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Konrad Sejer #13
The Whisperer
In this tense and twisty latest from Norway’s maven of crime, time shifts between Inspector Sejer’s interrogation of the accused Ragna Reigel and the shocking events that led up to her arrest. How did this lonely, quiet woman come to kill a man—or did she? How did a lonely, quiet woman come to kill a man—or did she? Ragna Riegel is a soft-spoken woman of routines. She must have order in her life, and she does, until one day she finds a letter in her mailbox with her name on the envelope and a clear threat written in block capitals on the sheet inside. With the arrival of the letter, and eventually others like it, Ragna’s carefully constructed life begins to unravel into a nightmare—threatened by an unknown enemy, paranoid and unable to sleep, her isolation becomes all the more extreme. Ragna’s distress does culminate in a death, but she is the perpetrator rather than the victim.The Whisperer shifts between Inspector Sejer’s interrogation of Ragna and the shocking events that led up to her arrest. Sejer thinks it is an open-and-shut case, but is it? Compelling and unnerving, The Whisperer probes plausible madness in everyday life and asks us to question assumptions even in its final moments.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2012
363 people are currently reading
3155 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 324 reviews
December 22, 2018
*My thanks to www.shotsmag.co.uk for sending me a paperback copy in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
Ragna Reigel lives alone in her childhood home in the small Norwegian town of Kirkelina. Her only son Rikard left home some ten years earlier, and now works in Berlin, but apart from the occasional Christmas card, they have no contact whatsoever. Although Ragna works in a local supermarket, she lives a lonely and claustrophobic life - her inability to speak following a medical procedure, in which her vocal chords were damaged, means that she deploys techniques such as facial expressions, small movements of body language and whispering to help make herself understood, but she avoids interaction with others whenever possible, she’s very much the archetypal loner.
It’s made clear from the start that Ragna has committed a serious crime after receiving anonymous threats, but the details are only slowly revealed during interviews with Police Inspector Sejer. The Inspector doesn’t appear to have developed the hard exterior common of most seasoned cops. It’s obvious to the reader that Ragna has mental health issues - her life being dictated by routine, compulsion, and illusions, and any deviation from that routine leaves her distressed and angry. Sejer acknowledges that she has issues and handles the interview process with care and compassion, slowly encouraging her to divulge details of the crime for which she has been arrested.
This was very much a character driven novel and quite a slow burner, so if you’re expecting a fast paced, plot driven crime novel then this might not be for you. Protagonist Ragna is a deep and complex character, displaying many of the disorders associated with mental illness, but despite the storyline having a dark and troubling theme, The Whisperer is a beautifully written book that flows effortlessly between past and present, slowly revealing the events leading up to Ragna’s incarceration - however, it’s the revelation on the very last page that leaves the reader with much to ponder!
Though I haven’t read any of Karin Fossum previous offerings, it’s clear that The Whisperer is from a writer at the top of her game, and hopefully she will produce many more novels with which to tempt us. Would definitely recommend.
Ragna Reigel lives alone in her childhood home in the small Norwegian town of Kirkelina. Her only son Rikard left home some ten years earlier, and now works in Berlin, but apart from the occasional Christmas card, they have no contact whatsoever. Although Ragna works in a local supermarket, she lives a lonely and claustrophobic life - her inability to speak following a medical procedure, in which her vocal chords were damaged, means that she deploys techniques such as facial expressions, small movements of body language and whispering to help make herself understood, but she avoids interaction with others whenever possible, she’s very much the archetypal loner.
It’s made clear from the start that Ragna has committed a serious crime after receiving anonymous threats, but the details are only slowly revealed during interviews with Police Inspector Sejer. The Inspector doesn’t appear to have developed the hard exterior common of most seasoned cops. It’s obvious to the reader that Ragna has mental health issues - her life being dictated by routine, compulsion, and illusions, and any deviation from that routine leaves her distressed and angry. Sejer acknowledges that she has issues and handles the interview process with care and compassion, slowly encouraging her to divulge details of the crime for which she has been arrested.
This was very much a character driven novel and quite a slow burner, so if you’re expecting a fast paced, plot driven crime novel then this might not be for you. Protagonist Ragna is a deep and complex character, displaying many of the disorders associated with mental illness, but despite the storyline having a dark and troubling theme, The Whisperer is a beautifully written book that flows effortlessly between past and present, slowly revealing the events leading up to Ragna’s incarceration - however, it’s the revelation on the very last page that leaves the reader with much to ponder!
Though I haven’t read any of Karin Fossum previous offerings, it’s clear that The Whisperer is from a writer at the top of her game, and hopefully she will produce many more novels with which to tempt us. Would definitely recommend.
December 8, 2018
Karin Fossum writes an intricate and dense character driven psychological whydunnit set in the small town of Kirkelina in Norway. Ragna Reigel is the eponymous Whisperer, a woman who lives a small routine driven life, avoiding contact with most people. A botched surgical operation on her throat has left her vocal chords damaged and unable to speak normally, only able to whisper, left with a heavily scarred throat that she covers up. Similar to someone suffering from Asperger's Syndrome, Ragna's life is driven by routines, and anything that deviates from them leave her feeling unsettled and disturbed. She works at a supermarket, Europris, close to two workers there, Gunnhild and Lars, and regularly visits the shop close to her, run by the Turkish Irfan Baris. As the story begins, we are aware that a terrible crime has been committed although it is only near the end of the book do we learn what it is that Ragna has done. She is on remand, and being interrogated with compassion by Inspector Konrad Sejer, accompanied by his dog, Fred, his job to discover the circumstances that lie behind the crime, tasked with writing a report which will influence the judicial process and the justice meted out.
Fossum provides a claustrophobic, detailed and heavily descriptive picture of Ragna's daily life and snippets of her past, that come to be slowly revealed in the narrative. Ragna's son, Rikard Josef, left home at 17 years of age, and has not returned home since. There is no contact between mother and son other than Christmas and Birthday cards. Ragna is proud of her son, now a Director running a Berlin hotel with great success, wishing she was closer to him. Out of the blue, she starts getting scary and disturbing letters that have her fearful, and paranoid, as she begins to suspect those around her, feeling desperately unsafe, experiencing disturbing dreams, sleeplessness and needing pills. Ragna believes herself to be ugly, of no value, invisible, wretched and abandoned, her disability propels her to shun the warmth and companionship of people.
This is not a fast paced read or action driven read, so if that is what you are looking for, then this book is not for you. It is the examination of a life, and the development of a meaningful relationship between Inspector Sejer and a woman who feels unloved, whose central need is to reconnect with her estranged son. Karin Fossum focuses on a forensic approach to crime and the character and life of the perpetrator, and the judicial process that springs into action. This is a thoughtful look at crime and what lies behind the person who commits it, looking at issues of justice, dysfunctional families, the power and nature of the spoken word, and mother and son relationships. What impressed me most was Sejer's lack of judgement and humanity when it came to getting close to Ragna as he starts to connect with her, seeing her for what she is, deeming her a worthy human being and ensuring she is helped. The crime is almost a secondary affair in Fossum's writing, she is far more interested in what underlies it. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.
Fossum provides a claustrophobic, detailed and heavily descriptive picture of Ragna's daily life and snippets of her past, that come to be slowly revealed in the narrative. Ragna's son, Rikard Josef, left home at 17 years of age, and has not returned home since. There is no contact between mother and son other than Christmas and Birthday cards. Ragna is proud of her son, now a Director running a Berlin hotel with great success, wishing she was closer to him. Out of the blue, she starts getting scary and disturbing letters that have her fearful, and paranoid, as she begins to suspect those around her, feeling desperately unsafe, experiencing disturbing dreams, sleeplessness and needing pills. Ragna believes herself to be ugly, of no value, invisible, wretched and abandoned, her disability propels her to shun the warmth and companionship of people.
