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Konrad Simonsen #1
Saastat
Kouluun tulevat lapset kohtaavat karmean näyn: liikuntasalin katosta roikkuu viisi alastonta, silvottua miehen ruumista. Etsivä Konrad Simonsen murharyhmineen on ymmällään. Keitä uhrit ovat? Mikä on raakojen veritekojen motiivi? Miksi ruumiit on tuotu koululle?
Kun surmattujen henkilöllisyydet selviävät, Simonsen huomaa kaikkien uhrien olleen pedofiileja. Surmatöiden takana on Kostajiksi itseään kutsuva pieni aggressiivinen ryhmittymä, jonka jäsenet ovat pedofiilien uhreja. Simonsen yrittää pitää murhien taustat salassa sensaatiohakuiselta lehdistöltä, mutta Kostajat tekevät tiivistä yhteistyötä toimittajien kanssa, ja pian koko Tanska kohisee murhista. Kostajat ovat pettyneitä pedofiileille langetettuihin lieviin rangaistuksiin, ja saatuaan koko kansakunnan huomion he aloittavat järjestelmällisen kampanjan lynkkausmielialan nostattamiseksi.
Saastat on voimakas, taidolla kirjoitettu tarina oikeuslaitokseen pettyneistä kansalaisista, manipuloinnista ja kansankiihotuksesta. Se näyttää, mitä tapahtuu kun oikeutta janoavat ihmiset ottavat lain omiin käsiinsä.
Kun surmattujen henkilöllisyydet selviävät, Simonsen huomaa kaikkien uhrien olleen pedofiileja. Surmatöiden takana on Kostajiksi itseään kutsuva pieni aggressiivinen ryhmittymä, jonka jäsenet ovat pedofiilien uhreja. Simonsen yrittää pitää murhien taustat salassa sensaatiohakuiselta lehdistöltä, mutta Kostajat tekevät tiivistä yhteistyötä toimittajien kanssa, ja pian koko Tanska kohisee murhista. Kostajat ovat pettyneitä pedofiileille langetettuihin lieviin rangaistuksiin, ja saatuaan koko kansakunnan huomion he aloittavat järjestelmällisen kampanjan lynkkausmielialan nostattamiseksi.
Saastat on voimakas, taidolla kirjoitettu tarina oikeuslaitokseen pettyneistä kansalaisista, manipuloinnista ja kansankiihotuksesta. Se näyttää, mitä tapahtuu kun oikeutta janoavat ihmiset ottavat lain omiin käsiinsä.
445 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
113 people are currently reading
1628 people want to read
About the author
Lotte Hammer
67 books140 followersLotte Hammer (born 1955) finished her training as a nurse in 1977. She has since worked and lived many places, such as Greece, Germany, the North Sea’s oil rigs and the American air force bases in Greenland. From 1995 to 2010 she was head of the Public Eldercare in Halsnaes, Denmark. From 2006 to 2010 she was actively involved in local politics and has been writing full time since 2010.
The crime writing siblings, Lotte Hammer and Søren Hammer published their first novel Svinehunde (The Beast Within) in March 2010.
The crime writing siblings, Lotte Hammer and Søren Hammer published their first novel Svinehunde (The Beast Within) in March 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
July 8, 2013
I will admit that I basically gave up and skimmed to the end of this book. I really do enjoy Nordic crime fiction but this just did not work for me on a number of levels.
The characters were not fully developed and seemed rather flat to me. This, however, was not the main problem. The writers are a Danish brother and sister and I’m assuming they are not native English speakers. I do not know if they wrote the book in English or simply had a sub-par translator. The dialogue was often stilted and not natural at all. There was odd phrasing and strange idioms, all things a competent translator would have ironed out. These oddities kept pulling me out of the story and ultimately made it not work for me.
I will also say that this book was less a crime thriller and more of a political statement on the child abuse laws, regulation of pedophiles and vigilantism, but it didn’t really do that either, at least not to the extent that I came away with a good grasp of what was happening with their laws or public policies.
To give a shortened version, the book opens with a harrowing scene of children finding men’s mutilated bodies hanging in the gym of their school. Very early on we meet the “lead” culprit and then discover that the victims were all pedophiles and this was an organized effort by a group to punish them and draw attention to the issue of child abuse. The book then meanders on from that point with the reader already knowing basically “who did it” and why and the rest of it was some issues with the press, concerns of a lack of public support for punishing the killers, and police procedural drills.
Disappointing read.
