working up to the present time when the murder occurred.
There appears to be an underlying political theme to this novel as Sejer and his crew discuss repeatedly how criminals are let out of prison after 2 years or so rather than serving adequate sentences for their crimes. I think that Fossum is trying to send a message that there is too much leniency in Norway with punishments for gruesome crimes.
What I especially loved about this book is that no character is left unexamined. Every person who is on these pages is brought to life by Ms. Fossum. I felt like Eddie, Mass and Bonnie could be in the next room. I envisioned little Simon pining for his mother at the nursery. I even appreciated how the author brought to life the people who Bonnie worked for as a home help. This is a literary mystery, with unusually fine characterization. I await Ms. Fossum's next book eagerly!
Bonnie Hayden and her young son Simon are murdered brutally with a knife at beginning of the book. They are spending the night in a trailer on a farmer's property when the murder occurs. Bonnie is a single mom who works as a 'home help' in Norway. She and her son are very close and every day when Simon is let off at daycare, he cries for his mom.
Eddie Malthe and his mother Mass are very enmeshed. Eddie is 21 and his mother is 56 but Eddie acts like he's a child with a mean streak in him. Eddie is on disability for some obscure psychiatric disorder. They have a dog named Shiba who is old and ill and is much-loved by Mass. Eddie takes joy in pulling Shiba's tail every chance he gets because he is jealous that Shiba takes his mother's attention. Eddie is obsessed about finding out about his dead father who left Mass for a younger and prettier woman when Eddie was a young boy.
Sejer is the detective assigned to Bonnie's murder and, unlike previous books in this series, he does not play a very prominent role. There is the usual police work and interrogations but the novel focuses on the character studies of Bonnie, Eddie and Mass. Chapters alternate between Bonnie and Eddie's past, working up to the present time when the murder occurred.
There appears to be an underlying political theme to this novel as Sejer and his crew discuss repeatedly how criminals are let out of prison after 2 years or so rather than serving adequate sentences for their crimes. I think that Fossum is trying to send a message that there is too much leniency in Norway with punishments for gruesome crimes.
What I especially loved about this book is that no character is left unexamined. Every person who is on these pages is brought to life by Ms. Fossum. I felt like Eddie, Mass and Bonnie could be in the next room. I envisioned little Simon pining for his mother at the nursery. I even appreciated how the author brought to life the people who Bonnie worked for as a home help. This is a literary mystery, with unusually fine characterization. I await Ms. Fossum's next book eagerly!
July 29, 2017
I was in the mood for a bit of a murder mystery so I picked this one up from the library. In many ways, it was very good. For crime fiction, I thought the characters were very detailed and well drawn - I especially liked that the elderly home care clients were portrayed so compassionately, even though they were minor characters. However, for a thriller it just wasn't terribly, well, thrilling. It was pretty obvious from the start who the murderer was and the red herrings thrown in along the way seemed a bit half hearted (ooh, this person has a red car too!)
March 30, 2016
Karin Fossum, met inmiddels 15 boeken op haar naam, is een zéér geliefd schrijfster van thrillers. Lange tijd bleef het stil en sommigen vroegen zich af of ze wellicht gestopt was met schrijven. Nu, 4 jaar na haar laatst verschenen boek, is dan eindelijk het 12e deel verschenen in de populaire serie met inspecteur Konrad Sejer ; Veenbrand.
Uitgeverij Marmer brengt samen met deze nieuwe titel ook een aantal eerder verschenen titels uit de Sejer serie opnieuw uit, met prachtige nieuwe covers in een voordelige editie. Internationaal behoort Fossum tot de top van de Scandinavische thrillerauteurs en haar werk is in meer dan twintig landen vertaald.
Op het terrein van een boer, worden in een oude afgedankte caravan, 2 lichamen gevonden. Een jonge vrouw is samen met haar 5 jarige zoontje op gruwelijke wijze vermoord. Wie er verantwoordelijk is voor deze laffe daad is voor Inspecteur Konrad Sejer en zijn collega Jacob Skarre een groot raadsel. Vijanden leek de vrouw niet te hebben, dus over het motief van de dader tast men vooralsnog in het duister.