This is not a fast paced read or action driven read, so if that is what you are looking for, then this book is not for you. It is the examination of a life, and the development of a meaningful relationship between Inspector Sejer and a woman who feels unloved, whose central need is to reconnect with her estranged son. Karin Fossum focuses on a forensic approach to crime and the character and life of the perpetrator, and the judicial process that springs into action. This is a thoughtful look at crime and what lies behind the person who commits it, looking at issues of justice, dysfunctional families, the power and nature of the spoken word, and mother and son relationships. What impressed me most was Sejer's lack of judgement and humanity when it came to getting close to Ragna as he starts to connect with her, seeing her for what she is, deeming her a worthy human being and ensuring she is helped. The crime is almost a secondary affair in Fossum's writing, she is far more interested in what underlies it. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.
September 5, 2019
The Whisperer by "Norwegian Queen of Crime" Karin Fossum is a Scandinavian mystery where the crime is only divulged towards the end of the book. This is the thirteenth Inspector Sejer novel but this title reads well as a standalone. The book alternates between Ragna Riegel's daily life and the later interrogation of Ragna by Inspector Sejer about the crime she committed. Ragna, a middle-aged single mother, has a precise life. She lives alone, after her teenage son moved to Berlin. She lives in the home she grew up in, previously with her parents. She works in a store, commutes by bus where she always sits in the same seat and shops for her supper in the same shop every day. One day, she finds a threatening anonymous note in her mailbox, leading her to believe her life is in danger. Over time, more notes appear and Ragna's fear grows. Meanwhile, every other chapter has Inspector Sejer interviewing Ragna. The reader is kept in the dark as to why Ragna is being detained by the police and what crime she committed. This Scandinavian mystery is typically very dark but you will need to find out the hows and whys of this woman's life, no matter what.. Highly recommended. Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2020
Well, first got to say I had no idea this was book 13 in The Inspector Sejer series, it reads 100% as a stand alone, well imo.
Secondly the main character Ragna Riegel,as she was Norwegian reminded me of a friend,so unbeknown to them they played the main part in the ‘film’ that accompanies your imagination when you read! 😃
Karin Fossum is billed as the ‘Queen of Norwegian Crime Writing’ and I have to confess to not knowingly ever read a Norwegian author before ( nor do I watch any of the brooding dramas on Ch4 from Norway/Scandi ) strange really as Copenhagen is my fav city in the world followed by Oslo but anyway I digress....
Obvs the names, towns etc are in Norwegian as are the police procedural parts and the descriptions of prison etc, I found this fascinating as was the general description of Norwegian life and customs, also the shop where Ragna worked was wonderfully described and made me want to go there and browse the different goods on offer ( in comparision to UK shops)
I also found the odd political statement on the refugee status in Norway interesting, from both viewpoints ( one character is a Turkish shop owner who features on and off )
Ragna can only whisper after a botched op and this is delved into quite a lot in the book and you really feel for her and the problems and trials it brings every day
The story itself is dark( ish ) but not inky dark, there is enough heart and soul in it to not just be classed as a dark thriller, the writing is deliberate and detailed (on occasion repeated, even laboured a few times) and gives you a rare insight into a troubled and very active mind, what could be mundane is described with such clarity it becomes intense
Ragna receives nasty threats in her letterbox and is being followed, but why and by who?
I can almost here you sigh and say not again!!, but thats where the similarity with other books ends....and I am not giving any spoilers other than to say its dramatic and changeable!! and the ending was very emotional for Ragna and I think for the reader!, then the last few sentences changed the game again!!!
Inspector Serjer is a joy and the interactions between him and various characters inc Rega brilliantly described
A really unusual book, that I may have overlooked and thought nah not for me but really glad I gave it a chance as was a stimulating read
Secondly the main character Ragna Riegel,as she was Norwegian reminded me of a friend,so unbeknown to them they played the main part in the ‘film’ that accompanies your imagination when you read! 😃
Karin Fossum is billed as the ‘Queen of Norwegian Crime Writing’ and I have to confess to not knowingly ever read a Norwegian author before ( nor do I watch any of the brooding dramas on Ch4 from Norway/Scandi ) strange really as Copenhagen is my fav city in the world followed by Oslo but anyway I digress....
Obvs the names, towns etc are in Norwegian as are the police procedural parts and the descriptions of prison etc, I found this fascinating as was the general description of Norwegian life and customs, also the shop where Ragna worked was wonderfully described and made me want to go there and browse the different goods on offer ( in comparision to UK shops)
I also found the odd political statement on the refugee status in Norway interesting, from both viewpoints ( one character is a Turkish shop owner who features on and off )
Ragna can only whisper after a botched op and this is delved into quite a lot in the book and you really feel for her and the problems and trials it brings every day
The story itself is dark( ish ) but not inky dark, there is enough heart and soul in it to not just be classed as a dark thriller, the writing is deliberate and detailed (on occasion repeated, even laboured a few times) and gives you a rare insight into a troubled and very active mind, what could be mundane is described with such clarity it becomes intense
Ragna receives nasty threats in her letterbox and is being followed, but why and by who?
I can almost here you sigh and say not again!!, but thats where the similarity with other books ends....and I am not giving any spoilers other than to say its dramatic and changeable!! and the ending was very emotional for Ragna and I think for the reader!, then the last few sentences changed the game again!!!
Inspector Serjer is a joy and the interactions between him and various characters inc Rega brilliantly described
A really unusual book, that I may have overlooked and thought nah not for me but really glad I gave it a chance as was a stimulating read
December 6, 2018
Ragna Riegel works at Europris (a supermarket) and live alone in her childhood home. Her parents are dead and her only son has moved to Berlin. The only contact they have is the occasional Christmas and birthday cards. Ragna likes a routine. She sits on the same seat on the bus every day and buys the same items at the local shop. Then one day her routine is shattered. She receives a letter. It contains a threat by an unknown enemy. Ragna realises she must use all means possible to defend herself.
I have not read any of Karin Fossum's books before and I did not realise that
this was book 13 in the series. It definitely can be read as a standalone. The story is set in the small town of Kirkelina in Norway. Ragna has had an operation on her throat that left her with damaged vocal chords. Anonymous letters that Ragna has received have upset her daily routine. Inspector Sejer is compassionate to Regna and her fears. The pace of this well written book is slow but that works well for this story. It has quite an emotional ending.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Karin Fossum for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have not read any of Karin Fossum's books before and I did not realise that
this was book 13 in the series. It definitely can be read as a standalone. The story is set in the small town of Kirkelina in Norway. Ragna has had an operation on her throat that left her with damaged vocal chords. Anonymous letters that Ragna has received have upset her daily routine. Inspector Sejer is compassionate to Regna and her fears. The pace of this well written book is slow but that works well for this story. It has quite an emotional ending.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Karin Fossum for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 31, 2019
The Whisperer is a gloomy, claustrophobic crime thriller that is a deep and penetrating character study rather than an action packed bang bang shoot 'em up. Ragnar is the central character in the book and the chapters alternate between a quiet and patient police interrogation and Ragna's memory of events. Ragna is a quiet person, shy by nature, almost unnoticeable, hidden in plain sight, keeping mainly too herself. And she has strategies for dealing with things like counting her steps and always sitting on the same place on the bus. She bothers no one and generally no one bothers her. And, because of a botched operation, she cannot speak above a whisper. Welcome to her world.
January 19, 2020
It felt so eerie reading this book. Ragna (the MC) reaches out in a metaphorical longing and someone reaches back. Is he real? She doesn't want him. She's closed the door to the world for so long. Still, her curiosity forces her to continually reach out. So creepy!
When was the last time you had a long, open conversation with someone (not counting best friends and partners) who listened and responded with a personal touch without being pedantic or flattering? It’s a pleasure when their interest in you equals yours in them and the reflections of each side are curious and satisfying.
