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Blind Goddess (Hanne Wilhelmsen #1)
by
Anne Holt,
Tom Geddes
THE FIRST BOOK IN EDGAR-NOMINATED ANNE HOLT’S INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING MYSTERY SERIES FEATURING DETECTIVE HANNE WILHELMSEN, LAST SEEN IN 1222 A small-time drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. A young Dutchman, walking aimlessly in central Oslo covered in blood, is taken into custody but refuses to talk. When he is informe...more
Paperback, 343 pages
Published
June 5th 2012
by Scribner
(first published 1993)
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Advocate Karen Borg vindt in Oslo het lichaam van een vermoorde drugsverslaafde. Kort daarna wordt een Nederlandse student onder het bloed opgepakt. Hij wil alleen Karen Borg als zijn advocaat, terwijl zij helemaal geen strafrechtadvocaat is, maar gespecialiseerd is in ondernemingsrecht. Hij is als de dood zo bang voor andere advocaten. Hij wil ook niet naar de gevangenis, maar wil opgesloten blijven in het politiebureau, ook al is dat veel minder comfortabel.
Hanne Wilhelmsen, een lesbische rech...more
Hanne Wilhelmsen, een lesbische rech...more
I recently read 1222, where I was introduced to the complex Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen. Having thoroughly enjoyed the book, I was delighted to see Blind Goddess on my library's shelf and snatched it up.
This is the first in the series featuring Hanne Wilhelmsen and was originally published in Norway in 1993. Having been introduced to the character 20 years later, I found it a bit disconcerting to find Hanne a healthy, vibrant woman. This is one of the reasons I've avoided translated series; while...more
This is the first in the series featuring Hanne Wilhelmsen and was originally published in Norway in 1993. Having been introduced to the character 20 years later, I found it a bit disconcerting to find Hanne a healthy, vibrant woman. This is one of the reasons I've avoided translated series; while...more
I received my copy from Atlantic Books through Book Geeks and rated it 4.5 stars.
Karen, a corporate lawyer, discovers a body while walking her dog. The man, who will be indentified as a drug dealer, has been battered to death. Hours later a young Dutch man is found wondering through the streets of Oslo, covered in blood. The Dutch student is taken into custody but refuses to speak and will only accept legal representation if it comes from the lawyer who found the body. When five days later a sha...more
Karen, a corporate lawyer, discovers a body while walking her dog. The man, who will be indentified as a drug dealer, has been battered to death. Hours later a young Dutch man is found wondering through the streets of Oslo, covered in blood. The Dutch student is taken into custody but refuses to speak and will only accept legal representation if it comes from the lawyer who found the body. When five days later a sha...more
A few weeks ago, I read 1222 by Anne Holt, the first book in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series. Blind Goddess jumps back in time, back before the shooting the left Hanne in a wheelchair. This gives us more background on Hanne and what she was like as a detective, before she became the bitter woman we met in the first book.
There’s an interesting mystery at the heart of this, though I admit I got a little mired down in the middle. A drug dealer is found battered to death in a part. A deranged man, cover...more
There’s an interesting mystery at the heart of this, though I admit I got a little mired down in the middle. A drug dealer is found battered to death in a part. A deranged man, cover...more
Ann Holt weaves an intricate plot of organized crime compounded with betrayal and lies in this police procedural murder mystery. “Blind Goddess” is the first in her series with female Detective Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, of the Oslo Police department.
The story has an intriguing beginning. After a drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of Oslo. A young Dutchman is found wandering about the streets covered in blood and is taken into custody. He refuses to talk to anyone but Kare...more
The story has an intriguing beginning. After a drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of Oslo. A young Dutchman is found wandering about the streets covered in blood and is taken into custody. He refuses to talk to anyone but Kare...more
Here's a book that could have used a bit more editorial bureaucracy in the service of a more pleasant reading experience. The first few chapters I kept flipping around trying to figure out who worked for whom, and in police procedurals, office politics and hierarchy are often more-than-tertiary plot elements, elements that affect not only color and atmosphere but possibly the outcome of the case. In a police department where lawyers and detectives on the police force work together in an unusual...more
Blind Goddess, as the title might suggest, is a tense, political battle between lawyers with Norway's very soul at stake. The narrative exposes Norway's careful legal system to review, and Holt does it well with the experience of working not only for the Oslo police department, but also as a lawyer and as Norway's Minister for Justice.
