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Inspector Huss #6
Eldsdansen
Irene Huss ställs inför en ny mordgåta, en mordbrand som visar sig ha kopplingar till ett femton år gammalt olöst fall. Ett fall i stadens danskretsar som Huss brottades med under sin första tid vid våldsroteln i Göteborg och som tvingade henne att ställa den obehagliga frågan: Kan ett barn verkligen kallblodigt mörda en vuxen?
Nu väcks obehagliga minnen till liv och läsaren förflyttas tillbaka i tiden och får möta Irene Huss som ung polis.
Nu väcks obehagliga minnen till liv och läsaren förflyttas tillbaka i tiden och får möta Irene Huss som ung polis.
285 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
67 people are currently reading
721 people want to read
About the author
Helene Tursten
53 books947 followersHelene Tursten (born in Gothenburg in 1954) is a Swedish writer of crime fiction. The main character in her stories is Detective Inspector Irene Huss. Before becoming an author, Tursten worked as a nurse and then a dentist, but was forced to leave due to illness. During her illness she worked as a translator of medical articles.
Series:
* Irene Huss
Series:
* Irene Huss
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
February 5, 2020
Scandinavian Literature usually requires a period of adjustment for my Western-centric brain, but this one had a short acclimation period.
Perfectly passable procedural mystery. It may well have been fair play, I think. For someone who hasn't read any of the previous books (like me,) the personal touches might seem superfluous or boring, but for the most part they were not obtrusive. I likely would have appreciated them had I had any prior point of reference.
The mystery itself was double-edged: an early case - from before our main character was on the violent crimes squad – regarding a death-by-arson and revolving around a strange family with a young son and an older, beautiful but socially impaired daughter gets put down as an accidental death due to lack of evidence and more pressing investigations. 15 years later, that same daughter is found burned to death in a strange shed. Inspector Irene Huss must essentially go back and solve the first mystery to understand the second.
The translation was fine. The mystery was interesting, but not outstanding. In the span of just this book, the main characters didn't spark any long term curiosity. As I said: perfectly passable. Kind of unremarkable.
Perfectly passable procedural mystery. It may well have been fair play, I think. For someone who hasn't read any of the previous books (like me,) the personal touches might seem superfluous or boring, but for the most part they were not obtrusive. I likely would have appreciated them had I had any prior point of reference.
The mystery itself was double-edged: an early case - from before our main character was on the violent crimes squad – regarding a death-by-arson and revolving around a strange family with a young son and an older, beautiful but socially impaired daughter gets put down as an accidental death due to lack of evidence and more pressing investigations. 15 years later, that same daughter is found burned to death in a strange shed. Inspector Irene Huss must essentially go back and solve the first mystery to understand the second.
The translation was fine. The mystery was interesting, but not outstanding. In the span of just this book, the main characters didn't spark any long term curiosity. As I said: perfectly passable. Kind of unremarkable.
December 31, 2014
I have read several of the Irene Huss mysteries and this one does not disappoint. It takes place in two separate time periods, one fifteen years ago, and the other right now. Irene is investigating the arson death of a dancer named Sophie who was burned alive. Sophie's death reminds Irene of a fire and murder fifteen years previously when Sophie's step-father was killed in a similar manner.
Sophie is a strange person. She most likely has schizoid personality disorder and may have a mild case of Asperger's Syndrome. She has no friends and her one true passion is dance. She speaks little and there is no one who is important in her life except perhaps her father who is a composer.
The investigation into Sophie's murder is very interesting and the characters are well-developed. Irene is a police detective, mother, ju jitsu champion, dog lover, and wife. All these aspects of her persona are explored. She comes across as a whole human being which is not often the case in a police procedural.
The novel takes place in Goteburg, Sweden, a cold and foggy place. Even Goteburg comes alive in Tursten's words as we read about the people who populate this sub-arctic region. Laura Wideburg's translation is excellent.
As Irene gets closer and closer to solving the murder, other crimes enter the story like red herrings and this is what keeps me from giving it a five. There are gangland murders, the release from prison of a criminal who terrorized Irene in a past novel, and the like. If the novel had focused solely on Sophie's murder and its investigation, it would have been much better.
