Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
120th out of 240 books
—
32 voters
Bad Intentions (Inspector Konrad Sejer #9)
by
Karin Fossum
Early one September three friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin by Dead Water Lake. With only a pale moon to light their way, they row across the water in the middle of the night. But only two of them return, and they make a pact not to call for help until the following morning.
Inspector Sejer leads the investigation when the body is discovered. He is troubled by the...more
Inspector Sejer leads the investigation when the body is discovered. He is troubled by the...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
July 1st 2010
by Harvill Secker
(first published 2008)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,132)
Bad Intentions starts with a death. Three friends, Jon, Axel and Reilly, have gone on a weekend visit to a lake. Jon has been hospitalized with depression, and his friends think a change of scenery might be helpful. They take Jon out on a boat ride, but he takes the opportunity to step over the side and drown himself. Worried about what the police will think, the two remaining friends hide what has happened and pretend that they woke up to find Jon missing.
As the story unfolds, the reader starts...more
As the story unfolds, the reader starts...more
When an institutionalized young man, suffering from a nervous condition, is found at the bottom of Dead Water lake after a night camping out with 2 of his friends, a verdict of suicide, is released. However, Inspector Sejer is not convinced that foul play didn't have a hand in his death, despite evidence to the contrary. There's just something about the way he died, and the statements made by the man's therapist and girlfriend, which didn't seem to indicate he was in the frame of mind to do away...more
This was my first exposure to Fossum and I was disappointed (especially when I went on to read another of her books which was fabulous).
This all just seems undercooked, not least her detectives who are so far back in the plot as to barely leave a trace as they get to the bottom of why a boy jumps out of a rowing boat in the middle of a freezing Norwegian Lake and plunges to his death while three friends in the boat look on. Fossum is always far more concerned with the impact of a death on other...more
This all just seems undercooked, not least her detectives who are so far back in the plot as to barely leave a trace as they get to the bottom of why a boy jumps out of a rowing boat in the middle of a freezing Norwegian Lake and plunges to his death while three friends in the boat look on. Fossum is always far more concerned with the impact of a death on other...more
Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum tells the story of three friends who make a bad choice and a drunken moment and whose lives unravel as a result. The book begins with the suicide of one of the three young men while the other two watch and then decide to wait a day to report his suicide. They have a secret which is the mystery of this book. But the real story is not the solution of the mystery but the effect the wrong choice has on the friends and those around them.
The book is part of the Sejer/Ska...more
The book is part of the Sejer/Ska...more
Detectives Sejer and Skarra take a back seat psychologically in this riveting novel of three friends. Jon is severely depressed and Alex and Reilly decide to sign him out of the mental hospital for a trip to their cabin in the woods near Dead Water Lake. Jon takes anti-anxiety pills every hour and suffers from paranoia, but what does he have to fear from his friends? They decide to go out in the boat at night during a full moon and suddenly Jon stands and falls overboard. Neither Alex nor Reilly...more
Bad Intentions, by Karen Fossum, is the latest in the Det. Konrad Sejer series to be translated into English from its original Norwegian. While the short novel is easily readable and quite a page turner, it is also easy to find faults with.
Axel, Reilly, and Jon have been best friends since childhood. Axel and Reilly checked Jon out of a mental institution for a weekend getaway. The three friends are ravaged by guilt over an incident that continues to haunt them. Over the weekend, tragedy strikes...more
Axel, Reilly, and Jon have been best friends since childhood. Axel and Reilly checked Jon out of a mental institution for a weekend getaway. The three friends are ravaged by guilt over an incident that continues to haunt them. Over the weekend, tragedy strikes...more
If you got tired of the fast paced American thrillers and the British mysteries, of the noir novels of the European south and even of the Man himself, Stieg Larsson, and you seek something different as far as crime fiction is concerned, then you’d better take a look at the work of Karin Fossum. Her novels have been translated in 25 languages so far and according to the press in the English speaking world, she’s “The Norwegian queen of crime.