It's a taunt, psychological procedural, written within the context of the ordinariness of everyday life in Oslo, Norway. There's some beautiful writing that descr...more
It's a taunt, psychological procedural, written within the context of the ordinariness of everyday life in Oslo, Norway. There's some beautiful writing that descr...more
Blind Goddess
By Anne Holt
Ann Holt weaves an intricate plot of organized crime compounded with betrayal and lies in this police procedural murder mystery. “Blind Goddess” is the first in her series with female Detective Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, of the Oslo Police department.
The story has an intriguing beginning. After a drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of Oslo. A young Dutchman is found wandering about the streets covered in blood and is taken into custody. He refuses t...more
By Anne Holt
Ann Holt weaves an intricate plot of organized crime compounded with betrayal and lies in this police procedural murder mystery. “Blind Goddess” is the first in her series with female Detective Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, of the Oslo Police department.
The story has an intriguing beginning. After a drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of Oslo. A young Dutchman is found wandering about the streets covered in blood and is taken into custody. He refuses t...more
This novel was written as a prequel or was translated second to "1222" which was beyond excellent reading. This was a good read and filled us in on the personality and life of D.I. Hanne Wilhemsen before her job-ending spinal injury.
This book was written originally in Norwegian and I enjoy the slightly different approach to a police procedural. Hanne is brought in on a case that involves drugs, money laundering, corrupt police and all the way up to the Ministry of Justice.
The story was complex a...more
This book was written originally in Norwegian and I enjoy the slightly different approach to a police procedural. Hanne is brought in on a case that involves drugs, money laundering, corrupt police and all the way up to the Ministry of Justice.
The story was complex a...more
“Blind Goddess” by Anne Holt, published by Scribner.
Category – Mystery/Thriller
Inspector Anne Wilhelmsen, who first appeared in “1222”, is on another case in “Blind Goddess”. Anne Holt, who is fast becoming a force to content with in Norwegian crime fiction, is now being acclaimed internationally.
“Blind Goddess” is a mystery that combines just good old fashion police work in solving complicated crime/crimes that include murder, drugs and political corruption.
Few first pages of novels will grab y...more
Category – Mystery/Thriller
Inspector Anne Wilhelmsen, who first appeared in “1222”, is on another case in “Blind Goddess”. Anne Holt, who is fast becoming a force to content with in Norwegian crime fiction, is now being acclaimed internationally.
“Blind Goddess” is a mystery that combines just good old fashion police work in solving complicated crime/crimes that include murder, drugs and political corruption.
Few first pages of novels will grab y...more
Blind Goddess, by Anne Holt, translated by Tom Gettes, narrated by Kate Reading, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
A small-time drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. A young Dutchman, walking aimlessly in central Oslo
covered in blood, is taken into custody but refuses to talk. When he is informed that the woman who discovered the body, Karen Borg, is a lawyer, he demands
her as his defender, although her specialty is civil,...more
A small-time drug dealer is found battered to death on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital, Oslo. A young Dutchman, walking aimlessly in central Oslo
covered in blood, is taken into custody but refuses to talk. When he is informed that the woman who discovered the body, Karen Borg, is a lawyer, he demands
her as his defender, although her specialty is civil,...more
I'm giving this book three stars, but there were times while reading it that I was frustrated with it. I was disappointed with this after reading 1222. Hanne is in this mystery as well, but we see her as a cop, before she was injured and paralyzed. A drug dealer is found dead, and a Dutch vagrant in Oslo is arrested because he is sitting in the middle of a busy street. He only demands that Karen Berg, a corporate attorney, become his defense attorney. Otherwise, he remains silent. This thing is...more
This is the first book starring Anne Holts's lesbian detective. It was written in the early 90s when detective work was done on foot or by telephone. In those days it was allowed to smoke in public places. Notes were written up on a typewriter. It was a different world. And all coffee in police stations was bad.