Two conversations, one long and one shorter but just as meaningful, are threaded through The Whisperer. If you’re longing for good dialog, you will find it in Ragna’s repartee with Inspector Konrad Sejer (the long conversation).
Sejer is an extraordinary correspondent who won’t find fault with you. He only wants to know your story and make you feel at ease. His greatest strength is cancelling your inhibitions.
Ragna’s story and the Ragna-Sejer interactions come to us like two interior pages of a book. On the left-hand page we are alone with Ragna and experience life through her senses. Ragna’s chats with the Inspector are the right-hand page. It’s where we learn about her deep-down thinking.
A precious quote from Ragna to Sejer: “I want to be understood.” An internal monologue response from Sejer: “Some want to be in the dark, to remain unseen – that is where they feel safe. And yet, because they are not seen, they fall apart.”
Letters exchanged between Ragna and her son Rikard provide useful information. A telling quote from a Rikard letter to Ragna: “The unpredictability was too much.”
This is a deep, dark mystery. It’s full of shame and longing. Anyone who reads my book reviews knows that I try hard to not reveal. Hopefully, I haven’t said too much here (or too little as the quotes are mysterious and vacant out of context). I can only say that this book changed me, and it will change you.
Ragna, wherever you are, I want to hold you and call you darling. I want you to feel loved.
Notes on Karin Fossum:
There is no possibility that Karin Fossum ever has writer’s block. Why? She makes much out of nothing. The result is that we spend a lot of time in the minds of her characters. Through repetition and tempo changes she creates passages that a reader may mistake as insignificant but stand as astounding examinations of the most common, ordinary people and their feelings.
She knows that, though we are complicated beings, we have few basic, strong feelings. Fear is one that she has undertaken as the project of her life as a writer. Few have her power to create magnificent structures of simple situations that manifest insecurity and its effects in her characters.
When was the last time you had a long, open conversation with someone (not counting best friends and partners) who listened and responded with a personal touch without being pedantic or flattering? It’s a pleasure when their interest in you equals yours in them and the reflections of each side are curious and satisfying.
Two conversations, one long and one shorter but just as meaningful, are threaded through The Whisperer. If you’re longing for good dialog, you will find it in Ragna’s repartee with Inspector Konrad Sejer (the long conversation).
Sejer is an extraordinary correspondent who won’t find fault with you. He only wants to know your story and make you feel at ease. His greatest strength is cancelling your inhibitions.
Ragna’s story and the Ragna-Sejer interactions come to us like two interior pages of a book. On the left-hand page we are alone with Ragna and experience life through her senses. Ragna’s chats with the Inspector are the right-hand page. It’s where we learn about her deep-down thinking.
A precious quote from Ragna to Sejer: “I want to be understood.” An internal monologue response from Sejer: “Some want to be in the dark, to remain unseen – that is where they feel safe. And yet, because they are not seen, they fall apart.”
Letters exchanged between Ragna and her son Rikard provide useful information. A telling quote from a Rikard letter to Ragna: “The unpredictability was too much.”
This is a deep, dark mystery. It’s full of shame and longing. Anyone who reads my book reviews knows that I try hard to not reveal. Hopefully, I haven’t said too much here (or too little as the quotes are mysterious and vacant out of context). I can only say that this book changed me, and it will change you.
Ragna, wherever you are, I want to hold you and call you darling. I want you to feel loved.
Notes on Karin Fossum:
There is no possibility that Karin Fossum ever has writer’s block. Why? She makes much out of nothing. The result is that we spend a lot of time in the minds of her characters. Through repetition and tempo changes she creates passages that a reader may mistake as insignificant but stand as astounding examinations of the most common, ordinary people and their feelings.
She knows that, though we are complicated beings, we have few basic, strong feelings. Fear is one that she has undertaken as the project of her life as a writer. Few have her power to create magnificent structures of simple situations that manifest insecurity and its effects in her characters.
January 18, 2019
This is a long way from being normal, even for a genre as diverse and unconventional as Scandi crime. The Whisperer does feature Fossum’s long-standing investigator, Inspector Sejer, but that’s about the only thing this story has in common with a typical police procedural. It’s not so much about the anatomy of a crime but an exploration of criminal psychopathy.
This is one of those books where it’s best that you encounter it fresh; where you have the chance to form your own opinions. The narrator is extremely unreliable but her perspective is pitifully convincing. It’s a magnificent construction of urban isolation; of melancholic paranoia, of abandonment and insecurity.
Fossum weaves these themes into the skein of everyday life. The events of The Whisperer could be taken directly from our daily experience. Who sees the frightened woman who always sits in the same place on the bus every day? Who has time for the shop assistant who looks a bit bedraggled?
Gradually the narrative moves past the miserable mundanity of a grim existence and we start to understand why the protagonist is in police custody, why Sejer is taking so long to question her so carefully. And we start to wonder about exactly what occurred in these banal little incidents, the ones which should be trivial but which take on an appalling importance as the story unfolds.
Slow burn? Definitely.
Page-turning thrill-a-minute? Definitely not.
My attention meandered a little in the opening chapters but gradually succumbed to the insidious lure of the inevitable – and to Fossum’s immense skill in constructing such solidly realised characters who endure such desperate situations. Spend too long immersed in this story and you too might start to feel uncertain and a little unsettled – and totally unprepared for the surprises in store.
Original, unpredictable and completely convincing, this is crime fiction for true connoisseurs.
9/10
There's a more detailed review of this book and many other crime/thrillers over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net
This is one of those books where it’s best that you encounter it fresh; where you have the chance to form your own opinions. The narrator is extremely unreliable but her perspective is pitifully convincing. It’s a magnificent construction of urban isolation; of melancholic paranoia, of abandonment and insecurity.
Fossum weaves these themes into the skein of everyday life. The events of The Whisperer could be taken directly from our daily experience. Who sees the frightened woman who always sits in the same place on the bus every day? Who has time for the shop assistant who looks a bit bedraggled?
Gradually the narrative moves past the miserable mundanity of a grim existence and we start to understand why the protagonist is in police custody, why Sejer is taking so long to question her so carefully. And we start to wonder about exactly what occurred in these banal little incidents, the ones which should be trivial but which take on an appalling importance as the story unfolds.
Slow burn? Definitely.
Page-turning thrill-a-minute? Definitely not.
My attention meandered a little in the opening chapters but gradually succumbed to the insidious lure of the inevitable – and to Fossum’s immense skill in constructing such solidly realised characters who endure such desperate situations. Spend too long immersed in this story and you too might start to feel uncertain and a little unsettled – and totally unprepared for the surprises in store.
Original, unpredictable and completely convincing, this is crime fiction for true connoisseurs.
9/10
There's a more detailed review of this book and many other crime/thrillers over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net
January 4, 2020
Extraordinarily affecting character study of a broken woman driven to commit a terrible crime. Scarily realistic.
Karin Fossum is never anything less than brilliantly original and has a long history within her crime novels of exploring the psychology of those driven to commit a crime and the circumstances leading up to it. At times harrowing and frequently profoundly moving, Fossum explores the psychology of the perpetrator, often someone on the fringes of society, and is concerned with the drivers behind the event and less with the actual crime. This has never been more true than in The Whisperer, the thirteenth novel in the series featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer. Knowledge of Sejer and his approach is not a necessity and The Whisperer works perfectly as a stand-alone, opening with forty-six-year-old supermarket worker Ragna Riegel sitting peacefully across from Sejer on remand for a serious crime. What the crime is remains shrouded in doubt until far later in the novel as Fossum paints a bewitching portrait of a woman without a voice’s ultimate cry for help.
