Skeppet

by Stefán Máni, Inge Knutsson (Translator)

Skeppet är en thriller av det slag som kryper in under skinnet på läsaren, en ödesmättad, klaustrofobisk historia med drag av både Hitchcock och Das Boot. Ett skepp är på väg från Reykjavik till Latinamerika. Besättningen är en ohälsosam blandning av missnöje, mänskliga tillkortakommanden och kriminalitet. En är gangster på flykt undan ett annat gäng som vill ta hans liv, en annan har slagit ihjäl sin fru och gömmer sig för polisen, ytterligare några andra vill göra myteri för att rädda sina jobb. En bra bit ut på Atlanten dör radarn och rodret blir obrukbart. Någon har med vett och vilja saboterat alla möjligheter att ta sig i land. Den ena obehagliga överraskningen avlöser den andra medan båten obönhörligt driver mot Antarktis, mot en död av svält och köld.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Maritime

386 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stefán grew up in Ólafsvík and lived there until over the age of 20. After school he did general manual labour and service jobs. To name a few, he worked in the fishing industry, did building work, plumbing, gardening, was a security guard, a cleaner, worked with teenagers and cared for the mentally ill.
He has now written eight novels, the first coming out in 1996, Dyrnar á Svörtufjöllum (The Door in the Black Mountains).

Reviews

[CF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sæli is in trouble, he owes money, the only thing he can do is try and smuggle drugs for this mysterious 'Satan' character while he is away on a tour. Except who is this Satan?

In a ripping read where everyone is potentially an enemy and nothing is as it seems 'The Ship' has many elements. Crime, thriller, even a touch of fantasy exists in this journey where everyone has something to hide. The captain, the first and second mate, the crew members and the strange-yet-endearing Stoker, who works in the engine room and seems almost comical in demeanor.

What will the confines of the ship do to all of these people? A very good book.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein verfluchtes Schiff, das ursprünglich den Namen Noon trug und auf welchen zwei Morde und drei Selbstmorde geschahen, eine dunkle Prophezeiung über fünf tote Männer, davon vier auf einem Schiff und neun Männer an Bord eines Frachters.
Diese Fahrt soll die letzte für Kapitän Gudmundur Berndsen werden. Nachdem er sich von seiner Frau immer mehr entfremdet hat, will er danach mit ihr ein neues Leben beginnen. Arsael Egilsson (genannt Saeli) freut sich auf die Geburt seines zweiten Kindes, muss um seine Wettschulden zu begleichen Kokain nach Island schmuggeln. Jonas hat seine Frau Maria kurz vor Abfahrt erschlagen und verrennt sich in religiöse Wahnvorstellungen von Busse und Vergebung. Isak Sigurdsson, erster Steuermann, Alkoholiker auf Psychopharmaka und Rassist, der eine Meuterei anzetteln will um anstehende Kündigungen zu verhindern. Jon Karl, genannt Satan, König der isländischen Unterwelt und auf der Flucht von einem Geschäftspartner. Oli Johnsson, genannt der Heizer, Cthulhu Gläubiger und abgedrehter Philosoph mit Herz OP. Runar Hallgrimsson, Asmundur Sigjonsson (der Koch) und Johann der Riese (Maschinist). Das ist die Crew der per se. Als die Kommunikation mit Außenwelt durch Sabotage abgeschnitten wird und kurz darauf der Schiffsmotor ebenfalls durch Sabotage unwiederbringlich zerstört wird traut keiner dem anderen mehr über den Weg.
Was sagt es über eine Crew aus, wenn der einzige, der die Nerven behält und alle zusammenhält ein gesuchter Schwerverbrecher ist?
Insgesamt ein interessanter Plot, jedoch ist die Umsetzung zwar stimmungsvoll aber langatmig. Viele Passagen wiederholen sich wie ein Refrain oder ein Mantra immer wieder. Die Selbstgespräche der Protagonisten, ihre Seelische Selbstzerfleischung führen Streckenweise zu Langeweile. Viele Szenen werden mehrfach hintereinander aus den Blickwinkeln verschiedener Personen erzählt, jedoch teils zu unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten, was schlichtweg verwirrt. Und der Schluss versandet in Esoterik und Mystik, als wenn der Autor selbst sich unschlüssig gewesen wäre, wie er den Plot auflösen soll.
Zu viele nautische Begriffe machten mir die Orientierung an Bord unmöglich und so ein Theater wegen 5000000 Isländischen Kronen (=31.000 EUR) zu veranstalten ist mir auch unverständlich.
Stimmungsvoll aber nicht sonderlich unterhaltsam oder fesselnd.