The characters were not fully developed and seemed rather flat to me. This, however, was not the main problem. The writers are a Danish brother and sister and I’m assuming they are not native English speakers. I do not know if they wrote the book in English or simply had a sub-par translator. The dialogue was often stilted and not natural at all. There was odd phrasing and strange idioms, all things a competent translator would have ironed out. These oddities kept pulling me out of the story and ultimately made it not work for me.
I will also say that this book was less a crime thriller and more of a political statement on the child abuse laws, regulation of pedophiles and vigilantism, but it didn’t really do that either, at least not to the extent that I came away with a good grasp of what was happening with their laws or public policies.
To give a shortened version, the book opens with a harrowing scene of children finding men’s mutilated bodies hanging in the gym of their school. Very early on we meet the “lead” culprit and then discover that the victims were all pedophiles and this was an organized effort by a group to punish them and draw attention to the issue of child abuse. The book then meanders on from that point with the reader already knowing basically “who did it” and why and the rest of it was some issues with the press, concerns of a lack of public support for punishing the killers, and police procedural drills.
Disappointing read.
October 11, 2017
I had high hopes for this one and was majorly disappointed.
January 24, 2023
DNF. Can’t finish it, monstrously badly written. Some reviewers wondered if the translation into English was bad, because strangely enough some English publishing firm has picked this up, but I can assure you, not even the most brilliant translator could rectify this mess. What puzzles me is why the largest publishing firm in Denmark would even publish this in the first place.
I may seem unfair, but there are so many other much better writing crime writers in Denmark, who deserve much more attention than these two
P.S. Two stars and not one, because the plot is not all that bad.
I may seem unfair, but there are so many other much better writing crime writers in Denmark, who deserve much more attention than these two
P.S. Two stars and not one, because the plot is not all that bad.
May 31, 2017
Why did a Danish brother and sister try to write a crime novel in English? Why was it not edited? Why would anyone publish it? Misused idioms, poor phrasing, and dozens of words used in the wrong context or inappropriately-- these are only a few of the problems with this disaster? The story begins with an interesting crime scene and then goes downhill from there. I shouldn't have finished it but I slogged through. Inane dialog, nonsensical characters and indecipherable phrases like " in the zoom" make this book truly unreadable. Hopefully the authors whose picture on the inside back cover comes straight out of a Gothic horror story will get a competent translator next time if there is a next time!
November 7, 2013
Groan.... how do I rate this book? The storyline itself was actually pretty good, but after that it's a bit hard to say anything too positive! All the main characters are quite boring, I didn't feel a connection to any of them, and the main character himself - police investigator Konrad Simonsen seemed to be hardly in the book much at all!
Then there is confusion with names. Depending on who was speaking to him, Simonsen was called either Konrad, Simonsen or to totally confuse matters, Simon! It was almost as if because the book was written by two people one was calling him one thing, the other something else! And then we have the two female journalists, Anita and Anni who I couldn't seem to get a grip on which was which (then throw in the fact that Simonsen's daughter was Anna-Mia!).
The story itself seems to have a lot of holes in it - every so often I'd feel as if I had missed something somewhere and I'd go back and reread pages in case it was me (it wasn't!). Additionally
Then there is confusion with names. Depending on who was speaking to him, Simonsen was called either Konrad, Simonsen or to totally confuse matters, Simon! It was almost as if because the book was written by two people one was calling him one thing, the other something else! And then we have the two female journalists, Anita and Anni who I couldn't seem to get a grip on which was which (then throw in the fact that Simonsen's daughter was Anna-Mia!).
The story itself seems to have a lot of holes in it - every so often I'd feel as if I had missed something somewhere and I'd go back and reread pages in case it was me (it wasn't!). Additionally
April 16, 2019
“Misbruik” - Lotte & Soren Hammer (Konrad Simonsen-reeks #1)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Het eerste deel van de serie rond Konrad Simonsen. Een topverhaal! Wél eentje waarbij je wakker moet zijn. 😯
Het verhaal is soms vrij ingewikkeld, maar op het einde wordt héél veel duidelijk.
Spannend, van begin tot eind! 🤩
Toppertje!👌
Meer van dit!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Het eerste deel van de serie rond Konrad Simonsen. Een topverhaal! Wél eentje waarbij je wakker moet zijn. 😯
Het verhaal is soms vrij ingewikkeld, maar op het einde wordt héél veel duidelijk.
Spannend, van begin tot eind! 🤩
Toppertje!👌
Meer van dit!