Sophie is a strange person. She most likely has schizoid personality disorder and may have a mild case of Asperger's Syndrome. She has no friends and her one true passion is dance. She speaks little and there is no one who is important in her life except perhaps her father who is a composer.
The investigation into Sophie's murder is very interesting and the characters are well-developed. Irene is a police detective, mother, ju jitsu champion, dog lover, and wife. All these aspects of her persona are explored. She comes across as a whole human being which is not often the case in a police procedural.
The novel takes place in Goteburg, Sweden, a cold and foggy place. Even Goteburg comes alive in Tursten's words as we read about the people who populate this sub-arctic region. Laura Wideburg's translation is excellent.
As Irene gets closer and closer to solving the murder, other crimes enter the story like red herrings and this is what keeps me from giving it a five. There are gangland murders, the release from prison of a criminal who terrorized Irene in a past novel, and the like. If the novel had focused solely on Sophie's murder and its investigation, it would have been much better.
January 20, 2014
I love when the title of a novel is actually indicative of what one will find in the book, so many of them are not. This case takes Irene Huss back fifteen years to one of her first cases, a case that involved a fire. Go figure. In the present, the person they questioned as a possible suspect back than is now found dead.
Although I felt Irene was not quite as sharp as in her previous novels, this one is still very entertaining. I loved all the information on dance and learned a new term, which is also a type of dance called capoeira. There are a few secondary plots, including one involving a Hell's Angel that had once put Irene in the hospital. Her personal ;life takes a scary turn as well. Good, solid and entertaining read.
Although I felt Irene was not quite as sharp as in her previous novels, this one is still very entertaining. I loved all the information on dance and learned a new term, which is also a type of dance called capoeira. There are a few secondary plots, including one involving a Hell's Angel that had once put Irene in the hospital. Her personal ;life takes a scary turn as well. Good, solid and entertaining read.
Read
December 31, 2013like a 3.75
This one is definitely not representative of the best of Tursten's work -- that honor goes to The Torso, much more edgy and less chick-ish. However, I am always happy to read anything new by Tursten, one of my favorites among a dwindling list of Scandinavian crime writers I still read.
The Fire Dance splits time periods -- the first, from 1989-1990, when Irene has been with the department only a month. Her girls are very young, and husband Krister is grateful for his 30-hour/wk part-time job. A difficult case found its way into her lap when after three months, a young girl named Sophie Malmborg, possible witness to a fire at her home that killed a man, has been unwilling to speak for three months. Despite the best efforts of professionals, Sophie will not talk. Irene's boss, Sven Andersson, figures that since Irene is a woman with small children, she might have much more luck getting Sophie to say something. She gets plenty from all of the other people in Sophie's life, but Sophie still isn't talking. With no further clues, and with other cases coming up, the case goes cold, and life moves on. Flash forward to 2004 -- fifteen years after the house fire, Sophie is dead, after having disappeared for three weeks. Irene now has only very meager clues, but several suspects, and as was the case fifteen years earlier she's needed on another big case and time is growing short. In the meantime, things are happening on the home front that will require her attention.
Helene Tursten is always able to provide her armchair-detective readers with a solid mystery to ponder, and that is certainly the case in The Fire Dance. Irene must rely on the fifteen-year old unsolved case to make any headway in the present, and the way Tursten sets up this up case gives it kind of an eerie turn. She also does a fine job in conveying Irene's devotion both to the job and her family, and does so a way that never seems forced. I could do with less of the dog (I think I say that about every Irene Huss novel) and the emphasis on the food choices made by the vegan daughter, but otherwise, I appreciate this aspect of Tursten's series. While I didn't find it as edgy or as solid as her book The Torso, my favorite of the series, The Fire Dance still very much pleased my picky crime-fiction reader self. All I would say in the negative zone is that I would have loved to have seen less cute and more edge. But that's a personal thing.
Regular followers of this series will not be disappointed; probably not a good read for hardboiled, noir or cozy crime readers; more for those who enjoy solid police procedurals with a personal twist. As my list of favorite Scandinavian crime writers is dwindling, I'm am so happy to have found this series, and I'm even happier that Soho continues to publish them for American readers.
This one is definitely not representative of the best of Tursten's work -- that honor goes to The Torso, much more edgy and less chick-ish. However, I am always happy to read anything new by Tursten, one of my favorites among a dwindling list of Scandinavian crime writers I still read.