I must say that Fossum writes unlike any other crime a...more
I must say that Fossum writes unlike any other crime a...more
I've been reading Karin Fossum for years now, so I've had a chance to see her change. Her books started as more traditional crime novels. Procedurals, basically, with a stoic and sensitive Inspector Sejer at their heart. They were always smarter and more emotionally honest than your average crime novel.
Lately she's moved in a different direction. Her novels claim to be Inspector Sejer books but he is only a minor figure in "Bad Intentions." Instead the book focuses on a group of 3 men, friends s...more
Lately she's moved in a different direction. Her novels claim to be Inspector Sejer books but he is only a minor figure in "Bad Intentions." Instead the book focuses on a group of 3 men, friends s...more
Bad Intentions. I do not know if this title is an accurate translation of the Norwegian. It strikes me that it may not be. Karin Fossum continues her psychological quest...to understand human behavior, the light and the dark of it. I do not say the good and the bad of it, because her understanding goes beyond the good and the bad, but only to understand, not to justify. Because then there is blame, and although some of the characters wander through blame, they eventually get through it to respon...more
Another Karin Fossum book I have enjoyed reading. This is a relatively short book in the Skarre/Sejer series. A realistic and uncomplicated story, but it still keeps you engaged and hooked, as a good story should. Three young friends meet up in a cabin for the weekend and one has been granted weekend release from a psychiatric hospital. He is suffering from major anxiety and is clearly a troubled soul. He and his friends take a boat out on the lake late at night and he jumps into the water and d...more
Karin Fossum writes a gentle psychological mystery centering on two young men covering up a crime. There is no violence or bloodshed. Just a dominate personality, Axel and a weaker one Reilly . Detective Sejer takes a back seat to the two men knowing he can play with the weaker one. Nice insight to a personality with no conscience and huge ego and ambition juxtaposed with a weak drug addicted man ravaged with guilt.
I'm not sure whether a friend told me about this book or if I saw it mentioned on a website; either way, it was presented to me as a Scandinavian crime novel in the mold of Steig Larsson's Millenium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc). Everyone is recommending Scandinavian crime novels these days, riding on Larsson's coattails.
Well. Bad Intentions is nothing at all like Larsson. There's not a hint of Lisbeth Salander here, or even Mikael Blomkvist. The author isn't even Swedish; she's...more
Well. Bad Intentions is nothing at all like Larsson. There's not a hint of Lisbeth Salander here, or even Mikael Blomkvist. The author isn't even Swedish; she's...more
An interesting book. Intended to be a mystery however there really wasn't much actual crime or mystery involved.
Three friends are haunted by an event from their recent past. The three men have a weekend away and one night the three go out in a boat onto the lake. Two return. One doesn't.
Since that part of the story is revealed early on there really isn't too much mystery going on. More like we already know part of the story and can pretty accurately guess at the rest which what has been alread...more
Three friends are haunted by an event from their recent past. The three men have a weekend away and one night the three go out in a boat onto the lake. Two return. One doesn't.
Since that part of the story is revealed early on there really isn't too much mystery going on. More like we already know part of the story and can pretty accurately guess at the rest which what has been alread...more
This is a beautifully crafted story told in elegant prose and scenes that remain in mind long after you’ve finished reading.
Three young friends go on a weekend outing. One of them, a psychiatric patient on release to the custody of his friends for the occasion, dies in what appears to have been a suicide. Inspector Sejer isn’t taking anything for granted.
Sejer’s investigation and guilt over a previous event, which isn’t disclosed until later, takes its toll. But this isn’t a conventional police...more
Three young friends go on a weekend outing. One of them, a psychiatric patient on release to the custody of his friends for the occasion, dies in what appears to have been a suicide. Inspector Sejer isn’t taking anything for granted.
Sejer’s investigation and guilt over a previous event, which isn’t disclosed until later, takes its toll. But this isn’t a conventional police...more
I have read past Inspector Sejer books and he has been a primary figure in those books. This book is unlike her previous books in that Sejer is barely featured. The book is told largely from the perspective of one of three life long friends who, it is made clear, have committed a criminal act together. The exact nature of the act, although hinted at, is not known until the end of the book. The book is more of a study in guilt than detection. What seems least believable about the book, largely be...more
Not so much a police procedural, this was character study with a psychological slant on the motivations and machinations behind guilt and the resulting actions to maintain innocence of wrong doing. I read with fascination as events spiraled out of control.
