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19th out of 102 books
—
186 voters
He Who Fears the Wolf (Inspector Konrad Sejer #3)
Following her critically acclaimed debut, Don't Look Back, Karin Fossum's next mystery finds Inspect Sejer at the scene of a brutal murder in a stark, strange town.
Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental instituti...more
Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental instituti...more
Paperback, 300 pages
Published
July 3rd 2006
by Mariner Books
(first published 1997)
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I'd pretty much sworn off of detective novels, but two things made me pick up a few of Karen Fossum's crime novels: the Norwegian settings and the promise of a good psychological thriller in the tradition of Ruth Rendell or Minette Walters. In a nutshell, the books were what I'd expected. He Who Fears the Wolf was the one I liked the best of the three I read (the other were Don't Look Back and When the Devil Holds the Candle).
One thing that is quite notable about Fossum is that she gets inside...more
One thing that is quite notable about Fossum is that she gets inside...more
This was an OK "psychological" style mystery novel, translated from the Norwegian. At numerous moments in the book, characters pause and have introspective dialogs, described in almost ludicrously matter-of-fact and understated prose. This tone stayed constant, whether the subject was murder, insanity, Alsatians, or sandwiches. Perhaps it is because of the translation, or perhaps simply that Norwegians are weird like that. I found myself chuckling at times, in spite of the ostensibly grim goings...more
First sentences, "A dazzling ray of light slanted in through the trees. The shock brought him up short. He wasn't ready. He got out of bed, made his way slowly through the dark house, still half-asleep, and came out onto the front steps. And there he encountered the sun. It struck his eyes like an awl. He raised his hands to his eyes, but the light kept coming, penetrating cartilage and bone, all the way into the dark of his skull. Everything turned blindingly white inside. His thoughts fled in...more
I continue to love everything I read of Fossum's. In this novel we have a murder, a bankrobbery, and a kidnapping. Yet the criminals are as dysfunctional as those you hear about in the news making fun of criminal stupidity: "Today a man robbed a bank and after getting away got lost only to stop and ask for directions from a....cop." Yet these criminals are also broken people, sympathtic, who reach out to others in the most unexpected ways.
As expected this novel has all the good stuff--the lonel...more
As expected this novel has all the good stuff--the lonel...more
Fossum has an interesting style. Not quite thriller for me, but suspense with loose procedurals and with very interesting characters and histories for the bad guys. I haven't found another author whose style would be quite like this.
Part of Inspector Sejer series; can be read separately and out of order. 3.5 stars. Very good characters and histories, but a bit too easy an ending, and could have had a bit more action.
An old woman living alone in the woods is found murdered, and it falls to Sejer...more
Part of Inspector Sejer series; can be read separately and out of order. 3.5 stars. Very good characters and histories, but a bit too easy an ending, and could have had a bit more action.
An old woman living alone in the woods is found murdered, and it falls to Sejer...more
This is the third Inspector Sejer book and I am beginning to see why writers whose books I have enjoyed (Ruth Rendell, Jo Nesbo) have sung her praises.
This story takes us to two crimes that are related, linked by a lunatic escaped from the asylum. What makes it interesting is the way the author has written this - it's more about the characters, what led them to where they are in life, and how things unfold unexpectedly when their lives intersect.
What really pleased me in this story, however, is...more
This story takes us to two crimes that are related, linked by a lunatic escaped from the asylum. What makes it interesting is the way the author has written this - it's more about the characters, what led them to where they are in life, and how things unfold unexpectedly when their lives intersect.
What really pleased me in this story, however, is...more
He Who Fears the Wolf, by Karin Fossum. A.
Purchased as a cassette book from audioeditions.com
Inspector Konrad Sejer is the protagonist in this series in a small town in Norway. This book was particularly good, full of noire humor. It involves three criminals, one is a man who is harmless but whom everyone fears and who has been a ward in a psychiatric hospital for some time. But he escapes at the beginning of this book. The second criminal is a newly released prisoner who robs a bank. He ends up...more
Purchased as a cassette book from audioeditions.com
Inspector Konrad Sejer is the protagonist in this series in a small town in Norway. This book was particularly good, full of noire humor. It involves three criminals, one is a man who is harmless but whom everyone fears and who has been a ward in a psychiatric hospital for some time. But he escapes at the beginning of this book. The second criminal is a newly released prisoner who robs a bank. He ends up...more
A very enjoyable read. I went in expecting a police procedural but this book is more of a thriller, though I'd say the psychological complexity of the characters makes it better than your run-of-the-mill thriller. I felt that the plot relied a bit too much on coincidence toward the end, but I found the characters engaging enough that I was able to overlook this pretty easily. A good follow-up to the first Inspector Sejer book, Don't Look Back.
I'm a Fossum junkie. She can do no wrong and this small story suggests that I may indeed be right in my estimates.
Herein is the usual Fossum ethical challenge as presumptions are pealed back. Tragic of course -- there has to be tragedy in Fossum's crime stories; anguish and angst.