The Fire Dance splits time periods -- the first, from 1989-1990, when Irene has been with the department only a month. Her girls are very young, and husband Krister is grateful for his 30-hour/wk part-time job. A difficult case found its way into her lap when after three months, a young girl named Sophie Malmborg, possible witness to a fire at her home that killed a man, has been unwilling to speak for three months. Despite the best efforts of professionals, Sophie will not talk. Irene's boss, Sven Andersson, figures that since Irene is a woman with small children, she might have much more luck getting Sophie to say something. She gets plenty from all of the other people in Sophie's life, but Sophie still isn't talking. With no further clues, and with other cases coming up, the case goes cold, and life moves on. Flash forward to 2004 -- fifteen years after the house fire, Sophie is dead, after having disappeared for three weeks. Irene now has only very meager clues, but several suspects, and as was the case fifteen years earlier she's needed on another big case and time is growing short. In the meantime, things are happening on the home front that will require her attention.
Helene Tursten is always able to provide her armchair-detective readers with a solid mystery to ponder, and that is certainly the case in The Fire Dance. Irene must rely on the fifteen-year old unsolved case to make any headway in the present, and the way Tursten sets up this up case gives it kind of an eerie turn. She also does a fine job in conveying Irene's devotion both to the job and her family, and does so a way that never seems forced. I could do with less of the dog (I think I say that about every Irene Huss novel) and the emphasis on the food choices made by the vegan daughter, but otherwise, I appreciate this aspect of Tursten's series. While I didn't find it as edgy or as solid as her book The Torso, my favorite of the series, The Fire Dance still very much pleased my picky crime-fiction reader self. All I would say in the negative zone is that I would have loved to have seen less cute and more edge. But that's a personal thing.
Regular followers of this series will not be disappointed; probably not a good read for hardboiled, noir or cozy crime readers; more for those who enjoy solid police procedurals with a personal twist. As my list of favorite Scandinavian crime writers is dwindling, I'm am so happy to have found this series, and I'm even happier that Soho continues to publish them for American readers.
October 31, 2013
Irene Huss is a favorite of mine as is the Goteborg Sweden setting and this book did not disappoint. The author has aged her characters gently and appropriately with enjoyable status updates on their present activities. Even Sammie the dog is enjoying life as much as he did when I last visited the family.
Aiding the readjustment was a split timeframe for the mystery, two or more mysteries were taking place over a fifteen years period. A child was suspected of knowledge of a crime but was protected by family and child protective service workers. Fast forwarding over those years we meet the young woman who was the child Sophie as a victim of a violent murder. Was she a victim or merely a disturbed child who grew up in a terribly dysfunctional family?
Sophie's mother, brother, father and other family members definitely warranted Inspector Huss' attention. She is accused of spying, trespassing and causing bodily harm to at least one member of this family. At the same time her husband developed amnesia and her twin daughters add their own distractions to her successful policing of the case.
The ending was unexpected but well done. Helen Tursten knows how to weave a plot successfully and to maneuver her characters in a believable manner. I received a review copy from NetGalley and am quite glad I did.
Aiding the readjustment was a split timeframe for the mystery, two or more mysteries were taking place over a fifteen years period. A child was suspected of knowledge of a crime but was protected by family and child protective service workers. Fast forwarding over those years we meet the young woman who was the child Sophie as a victim of a violent murder. Was she a victim or merely a disturbed child who grew up in a terribly dysfunctional family?
Sophie's mother, brother, father and other family members definitely warranted Inspector Huss' attention. She is accused of spying, trespassing and causing bodily harm to at least one member of this family. At the same time her husband developed amnesia and her twin daughters add their own distractions to her successful policing of the case.
The ending was unexpected but well done. Helen Tursten knows how to weave a plot successfully and to maneuver her characters in a believable manner. I received a review copy from NetGalley and am quite glad I did.
December 2, 2017
Long walk for a short drink of water. A slight plot padded with painstakingly detailed description s of every scene leading to an unsatisfying conclusion.
Not her best effort.
Not her best effort.