Lange tijd heb ik er naar uitgekeken, een nieuw boek van deze Noorse thriller-koningin. Ik was dan ook ontzettend blij, samen met vele andere Fossum fans, toen er eindelijk nieuws was over een nieuw boek. Via de uitgever kreeg ik de kans het boek al eerder te lezen. Vandaag is het 24 maart 2016 en vanaf nu ligt Veenbrand in de winkel.
Veenbrand voelt als een feest van herkenning. Het begint met de vondst van de 2 lijken van een jonge moeder en haar kind. Een vrouw die altijd voor iedereen klaarstond en nooit iets teveel was. Waarom had iemand zoveel woede en haat in zich, dat juist zij en haar onschuldige kind uit de weg geruimd moesten worden?
Het verhaal speelt zich af in 2005 en Fossum gooit 3 prachtige verhaallijnen uit in haar prachtig beeldende en kenmerkende schrijfstijl. Een verhaal waarin ze ook dit keer weer al haar gevoel en inlevingsvermogen in gestopt heeft. Ik zou het boek niet zo zeer omschrijven als een thriller maar een prachtige misdaadroman. Het is dan ook geen boek dat bol staat van de spanning maar Fossum weet ons wederom te verrassen met een literair pareltje. De zoektocht van Sejer en Skarre naar de dader. Een moeder die haar dochter wil beschermen voor de geheimen die ze wellicht had. En de wat vreemde, 21 jarige jongen en zijn moeder. Fossum weet deze 3 fijne verhaallijnen op een prachtige wijze tot elkaar te laten komen en naadloos in elkaar te laten vloeien.
Veenbrand zal de vele Fossum fans hun (thriller)hart weer sneller doen kloppen, maar ook nieuwe lezers die voor het eerst kennis maken met haar werk zullen hierna smachten naar de rest van haar boeken.
★★★★
Uitgeverij Marmer brengt samen met deze nieuwe titel ook een aantal eerder verschenen titels uit de Sejer serie opnieuw uit, met prachtige nieuwe covers in een voordelige editie. Internationaal behoort Fossum tot de top van de Scandinavische thrillerauteurs en haar werk is in meer dan twintig landen vertaald.
Op het terrein van een boer, worden in een oude afgedankte caravan, 2 lichamen gevonden. Een jonge vrouw is samen met haar 5 jarige zoontje op gruwelijke wijze vermoord. Wie er verantwoordelijk is voor deze laffe daad is voor Inspecteur Konrad Sejer en zijn collega Jacob Skarre een groot raadsel. Vijanden leek de vrouw niet te hebben, dus over het motief van de dader tast men vooralsnog in het duister.
Lange tijd heb ik er naar uitgekeken, een nieuw boek van deze Noorse thriller-koningin. Ik was dan ook ontzettend blij, samen met vele andere Fossum fans, toen er eindelijk nieuws was over een nieuw boek. Via de uitgever kreeg ik de kans het boek al eerder te lezen. Vandaag is het 24 maart 2016 en vanaf nu ligt Veenbrand in de winkel.
Veenbrand voelt als een feest van herkenning. Het begint met de vondst van de 2 lijken van een jonge moeder en haar kind. Een vrouw die altijd voor iedereen klaarstond en nooit iets teveel was. Waarom had iemand zoveel woede en haat in zich, dat juist zij en haar onschuldige kind uit de weg geruimd moesten worden?
Het verhaal speelt zich af in 2005 en Fossum gooit 3 prachtige verhaallijnen uit in haar prachtig beeldende en kenmerkende schrijfstijl. Een verhaal waarin ze ook dit keer weer al haar gevoel en inlevingsvermogen in gestopt heeft. Ik zou het boek niet zo zeer omschrijven als een thriller maar een prachtige misdaadroman. Het is dan ook geen boek dat bol staat van de spanning maar Fossum weet ons wederom te verrassen met een literair pareltje. De zoektocht van Sejer en Skarre naar de dader. Een moeder die haar dochter wil beschermen voor de geheimen die ze wellicht had. En de wat vreemde, 21 jarige jongen en zijn moeder. Fossum weet deze 3 fijne verhaallijnen op een prachtige wijze tot elkaar te laten komen en naadloos in elkaar te laten vloeien.