October 18, 2020
Ne diyebilirim ki? Bu çeviri sorununun çözülmesi lazım. İnsan çeviriyi beğenmeyince kitabı da beğenmiyor. Danimarka dili (danca galiba) zor bir dil belli ki. Çevirmen çok zorlanmış. Kopuk kopuk geçişler var. Çeviri bir kitapta çok önemlidir. Neyse deyip geçemiyorum.
Konrad Simonsen serisine başlamış oldum. Kendime şaşırdım hatta. Nasıl oldu da bir seriye başından başladım diye. Kitabın konusu aslında güzeldi. Konusundan bahsettim bu yorumda sonra bir baktım kitabın arkasında bahsetmiyor. Spoiler yemeyi sevmediğinizi biliyorum. Konudan bahsetmeden biraz anlatayım. Çevirisi kötü olduğu için dikkatiniz dağılacak. Uzun ve yorucu gelecek. Çoğu karaktere ısınamadım ben bir de. Birkaç sahne de çok klişe geldi. Sonu nasıldı derseniz hiç şaşırtmasız, dümdüz bir sondu. Belki bu yüzden etkilemedi beni. Önerebileceğim bir kitap değil.
Konrad Simonsen serisine başlamış oldum. Kendime şaşırdım hatta. Nasıl oldu da bir seriye başından başladım diye. Kitabın konusu aslında güzeldi. Konusundan bahsettim bu yorumda sonra bir baktım kitabın arkasında bahsetmiyor. Spoiler yemeyi sevmediğinizi biliyorum. Konudan bahsetmeden biraz anlatayım. Çevirisi kötü olduğu için dikkatiniz dağılacak. Uzun ve yorucu gelecek. Çoğu karaktere ısınamadım ben bir de. Birkaç sahne de çok klişe geldi. Sonu nasıldı derseniz hiç şaşırtmasız, dümdüz bir sondu. Belki bu yüzden etkilemedi beni. Önerebileceğim bir kitap değil.
March 31, 2019
I found the premise original and very interesting, and largely enjoyed this book. The moral dilemma presented here is thought-provoking and valid, and it was compelling as a reader seeing the sides and different interpretations of what happened here and what truly represents justice. I did find some parts of the story hard to follow - I appreciate an author not spoon-feeding the plot to the reader, but this story left a bit much unaddressed or poorly drawn. There were times where I wasn’t sure what had just happened, and went back to reread, but that didn’t always help either. Some readers expressed frustration with the translation, which may have been an issue, but, I felt that the translation was better here than in this duo’s second book, The Girl In The Ice. I also thought I’d get a bit more backstory on the characters in this book, the first in the series, but that did not materialize. All things considered, I appreciated much of the writing style, and the spare, dark writing brings enough rewards to make the downfalls pale. I’ll be seeking out book 3 by this pair.
December 23, 2014
Soren and Lotte Hammer enter the literary scene with a highly thought-provoking thriller that will keep the reader pondering well after closing the book's back cover. Five men are discovered hanging in a school gymnasium, their bodies mutilated. The case is assigned to Detective Inspector Konrad Simonsen and his team, who begin asking the poignant questions as soon as they arrive at the scene. Battling with Danish media outlets, Simonsen must address rumours that the five men are pedophiles before he can get a positive identification on any of the bodies. When the school's janitor is suspected of having something to do with the murders, he commits suicide, only heightening the suspicions. While Simonsen continues to investigate, the media fan flames and turns Copenhagen into a veritable vigilante city, spreading across Denmark with every passing hour. In the background, The Climber, the apparent mastermind behind the entire execution, has his own agenda to keep order and keep Simonsen from muzzling his larger plan. Hammer keeps the story moving effectively, though the drawn out analyses makes it jilted, especially for a debut novel. That said, having not read the novel in its original Danish, it could be a novel lost in translation.
I discovered Hammer by fluke, having read a dust jacket 'praise phrase' by a new favourite author of mine, Lars Kepler. While Kepler penned that Hammer's work was "the best Danish crime fiction in years", I am worried of the state of Danish crime fiction if this can be true. The novel had some great aspects, though it was by no means as exciting or thrilling as some other Scandinavian crime fiction I have read lately (Kepler and Larsson). Hammer take the issue of pedophilia and the media reaction to it, making that a wonderful social issue to address, though at times its presentation is marred by odd character interactions and sub-plots I could not fully digest. The means by which media fan flames and try to create issues for their own benefit is poignant in this day and age of 24 hour news cycles and how sentiment leads to reactionary behaviour, even without fact or a foundation.