January 31, 2020
Inspector Irene Huss has become a favorite of mine. Ms. Trusten has developed a character in depth who uses intuitive deduction to come to a conclusion but she's also human and subject to mistakes. In short, she has the aspects of a real individual. She's a mother of twin girls who are now young ladies and out making decisions on their own, right or wrong, and the wife of a chef who works way too hard. (More about that in the book but you have to READ THE BOOK to find out exactly what.) She also is the loyal subject of Sammie, her terrier who usually gets what he wants. Save for one member of the squad she's a part of Irene gets along well with her colleagues and her old school boss.
In short, Irene is a good human being, a good mother and wife, a good co-worker and a very good detective.
In this, the 6th in the series Huss revisits a case from 15 years prior when she was just starting her job. It involved the arson fire of a house in which a man died. Now that case has come back to haunt the squad as a suspect in that house arson, a girl of 11 at the time, has been horribly murdered by being burned to death.
With it's many twists and turns I was absolutely sure I knew the culprit. Ha! Silly me. The ending was nothing like I imagined but that isn't to say it wasn't well done; in fact it was very well done.
Irene Huss is a detective on the police force in Gothenburg, Sweden. The town has it's share of crime whether gangland slayings, drugs, domestic violence; in short what one would expect from an area of over 1 million people in the metropolitan area. But it isn't a dark, dank city filled only with crime. It has cultural events that one would expect of an upscale European city. It has universities and a social support group that many of us in the anti-socialism bent of the United States would find strange. But they seem to work.
Let me suggest that you meet Detective Inspector Huss if you aren't familiar with her and if you like strong female leading characters. There is action, drama and certainly its share of introspection in this series. More than enough to keep a mind interested.
In short, Irene is a good human being, a good mother and wife, a good co-worker and a very good detective.
In this, the 6th in the series Huss revisits a case from 15 years prior when she was just starting her job. It involved the arson fire of a house in which a man died. Now that case has come back to haunt the squad as a suspect in that house arson, a girl of 11 at the time, has been horribly murdered by being burned to death.
With it's many twists and turns I was absolutely sure I knew the culprit. Ha! Silly me. The ending was nothing like I imagined but that isn't to say it wasn't well done; in fact it was very well done.
Irene Huss is a detective on the police force in Gothenburg, Sweden. The town has it's share of crime whether gangland slayings, drugs, domestic violence; in short what one would expect from an area of over 1 million people in the metropolitan area. But it isn't a dark, dank city filled only with crime. It has cultural events that one would expect of an upscale European city. It has universities and a social support group that many of us in the anti-socialism bent of the United States would find strange. But they seem to work.
Let me suggest that you meet Detective Inspector Huss if you aren't familiar with her and if you like strong female leading characters. There is action, drama and certainly its share of introspection in this series. More than enough to keep a mind interested.
June 29, 2018
Very good entry in the Irene Huss series. Learned a bit about some mental illnesses I didn't know about......so that was fun. Also reading about capoeira made me want to learn more and watch it online.
December 16, 2020
This series is interesting, because the mysteries themselves are sometimes unnecessarily convoluted and/or predictable and Irene's not actually always the greatest policewoman in the world, but her friends and family are great.
April 12, 2023
Und jetzt das nächste... 😉
October 17, 2021
i picked up this book from a little free library in my town and i actually really enjoyed it.
December 6, 2020
This is the first of the Irene Huss Investigations that I have read. It is the 6th in the series set in Sweden. The plot interesting in blending the investigation of a fire that resulted in the death of the owner and the peculiar behavior of a young daughter who exhibits behavior suggestive of a personality disorder or PTSD or something on the autism spectrum. The story then picks up 16 years later with another fire and death. Most of the book studies the threads connecting the two events and the families involved. In addition being a good story, it highlights some differences in Swedish juris prudence, family roles and culture in general. The conclusion was a sane, sober and settling one, making the novel a comfortable read.
July 31, 2014
Fifteen years is a long time between police investigations involving the same person, but that is what Inspector Irene Huss finds as she investigates the death of a young woman, Sophie, who as an eight-year-old girl was suspected of arson in the death of her stepfather when their house burned down. What is so striking in the present is that Sophie was burned to death.
The novel proceeds basically in fits and starts, as Irene and the rest of the Gotberg Murder Squad encounter other cases taking up time, and as she seeks either a clue to the past, as well as the present, or inspiration. Sophie had grown up to be a choreographer and dancer who created a dance called, naturally, The Fire Dance, which debuts posthumously to great acclaim.