[E.G. Jönsson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Snyggt omslag från Bonnier Pocket. Det var väl det.

Jag hade planerat att skriva en recension om hur Stefán Mánis stilistik påminner mig om en viss typ av tonårsperson som insisterar på att hälla över sig halva Axe/Date-flaskan innan hen går utanför dörren. Helt oreflekterat. Veckodag eller helg? Fläska på bara. Action eller romantik? Bara kör. Någotsomhelst slags logik i metaforerna? Vaffördådå?

Men jag orkar inte. Det är sällan jag ger upp om en bok. Men det här går på tok för långsamt. Varje del av varje scen behöver inte skildras utifrån sex olika personers perspektiv. Inte om det inte finns något som helst konstnärlig eller berättarteknisk vinst med det. Det är sällan heller jag lägger mig i vad andra tycker om ett verk. Men att någon över huvud taget kan beskriva detta som "skarpt" ger mig ryckningar i knytnäven. Eller, för att uttrycka mig Mániskt: "vreden vaknar som en blind drake i ögonen".

Det får vara.

[Owl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es fing sehr interessant an. Eine Mischung aus nordländisch geprägtem Krimi und der Serie "24". Letzteres verliert sich mit der Zeit etwas, was ein wenig schade ist. Aber andererseits möchte ich nicht auf jeder 5.Seite eine Wiederholung aus anderer Perspektive lesen. Mit fortlaufender Geschichte entwickelt sich das alles zu einer Art extremen Trip, der im absoluten Wahnsinn gipfelt. An sich müsste ich das Buch noch mindestens zweimal lesen, um alle Aspekte erfassen und begreifen zu können.

[Katarzyna888 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kryminał dla marynistów o kamiennych sercach. Jeszcze zanim statek odbił od brzegu trup posłał się jak pokos majowej trawy. Potem na pokładzie omyłkowo znalazł się zbir o ksywie Diabeł i można się spodziewać, że trup ścielić się będzie dalej, i będzie miał kiedy, bo statek płynie z Islandii do Surinamu. Przygniotło mnie to wszystko razem - statek, zimno, Diabeł, Surinam, zwolnienia grupowe, chciwy armator, wachty w deszczu. Opuściłam więc pokład po 50 stronach. Płyńcie chłopcy dalej beze mnie.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the sort of fiction I normally read, but it was very atmospheric, with a feeling of impending doom and dread throughout. Stefan's ability to create an atmosphere is sustained throughout the novel. Characterisation varied, from one-dimensional to well developed, and the collapse into madness of a couple of the characters was very well described.

[Ariana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Keine Ahnung, was dieses Buch von mir will ....

[K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: murder, violence, blood, drug abuse, blackmail, domestic violence, gun violence, dismemberment, death of an animal

To be perfectly honest, I borrowed this from the library without looking too closely at it and it was only when I got home I realised that the cover depicted a cargo ship and not a giant shark fin, which was a big ol' disappointment given that I'd just seen The Meg and was in the mood for more sharky mayhem. Alas.

Still, the blurb promised excitement, creepiness, and general good times. Unfortunately, what I got was...mostly boring. It's a bunch of guys, sitting around on a cargo ship for the vast majority of the book. Yes, many of them have secrets. But in many many cases, I didn't actually give a shit about their secrets once they were on the ship. Honestly, this would have been far more interesting if it had stayed in Iceland rather than being set on the ship.

Also, I don't know if it was the translation or the actual writing, but there were a lot of weirdly descriptive passages that I could have done without. Here's a classic example:
"He goes into his cabin, turns on the light in the bathroom, pulls down his trousers and sits on the toilet. He's always thought shitting in an aeroplane was bloody good, and shitting on board a ship is even better. The heavy up-and-down movements help the bowels to do their work and add interest to this otherwise monotonous activity. As if it were the ship itself that is shitting, and not him.
The ship takes a deep breath, climbs up to the crest of a wave and tenses its abdominal muscles, then it lets itself go down the side - one, two and...
Boom, boom, boom...
Jon Karl's backside is pressed down onto the toilet seat; his anus opens and manages to rid itself of a hard turd the size of a bratwurst.
"Way to go!" Jon Karl says with a sigh."

Honestly, did not need anywhere near that level of detail about some dude taking a dump. Just...nope.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the real crime stories. It shows also hard life of people of the sea. Bandit called Devil gets on the ship Per Se/i>, but even he doesn't know how he did it. Among the crew there is conspiracy caused by plans of ship owner to sack some people. The crew consists different people with different characters working together.