Told back to front in effect the structure works well and via flashbacks to Ragna’s recent past and deep into her childhood it gives the reader a stunning insight into the person behind the facade she presents to the outside world. Ragna Riegel is used to going unnoticed, regarded as an ugly duckling as a teenager, a single alcohol induced encounter with an older man resulted in a child at the age of seventeen. Still living in her childhood home in Kirkelina, with her parents long dead and her son, Rikard Josef, having moved to Berlin as soon as he was able and limited their communications to greetings cards, she takes comfort in envisaging him as the manager of the premier hotel he works in. Setting store by a life dictated by simple routines Ragna works in a discount supermarket and with a botched operation on her vocal cords having left her voice barely audible and an ugly throat scar visible she is happy to keep all but a few colleagues at a distance.
When she arrives home and finds an anonymous note in her mailbox proclaiming, “You are going to die”, it is just the first of a series of increasingly ominous threatening messages that make clear someone is watching her. Whose attention can she have attracted and with the implication that she has committed a crime, just what has Ragna done? As her paranoia rises and she begins to feel unsafe in her home, nights of broken sleep and vivid dreams start to blur her distinction between reality. Any thoughts of confiding in a colleague go out the window when two attempts to tell the police by phoning the emergency number sees her concerns rebuffed. When she cannot even make the annual contact with her son that she longs for she begins to feel more frightened and alone by the day and Fossum’s portrayal of a woman on the edge is notably claustrophobic and at times heart-wrenching.
Solid and dependable, Inspector Sejer is a detective who first and foremost treats criminals as humans and cares enough to listen and do his best to ensure the justice that is meted out is appropriate. In the case of Ragna, who longs to go unnoticed, he gives her a voice and delicately dispels the false illusions behind the world in which she lives. It is Sejer’s search for some kind of remorse in Ragna and his appreciation for the desperation she perceives herself to be in that leaves a lasting impression.
Profoundly moving and deeply affecting, this is a novel that bewitched me and Fossum’s skill in maintaining suspense is remarkable. Despite working out where the story was headed and the reality of Ragna Riegel’s situation ahead of the dramatic close I appreciated Inspector Konrad Sejer’s empathy, compassion and willingness to listen to an woman at her lowest without one iota of judgement. Objectively the novel is overlong due to a fair bit of repetition in Ragna’s account of her life, however this is largely warranted in order to hammer home the enormity of the persecution and desperation she felt leading up to one defining moment. Konrad Sejer is not alone in doubting that he will ever forget Ragna Riegel - I doubt I will.
Karin Fossum is never anything less than brilliantly original and has a long history within her crime novels of exploring the psychology of those driven to commit a crime and the circumstances leading up to it. At times harrowing and frequently profoundly moving, Fossum explores the psychology of the perpetrator, often someone on the fringes of society, and is concerned with the drivers behind the event and less with the actual crime. This has never been more true than in The Whisperer, the thirteenth novel in the series featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer. Knowledge of Sejer and his approach is not a necessity and The Whisperer works perfectly as a stand-alone, opening with forty-six-year-old supermarket worker Ragna Riegel sitting peacefully across from Sejer on remand for a serious crime. What the crime is remains shrouded in doubt until far later in the novel as Fossum paints a bewitching portrait of a woman without a voice’s ultimate cry for help.
Told back to front in effect the structure works well and via flashbacks to Ragna’s recent past and deep into her childhood it gives the reader a stunning insight into the person behind the facade she presents to the outside world. Ragna Riegel is used to going unnoticed, regarded as an ugly duckling as a teenager, a single alcohol induced encounter with an older man resulted in a child at the age of seventeen. Still living in her childhood home in Kirkelina, with her parents long dead and her son, Rikard Josef, having moved to Berlin as soon as he was able and limited their communications to greetings cards, she takes comfort in envisaging him as the manager of the premier hotel he works in. Setting store by a life dictated by simple routines Ragna works in a discount supermarket and with a botched operation on her vocal cords having left her voice barely audible and an ugly throat scar visible she is happy to keep all but a few colleagues at a distance.
When she arrives home and finds an anonymous note in her mailbox proclaiming, “You are going to die”, it is just the first of a series of increasingly ominous threatening messages that make clear someone is watching her. Whose attention can she have attracted and with the implication that she has committed a crime, just what has Ragna done? As her paranoia rises and she begins to feel unsafe in her home, nights of broken sleep and vivid dreams start to blur her distinction between reality. Any thoughts of confiding in a colleague go out the window when two attempts to tell the police by phoning the emergency number sees her concerns rebuffed. When she cannot even make the annual contact with her son that she longs for she begins to feel more frightened and alone by the day and Fossum’s portrayal of a woman on the edge is notably claustrophobic and at times heart-wrenching.
Solid and dependable, Inspector Sejer is a detective who first and foremost treats criminals as humans and cares enough to listen and do his best to ensure the justice that is meted out is appropriate. In the case of Ragna, who longs to go unnoticed, he gives her a voice and delicately dispels the false illusions behind the world in which she lives. It is Sejer’s search for some kind of remorse in Ragna and his appreciation for the desperation she perceives herself to be in that leaves a lasting impression.
Profoundly moving and deeply affecting, this is a novel that bewitched me and Fossum’s skill in maintaining suspense is remarkable. Despite working out where the story was headed and the reality of Ragna Riegel’s situation ahead of the dramatic close I appreciated Inspector Konrad Sejer’s empathy, compassion and willingness to listen to an woman at her lowest without one iota of judgement. Objectively the novel is overlong due to a fair bit of repetition in Ragna’s account of her life, however this is largely warranted in order to hammer home the enormity of the persecution and desperation she felt leading up to one defining moment. Konrad Sejer is not alone in doubting that he will ever forget Ragna Riegel - I doubt I will.
November 11, 2018
Unfortunately, Karin Fossum- The Whisperer, proved a little disappointing, although the build up in the beginning recounting the lonely life, and subsequent arrest of the whispering woman of the title for a slowly revealed crime, promised much. I did enjoy the head-to-head interrogation by Fossum regular, Inspector Konrad Sejer of the seemingly mouse-like suspect, Ragna Riegel, but it was all a little too ponderous and drawn out- about 100 pages too drawn out. Shame.
December 6, 2018
The Whisperer, the thirteenth in the Inspector Konrad Sejer series, is a polarising crime novel which you'll either love or hate. This is because it is much more of a character study of loner Ragna Riegel than a book propelled by action. She is suspected of committing a crime and most of this story surrounds Inspector Sejer's attempts to understand her reasoning, so if you're looking for fast-paced, plot-driven crime fiction then you have come to the wrong place. Part of the reason Fossum is known as the Queen of Norwegian Crime is due to her originality, intelligent and nuanced plots and in-depth look at a characters motivation for committing a crime.
As always, the writing is scalpel sharp and the interview structure actually works like a charm here. As this is not a conventional or hard-boiled crime novel I recommend this more to those who enjoy psychological thrillers or those who appreciate character analysis, and I can't help but feel as though it would be a lot more successful as a novella rather than the full-length book that it is. The author masterfully and slowly ratchets up the tension and lets the story unravel over the whole book, and the reader really gets to know Ragna as well as Mr Sejer - with his quiet, thoughtful demeanour. This in effect is a whydunnit as opposed to a whodunnit, and it's one of Fossum's best novels to date.
Many thanks to Harvill Secker for an ARC.
As always, the writing is scalpel sharp and the interview structure actually works like a charm here. As this is not a conventional or hard-boiled crime novel I recommend this more to those who enjoy psychological thrillers or those who appreciate character analysis, and I can't help but feel as though it would be a lot more successful as a novella rather than the full-length book that it is. The author masterfully and slowly ratchets up the tension and lets the story unravel over the whole book, and the reader really gets to know Ragna as well as Mr Sejer - with his quiet, thoughtful demeanour. This in effect is a whydunnit as opposed to a whodunnit, and it's one of Fossum's best novels to date.
Many thanks to Harvill Secker for an ARC.