Veenbrand zal de vele Fossum fans hun (thriller)hart weer sneller doen kloppen, maar ook nieuwe lezers die voor het eerst kennis maken met haar werk zullen hierna smachten naar de rest van haar boeken.
★★★★
May 6, 2019
This is the story of two single mothers and their sons; Bonnie Hayden and 5 year old Simon, Thomasine Malthe and 21 year old Eddie. Both boys and their mothers were abandoned by their respective fathers at an early age. Despite those similarities, we are soon made aware of the massive differences between the two mother/child couples.
The narrative alternates between the respective backstories of both couples and is interspersed with the investigations of Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre into a brutal double murder. As with other novels in this series, the pace is gentle, but the intricate plotting and sharply observed insights into the lives of the central characters never fails to hold the reader’s attention.
Another wonderful addition to this unique and intelligent series.
The narrative alternates between the respective backstories of both couples and is interspersed with the investigations of Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre into a brutal double murder. As with other novels in this series, the pace is gentle, but the intricate plotting and sharply observed insights into the lives of the central characters never fails to hold the reader’s attention.
Another wonderful addition to this unique and intelligent series.
September 11, 2016
Schitterend boek van Karin Fossum en alweer een fantastisch verhaal met inspecteur Konrad Sejer.
Zeer ontroerend ...ik heb er heerlijk van genoten !
Zeer ontroerend ...ik heb er heerlijk van genoten !
December 27, 2017
"It was always the small things, the links between people and where they could lead."
Another great book from Karin Fossum, one of my most favorite mystery writers. So far I have reviewed nine of her books on Goodreads, and rated two of them ( Black Seconds and The Murder of Harriet Krohn ) with five stars, a very rare rating for this very picky and fussy reader. Of hundreds of authors in the crime/mystery genre that I have read in over 50 years, Ms. Fossum joins only Nicolas Freeling and Denise Mina in the select trio of mystery writers for whom I feel a deep, total, and virtually uncritical admiration. They just seem never to have written anything that I wouldn't at least like a lot. (After the rating I am trying to explain the reasons why I love Ms. Fossum's books so much.)
As far as I know Hell Fire (2014) is the newest work by Ms. Fossum to appear in English translation. Inspector Sejer is on the scene of a brutal murder of a young woman and her five-year-old son. The story shifts to half a year earlier and we meet a single mother, Mass, living with her adult son, Eddie, who has not quite adapted to societal norms and is unable to hold a job. We follow the two parallel and interleaving threads: one of Bonnie and Simon, the future victims, and the other of Mass and Eddie.
Of course we know almost right away who committed the crime, but the mystery lies in the reasons and motives. Many readers will not be disappointed in the denouement, which is one of the most unexpected for Ms. Fossum. I prefer her usual unsurprising ones.
Bonnie is employed as a home health aide; to me the best thing in the novel is the portrayal of her work with the elderly and handicapped. The scene of cleaning Erna's house, after first dressing the table legs in multiple pairs of socks, is unforgettable. Erna, one of the background characters, is painted so vividly that I could swear I know her. Also, the novel is desperately sad. It shows, without being overtly didactic, the social consequences of broken families and unwanted children.
Translation is far from stellar. Not being a native speaker of English I have been able to spot numerous awkward phrases. I have doubts about several words: for instance, the alcohol that characters drink in the novel is likely the Scandinavian specialty, akvavit, for some reason translated as eau de vie. Sure, it means the same thing, but they drink akvavit in Norway, not eau de vie.
Hell Fire is certainly not a five-star book. While I loved reading it - I will probably never not love anything written by the author - there is not much in it that wouldn't feel as just another instance of a standard template of a Fossum's novel. It sort of reads as the author's manifesto "all my novels are like this."