But this one is served up almost as a homage to Harold Pinter. Outside the door is society which is both our mother and our tormentor.'Tis very dramatic in the story telling sense. Containment in one room. Characters f...more
Herein is the usual Fossum ethical challenge as presumptions are pealed back. Tragic of course -- there has to be tragedy in Fossum's crime stories; anguish and angst.
But this one is served up almost as a homage to Harold Pinter. Outside the door is society which is both our mother and our tormentor.'Tis very dramatic in the story telling sense. Containment in one room. Characters f...more
A friend and I have been reading lots of Scandinavian mysteries since we finished the Stieg Larson books. We read all of Henning Mankell, who is probably the best mystery writer around today, along with Ruth Rendell, but both of them are getting away from what I would consider "pure" mystery.
He Who Fears the Wolf is the first Karin Fossum I've read and I enjoyed it. The premise is interesting: A bank robber kidnaps a schizophrenic boy who is being hunted as a suspect in the brutal murder of an...more
He Who Fears the Wolf is the first Karin Fossum I've read and I enjoyed it. The premise is interesting: A bank robber kidnaps a schizophrenic boy who is being hunted as a suspect in the brutal murder of an...more
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A somewhat engaging crazy person oscillates between coming apart and being fairly rational, a bank robber, a murdered farmer, a troubled youth, a hostage situation, lots of rumination --in the case of the crazy person, a conversation with his various personalities -- all set in a heat wave in Norway's summer of perpetual daylight. Inspector Sajer, though not the main focus of the story, has to sort it out while battling loneliness and ruminating on a potential love interest to replace his deceas...more
‘He who fears the wolf shouldn’t go into the forest.’
Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer and his team are called into investigate the murder of Halldis Horn, an elderly woman who lives alone in the woods near a small village. It seems that the chief suspect is Errki Johrma, a loner who is probably psychotic and has recently escaped from a mental institution. Many people fear Errki because bad things seem to happen around him, including the death of his mother. The only witness is Kannick Snelligen, a t...more
Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer and his team are called into investigate the murder of Halldis Horn, an elderly woman who lives alone in the woods near a small village. It seems that the chief suspect is Errki Johrma, a loner who is probably psychotic and has recently escaped from a mental institution. Many people fear Errki because bad things seem to happen around him, including the death of his mother. The only witness is Kannick Snelligen, a t...more
"Damn right it's me. I was walking down the street on my way to work and out of the blue I had the feeling that a person I passed looked like a bank robber."
Don't we all hate when that happens? This is my second Fossum crime novel and I'm definitely in for the long haul reading whatever she has translated into english. What I appreciate the most about her writing is that it is not constantly action-packed but it is more cerebral and thought-provoking. Also, although I loved Larsson's Millenium T...more
Don't we all hate when that happens? This is my second Fossum crime novel and I'm definitely in for the long haul reading whatever she has translated into english. What I appreciate the most about her writing is that it is not constantly action-packed but it is more cerebral and thought-provoking. Also, although I loved Larsson's Millenium T...more
“ A person can’t see much when the Devil is holding the candle.”
Here’s the situation: We have a murdered woman, found at her home in the deep woods. Back in town, we have an early morning bank robbery, with a hostage taken. We have an escaped mental patient, last seen roaming the same woods and for good measure, throw in a fat juvenile delinquent, armed with a bow and arrow. How do all these things come together? Well, you’ll have to read this highly enjoyable mystery, set in Norway, to find out...more
Here’s the situation: We have a murdered woman, found at her home in the deep woods. Back in town, we have an early morning bank robbery, with a hostage taken. We have an escaped mental patient, last seen roaming the same woods and for good measure, throw in a fat juvenile delinquent, armed with a bow and arrow. How do all these things come together? Well, you’ll have to read this highly enjoyable mystery, set in Norway, to find out...more
I saw the author recommended somewhere and was immediately intrigued when I learned that she is Norwegian (I'm third generation half-Norwegian and fascinated with my distant roots.
I found the novel fascinating. A rich, wonderful, twisty kind of murder mystery that surprises throughout; definitely not your standard, keep track of the clues and guess at the end kind of mystery. The characters are fully developed over the course of the novel, and I enjoyed "getting to know" more and more about them...more
I found the novel fascinating. A rich, wonderful, twisty kind of murder mystery that surprises throughout; definitely not your standard, keep track of the clues and guess at the end kind of mystery. The characters are fully developed over the course of the novel, and I enjoyed "getting to know" more and more about them...more
Karin Fossum is known for her psychological astuteness, but it's more than that - at least in this book. Fossum writes about people who live in asylums and group homes, people who are on the fringes of society, who are haunted, troubled, or otherwise marginalized. This story involves a gruesome death, a bank robbery, and strange figures who spook the landscape and keep the rumor mills active. We come to know and like some of these misfits. We fear for them even as we vaguely fear them. We like t...more
The plot revolves around three misfits: Errki, in his early twenties, a schizophrenic escapee from a mental institution; Morgan, also in his early twenties, a friendless loner; and Kannick, twelve, mentally unstable and grossly obese, residing in a home for wayward youth. Their lives become interwoven one morning when a widow on a small isolated farm is murdered and a bank is robbed at gunpoint and the robber takes a hostage. What is a little odd about this detective mystery is that the detectiv...more
I really enjoyed this book. I felt the cross-cutting between the detectives and the people in the cabin was well done. The pyschological depths of character that Fossum was able to create made me care for the characters.