This world has gone forever. It made for a type of police thriller which was either cerebral and plodding or all action. This book is of the plodding variety. Unfortunately, it is not cer...more
This world has gone forever. It made for a type of police thriller which was either cerebral and plodding or all action. This book is of the plodding variety. Unfortunately, it is not cer...more
May 03, 2013
Helen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
from-public-library
Enjoyed this - the first in this series, but only recently translated into English. It was written nearly 20 years ago, so a chance to note how things have changed (no computers, and a typewriter plays a prominent part - one part of the story revolves around a paper version of a statement being removed from a file before a copy can be made. Times have changed!) There was clever if sneaky twist (you think you know who the bad older man is!) Strangely, as seems to happen quite often, the name of o...more
The last book I read in Anne Holt's series was last year's 2222 which features a still smart and sharp Hanne Wilhelmsen. But by the time of the 2222 case, she is twenty years older than in Blind Goddess, wheelchair-bound, and quite embittered and taciturn, not to mention cynical. Twenty years makes a lot of difference. This book features an interesting case but isn't the best in the series. What IS interesting is to see the softer and youthful version of Hanne, still smart and sharp but more kin...more
I've returned to scandinavian crime after a long love affair with Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole. And now I've discovered Anne Holt, and she has two main crime series to follow - yeh! I'm looking forward to the character development of Hanne Wilhelmsen as I can see that reviews of books set 20years on from this one get great reviews. No spoilers please! I found this book a little slow at start (perhaps a lapse of concentration on my part) and I had to persist, but from the half way mark I was hooked into...more
Mijn tweede Anne Holt boek met nu in de hoofdrol Hanne Wilhelmsen. In het boek komen een flink aantal personen voor en soms is het niet helemaal duidelijk met wiens gebeurtenissen je meeleest. In het boek heb ik iedere keer korte stukjes gelezen en dat maakte het soms wel een beetje verwarrend.
Wederom een spannend boek van Anne Holt, ze weet de spanning goed op te bouwen en niets is wat het lijkt, een aantal malen lijkt het plot zich te openbaren, maar dan lopen de gebeurtenissen toch weer ande...more
Wederom een spannend boek van Anne Holt, ze weet de spanning goed op te bouwen en niets is wat het lijkt, een aantal malen lijkt het plot zich te openbaren, maar dan lopen de gebeurtenissen toch weer ande...more
BLIND GODDESS
Anne Holt
One of the recent Scandinavian authors, Anne Holt’s books are set in Norway. Unfortunately for mystery fans, we are not necessarily getting the books in the order they were written in, but in the order they are translated into English, or in the order they are published in the USA.
Holt has taken America by storm and introduced us to a protagonist we can look forward to seeing again, Police Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen. She is joined by a police attorney that becomes her frien...more
Anne Holt
One of the recent Scandinavian authors, Anne Holt’s books are set in Norway. Unfortunately for mystery fans, we are not necessarily getting the books in the order they were written in, but in the order they are translated into English, or in the order they are published in the USA.
Holt has taken America by storm and introduced us to a protagonist we can look forward to seeing again, Police Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen. She is joined by a police attorney that becomes her frien...more
This is the first in the Hanne Wilhelmsen mysteries. Hanne isn’t in a wheelchair in this one; instead she owns a Harley, although it is in pieces, which isn’t a problem because it’s winter and Hanne is very handy and will get it put back together again. Hanne is a great detective, to boot, getting to the bottom of some murders involving lawyers and drugs--never a good combination. Also, if you are ever involved in a murder investigation and you think it is a good idea to get away from it all at...more
Non riesco ad essere cattivo con Anne Holt, perché ho avuto il piacere di sentirla parlare a Mantova qualche anno fa, e mi è parsa una donna molto intelligente e capace, spiritosa, curiosa, modesta e consapevole dei suoi limiti. Questo libro però è il suo primo romanzo (1993), ed è distante anni luce dalla serie di Vic e Stubo, che arriverà solo dopo 15 anni (2008). Un libro che si fa leggere, ma acerbo nella trama e nei personaggi, un po’ ingarbugliato e un po’ indeciso, un po’ troppo buonista....more
This is a good, serviceable mystery about corruption in high places. It's interesting to see Hanne's character before she is blind and paralyzed (in 1222). Perhaps it's the translation...but I felt the book could have used a bit more rigorous editing. Still, it's a good read, and a worthy example of Scandinavian crime fiction.I will continue to read more books as they become available. It will be interesting to see how Hanne's character develops from the young detective in this story to the embi...more
If there's one thing I love, it's a good old scando crime thriller, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it was bloody awful. I ploughed through it because I hate the feeling of not finishing a book, but I had little to no interest as to what would happen to the plot/characters!
At first I thought it was due to the translation but as I continued to read, it became clear that the whole thing just wasn't compelling enough; I wanted to like hanne, but even she was just too one-dimension...more
At first I thought it was due to the translation but as I continued to read, it became clear that the whole thing just wasn't compelling enough; I wanted to like hanne, but even she was just too one-dimension...more
The Hanne Wilhelmsen series from Norwegian author Anne Holt is another one of those Scandinavian series that have been translated completely out of order. For reasons which, as usual, escape me completely. So , and onto BLIND GODDESS which is the book that started the whole thing off.