July 11, 2019
I enjoy Nordic Noir police procedurals, and that is what I expected when I started reading this novel. Ragna had a failed surgery that left her unable to speak above a whisper. She works at what seems like the Norwegian version of a dollar store, and is convinced that someone is stalking her. She has had a difficult life-- impregnated by an older man when she was a teen, she and her son lived which her parents until he left and moved to Berlin. Is she really being menaced, or is she insane? The novel evolves as she converses with the police inspector after her arrest (we don’t understand why at first). Fossum has written an intense and probing character study which gradually unfolds. Psychological suspense is not a genre that is usually at the top of my list, but I was impressed by this novel--3.5 stars. If that is one of the genres you love, I think you will enjoy The Whisperer.
December 18, 2018
3.5 stars.
I always am pleased to discover a new book by Karin Fossum. She has a unique writing style all her own. Her stories are complex and character driven. They involve very little action but delve deep into her character’s’ hearts, minds and motivations. Sometimes they dwell on a victim’s dread, feelings of remorse or sorrow, loss or rejection. They may also involve transgressions, criminal acts or studies in madness. The reader may not always like the characters or empathize with them but will come to understand them better.
Ragna is a plain, pale, fragile 46-year-old woman. She lives alone and rejects friendship or intimacy. She lost her voice in a medical error which damaged her vocal cords, making her only able to speak in a whisper. This results in her isolating herself, except from a couple of people at the department store where she works and enjoys shopping in a store close to her house. It is run by a Turkish man where she always purchases the same kind of spicy foods. She has a life dominated by routine, such as obsessively counting her footsteps while venturing out to the mailbox and sitting in the same seat on the bus.
She had a son as the result of an encounter with a much older photographer when she was a teenager. The son left home at age 17 and moved to Germany. She only hears from him by way of a Xmas card and occasionally a birthday card. She has a belief that he is managing a fine hotel in Berlin. When she doesn’t hear from him when her cards are returned, she imagines he has moved to head a 5-star luxury hotel in South Africa. In her isolation, her vivid imagination makes her fantasies real to her.
Ragna has received several brief messages tucked in her mailbox that seem threatening to her. She is afraid she is being watched and has an unknown stalker. Her attempts to get help from the police result in failure, and her apprehension and fear grows.
The book opens with her being interviewed by Inspector Sejer who treats her with kindness and sympathy. However, it is clear that she has been arrested for committing a terrible crime and Sejer is trying to understand her motivation. We are not told the nature of the crime was until much later in the book. He is very patient while she tries to explain in whispers her life and what led up to her arrest.
The book is structured in such a way that we learn more about her life leading up to her crime and then alternates with Ragna’s jailhouse interviews conducted by Inspector Sejer. What happens during this time is startling.
Recommended for those who enjoy dense, complicated studies in crime. Karin Fossum displays deep psychological insight in all her books. If you prefer mysteries with lots of action-packed thrills this is probably not for you.
I always am pleased to discover a new book by Karin Fossum. She has a unique writing style all her own. Her stories are complex and character driven. They involve very little action but delve deep into her character’s’ hearts, minds and motivations. Sometimes they dwell on a victim’s dread, feelings of remorse or sorrow, loss or rejection. They may also involve transgressions, criminal acts or studies in madness. The reader may not always like the characters or empathize with them but will come to understand them better.
Ragna is a plain, pale, fragile 46-year-old woman. She lives alone and rejects friendship or intimacy. She lost her voice in a medical error which damaged her vocal cords, making her only able to speak in a whisper. This results in her isolating herself, except from a couple of people at the department store where she works and enjoys shopping in a store close to her house. It is run by a Turkish man where she always purchases the same kind of spicy foods. She has a life dominated by routine, such as obsessively counting her footsteps while venturing out to the mailbox and sitting in the same seat on the bus.
She had a son as the result of an encounter with a much older photographer when she was a teenager. The son left home at age 17 and moved to Germany. She only hears from him by way of a Xmas card and occasionally a birthday card. She has a belief that he is managing a fine hotel in Berlin. When she doesn’t hear from him when her cards are returned, she imagines he has moved to head a 5-star luxury hotel in South Africa. In her isolation, her vivid imagination makes her fantasies real to her.
Ragna has received several brief messages tucked in her mailbox that seem threatening to her. She is afraid she is being watched and has an unknown stalker. Her attempts to get help from the police result in failure, and her apprehension and fear grows.
The book opens with her being interviewed by Inspector Sejer who treats her with kindness and sympathy. However, it is clear that she has been arrested for committing a terrible crime and Sejer is trying to understand her motivation. We are not told the nature of the crime was until much later in the book. He is very patient while she tries to explain in whispers her life and what led up to her arrest.
The book is structured in such a way that we learn more about her life leading up to her crime and then alternates with Ragna’s jailhouse interviews conducted by Inspector Sejer. What happens during this time is startling.
Recommended for those who enjoy dense, complicated studies in crime. Karin Fossum displays deep psychological insight in all her books. If you prefer mysteries with lots of action-packed thrills this is probably not for you.
August 23, 2019
This is a complete departure from the usual Sejer procedural who-dun-it, so don't expect "the usual". I would class it as a total stand alone novel despite Sejer's injections. Sejer is a character but it's written from "other eyes" than her former Sejer fare. Most of those are written with Sejer as "eyes" narrator.
I could go long on this review. But instead I will go short. No other thoughts/ observations but the main female character's are expressed for any "outside narration" (Sejer eventually the secondary narrator) until my page 138.
This book could earn anything from a 1 star to the full five. It depends upon patience, your interest in the psychology of mental illness, or/and your capacity for inward effusive turmoil combined with humongous (and I mean ENORMOUS) amounts of descriptive detail. At least 3/4ths of this book is descriptive detail of physical or minutia inert objects/ surroundings.
There was a point about 1/2 way home when I considered a DNF. Only her (Karin Fossum's) writing ability and mental illness knowledge level kept me going. And I HATED all the italics for the letter writing that was used. My eyes hurt.
Regardless- if you want to experience lifelong pain from the inside out- this will be your cup of tea. She has managed to encapsulate it here.
Far beyond depressive or dark- this is an individual look (from the inside/out) for an individual identity much like the duo "perceptions" of "We Have Always Lived in a Castle" (Shirley Jackson). Any more would be spoilers. The joy in this book would fit into the space of the period at the end of this sentence. With room left over.
I could go long on this review. But instead I will go short. No other thoughts/ observations but the main female character's are expressed for any "outside narration" (Sejer eventually the secondary narrator) until my page 138.
This book could earn anything from a 1 star to the full five. It depends upon patience, your interest in the psychology of mental illness, or/and your capacity for inward effusive turmoil combined with humongous (and I mean ENORMOUS) amounts of descriptive detail. At least 3/4ths of this book is descriptive detail of physical or minutia inert objects/ surroundings.
There was a point about 1/2 way home when I considered a DNF. Only her (Karin Fossum's) writing ability and mental illness knowledge level kept me going. And I HATED all the italics for the letter writing that was used. My eyes hurt.
Regardless- if you want to experience lifelong pain from the inside out- this will be your cup of tea. She has managed to encapsulate it here.
Far beyond depressive or dark- this is an individual look (from the inside/out) for an individual identity much like the duo "perceptions" of "We Have Always Lived in a Castle" (Shirley Jackson). Any more would be spoilers. The joy in this book would fit into the space of the period at the end of this sentence. With room left over.
December 27, 2018
The Whisperer, Inspector Sejer #13. (Hviskeren). Karin Fossum. 2016/2018. iBook.
WHY DOES GOODREADS LIST THIS AS NUMBER 29? IT IS NUMBER 13......