Oct 12, 2007
Tenli
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who craves a high quality mystery.
I found this book impossible to put down. I highly recommend all of Fossum's mysteries. I've read four and they were all creepy, unpredictable, absorbing. She excels in the creation of psychologically twisted characters.
Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution. The only witness is a twelve-year-old boy, overweight, obsessed with archery, and a resident at a home for delinquents. When a demented man robs a nearby bank and accidentally takes the suspect hostage, the three misfits are drawn into an uneasy alliance. Shrewdly, patiently, as is hi...more
Well, I mentioned in my review of DON'T LOOK BACK (Karin Fossum's first "English" book) that, although I loved that book, I would have to see if my opinion of Fossum held up as I read more from her. I have now finished reading HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF (and if you're paying attention to dates, you'll notice I read it in one day), I can state unequivocally that Fossum didn't just maintain my opinion of her writing, but actually increased it dramatically! I could NOT put this book down! The characters...more
He Who Fears The Wolf ~ Karin Fossum
This is the fourth book by Karin Fossum that I have read.
Fossum comes from an impressive backlist of Scandinavian writers, all of whom have won the Glass Key Award for Best Scandinavian crime novel. She's in the company of Peter Hoeg, Henning Mankell and Arnaldur Indridason, to give you just three. If you were asked to name any one place in the world that is, crime-fiction wise, in the ascendancy, Scandinavia should, without doubt, be on the tip of your tongue...more
This is the fourth book by Karin Fossum that I have read.
Fossum comes from an impressive backlist of Scandinavian writers, all of whom have won the Glass Key Award for Best Scandinavian crime novel. She's in the company of Peter Hoeg, Henning Mankell and Arnaldur Indridason, to give you just three. If you were asked to name any one place in the world that is, crime-fiction wise, in the ascendancy, Scandinavia should, without doubt, be on the tip of your tongue...more
I read Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum. It was an average story that has been written many times. The saving grace to that book was the main character, Inspector Sejer. He is interesting and really the only reason, in my mind, to read Karin Fossum books.
He Who Fears the Wolf is not about Inspector Sejer solving a killing through great detective work. It is really a paranormal story that is uninteresting. The killer is found by a forest service employee finding the trail. Sure there is a bit of S...more
He Who Fears the Wolf is not about Inspector Sejer solving a killing through great detective work. It is really a paranormal story that is uninteresting. The killer is found by a forest service employee finding the trail. Sure there is a bit of S...more
Wow! I had read the first in this Norwegian mystery series ages ago; liked it but had not pursued the others but now I am hooked. This is book 2 in the Inspector Sejer series and it's terrific. One of the key characters is a psychotic and while I can't vouch for the accuracy of the descriptions, I would say that it's done with such compassion and intelligence that the reader truly believes they understand a bit of what it must be like. There is, perhaps surprisingly, also a lot of humor in this...more
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Very good mystery, but I like mysteries. I also like Fossum's writing and her character development. There was some brief language (f-word), but otherwise clean.
A strange trio of misfits join up because they are all hiding from reality. Errki leaves his home. But it's not really a home, it's more like a detention center. He either witnesses a killing, or did it himself. Morgan robs a bank. He decides on a whim to take along the customer who was in the bank. It turns out to be Errki. Did I mention that he is not all there and has psychotic episodes? Morgan does not realize how this chance decision will affect his life. And then throw in Inspector Sejer w...more
Inspector Sejer is at his best here pulling the pieces of two investigations together and the plot draws the reader in. The characters are not as cold as they are in some of Karin's other work, which is not a criticism , but an observation. Karin's treatment of the Errki characters condition and development was a refreshing change from other authors who lump all mental health issues under " psychotic nutter" tag - Karin is not overly sympathetic to the character and allows the reader to form the...more
Feb 11, 2011
Jennie
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
no one
Shelves:
mystery-scandinavian,
mystery
I think this is the last Fossum book I'll read, I'm sorry to say. I love the foreign settings and usually appreciate Sejer and Skarre, but there was too little of these elements in this book to make it fly. This one had the same problem for me that a few of her others did - characters that I wasn't able to invest in at all, including a couple who were beyond ridiculous, and not in a Patrick Dennis kind of way. I suppose what I need next is a self-help book for dummies who force themselves to rea...more
I'm hooked on Karin Fossum/Inspector Sejer novels. This was another good read.
PBS' Inspector Lewis meets Wallander meets ... Fargo.
Yes, *that* Fargo!
I really don't want to say anything more because I don't want to ruin it for you.
What a pleasantly weird book!
I admire and appreciate Fossum' attempts to imagine the experience of schizophrenia ...since I don't know what it's like first hand I found them intriguing and realistic.
Minus one star because I felt some of the Fargo-y bits went on a bit at times, and because we spent much of the book in "Fargo," and I felt I wanted...more
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Karin Fossum 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...more
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