Four stars.
(I revere Ms. Fossum's novels for four reasons. First, she is not much interested in the whodunit aspect of the story. People and their motivations are her main focus. This is precisely what interests me: I want to know why rather than trying to figure out who did it. Second, and perhaps most important: Ms. Fossum is never judgmental: even the brutal murderers of children are portrayed in her novels as human beings. It would be so easy to condemn the evil beasts that they are, but instead she tries to comprehend what made them commit the acts of brutality. To grossly oversimplify, I don't think she believes people are born evil.
The two other reasons for my adoration of Ms. Fossum's work are related to her writing. Other than the crime that sets up the plot, nothing much seems to happen in her stories. We do not have any "twists or turns"; we read about ordinary, everyday events, and ordinary life. Inspectors Sejer and Skarre thoroughly and patiently do their work, and Sejer then conducts his slow questioning of the accused. Finally, I love Ms. Fossum's quiet, understated writing style: no big words, no flourish, no hyperbole. Just the "small things.")
Another great book from Karin Fossum, one of my most favorite mystery writers. So far I have reviewed nine of her books on Goodreads, and rated two of them ( Black Seconds and The Murder of Harriet Krohn ) with five stars, a very rare rating for this very picky and fussy reader. Of hundreds of authors in the crime/mystery genre that I have read in over 50 years, Ms. Fossum joins only Nicolas Freeling and Denise Mina in the select trio of mystery writers for whom I feel a deep, total, and virtually uncritical admiration. They just seem never to have written anything that I wouldn't at least like a lot. (After the rating I am trying to explain the reasons why I love Ms. Fossum's books so much.)
As far as I know Hell Fire (2014) is the newest work by Ms. Fossum to appear in English translation. Inspector Sejer is on the scene of a brutal murder of a young woman and her five-year-old son. The story shifts to half a year earlier and we meet a single mother, Mass, living with her adult son, Eddie, who has not quite adapted to societal norms and is unable to hold a job. We follow the two parallel and interleaving threads: one of Bonnie and Simon, the future victims, and the other of Mass and Eddie.
Of course we know almost right away who committed the crime, but the mystery lies in the reasons and motives. Many readers will not be disappointed in the denouement, which is one of the most unexpected for Ms. Fossum. I prefer her usual unsurprising ones.
Bonnie is employed as a home health aide; to me the best thing in the novel is the portrayal of her work with the elderly and handicapped. The scene of cleaning Erna's house, after first dressing the table legs in multiple pairs of socks, is unforgettable. Erna, one of the background characters, is painted so vividly that I could swear I know her. Also, the novel is desperately sad. It shows, without being overtly didactic, the social consequences of broken families and unwanted children.
Translation is far from stellar. Not being a native speaker of English I have been able to spot numerous awkward phrases. I have doubts about several words: for instance, the alcohol that characters drink in the novel is likely the Scandinavian specialty, akvavit, for some reason translated as eau de vie. Sure, it means the same thing, but they drink akvavit in Norway, not eau de vie.
Hell Fire is certainly not a five-star book. While I loved reading it - I will probably never not love anything written by the author - there is not much in it that wouldn't feel as just another instance of a standard template of a Fossum's novel. It sort of reads as the author's manifesto "all my novels are like this."
Four stars.
(I revere Ms. Fossum's novels for four reasons. First, she is not much interested in the whodunit aspect of the story. People and their motivations are her main focus. This is precisely what interests me: I want to know why rather than trying to figure out who did it. Second, and perhaps most important: Ms. Fossum is never judgmental: even the brutal murderers of children are portrayed in her novels as human beings. It would be so easy to condemn the evil beasts that they are, but instead she tries to comprehend what made them commit the acts of brutality. To grossly oversimplify, I don't think she believes people are born evil.
The two other reasons for my adoration of Ms. Fossum's work are related to her writing. Other than the crime that sets up the plot, nothing much seems to happen in her stories. We do not have any "twists or turns"; we read about ordinary, everyday events, and ordinary life. Inspectors Sejer and Skarre thoroughly and patiently do their work, and Sejer then conducts his slow questioning of the accused. Finally, I love Ms. Fossum's quiet, understated writing style: no big words, no flourish, no hyperbole. Just the "small things.")