What a totally different writing format! Sorry to confess it took me some time to get into the flow of the story being driven by Ragna Riegel....... In fact Inspector Sejer and his lovely dog Frank, come into the story only over a third or more of the way! What begins a slow story of a lonely woman living a very orderly controlled life alone with a horrible disability of not being able to speak except in a whisper from a surgery mishap slowly develops into a very terrifying situation. Ragna has measured her life in steps from the door to the post box, to the bus, to the shop. Her sense of control includes a preferred seat daily on the bus to work and getting whatever she can from the shop across the street to feed herself. Her home is where she was born, her only son has left at 17 and her parents died. When the shop closes, neighbors move and the strange threatening letters start with threats of death and then continue to arrive her world slowly closes in on her and her panic and sleeplessness increases. The tension is amazing! I found this book so thought provoking! How would anyone manage her ordered life and the terror of a stalker.........how does the imagination and fear govern our behavior......how does tension affect, even strong independent people..... The final chapters after the stalker finally is dealt with and Ragna is unraveling her life to Sejer plus finally in communication with her son after many years is very revealing! The family history. Many twists and surprises The extraordinary baggage people bear....and the outcomes.... RECOMMENDED... what a writer!
WHY DOES GOODREADS LIST THIS AS NUMBER 29? IT IS NUMBER 13......
What a totally different writing format! Sorry to confess it took me some time to get into the flow of the story being driven by Ragna Riegel....... In fact Inspector Sejer and his lovely dog Frank, come into the story only over a third or more of the way! What begins a slow story of a lonely woman living a very orderly controlled life alone with a horrible disability of not being able to speak except in a whisper from a surgery mishap slowly develops into a very terrifying situation. Ragna has measured her life in steps from the door to the post box, to the bus, to the shop. Her sense of control includes a preferred seat daily on the bus to work and getting whatever she can from the shop across the street to feed herself. Her home is where she was born, her only son has left at 17 and her parents died. When the shop closes, neighbors move and the strange threatening letters start with threats of death and then continue to arrive her world slowly closes in on her and her panic and sleeplessness increases. The tension is amazing! I found this book so thought provoking! How would anyone manage her ordered life and the terror of a stalker.........how does the imagination and fear govern our behavior......how does tension affect, even strong independent people..... The final chapters after the stalker finally is dealt with and Ragna is unraveling her life to Sejer plus finally in communication with her son after many years is very revealing! The family history. Many twists and surprises The extraordinary baggage people bear....and the outcomes.... RECOMMENDED... what a writer!
March 17, 2019
At the start of this novel, we know Ragna Riegel has been arrested and is awaiting trial. However, at this stage, there is little indication as to what crime she has committed. The chapters alternate between Ragna being interrogated by Inspector Konrad Sejer – although Konrad’s interrogations are more akin to a friendly chat – and earlier episodes where Ragna’s humdrum, orderly life is disrupted when she starts receiving threatening messages. Ragna herself is the eponymous whisperer; a botched surgical operation has left her with a scarred neck and damaged vocal chords.
This is not a high-paced action thriller but rather a psychological drama. However, the intriguing initial premise kept me gripped throughout the whole narrative. Just what sort of heinous crime was committed by this seemingly harmless and unfortunate woman? As the story progresses and we learn more about Ragna’s current and past life, the mystery seems to deepen. It is only right at the end that the shocking revelation comes to light.
In all, a highly original and unusual story which concentrates on the causes and effects of the worst of crimes.
This is not a high-paced action thriller but rather a psychological drama. However, the intriguing initial premise kept me gripped throughout the whole narrative. Just what sort of heinous crime was committed by this seemingly harmless and unfortunate woman? As the story progresses and we learn more about Ragna’s current and past life, the mystery seems to deepen. It is only right at the end that the shocking revelation comes to light.
In all, a highly original and unusual story which concentrates on the causes and effects of the worst of crimes.
April 10, 2019
This is the latest in the Inspector Konrad Sejer series set in Norway. We follow the interrogation of Ragna Riegel who has been arrested and held in custody along side of her sessions with the inspector, single officer with no legal representation for a vulnerable offender and apparently no recording of the interviews, seems all a little unlikely, while at the same time we read the story of her life from her own perspective, running alongside. Her whole life is one of tragedy and follows a similar pattern to her father and then her son. If this story reflects the Norwegian mental health services there is a lot to be desired.
Ragnas character is the best part of the book as it is so tragic and sad but the actual story is dull and without anything other than predictable twists. Only kept going as I have read all the previous books and rarely give up once started.
2 stars only.
Ragnas character is the best part of the book as it is so tragic and sad but the actual story is dull and without anything other than predictable twists. Only kept going as I have read all the previous books and rarely give up once started.
2 stars only.
February 6, 2017
Nordic Noir doesn't get any better than this: a very well written and deeply disturbing psycological thriller by Norway's leading lady of crime fiction, Karin Fossum.
December 31, 2019
Excellent book to finish 2019 with.
As so often with Karin Fossum this is a very well written, thoughtful "explanation" of a murder. What I like about Fossum's books and especially her detective Sejer is that he looks beyond the crime, gives the murderer a chance to explain and puts the murder in context. In this case it turns out to be mental illness and loneliness. Sejer cares without letting people get away with having to take responsibility for their actions.
A very thoughtful book and definitely one of her best.
As so often with Karin Fossum this is a very well written, thoughtful "explanation" of a murder. What I like about Fossum's books and especially her detective Sejer is that he looks beyond the crime, gives the murderer a chance to explain and puts the murder in context. In this case it turns out to be mental illness and loneliness. Sejer cares without letting people get away with having to take responsibility for their actions.
A very thoughtful book and definitely one of her best.
December 13, 2018
Karin Fossum is a unique crime fiction writer and one of my personal favorite Scandinavian authors. She Is known for her exceptional character outlines and her simple, nevertheless effective, prose which create a sui generis atmosphere in all her novels''The Whisperer'' is the latest installment in Fossum's Konrad Sejer series and, in my opinion, is one of the best as it combines the trademark characteristics of the author and a suspensful plotline, making it impossible to stop reading until you can see the whole picture and the plot is totally resolved. The protagonist, Ragna Riegel, is a timid, mousy, middle-aged woman who lives in the small town of Kirkelina in Norway.and works in a local super-market. Due to an unfortunate medical error during a surgery, her vocal cords are permanently damaged, so she can only whisper. The story is narrated in the present, where Ragna is interrogated by Inspector Sejer for a crime that the reader ignores and the past where the long series of events that led to Ragna's arrest are recounted. Fossum is an experienced author who knows how to keep the suspense alive throughout the book, based solely in dialogue and description and without any action parts. ''The Whisperer'' is, above all, a remarkable psychogram of the protagonist, Ragna, an ordinary woman who ends up comimiting a terrible crime and her emotional journey that is set off by a series of threatening letters that she begins to receive in her mailbox. Furthermore, the reader who is not familiar with the character of Konrad Sejer will have the opportunity to become acquainted with the solemn, thoughtful, grey-eyed Inspector and his relationship with his late wife, Elise. One shouldn't expect a typical Nordic Noir crime/thriller, fast- paced and packed with action sequences. This is a novel for those who like to devour a novel in a slow rhythm and absorb its imagery. The interrogation parts offer an example of great dialogue and in many cases i had to stop reading in order to keep notes. Overall, ''The Whisperer'' was a novel worth waiting and is one of the writer's finest works to date.
I want to than NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC of this book.
I want to than NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC of this book.
April 10, 2017
Karin Fossum, je zou bijna zeggen, wie kent haar niet, in Scandinavië dé koningin van de thriller. En dat is niet voor niets. Deze auteur legt zoveel gevoel en kracht in een verhaal, dat elk boek van haar weer uitmuntend is. De ene uiteraard net iets beter dan de andere.
Ook de Fluisteraar is weer een boek waarin je je helemaal zult verliezen. Niet omdat het vreselijk spannend is, (hier en daar wat psychologische/onderhuidse spanning) maar elk woord en elke zin komt bij deze auteur bijna tot leven, zó mooi.