Crime thriller

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://bibliotheca.skynetblogs.be/arc...

[Siggeir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mjög góð bók. Fer frekar hægt af stað en uppbyggingin er þess virði þegar líður á. Endirinn þótti mér líka frábær.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot going on with this one.

First of all, the thing that caught my eye with this novel is referring to Stefán Máni as ‘Iceland’s Stephen King’ and is the thing I will immediately critique it over: his writing style is nothing like Stephen King’s. They don’t even really write about the same subject matter besides writing under the horror umbrella. There was a slight crudeness to the writing style but it didn’t roll off the tongue as well as King’s does.

I don’t love the translation. It made the prose feel clunky and there were a few minor grammatical errors but more than an English published book that I’ve seen. I’m not sure if it’s just the translator or if the original Icelandic version was like this. There were also a few instances of prose that felt like it hadn’t been edited because it was repetitious; like this bit describing Lilja described the leather heeled boots she was wearing twice awkwardly in two sentences in the same paragraph right next to each other. It felt like a rough draft. Either way, I didn’t love the blunt pose, even though it wasn’t unreadable.

Some of the description of the ship felt unnecessary (why go into all that detail to explain how many kilograms of foodstuffs on the ship? I know they later float to Antarctica and have to ration but it’s never mentioned again and just felt boring and unnecessary without really coming into play in more depth. i.e. Jon Karl keeping track of how much of each type of food there was rather than him just thinking to eat the poultry and pork first before the fridge thaws).

The novel was also just unintentionally hilarious in places and the prose didn’t help not make it hilarious. Karl phoning Sæli and introducing himself as ‘hello! this is Satan!’ made me LOSE MY MIND LAUGHING. It was so fucking funny and it didn’t help Jon Karl was also like that. Still not sure if he actually is a demon or just so up his own ass he believes it. Anyway I almost put the book down at that piece of dialogue but didn’t.

Again, it might be the translation, but you can just…tell that a straight man wrote this. Saeli reminiscing about his pregnant wife Lára was a bit weird, that kind of stuff. There’s also some casual racism that’s just never addressed in descriptions (i.e. Gudmunder referring to Jon Karl as a ‘savage’ with a racist depiction of a native). While I wasn’t really expecting someone to make a point about racist caricatures of natives in this story, it still felt kinda gross and I didn’t love it. It feels like Gudmunder could’ve compared Jon Karl to anyone else but a constructed caricature of a human being based on nothing.

Out of all the crewmates I think I liked Sæli and Àsi the most; Àsi mostly because he didn’t really do much and was generally likeable. Sæli I actually expected to be the main character and we’d follow just him but I guessed wrong. Besides those two, Gudmunder I definitely sympathized with. All the others I couldn’t really care about.

Some things I didn’t mind: it following every crewmate individually. Yes there was a bit of head hopping but I didn’t really mind it? Maybe I was just used to the jankiness of the writing style I just dealt with it. It lended to the thriller aspect well and makes sense. Another thing was the politics talk: I was invested in the mutiny but take it back slightly because it reads like bad Disco Elysium fanfiction. It at least made it interesting seeing how the mutiny would go and watching it fall apart quickly before it even started. I also enjoyed indirectly learning about Icelandic culture with the amount of stuff I had to google out of curiosity.

My favourite bit was a very small part in the beginning: when Jon Karl was being chased by Odin and one of Odin’s headlights in his car winked out, just like his namesake God chasing Christian Satan. It was imagery I really enjoyed and kinda wish it leaned more into (besides a quick mention of Neifelhelm and the Eddica and that’s about it). Or comparing the ship’s engine to Hell and demons; a common trope but it felt warranted here and purposeful.

I think the second half was better than the first. The pirates felt a bit disjointed but it came back around with the premonition at the beginning so it at least served that narrative purpose. Them dying at the end in Antarctica I didn’t really expect and it was kinda tragic.

I will give it one thing—the twist at the end I didn’t expect. I figured Skuggi (rip) was a hellhound of such but not necessarily whose he was. Karl, Jónas’s brother-in-law being the Satan that contacted Sæli, genuinely made my mouth fall open. I wasn’t expecting that to come back around.

Overall, don’t come to this novel thinking it’ll be an Icelandic version of a Stephen King novel. It’s definitely something but not that. I also learned Iceland has a high number of crime writers in it for whatever reason while reading this. They’re just built different I guess.

tdlr: if I had a nickel for every time I read a novel this year that ended with characters dying in the arctic/antarctic I have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice.