February 23, 2017
I'd almost forgotten how very readable this series is.
We see the action of the novel from three points of view: Bonnie works as a home help. She has a small son Simon and is a single mother. Christmas is approaching. Bonnie visits ten homes a week, and there are little vignettes from each of her visits. In the same time frame we meet Mass and her 21 year old son Eddie. Eddie appears to have something similar to Asbergers and is unable to work. He is very anxious to know more about his father whom his mother says died in Denmark some years earlier. But in reality what Mass tells Eddie is a tissue of lies. In the third scenario we jump to Inspector Sejer and the investigation into a double murder six months later.
The interesting thing for me was that this police procedural felt almost pedestrian until the breakthrough came. Sejer fairly quickly discovers the identity of the bodies in the caravan but when he contacts the family they give him edited versions of the facts, leaving out bits they didn't think he needed to know.
The fact that the novel jumps between three narratives and a time frame that spans over six months keeps the reader on their toes. A couple of red herrings are thrown in just to create some false trails.
Easy to see why Karin Fossum is so highly thought of. As you will see from the list below, I generally enjoy her books.
April 15, 2016
I love the Inspector Sejer series, it's been my favorite Scandinavian crime series by far. But in the last few years Fossum's gone in a different direction. She no longer wants to take you through a procedural, she wants to examine the killer in more detail. So there's no more question of who did it. (You figure it out pretty early here, since otherwise there's no reason for the character to exist in the story.) And just like last time with Bad Intentions, that's fine, but I still preferred the old Sejer novels and spending more time with Sejer himself.
Hell Fire and the more recent Fossum novels are a good fit for the person who enjoys knowing a crime has happened and then seeing the circumstances that led up to it play out in great detail. And this is a worthy effort in that way, especially because of the parallels between the killer and the victims' families, two single mothers with sons. It just wasn't quite the right fit for me.
Hell Fire and the more recent Fossum novels are a good fit for the person who enjoys knowing a crime has happened and then seeing the circumstances that led up to it play out in great detail. And this is a worthy effort in that way, especially because of the parallels between the killer and the victims' families, two single mothers with sons. It just wasn't quite the right fit for me.
February 9, 2019
A quick and easy read. Yet again a character with mental health issues, which is a recurring theme in the series. Inspector Sejer comes across to me as bland and without emotion which by the end of the story leaves me feeling flat. The idea that the whole police station would not be full of emotions, with a small boy and his mother stabbed to death seems quite ridiculous. Now I and pleased that the series is nearly complete.
Marked this a a like but I still want to kick Sejer to show some feelings.
Marked this a a like but I still want to kick Sejer to show some feelings.
July 30, 2020
Karin Fossum is a Norwegian author who is widely known for her highly acclaimed Inspector Sejer book series, but who has also experimented with other genres as well, writing poetry, short stories, non-crime, etc. Fossum has won some very prestigious literary awards such as the Glass Key Award for the best Nordic crime novel for the second installment in the Konrad Sejer saga, titled Don't Look Back, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her trademark characteristics are her use of pared-down prose and the grim storylines that aren't reminiscent of those invented by the contemporary crime fiction superstars like Jo Nesbo, Jens Lapidus, Samuel Bjork, and others. Fossum insists on narrating crime stories that focus on the psychology of the characters rather than a labyrinthine plotline or a strong whodunit element. In Hell Fire, Fossum once again alters her narrative style in order to tell a story about the price of well-hidden family secrets, lies, and misdeeds of the past. The book begins with the pensive, glum Inspector Sejer being on a gruesome crime scene where a young mother and her four-year-old son were brutally murdered by stabbing. That's the case that he, along with his sidekick, Jakob Skarre, will have to solve in order to find both the perpetrator and the motive of this terrible crime. Hell Fire is essentially a whydunit as the reader can easily guess the identity of the culprit really early. Nevertheless, the novel keeps the reader interested throughout its course due to the author's exceptional, austere prose, and spot-on characterization.