It would be bad enough to discover a battered body when jogging in the morning, but you'd doubt lawyer Karen Borg would also have been expecting to be called in as defence counsel for the Dutchman who is found wande...more
It would be bad enough to discover a battered body when jogging in the morning, but you'd doubt lawyer Karen Borg would also have been expecting to be called in as defence counsel for the Dutchman who is found wande...more
PROTAGONIST: Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen
SETTING: Oslo, Norway
SERIES: #1 of 8
RATING: 4.75
Lawyer Karen Borg is out with her dog when she comes across a very gruesome scene, a dead man whose face is so battered in that he is unrecognizable. It turns out that he is a small-time drug dealer, and his killer is found very soon thereafter. Han van der Kerch wants Karen as his attorney, despite her lack of criminal experience, and will not talk to anyone else. The case is assigned to Karen’s friend, poli...more
SETTING: Oslo, Norway
SERIES: #1 of 8
RATING: 4.75
Lawyer Karen Borg is out with her dog when she comes across a very gruesome scene, a dead man whose face is so battered in that he is unrecognizable. It turns out that he is a small-time drug dealer, and his killer is found very soon thereafter. Han van der Kerch wants Karen as his attorney, despite her lack of criminal experience, and will not talk to anyone else. The case is assigned to Karen’s friend, poli...more
Ho provato tre volte a leggerlo questo romanzo, ma l'incommensurabile noia che mi ha assalito ad ogni tentativo mi ha indotto a desistere. Ho trovato più divertente persino revisionare il testo di una traduzione legale in cui un avvocato ha avuto il coraggio di scrivere "fatture che si rammostrano al teste". Almeno mi sono fatta un paio di sane risate.
:-)
PS: Sarebbe opportuno proibire per legge che certe persone possano scrivere. Agli avvocati e ad Anne Holt di sicuro.
:-)
PS: Sarebbe opportuno proibire per legge che certe persone possano scrivere. Agli avvocati e ad Anne Holt di sicuro.
Aug 01, 2012
Martina
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
especially those who enjoy police procedurals, ensemble investigations...
Absolutely an amazing read!!! It is clear to me why Jo Nesbo described Anne Holt as the 'godmother of modern Norwegian crime fiction.' Blind Goddess, the first in her Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen series was first published in 1993. It is as fresh and modern and exciting and terrific as any of the 'thrillers' published in recent years. This is a police procedural of the highest order. The main characters are a police inspector, Wilhelmsen; a police attorney, Hakon Sand; a lawyer, Karen Borg; and a...more
I discovered Ann Holt by reading 1222 not knowing it was her latest (translated) book. Blind goddess goes back to the beginning. It was a good mystery but 1222 had much more depth of character. In other words Holt has improved! They are now translating the remainder of the The Hanne Wilhelmsen series so I will continue to read them and "catch up" to 1222. Very interesting look at Oslo police department practices and the Norwegian government. I look forward to enjoying her books.
1 like · like · see review
Not bad, but the description of Anne Hold as "the queen of Norwegian crime fiction" may have caused me to expect a little more from this novel than I got from it. The novel is gritty all right, but Ian Rankin novels are a good deal grittier, and Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy may have ruined crime fiction for me, as I now want deeply complex characters that take more than one book to unravel. In comparison to someone like Lisbeth Salander, Hanne Wilhelmsen falls flat.
Finally a Scandinavian crime book without a flawed/dark protagonist. This is a good read -- fast paced and complex. It's always interesting to see how law enforcement agencies in different countries wend their way through the powers that be. This complex mystery involves lawyers, drug cartels, police, corruption at all layers and a very determined inspector and her colleague. I'm interested in reading more of Anne Holt.
Good crime novel about police trying to find out about drug smugglers and connected killings in Norway.
Solid plot, likeable/intriguing characters that leave room for more, which is good as it's the first in a series.
One of the main characters is a lesbian detective, very much in the closet. If the other cases in the subsequent books are as well developed, I'll enjoy reading more about her.
Solid plot, likeable/intriguing characters that leave room for more, which is good as it's the first in a series.
One of the main characters is a lesbian detective, very much in the closet. If the other cases in the subsequent books are as well developed, I'll enjoy reading more about her.
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Anne Holt was born in Larvik, grew up in Lillestrøm and Tromsø, and moved to Oslo in 1978. She graduated with a law degree from the University of Bergen in 1986, and went on to work for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) and then the Oslo Police Department, earning her right to practice as a lawyer in Norway. In 1990 she returned to NRK, where she worked one year as a journalist and anch...more
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Sep 24, 2012 07:52am