[NieFikcyjna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daleka jestem od takich podziałów, ale mam wrażenie, że to jest bardzo „męska” książka. Z pewnością nie była to moja historia. Zapowiadało się na coś mrocznego, w końcu miało być o marynarzach przebywających na statku, który stracił łączność ze światem. I rzeczywiście była to taka historia, ale autor za bardzo poszedł w sensację. Mrok, którego się spodziewałam i którego oczekiwałam, objawił się na kilkudziesięciu ostatnich stronach – szkoda, że cała książka taka nie była. Aby do niego dojść, trzeba przebić się przez 150 stron wprowadzenia, przedstawienia postaci i absolutnej nudy, w której największą atrakcją jest zabójstwo żony przez jednego z marynarzy (spokojnie, ono nie gra tu większej roli) i tajemnicze zlecenie na przemyt narkotyków. Później te wątki i tak giną, bo akcja skupia się na życiu na statku i tym, że trafił tam ktoś niepożądany… Mam wrażenie, że ta książka miała być czymś lepszym w założeniu autora, ale że nie dał on rady stworzyć takiej historii, jaką chciał. Wskazuje na to ten mrok, który ostatecznie objawia się na końcu, a także dość niejednoznaczne zakończenie, którego zwiastuny gdzieś tam się wcześniej pokazywały, ale nie były za bardzo rozwinięte, tak jakby autor nie wiedział po prostu, jak to pogłębić. Niczym mnie ta książka nie porwała niestety, w dodatku trudno było mi się czasem przebić przez styl autora, który za cel obrał sobie opisanie każdego nieistotnego szczególiku. Niewykorzystany potencjał.

Po więcej moich recenzji zapraszam na Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niefikcyjna/

[Matilda Persson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skeppet är ett perfekt exempel på att man inte ska döma en bok efter omslaget; det häftiga omslaget lockar här till en ganska tråkig och rörig bok. Boken försöker vara så mycket på en och samma gång och det märks tydligt att Máni hade lite för många idéer när han skrev. Efter ungefär halva boken byter handlingen riktning och den röda tråden försvinner. Men mitt stora problem med Skeppet är egentligen sättet den är skriven på. För det första försöker Máni skriva lite väl ”konstnärligt” vilket enligt mig bara känns töntigt eller obegripligt; exempelvis ”Det tjocka mörkret fylls med febrig tystnad” eller ”far motsols genom rondellen”. Vissa gånger verkar författaren även tycka att vissa meningar är så jävla bra så att de återanvänds vid flera tillfällen. För det andra är tidslinjen väldigt hoppig. Flera kapitel utspelar sig samtidigt för att följa vad alla karaktärer gör vid samma tidpunkt och jag undrar om det verkligen är nödvändigt att skildra olika scenarion utifrån 6 olika perspektiv. Slutligen kan jag inte annat än förundras över VARFÖR Máni valt att starta berättelsen den 10 september 2001 om boken inte har någonting med 9/11 att göra. Enligt mig är det ett fruktansvärt udda val av datum.

Baksidan av boken utlovar en psykologisk thriller och en skräckberättelse. Det är inte helt rätt då Skeppet framförallt handlar om en brokig skara människor som åker på ett skepp, det är inte läskigt och inte särskilt spännande heller.

[Angela Maher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although classified as 'crime' it's not a clear-cut crime novel. There is a touch of the occult, action-adventure, and is mostly a sea-faring story.
It was interesting enough for me to read it to the end, and it was never clear how things would end up. The style felt a little choppy, though, which might be due to it having been translated. Descriptive passages also seemed to be on the long side. There was also places where the same scene was shown from different perspectives with too much of the description being the same.
An interesting book, but not a favourite.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unterhaltsam und definitiv spannend. Die Mehrzahl der Figuren ist leider sehr unsympathisch und bei manchen Szenen fragt man sich schon, warum das jetzt gerade in der Detailtiefe sein musste. Viele Themen, die für verschiedene Leute triggernd sein können. Das Ende ist etwas unbefriedigend, aber wenn ich mal wieder was Nettes und Spannendes zu lesen brauche, ist dieser Autor nicht das Schlechteste, wonach man greifen kann.

[Shane Headlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great adventure into darkness.

[Ewa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klaustrofobiczny thriller, w którym trudno rozpoznać fikcję od prawdy. Niesamowicie wciągający.

[Tg · Rating 4 out of 5]

devestating

[Romain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neuf hommes embarquent depuis l'Islande sur un cargo direction le Surinam. Chacun, ou presque, emporte avec lui pour ce périple un lourd fardeau ou de profondes blessures. Contrairement à un équipage classique, tous les marins n'ont pas le même intérêt à ce que le voyage aille à son terme. Les ambitions personnelles et les conflits d'ordre professionnel vont venir bousculer l'ordre des choses et compliquer une traversée qui ne s'annonçait pas sous les meilleurs auspices.