To read my full review, visit https://tapthelinemag.com/post/hell-fire
To read my full review, visit https://tapthelinemag.com/post/hell-fire
October 13, 2016
It's a gamble to read something late in a series. This is the 11th Inspector Sejer novel, but with Fossum's work that really doesn't matter.
I have previous experience with the author. I started with the very tremendous I Can See In The Dark, and then moved to Sejer 7 - The Murder of Harriet Kohn.
Actually Sejer has a remarkably small role in this, as in Harriet Kohn. Fossum's writing is so different than your stereotypical crime mystery. Her books are so much better for it. She manages to create tremendous tension, even though their is very little about the investigation, and the book is certainly not a whodunnit.
Hell Fire is written in particularly simple language. That suits her characters, Bonnie and Simon are a mother and young son finding hard to make ends meet, and Mass and Eddie, another mother and son with social problems. It is that familiar contrast between innocence and evil though that she concentrates on, and as the novel progresses.
Another real appeal of Fossum is that her story is not fantastical. This is our society, and every reader will admit that this sort of dreadful incident could and does take place around our towns and cities.
I have previous experience with the author. I started with the very tremendous I Can See In The Dark, and then moved to Sejer 7 - The Murder of Harriet Kohn.
Actually Sejer has a remarkably small role in this, as in Harriet Kohn. Fossum's writing is so different than your stereotypical crime mystery. Her books are so much better for it. She manages to create tremendous tension, even though their is very little about the investigation, and the book is certainly not a whodunnit.
Hell Fire is written in particularly simple language. That suits her characters, Bonnie and Simon are a mother and young son finding hard to make ends meet, and Mass and Eddie, another mother and son with social problems. It is that familiar contrast between innocence and evil though that she concentrates on, and as the novel progresses.
Another real appeal of Fossum is that her story is not fantastical. This is our society, and every reader will admit that this sort of dreadful incident could and does take place around our towns and cities.
October 29, 2016
There are two separate narratives that each focus on a single mother and son.
One story is of the victims--Bonnie Hayden and her son, Simon. Bonnie is an attractive woman who has made the best of her hardships. She’s very protective of Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety when she drops him off at nursery school. To barely make ends meet, she works cleaning homes and running basic errands for the elderly and disabled.
The 2nd story is about twenty-one-year-old Eddie Malthe lives at home with his single mother, and barely remembers his father. He has no formal diagnosis, but is clearly on the autism spectrum (I am a psychiatric nurse, specializing in autism, and I recognize Eddie’s key features). Abandoned by his now deceased father, who ran off with another woman, Eddie is obsessed with finding his grave somewhere in Copenhagen
Not enough Sejer
One story is of the victims--Bonnie Hayden and her son, Simon. Bonnie is an attractive woman who has made the best of her hardships. She’s very protective of Simon, who suffers from separation anxiety when she drops him off at nursery school. To barely make ends meet, she works cleaning homes and running basic errands for the elderly and disabled.
The 2nd story is about twenty-one-year-old Eddie Malthe lives at home with his single mother, and barely remembers his father. He has no formal diagnosis, but is clearly on the autism spectrum (I am a psychiatric nurse, specializing in autism, and I recognize Eddie’s key features). Abandoned by his now deceased father, who ran off with another woman, Eddie is obsessed with finding his grave somewhere in Copenhagen
Not enough Sejer
January 25, 2017
Tried this, my first by this author, but I must have chosen the wrong book since there are a lot of fans of this Norwegian crime series. I will have to try another earlier Sejer if I get the chance. This was really unpleasant on many levels and will quickly put you off cinnamon rolls for life. Mother/Son stuff was meant to be creepy, but there was no payoff for me to wade through these lives.
November 5, 2016
Inspector Sejer seems to never get out of his late 50's but he goes constantly after the murder. This book was about secrets and how they played out in the lives of different people. They all came back to haunt two people. A 5 years old boy and his mother.