As in the previous five installments in the series, Irene juggles her police duties with family life, her gourmet chef husband and twin daughters who now exhibit minds of their own in relation to their interests and boyfriends. This portrayal makes Irene a sympathetic, and somewhat harried, character. But she prevails somehow in both roles. At the same time, the author manages to move a crime story forward subtly with panache.
Recommended.
The novel proceeds basically in fits and starts, as Irene and the rest of the Gotberg Murder Squad encounter other cases taking up time, and as she seeks either a clue to the past, as well as the present, or inspiration. Sophie had grown up to be a choreographer and dancer who created a dance called, naturally, The Fire Dance, which debuts posthumously to great acclaim.
As in the previous five installments in the series, Irene juggles her police duties with family life, her gourmet chef husband and twin daughters who now exhibit minds of their own in relation to their interests and boyfriends. This portrayal makes Irene a sympathetic, and somewhat harried, character. But she prevails somehow in both roles. At the same time, the author manages to move a crime story forward subtly with panache.
Recommended.
June 3, 2019
Maybe I'd give it 2.5 stars.
This was my least favorite book in the series so far. Irene's choices don't make sense. First she involves her daughter in a murder investigation then sure sign up for dance classes and date a potential murderer. More worried about her daughter giving up the sport she loves than her daughter possibly being the next victim. So weird. Even more so after the whole set up that she has fifteen more years experience than she did when investigating the first fire.
The book seemed well researched and the details about the dance helped flesh out the story.
This was my least favorite book in the series so far. Irene's choices don't make sense. First she involves her daughter in a murder investigation then sure sign up for dance classes and date a potential murderer. More worried about her daughter giving up the sport she loves than her daughter possibly being the next victim. So weird. Even more so after the whole set up that she has fifteen more years experience than she did when investigating the first fire.
The book seemed well researched and the details about the dance helped flesh out the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2019
Starting in 1989 when Irene has just started as a detective, the team investigate a house fire in which s man died. The main witness (or suspect) is Sophie, but she refuses to speak. So the case is shelved.
Now an adult and a choreographer, Sophie disappears from a hotel and is found dead 3 weeks later. Irene believes her death is related to the fire many years ago. But it is a busy time for the team and it takes a long time, and some luck, for the team to solve the crime. Irene gets a big hint from the ballet Sophia designed b fore her death.
Now an adult and a choreographer, Sophie disappears from a hotel and is found dead 3 weeks later. Irene believes her death is related to the fire many years ago. But it is a busy time for the team and it takes a long time, and some luck, for the team to solve the crime. Irene gets a big hint from the ballet Sophia designed b fore her death.
August 31, 2013
English speaking audience will enjoy reading another
Irene Huss novel by the Swedish author Helene Tursten.
After investigating a house fire Irene finds a girl by
the side of the road. The girl is expressionless and
disengaging and does not speak even though she can.
Irene solves the riddle of this girl while investigating
gang killings. An unexpected person from one of
her past cases reappears.
Irene Huss novel by the Swedish author Helene Tursten.
After investigating a house fire Irene finds a girl by
the side of the road. The girl is expressionless and
disengaging and does not speak even though she can.
Irene solves the riddle of this girl while investigating
gang killings. An unexpected person from one of
her past cases reappears.
March 13, 2016
Well done! Tight plot, interesting subplots; this is my favorite book in the series so far. Although the other detectives on Irene's team remain as dimension-less as usual, if not more so, at least the oh-so-perfect husband character, Krister, finally shows some realistic human frailties.
April 8, 2023
While I enjoy this series, this particular one didn't exactly blow up my skirt. The premise was good, but I figured out who the culprit was early on, and I also determined who the enablers were. In other words, it was a good premise, but predictable.
A dysfunctional family, narcissistic dancers, bizarre attention-getting behavior, constant financial concerns... It was all there. Irene Huss was involved with the first investigation, 20 years ago, and it was never actually solved. They had lots of theories, but nothing that was definitive and certainly nothing that could be taken to a DA.
Twenty years later and the story is similar, but the family secrets are more closely kept and the co-dependencies are obvious. Still, the precise details needed to be discovered, and Irene manages to do just that. (We knew she would. She's a smart cookie with good instincts.)