Le mal est éternel et toutes les bonnes choses ont une fin ...

Autant vous dire que l'on est très loin de la croisière s'amuse. C'est un univers totalement masculin, un récit de mer noir comme de l'encre à tel point que tout semble se dérouler dans la pénombre. Les évènements s'enchaînent à une vitesse incroyable et le destin de ces hommes semble tomber de Charybde en Scylla. On est happé par le récit et il est difficile de lâcher ce roman. Dans la grande tradition des huis clos, la tension est palpable en permanence. Attention cependant aux amateurs d'enquêtes car il s'agit ici d'un thriller et non d'un roman policier classique. Le pouvoir des forces de l'ordre semble bien dérisoire lorsque que l'on se trouve à plusieurs miles de toute côte habitée démuni face à une mer déchainée.
La narration est inventive et l'auteur utilise parfois une technique consistant à décrire la même scéne vécue au travers de points de vues différents (par des personnages différents). Pour que le lecteur se repère, il se sert de balises textuelles, des phrases qui marquent l'esprit, retranscrites à l'identique qui permettent au lecteur de se recaler dans le temps et dans l'espace. Cette technique est très intéressante car elle n'est pas utilisée systématiquement mais avec à propos afin de souligner certains passages. J'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir à lire ce livre même si j'ai été un peu déçu par la fin — mais ce ne sera peut-être pas l'avis de tout le monde. Dans les remerciements, l'auteur rend un hommage à Sartre, Lovecraft et Jim Morrisson. L'univers de Lovecraft est plusieurs fois évoqué de manière claire, la voix de Jim Morrisson est présente grâce à la cassette tournant en boucle dans le mess par contre Sartre ... Peut-être pour le huis clos ?
Pour ceux qui voudraient en savoir plus je suis tombé sur une analyse très complète. http://www.aubonroman.com/2011/02/noi...

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay, I was hoping for a well written horror story, the blurb says 'a journey into madness and terror' well, I wouldn't go that far. This is a tense sort of thriller but I found there was definitely something lost in translation, it didn't read well at times and there were a lot of loose ends. The story is interesting and I enjoyed the atmosphere of suspicion and fear the author creates in the scenario of a crew of men with secrets aboard a doomed ship but became annoyed when every potentially scary moment turned out to be nothing! Then the whole thing just falls apart in the last few chapters with, as I say, many loose ends. This is a messy book that doesn't deliver what it promises.

[Karsten Vestergaard · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story about 9 men trapped together on a freightship from Iceland to Surinam, which didn't leave much of an impression on me.

The characters are all rather unlikeable and depressing, and the plot is sped forward by (too) many coincidences, giving the story a rather "constructed" feel.

In the last chapters a horror element is introduced, and the author also mentions Lovecraft as an inspiration. While I like horror, this particular story doesn't benefit from it, and I felt Mani should have left it out.

Un the upside, there are some well-written depictions of how it is to be aboard a ship in the middle of a storm and some genuinely suspenseful sequences.

[Julia Eppingstall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book for the first half alone, it was definitely the most intriguing part. I love how the author was able to draw parallels between seemingly non-important occurrences, with a few clever twists he was able to connect all the dots which always makes for a satisfying read.

What this book did well:
*Atmosphere - chilling, suspenseful & well articulated
*Character development & identity
*Visual depictions
*Linking unlikely events/people together in a subtle fashion 'after the fact'

What this book did not do well:
*The ending

[Dee Haddrill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't know what to say about this book... Slow to start, but it definitely got going and kept you intrigued for awhile, but then it seemed to lose the plot. Maybe it loses something in translation. The ending was just weird and confusing.

[Sebastian Hagedorn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fängt ganz gut an, wird dann aber immer bescheuerter. Den letzten Schluss habe ich nur noch überblättert, weil ich keine Lust mehr hatte.

[Paul Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven't finished yet

[Kin Ka · Rating 1 out of 5]

boooring

[Bea]

While I didn't LOVE the book, damn if I can't turn away a decent tale about a scary ship and a bunch of hapless, demon-haunted seamen.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

It starts off strong with a very interesting set of scenarios that lead to everyone getting on board. It is for the most part downhill from there. A few parts of interest but overall rather boring and a lot of anti-climaxes. I was expecting more horror, thrills and even the supernatural but none of that eventuated. I was hoping for a strong finish but the end was even more disappointing.