May 5, 2017
Another sad murder in rural Norway. Inspector Sejer police procedurals always seems especially tragic and sensitive.
August 26, 2019
Another unsettling mystery by Norwegian Karin Fossum. Her writing style is so simplistic and yet her stories really pack a punch to the gut. In this mystery, a home care aide and her son are found dead in a trailer home on farm land. The story of Bonnie, a dedicated worker to her difficult elderly charges and loving mom to five year old Simon are told in flash backs. Bonnie struggles with money, a dying car and with keeping promises to her young son. Knowing there will always be poor but with big dreams to travel to Africa. In parallel is the story of Thomasina (Mass) a mother who pampers her overwieght and unemployed 21 year old son Eddie who has developmental issues that can't be categorized. Eddie either can't work or won't work. Cinammon buns, Cherry Cokes and TV are his biggest joy. It is never clear what his problem is. His mother takes care of everything but worries about his future when she is gone. None of the main characters know each other. The only common thread is that there is no father figure in their lives as the fathers left home when the sons were very young. Eddie knows his father is dead and wants to hunt down his grave in Copenhagen. His mother does not want him to look for the father who abandoned him. Bonnie's husband left her for the much younger babysitter.
In the present is Inspector Sejer hunting for the killer he is confident he will find. And according to Norwegian law, the killer will not spend long in prison. No one is happy about that. We know who dies from the beginning but we don't know who did it or why. If you like psychological mysteries that spend time exploring the lives and minds of the characters, Fossum's books are the ones to read.
In the present is Inspector Sejer hunting for the killer he is confident he will find. And according to Norwegian law, the killer will not spend long in prison. No one is happy about that. We know who dies from the beginning but we don't know who did it or why. If you like psychological mysteries that spend time exploring the lives and minds of the characters, Fossum's books are the ones to read.
January 3, 2018
I think one of her very best. From the get go you pretty much know who dun it but what is so compelling is trying to figure out how and why. It exceeds the basic detective novel because the themes are integral and have some depth. The two family lives have strong parallels concerning single women as they struggle to negotiate single parenthood. The men in the story are all in the backdrop, they are as several characters remind us, cowards. Even Sejer does very little, nothing dangerous just his same doggedness. And, surprisingly, old age and the deterioration of death run throughout. Bonnie, one of the single mothers, works as a home help aid and we meet many of her dying clients.
The novel begins with death, dwells on death and dying, and ends with death...we are mortal and there ain't a damn thing we can do about it.
The novel begins with death, dwells on death and dying, and ends with death...we are mortal and there ain't a damn thing we can do about it.
May 12, 2019
Hell Fire by Karin Fossum (Norwegian) is another (#12) Inspector Sejer mystery. Similar to the other books in this series, it includes psychotic killers, selfish people, children in jeopardy, desperate lives, dysfunctional mother-son relationships, and Inspector Sejer as a pillar of strength and tranquility. These books are not for the faint of heart. The story opens with the murder of a mother and her young son, by (presumably) a twenty-one-year-old son of another single mother. Both sons are excessively dependent on their indulgent mothers.
A psychological mystery with plenty of surprises and sympathetic treatment of all characters who are all flawed, but none evil.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2019/...
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20... for book recommendations.
A psychological mystery with plenty of surprises and sympathetic treatment of all characters who are all flawed, but none evil.
For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2019/...
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20... for book recommendations.
January 30, 2022
It’s been quite a while since I’ve checked in with Inspector Sejer but unlike some series, where I feel I have to reread some older books to refresh my memory before reading a new one, Fossum’s characters are so memorable and the stories stay with me book after book, so I was able to dive right in to this one. It was as excellent as this series always is, even though the story jumped back and forth in time, it was easy to follow. Though it becomes clear from early on where the story is headed, that in no way diminishes the pleasure and intrigue of the journey all three main characters take to the point where they eventually meet. I do wish we got some more detail about the interaction and conversation between killer and victim at the end, but that’s a minor quibble with a very well written thriller.