I liked the start of “Bad Intentions,” moody and tense. Cool, indifferent, taut. I do like mysteries that show us the lives of those being investigated, and “Bad Intentions” provides ample windows into the lives of the two of three men who survive a strange trip on a boat. I’ll leave it at that. Fossum is a good writer and I liked the spare approach. Nobody writes like James M. Cain anymore, but this has echoes. As others have said, the detective work is minimal. I got flashes of Patricia Highsm...more
My first of this series (Konrad Sejer)but he didn't have a very big role in the story. It didn't need him - the story grabbed my attention quickly and never let go. The very creepy events begin in Norway at a place called Dead Water Lake where three friends have gone for a weekend retreat. When there is an unexpected accident, more secrets about the friends' past are revealed. Inspector Sejer investigates the incident, but has a limited part. Some of his past is hinted at, making me wish I could...more
I cannot think of a more apt title for a book in recent memory. Like a lot of Fossum, this is very intense and is a story about consequences. How a small, ill-conceived - but not evil - action can become something much more serious, especially when it has to do with young adults. The story starts with 3 friends spending the night in a cabin in the woods. Then they decide to take their boat out on the lake and only two return.
Fossum reminds me of Georges Simenon when he wrote his psychological n...more
Fossum reminds me of Georges Simenon when he wrote his psychological n...more
3.5 stars
I started reading mysteries by Karin Fossum, a Norwegian writer of psychological crime stories over the Christmas holiday and this is the 4th I have read.The detectives in the series are Sejer and a younger policeman and friend,Skarre.The stories are short and very tight with no wasted narrative. We get to know what is going on in the minds of the criminals and their victims early in the books. The mysteries are usually solved by the detectives interviewing people in the small town sev...more
I started reading mysteries by Karin Fossum, a Norwegian writer of psychological crime stories over the Christmas holiday and this is the 4th I have read.The detectives in the series are Sejer and a younger policeman and friend,Skarre.The stories are short and very tight with no wasted narrative. We get to know what is going on in the minds of the criminals and their victims early in the books. The mysteries are usually solved by the detectives interviewing people in the small town sev...more
Jan 19, 2011
The Sunday Book Review
added it
I really enjoyed this book. It had just the right amount of drama, suspense and shock. We are hooked from the very beginning and it doesn't let go until the very last page. This book does a great job and exploring human nature and just what an individual will do when he feels threatened. There was not on throw-away character written in which I like about this book, and every main character that was introduced was developed quite nicely. The pacing was perfect and the suspense was built to an art...more
Aug 14, 2012
Nikki Hoskin
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Nikki by:
Someone on GetGlue
This book got me started on the road to the Inspector Konnard Sejer series. Although, this is book 5 of the series, you don't need to start at the beginning to read these books, but it does make it fun.
Set in Sweden, Norway and the like areas, Karin delves into senseless murders and makes sense of them by bringing in Inspector Sejer who is a very likable character that you wish existed in real life.
I highly recommend starting with the first book, "Don't Look Back" and going in order of publicati...more
Set in Sweden, Norway and the like areas, Karin delves into senseless murders and makes sense of them by bringing in Inspector Sejer who is a very likable character that you wish existed in real life.
I highly recommend starting with the first book, "Don't Look Back" and going in order of publicati...more
Dec 21, 2011
Doug
added it
Three friends go to a cottage by a lake for a weekend. At night the get in a small row boat and start rowing and in the process one of the lads falls overboard and drowns. The other two do not try to save him and make a pact not to call the police until the next morning. When the police arrive they are troubled by the accidental drowning. Weeks pass and then another young lad is found in nearby lake. This is a story not about police solving a mystery but more about guilt and how it can affect yo...more
Once again, Karin Fossum weaves a Web of relationships affected by two deaths, presumably murders. The issue this time is bullying. As always, i really enjoyed Fossum,s disarmingly simple way that she reveals more and more about the dynamics between and among the various characters to explore the issue. The questions she asks us to ponder are: how much, if any, responsibility/blame do the victims of bullying bear? Do we as a society unintentionally encourage bullies because don't look past thei...more
Karin Fossum is new to me author and another Nordic author who has made her name known in North America.