Kudos, Mr. and Madam Hammer for this interesting look into your crime fiction abilities. I look forward to the next instalment before I pass complete judgment.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
I discovered Hammer by fluke, having read a dust jacket 'praise phrase' by a new favourite author of mine, Lars Kepler. While Kepler penned that Hammer's work was "the best Danish crime fiction in years", I am worried of the state of Danish crime fiction if this can be true. The novel had some great aspects, though it was by no means as exciting or thrilling as some other Scandinavian crime fiction I have read lately (Kepler and Larsson). Hammer take the issue of pedophilia and the media reaction to it, making that a wonderful social issue to address, though at times its presentation is marred by odd character interactions and sub-plots I could not fully digest. The means by which media fan flames and try to create issues for their own benefit is poignant in this day and age of 24 hour news cycles and how sentiment leads to reactionary behaviour, even without fact or a foundation.
Kudos, Mr. and Madam Hammer for this interesting look into your crime fiction abilities. I look forward to the next instalment before I pass complete judgment.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
July 10, 2014
This is an intriguing plot and a clever story set in Denmark.
The first of a series of police procedurals from a brother and sister writing team; based on this book I shall certainly be looking out for later episodes about Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen and his team as soon as they are translated into English.
This novel addresses the crimes of child abuse from an unusual angle and is about public opinion and political will as much as the solving of a terrible crime. Indeed since the murder being investigated is of five peadophiles, public opinion and media coverage reflects that their 'execution' may have been justified and the perpetrators where doing a civil duty. The Police find they are struggling against public opinion where very few people appear to want the investigation to succeeed and those involve to escape justice.
The story is linear in its chronology but without any real references to the passage of time. The weakness of the book is that it starts with the five hangings and the reader then tries to catch up with motives and the various characters involved. This is confusing and although well written something perhaps is lost in the translation. Other writers may have used parallel accounts and/or historical material leading up to those involved taking this most severe action of executing five men for their abusive past lives. Told in a slightly different way it might have been more powerful as the issues of changing laws against certain crimes with vigilantism and strong public opinion driving matters is quite topical in the UK.
In addition there are alot of members of the police team to get to know in this story and their roles and personalities are lost at times amid the confusing plot outworking.
Another problem I had was fully engaging with the book; I couldn't read much in one sitting; not so much because of the subject matter but as it was tiring to assimulate the narrative. Having said that I did find the book easy to pick up again and continue reading which must reflect on the compelling plot and the writing.
The first of a series of police procedurals from a brother and sister writing team; based on this book I shall certainly be looking out for later episodes about Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen and his team as soon as they are translated into English.
This novel addresses the crimes of child abuse from an unusual angle and is about public opinion and political will as much as the solving of a terrible crime. Indeed since the murder being investigated is of five peadophiles, public opinion and media coverage reflects that their 'execution' may have been justified and the perpetrators where doing a civil duty. The Police find they are struggling against public opinion where very few people appear to want the investigation to succeeed and those involve to escape justice.
The story is linear in its chronology but without any real references to the passage of time. The weakness of the book is that it starts with the five hangings and the reader then tries to catch up with motives and the various characters involved. This is confusing and although well written something perhaps is lost in the translation. Other writers may have used parallel accounts and/or historical material leading up to those involved taking this most severe action of executing five men for their abusive past lives. Told in a slightly different way it might have been more powerful as the issues of changing laws against certain crimes with vigilantism and strong public opinion driving matters is quite topical in the UK.
In addition there are alot of members of the police team to get to know in this story and their roles and personalities are lost at times amid the confusing plot outworking.
Another problem I had was fully engaging with the book; I couldn't read much in one sitting; not so much because of the subject matter but as it was tiring to assimulate the narrative. Having said that I did find the book easy to pick up again and continue reading which must reflect on the compelling plot and the writing.
July 11, 2017
The Hanging is one of those times where the idea is there but the execution was lacking. I wonder if this is perhaps more to do with a translator who didn't attempt nuances when converting it to English; the writing often felt stilted and drab.
The same could be said for the characterization. As this was an audiobook I listened to at work, I didn't have the time or inclination to take notes on the characters. Without it, I had an exceptionally hard time keeping track of who was who. It didn't help that some of the characters had nicknames too.
To add to that, we already knew who the killers were and why they did it. Without that mystery element it became more of a political statement if anything, and one that's a little obvious. No one likes pedophiles! It's why they're kept separate from the general population in prison! We didn't even have a conflict with conscience because let's be real, everyone wants pedophiles to pay!
The same could be said for the characterization. As this was an audiobook I listened to at work, I didn't have the time or inclination to take notes on the characters. Without it, I had an exceptionally hard time keeping track of who was who. It didn't help that some of the characters had nicknames too.