"Er is één wapen dat een geweldpleger altijd zal afschrikken, ‘iets waar alle vrouwen over beschikken, waar ze niet naar hoeven te zoeken, maar wat ze toch lang niet altijd inzetten.’Hun gegil.’ "
De fluisteraar is een boek over eenzaamheid, angst, onzekerheid, (be)dreiging, de band tussen moeder en zoon. Mensen zoals jij en ik. Wat ze ook op hun kerfstok hebben, als Fossum het schrijft, heb je ten alle tijde sympathie voor ze. Net als voor de geweldige en geduldige rechercheur Sejer. Voor mij is ook dit boek weer een dikke aanrader. I ♥ Fossum.
****
Ook de Fluisteraar is weer een boek waarin je je helemaal zult verliezen. Niet omdat het vreselijk spannend is, (hier en daar wat psychologische/onderhuidse spanning) maar elk woord en elke zin komt bij deze auteur bijna tot leven, zó mooi.
"Er is één wapen dat een geweldpleger altijd zal afschrikken, ‘iets waar alle vrouwen over beschikken, waar ze niet naar hoeven te zoeken, maar wat ze toch lang niet altijd inzetten.’Hun gegil.’ "
De fluisteraar is een boek over eenzaamheid, angst, onzekerheid, (be)dreiging, de band tussen moeder en zoon. Mensen zoals jij en ik. Wat ze ook op hun kerfstok hebben, als Fossum het schrijft, heb je ten alle tijde sympathie voor ze. Net als voor de geweldige en geduldige rechercheur Sejer. Voor mij is ook dit boek weer een dikke aanrader. I ♥ Fossum.
****
September 18, 2019
Disappointing as I love this series. Too slow and wanted more Sejer. Lost patience with the main character so didn’t really care what happened to her.
March 17, 2020
4.5 Stars. I’ll be thinking about Ragna for a long time. The last three sentences...holy moly. This is a slow burn, but SO worth it.
August 10, 2019
5 stars
This book shifts time between the present-day questioning of the suspect and the telling of the events leading up to her arrest by the suspect.
Ragna Riegel is shy and at the same time she is bold. She has some odd inconsistencies as well. If someone is outside in the cold and dark staring at your house, do you take a long soak in a bubble bath? I certainly wouldn't!
Ragna has a son who lives in another country and from whom she almost never hears. She lives in an ordinary house and has an ordinary job. But from this job, she can watch people. She has spent a lifetime watching and reading people. Although her observations often turn into daydreams. She has a complicated personality in a deceptively simple exterior.
The question for the reader becomes then: Is Ragna mentally ill, or just plain eccentric? Is she imagining the threats? The notes? Does she hear things in the night? Are they real?
I really appreciate Inspector Sejer's interviewing style. He is gentle and very observant of his interviewees body language. As is Ragna. But Sejer can be tough when the situation calls for it.
This is a moving and wonderfully well written/plotted story. It shines a bright light on the question: What is reality? Is mine the same as yours? Is it a qualitative difference – between yours and mine? I really have given this question quite a bit of thought since I finished this book. It broke my heart, and yet Ragna's outlook remains hopeful. Remarkable, just remarkable Ms. Fossum.
I want to send a very big thank you to both NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for forwarding to me a copy of this enlightening book for me to read, enjoy and review.
“Alles ist gut.”
This book shifts time between the present-day questioning of the suspect and the telling of the events leading up to her arrest by the suspect.
Ragna Riegel is shy and at the same time she is bold. She has some odd inconsistencies as well. If someone is outside in the cold and dark staring at your house, do you take a long soak in a bubble bath? I certainly wouldn't!
Ragna has a son who lives in another country and from whom she almost never hears. She lives in an ordinary house and has an ordinary job. But from this job, she can watch people. She has spent a lifetime watching and reading people. Although her observations often turn into daydreams. She has a complicated personality in a deceptively simple exterior.
The question for the reader becomes then: Is Ragna mentally ill, or just plain eccentric? Is she imagining the threats? The notes? Does she hear things in the night? Are they real?
I really appreciate Inspector Sejer's interviewing style. He is gentle and very observant of his interviewees body language. As is Ragna. But Sejer can be tough when the situation calls for it.
This is a moving and wonderfully well written/plotted story. It shines a bright light on the question: What is reality? Is mine the same as yours? Is it a qualitative difference – between yours and mine? I really have given this question quite a bit of thought since I finished this book. It broke my heart, and yet Ragna's outlook remains hopeful. Remarkable, just remarkable Ms. Fossum.
I want to send a very big thank you to both NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for forwarding to me a copy of this enlightening book for me to read, enjoy and review.
“Alles ist gut.”
August 12, 2019
Karin Fossum is fearless with her brand of crime fiction, it’s atmospheric and moody, the antithesis of the more conventional fast and furious style usually associated with the genre. Her latest book ventures even more than usual into character study and almost relegates her usual main squeeze, Detective Sejer, into a secondary role in this tale of isolation and mental illness. If Fossum could have gotten away with naming the main character Eleanor Rigby it would have been a good fit.
May 3, 2020
“..hiding in a cave is not always the answer. But sometimes being curious is worth it.”
The Whisperer by Karin Fossum is the story about a woman called Ragna Riegel who works in a store, loving in her childhood home alone. She has a son who live in Berlin with whom she has little contact. Ragna lives day to day in routine. Her job, how many steps it takes to walk to her home and the same foods from her local shop. Her world is shaken when she finds a letter in her mailbox with her surname on it. Inside is a threatening note which send Ragna into meltdown as she does what she knows bets to defend herself from this unknown evil.
This is book 13 I’m sure of the Detective Sejer series. The novel takes shape through Ragna’s thoughts and daily observations of how far she has come in life. When she begins to receive these threatening letters it throws her routine and mental state off. Detective Sejer in the novel is interrogating her and so we are learning of a crucial event which took place through their conversations.
I loved this novel. I began reading this series a few years ago and it’s one of the reasons I got back into reading regularly. This story and how it drips information on the sanity of Ragna’s character was the best aspect for me. I was constantly being sympathetic towards her yet questioning every change she reacted to. It felt like watching a tv show unfold with the suspense.
I do enjoy reading Nordic Noir novels and this was a very enjoyable one. It is book 13 in a series which accounts the life of Detective Sejer, a broken character you can’t help but like.
The Whisperer by Karin Fossum is the story about a woman called Ragna Riegel who works in a store, loving in her childhood home alone. She has a son who live in Berlin with whom she has little contact. Ragna lives day to day in routine. Her job, how many steps it takes to walk to her home and the same foods from her local shop. Her world is shaken when she finds a letter in her mailbox with her surname on it. Inside is a threatening note which send Ragna into meltdown as she does what she knows bets to defend herself from this unknown evil.
This is book 13 I’m sure of the Detective Sejer series. The novel takes shape through Ragna’s thoughts and daily observations of how far she has come in life. When she begins to receive these threatening letters it throws her routine and mental state off. Detective Sejer in the novel is interrogating her and so we are learning of a crucial event which took place through their conversations.
I loved this novel. I began reading this series a few years ago and it’s one of the reasons I got back into reading regularly. This story and how it drips information on the sanity of Ragna’s character was the best aspect for me. I was constantly being sympathetic towards her yet questioning every change she reacted to. It felt like watching a tv show unfold with the suspense.
I do enjoy reading Nordic Noir novels and this was a very enjoyable one. It is book 13 in a series which accounts the life of Detective Sejer, a broken character you can’t help but like.
July 29, 2019
Karin Fossum's The Whisperer is a fantastic character study that allows Inspector Sejer to do what he does best: listen. Ragna Riegel is a tough nut to crack, but the presence of Sejer's dog, Frank, helps lower some of the woman's defenses as the book alternates between the voices of Ragna and the inspector.