Bad Intentions is the ninth offering in her Inspector Konrad Sejer series. The book opens with three friends spending a weekend at a cabin. Their interactions seem odd and tainted by an alluded to event in the past. The weekend ends with one of them dead. Inspector Sejer and his partner Inspector Jakob Skarre are called in. The victim Jon Moreno had been hospitalized for depression and was ou...more
Bad Intentions is the ninth offering in her Inspector Konrad Sejer series. The book opens with three friends spending a weekend at a cabin. Their interactions seem odd and tainted by an alluded to event in the past. The weekend ends with one of them dead. Inspector Sejer and his partner Inspector Jakob Skarre are called in. The victim Jon Moreno had been hospitalized for depression and was ou...more
Aug 26, 2011
Dixie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
netgalley,
mystery-crime
Karin Fossum has been on my radar for a while. I love a good Scandinavian crime novel. Unfortunately, Bad Intentions left me with a ho-hum feeling.
Let me say right away that there is graphic violence towards an animal near the end of the book. I understand that the point is to show that one of the characters is evil and unfeeling. However, after reading that portion of the book, I had to put the book down for a few minutes and think about whether I wanted to finish reading. It is rare that I do...more
Let me say right away that there is graphic violence towards an animal near the end of the book. I understand that the point is to show that one of the characters is evil and unfeeling. However, after reading that portion of the book, I had to put the book down for a few minutes and think about whether I wanted to finish reading. It is rare that I do...more
Karin Fossum is an author who uses observation acutely, whilst being more than willing to play with both expectations and the outer reaches of readers' comfort zones. Each of her books uses a different type of scenario to explore human behaviour and quirks. In BAD INTENTIONS she is looking at the nature of manipulation, conscience, and absolute and total egocentricity. She's also very very good at creepy - be it the characters or the setting, and in BAD INTENTIONS there's some of each.
BAD INTENT...more
BAD INTENT...more
“Yet I feel so bitter because we're not bad people. How can you know you're a good person if your life has been nothing but plain sailing?” (87).
“The pain, which originated in the roots of his teeth, found its way to the top of his head, where it threatened his pride” (97).
“Something he could not control had disregarded his excellence and decided to act as it pleased. And this something cared nothing for his exalted position but tormented him as though he was just anyone” (97).
“Again he looked a...more
“The pain, which originated in the roots of his teeth, found its way to the top of his head, where it threatened his pride” (97).
“Something he could not control had disregarded his excellence and decided to act as it pleased. And this something cared nothing for his exalted position but tormented him as though he was just anyone” (97).
“Again he looked a...more
I bought this book at the op shop. Great read for a sunny weekend when there is not that much time to read. I had read another of the authors the previous weekend.
I liked them because they are straight forward eventful, not focused on a detective but on the mind of someone who commits a crime. But Not on the mind of a criminal either. It is regular people compelled by circumstance or idiocy to do a thing that the person thinks is the easy way out.NOT
Good fiction .
I liked them because they are straight forward eventful, not focused on a detective but on the mind of someone who commits a crime. But Not on the mind of a criminal either. It is regular people compelled by circumstance or idiocy to do a thing that the person thinks is the easy way out.NOT
Good fiction .
This is the worst one yet. The writing seemed very amateurish to me; the book did not engage me, and yet again, she indulges in the annoying habit of providing just a bit of forboding information about Konrad Sejer, but I guess I'd have to read the next novel to know where that goes. If I can get it for $1.99 on my Kindle, like I did with this one, I might do it; otherwise, forget it. I'm off to find other Scandinavian crime authors who can better hold my interest.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
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
More about Karin Fossum...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Aug 17, 2011 06:15am