A dysfunctional family, narcissistic dancers, bizarre attention-getting behavior, constant financial concerns... It was all there. Irene Huss was involved with the first investigation, 20 years ago, and it was never actually solved. They had lots of theories, but nothing that was definitive and certainly nothing that could be taken to a DA.
Twenty years later and the story is similar, but the family secrets are more closely kept and the co-dependencies are obvious. Still, the precise details needed to be discovered, and Irene manages to do just that. (We knew she would. She's a smart cookie with good instincts.)
March 2, 2025
This is the sixth book in a police procedural series (ten books in all) set in Goteborg, Sweden and the fifth book in this series which I have read. I like the character of Detective Inspector Irene Huss.
The story starts off with the story of an unsolved case Irene worked fifteen years ago when a man died in a house fire and one of the suspects was his young step-daughter, Sophie. Now in the present Sophie has gone missing and the charred remains of her corpse are discovered in a burned out building.
The story is told in a matter of fact style but I enjoyed this book. I think it is probably a good idea to read the books in the correct order though apparently the events in the fourth book take place before the events in the second and third books!
I will definitely look for more books in this series.
The story starts off with the story of an unsolved case Irene worked fifteen years ago when a man died in a house fire and one of the suspects was his young step-daughter, Sophie. Now in the present Sophie has gone missing and the charred remains of her corpse are discovered in a burned out building.
The story is told in a matter of fact style but I enjoyed this book. I think it is probably a good idea to read the books in the correct order though apparently the events in the fourth book take place before the events in the second and third books!
I will definitely look for more books in this series.
December 6, 2018
Another well done Irene Huss mystery. I'm eager to get to the next one. At the end of this, there is a bit of a cliff-hanger, which I usually do not like at all. But in this case, I'll forgive it.
The body of the work was Tursten's usual cast of characters working on a current arson that seems to link to one that is decades old. A brilliant, young dancer is found dead in a burned out shack but she is the same person who as an 11 year old was on the outside of another fatal fire. Was there a connection and if so what and how. Family secrets provide a backdrop.
I enjoyed this look back at Irene's early years as a detective, including her current colleagues as seen as that time. It's probably not a good stand-alone but I enjoyed it.
The body of the work was Tursten's usual cast of characters working on a current arson that seems to link to one that is decades old. A brilliant, young dancer is found dead in a burned out shack but she is the same person who as an 11 year old was on the outside of another fatal fire. Was there a connection and if so what and how. Family secrets provide a backdrop.
I enjoyed this look back at Irene's early years as a detective, including her current colleagues as seen as that time. It's probably not a good stand-alone but I enjoyed it.
March 12, 2021
An excellent addition to the series; although, one of the crimes seems like it was added as an afterthought to make the book longer. I thought this was a real page turner--perhaps in part because I had dance lessons as a child and have always been sucked into the flames of a fire. As usual, there is at least one character to hate passionately, one dangling loose end that I just really wish had been followed, and an assortment of people who are just impossible to figure out. I'm still amazed (after 10 years of reading Scandinavian crime writers) that there is crime somewhere besides the USA. Isn't drug dealing and murder our specialty? If you like Lars Kepler or Ellie Griffiths, you'll like these books.
March 18, 2022
This is the sixth book in this series. It features Detective Irene Huss. This story starts fifteen years earlier with a suspicious fire that kills a young girl’s stepfather. Can an eleven year old be capable of arson and murder. This occurs early in Inspector Huss’ career. She didn’t have the sway with her boss back then. But now the young girls is grown up. She was trained in ballet and is now a choreographer. When she goes missing things get interesting. Then she is found dead in another suspicious fire. And the investigation gets complicated by the past. There are so many twists and turns in this story I think I have whiplash. I really love this series. Helen Tursten does a great job weaving these intricate tales that keep me reading late into the night.
March 30, 2022
How does the death of a choreographer tie in with a fire that killed her stepfather 15 years earlier?
Irene Huss seems unsettled throughout the story, and it left me feeling unsettled as well. Too much going on at work that isn't dealing with the case she wants to be working on. Her twins are nearly adults and their choices worry her, while she's realizing she can only let them make decisions and help them cope with the results.