September 9, 2016
Caregiver Bonnie Hayden, a single mother with a preschool son, Simon, is scraping by financially. When they are found viciously murdered in a neglected trailer, Inspector Sejer, wonders who might of wanted them dead, since Bonnie had no apparent enemies. The story of the investigation into the killings is alternated with the tale of the last six months of Bonnie's and Simon's lives. Fossum also adds a third storyline, that of loner Eddie Malthe, who lives with his mother, Mass. Eddie has a cruel streak and seems psychologically unstable. In Hell Fire, Fossum depicts the daily lives of these characters as they proceed to their shattering conclusions. A heartbreaking tale of fate, love, and loss.
September 2, 2015
Boken griper tag direkt och skickligt skildrar författaren de olika personerna. Men så plötsligt blir jag villrådig. Jag ställer mig oförstående till åldern på en av huvudpersonerna. Handlingen hoppar fram och tillbaka i nutid och dåtid och jag har lite svårt att hålla isär händelserna och personerna.
Trots det är det en riktigt otäck och spännande bok som är svår att lägga ifrån sig.
Allting börjar med att liket av en kvinna och hennes femåriga son hittas dödad i en husvagn. Kommissarie Konrad Sejer börjar nysta i fallet. Men det är inte så mycket kommissarien vi får följa i berättelsen, utan offren och mördaren.
En riktigt skrämmande bok!
Trots det är det en riktigt otäck och spännande bok som är svår att lägga ifrån sig.
Allting börjar med att liket av en kvinna och hennes femåriga son hittas dödad i en husvagn. Kommissarie Konrad Sejer börjar nysta i fallet. Men det är inte så mycket kommissarien vi får följa i berättelsen, utan offren och mördaren.
En riktigt skrämmande bok!
October 27, 2016
Whenever I read Fossum I know it's not going to be warm and fuzzy but it won't scare me to death. It will just be a meticulously crafted tale with sharp, realistic characters. I won't leave me happy either but that's ok. I will know the people I just read about and sometimes, like this book, wonder if the story could have been structured to end another way. Nope--it is what it is. You can count of her to tell a tightly woven story--nothing extra. She's really good and I'll keep up with her books
November 7, 2016
Generally, I very much enjoy Karin Fossum's Sejer books, but this book made me feel anxious and full of doom. It starts with the murder of a mother and her little son and the rest of the story describes the events leading up to the crime. It was uncomfortable to me and I couldn't wait to finish.
The inner life of one of the characters made me squirm...As usual, it was well-written, but there was too little of Sejer, whom I love, and too much sadness and hopelessness. As a result I felt uneasy throughout.
The inner life of one of the characters made me squirm...As usual, it was well-written, but there was too little of Sejer, whom I love, and too much sadness and hopelessness. As a result I felt uneasy throughout.
September 21, 2016
This book really is unusual as it opens with the discovery of the murdered bodies of a woman and a small child in an old trailer. Slowly the story unfolds and by the end of the book the reader is deeply saddened for all the victims. Society is filled with people such as we meet in this book and yet they so often are unnoticed or overlooked, and there really isn't any solutions. It is a well written story and sets one to thinking at the end and feeling immensely sad.
July 6, 2016
A mother and her child are found brutally murdered in an old caravan. It looked like the murders had been planned, because nothing of value had been taken from the scene of the crime. The killer had made no effort to remove any clues. The knife was left lying on the floor. And a bloody footprint had been discovered at the scene. An unsettling story, but very well written.
February 19, 2019
I’m a fan of dark Nordic mysteries. I’ll read aJo Nesbo any day. But dark and depressing are two different things. This was my first Inspector Sejer mystery and I suspect my last. I never felt like I got to know him and anyone else ended up either dead or homicidal. Of course I always wonder how much the style of the translator effects the writing. But for me, it’s back to Nesbo.
March 14, 2021
I always love Inspector Sejer books because I like the way Fossum switches up the way they are presented. I like the way that all of her characters are flawed in some way. They always come across as very real to me. This is not really a whodunit so much as a why was it done, and I wanted to know why from the first page.
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