It's really not crystal clear through most of the book exactly why Ragna is in jail, and while these two characters talk, the reader is asking himself questions. What did she do? Prison for life? Murder? Could she really kill anyone? The more I read, the more I felt as though I were falling down the rabbit hole with Ragna, and I think a little of her paranoia rubbed off on me, which is a mark of some excellent storytelling.
The only thing I have to complain about is that the story drags badly at about the half- to the three-quarters mark. The lag time may not bother anyone else and that's fine, but if you're the type of reader who likes everything to be resolved by book's end, you're probably not going to like The Whisperer because it has a twist at the very end that sends your mind off to the races again-- and you're left wondering. You're left with questions, not closure.
I loved that twist at the end. In fact, I think I was expecting it. Karin Fossum had me thinking about the madness that can be found in everyday life, and she reminded me to question assumptions-- and that is a valuable reminder.
It's really not crystal clear through most of the book exactly why Ragna is in jail, and while these two characters talk, the reader is asking himself questions. What did she do? Prison for life? Murder? Could she really kill anyone? The more I read, the more I felt as though I were falling down the rabbit hole with Ragna, and I think a little of her paranoia rubbed off on me, which is a mark of some excellent storytelling.
The only thing I have to complain about is that the story drags badly at about the half- to the three-quarters mark. The lag time may not bother anyone else and that's fine, but if you're the type of reader who likes everything to be resolved by book's end, you're probably not going to like The Whisperer because it has a twist at the very end that sends your mind off to the races again-- and you're left wondering. You're left with questions, not closure.
I loved that twist at the end. In fact, I think I was expecting it. Karin Fossum had me thinking about the madness that can be found in everyday life, and she reminded me to question assumptions-- and that is a valuable reminder.
November 30, 2019
Karin Fossum’s strong 13th Konrad Sejer police procedural, “The Whisperer,” chronicles the life of an elderly woman who may or may not have committed a murder.
Ragna Riegel is a woman of routine who lives alone in a small Norwegian town. She leads a solitary life that some might call antisocial and unusual. She keeps to herself, minds her business. Her interaction with other people is minimal, and the noticeable thick scar on her neck, an injury she received years ago, creates a cryptic clue for the mysterious plotline.
One night, a stranger visits her, standing across the street watching her from the sidewalk, globed in light and shadow. The man’s involvement in Ragna’s life is revealed through Fossum’s signature suspense. Told mostly in flashbacks, the slow, quiet reveal of Ragna’s night visitor will keep readers guessing until the very end of the novel.
When the man breaks into Ragna’s house late one night, a murder is committed, and all clues point to the elderly woman. But could an arthritic woman overpower an assailant twice her size and commit such a heinous crime?
Fossum’s study of human behavior is one of her many strong suits, which keeps the tension taut as it gradually builds through the intricate tapestry of the compelling narrative. “The Whisperer” is a must-read for mystery readers.
Ragna Riegel is a woman of routine who lives alone in a small Norwegian town. She leads a solitary life that some might call antisocial and unusual. She keeps to herself, minds her business. Her interaction with other people is minimal, and the noticeable thick scar on her neck, an injury she received years ago, creates a cryptic clue for the mysterious plotline.
One night, a stranger visits her, standing across the street watching her from the sidewalk, globed in light and shadow. The man’s involvement in Ragna’s life is revealed through Fossum’s signature suspense. Told mostly in flashbacks, the slow, quiet reveal of Ragna’s night visitor will keep readers guessing until the very end of the novel.
When the man breaks into Ragna’s house late one night, a murder is committed, and all clues point to the elderly woman. But could an arthritic woman overpower an assailant twice her size and commit such a heinous crime?
Fossum’s study of human behavior is one of her many strong suits, which keeps the tension taut as it gradually builds through the intricate tapestry of the compelling narrative. “The Whisperer” is a must-read for mystery readers.
October 28, 2019
To say this book disturbed me is the understatement of the year. At times, I just didn't want to continue reading, especially as the end was near.
But pow! The end came. Ho-ly crap. Now I have to go back and re-read for clues I missed. At least I think I missed them. Wait...
See, this is the effect the book has. It creeps along, getting creepier and creepier. By the end, I felt like Ragna, completely disoriented and hanging onto sanity. I've read a few Karin Fossum books, though it's been a while. Mostly I remember the portrait she painted of deepest Norway, and there's some of that in The Whisperer, but instead of taking a journey into a snowy wasteland, this book is more a journey into a disturbed mind. And not necessarily Ragna's.
But pow! The end came. Ho-ly crap. Now I have to go back and re-read for clues I missed. At least I think I missed them. Wait...
See, this is the effect the book has. It creeps along, getting creepier and creepier. By the end, I felt like Ragna, completely disoriented and hanging onto sanity. I've read a few Karin Fossum books, though it's been a while. Mostly I remember the portrait she painted of deepest Norway, and there's some of that in The Whisperer, but instead of taking a journey into a snowy wasteland, this book is more a journey into a disturbed mind. And not necessarily Ragna's.
December 1, 2018
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage Publishing for an advance copy of The Whisperer, the thirteenth novel to feature Inspector Sejer.
Ragna Riegel is a lonely woman working a dead end job and mourning the lack of communication with her only son, Rikard Josef, who lives and works in Berlin but Ragna has committed a crime and the novel consists of her interviews with Sejer as he attempts to understand the events leading up to it.
I found The Whisperer to be a bit of a mixed bag as character analysis does not interest me as much as crime solving. At first I found myself turning the pages rapidly to find out what Ragna had done but as this is not revealed until three quarters of the way into the novel I found my interest flagging. It is obvious that there is something not quite right about Ragna, on the spectrum is my guess, and I found it a bit tiresome at times. The novel, however, redeems itself in the final quarter with reveal after reveal and a masterful irony at the very end.
The novel revolves around Ragna and her experiences. A botched operation has left her unable to speak well so she is the eponymous Whisperer. I assume that this is a metaphor for her self effacing life, she is a whisper of a person but I’m not smart enough to see further. A series of anonymous letters has upset her routine and she doesn’t handle it well so the novel charts her slow disintegration. I like the way Ms Fossum plays with the reader’s perception but Ragna is so dreary it can be a chore. I think the novel would have been sharper as a novella.
I enjoyed the style with the sharp writing and the interview style allowing the narrative to slip back in time while still keeping it firmly anchored in the present. It works well.
The Whisperer is not really my kind of novel but I think that any reader who enjoys a character driven novel will thoroughly enjoy it. 3.5*
Ragna Riegel is a lonely woman working a dead end job and mourning the lack of communication with her only son, Rikard Josef, who lives and works in Berlin but Ragna has committed a crime and the novel consists of her interviews with Sejer as he attempts to understand the events leading up to it.
I found The Whisperer to be a bit of a mixed bag as character analysis does not interest me as much as crime solving. At first I found myself turning the pages rapidly to find out what Ragna had done but as this is not revealed until three quarters of the way into the novel I found my interest flagging. It is obvious that there is something not quite right about Ragna, on the spectrum is my guess, and I found it a bit tiresome at times. The novel, however, redeems itself in the final quarter with reveal after reveal and a masterful irony at the very end.
The novel revolves around Ragna and her experiences. A botched operation has left her unable to speak well so she is the eponymous Whisperer. I assume that this is a metaphor for her self effacing life, she is a whisper of a person but I’m not smart enough to see further. A series of anonymous letters has upset her routine and she doesn’t handle it well so the novel charts her slow disintegration. I like the way Ms Fossum plays with the reader’s perception but Ragna is so dreary it can be a chore. I think the novel would have been sharper as a novella.
I enjoyed the style with the sharp writing and the interview style allowing the narrative to slip back in time while still keeping it firmly anchored in the present. It works well.
The Whisperer is not really my kind of novel but I think that any reader who enjoys a character driven novel will thoroughly enjoy it. 3.5*
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