None of the characters really appealed to me, aside from Irene. By the time the story ended, I didn't care who did it. Not my favorite in this series.
Irene Huss seems unsettled throughout the story, and it left me feeling unsettled as well. Too much going on at work that isn't dealing with the case she wants to be working on. Her twins are nearly adults and their choices worry her, while she's realizing she can only let them make decisions and help them cope with the results.
None of the characters really appealed to me, aside from Irene. By the time the story ended, I didn't care who did it. Not my favorite in this series.
Read
June 17, 2019Generally, I enjoy these mysteries. I find it interesting how openly mysogenistic a few of the male characters are portrayed (Jonny and Anderson). I also find it unbelievable what basic medical information needs to be explained to the detectives. Am I supposed to believe that the Superintendent doesn't know what a suppository is? Really?
I also think the translation is not always what it could/should be. Specific examples include: a turtle neck that was so wide that it almost slid right down (?). Maybe a boatneck, but a turtleneck is not wide. There is also a mention of "flat knitting" (?). It would be nice if the translator had a better grasp of English
I also think the translation is not always what it could/should be. Specific examples include: a turtle neck that was so wide that it almost slid right down (?). Maybe a boatneck, but a turtleneck is not wide. There is also a mention of "flat knitting" (?). It would be nice if the translator had a better grasp of English
July 1, 2022
This was a good read but not a very challenging one. There are only four serious suspects. The addition of the artsy crowd was fun but I think that a lot of the book was foreshadowing the books yet to come. The reappearance of the Hell's Angels, Krister's situation, the twins moving on toward adulthood and Irene's stubbornness promise to boil over in the books to follow. I am reading these books in order and have a feeling for how Tursten is guiding us along. I think I find the detective's tirelessness in some way exhilarating. She will visit a suspect ten times and never whine about it - if there's a clue to be found, she wants to find it. Fearless. Admirable.
August 14, 2022
I checked this book out to read while on vacation. It was like returning to visit an old friend. This is the sixth book in the ten book series. I'll be sad when there's no more Irene Huss to read. I felt bad for Irene in this book because she kept screwing up stuff with the case she was trying to solve and getting in trouble. It had sort of a bizarre ending that I just didn't see coming, but it was a good read. Another odd thing was that there weren't any chapter numbers or anything--just breaks in the text and the text would end and then start up on the next page, to indicate a chapter. I've never read anything formatted that way.
August 1, 2017
I find this series to be a bit uneven, and this installment was one of the weaker ones. The mystery itself is OK, but the dance writing feels a little forced and Angelika and Sophie are kind of flat as characters. I also thought we spent a little bit too much time on Huss' home life - I like that it fleshes out her character, but the plotlines with her daughters just seemed extraneous.
This is a solid book, and if you're a fan of the series, I'd definitely check it out. However, it's not the strongest example of Tursten's work.
This is a solid book, and if you're a fan of the series, I'd definitely check it out. However, it's not the strongest example of Tursten's work.
October 20, 2024
A father died burn up in his house fire. Turn out not to be accidental (as they thought drunk and fell asleep smoking). 15 years later Sophie his daughter dies also burn up I an abandoned building. Coincidente! Turn out a younger brother sneak out of his aunt care and likely play with fire. Sophie, her mother and Ingrid he aunt all protected Frej while is now a photographer and dancer. Like to take pictures of fire,The choreography that Sophie made fire dance explain how the prince is protected by the Queen (mother) and by the guardian (aunt Ingrid).
September 6, 2017
This is my first time reading this series, and I had no problem jumping into Irene's life and work. The character's voice are strong. The twist and turns fascinated me. Side stories of family and friends are engaging to read as well, but they do not distract one from the main plot. I particularly love how Helene had successfully interwoven the art of ballet with the story behind Sophie' secrets and death. I truly enjoyed this novel.
January 12, 2018
Slow moving and disappointing. Sophie, 11-year old girl, Accused of setting a fire that killed her stepfather. Fast forward 15 years and Sophie is dead having been burned in a dilapidated shed. Irene Huss had investigated the first fire and interviewed Sophie at that time and is now investigating Sophie‘s death. The circumstances re the fires were a bit obvious; therefore, the ending was a disappointment.
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