To add to that, we already knew who the killers were and why they did it. Without that mystery element it became more of a political statement if anything, and one that's a little obvious. No one likes pedophiles! It's why they're kept separate from the general population in prison! We didn't even have a conflict with conscience because let's be real, everyone wants pedophiles to pay!
June 2, 2015
A young brother and sister reach school early and discover the mutilated bodies of five men hanging in the gym. Enter Konrad Simonsen and his team of detectives to try and solve this crime. It seems a more than usually difficult task since the identities of the victims are hard to determine considering that their hands and faces have been hacked off with a chainsaw. The story moves slowly and painstakingly through a morass of police procedure and yellow tape towards its inevitable conclusion even as the readers are made aware of the identity of the killers very early in the book.
If you are looking for a quick-fix thriller, then you are in the wrong place. Its almost like following an investigation live, as the detectives work hard to collect evidence and look for links between the murder victims. What is more interesting than the murder mystery is the underlying theme of right and wrong, public outrage, vigilantism and revenge. Very soon in the story it becomes known that the murdered men were all paedophiles. This presents a moral dilemma for both the people in the book and the reader. The authors have shown the Dane police force as being highly moral and incorruptible. Even as the rest of the country is up in arms in defence of those who may have been the murderers of these monsters, the police stick to the belief that since a murder has been committed the fact that these men were criminals or child molesters is besides the point, and that the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Tough call that.
The book presents an interesting conundrum. I have to say that I was with the Danish public on this one on moral sides. I was also extremely surprised to find that according to the book, crimes against children drew a lesser prison sentence that those against adults in Denmark. Somehow, the West has always appeared so advanced in matters such as these that it was hard to imagine that there is a country that actually distinguishes between the rape of a minor and of an adult in such an impractical, not to say completely insensitive, way.
The book can get slow and at times meandering, but the basic premise of the story is solid. Simonsen and his team are good characters and even if the Nordic humor is a little difficult to understand and tends towards the dark side, it works very well with the overall picture. As for all Scandinavian crime fiction some essence of the book always seems to be lost in translation. It is not so severe in this book but one can feel it all the same. The story is more inclined towards 'thought-provoking' than 'sensational thrilling' and does take some getting used to. It does require patience to finish the book but I did like it and I can understand it won't be everybody's cup of tea.
If you are looking for a quick-fix thriller, then you are in the wrong place. Its almost like following an investigation live, as the detectives work hard to collect evidence and look for links between the murder victims. What is more interesting than the murder mystery is the underlying theme of right and wrong, public outrage, vigilantism and revenge. Very soon in the story it becomes known that the murdered men were all paedophiles. This presents a moral dilemma for both the people in the book and the reader. The authors have shown the Dane police force as being highly moral and incorruptible. Even as the rest of the country is up in arms in defence of those who may have been the murderers of these monsters, the police stick to the belief that since a murder has been committed the fact that these men were criminals or child molesters is besides the point, and that the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Tough call that.
The book presents an interesting conundrum. I have to say that I was with the Danish public on this one on moral sides. I was also extremely surprised to find that according to the book, crimes against children drew a lesser prison sentence that those against adults in Denmark. Somehow, the West has always appeared so advanced in matters such as these that it was hard to imagine that there is a country that actually distinguishes between the rape of a minor and of an adult in such an impractical, not to say completely insensitive, way.
The book can get slow and at times meandering, but the basic premise of the story is solid. Simonsen and his team are good characters and even if the Nordic humor is a little difficult to understand and tends towards the dark side, it works very well with the overall picture. As for all Scandinavian crime fiction some essence of the book always seems to be lost in translation. It is not so severe in this book but one can feel it all the same. The story is more inclined towards 'thought-provoking' than 'sensational thrilling' and does take some getting used to. It does require patience to finish the book but I did like it and I can understand it won't be everybody's cup of tea.
January 2, 2015
Πέντε κρεμασμένοι και ακρωτηριασμένοι άνδρες είναι η υπόθεση που καλείται το Τμήμα Ανθρωποκτονιών στην Κοπεγχάγη να λύσει. Ποιοι είναι, ποιος τους σκότωσε και γιατί. Τα πράγματα δεν είναι απλά για τον Κόνραντ Σίμονσεν και την ομάδα του (Άρνε Πέντερσον, Πολίνε Μπεργκ, Πουλ Τρούλσεν, Κόμησσα, Κάσπερ Πλανκ, Μάλτε Μπόρουπ) όταν βάσει ενός προδιαγεγραμμένου σχεδίου από την εκτελεστική ομάδα που, επίσης, μας αποκαλύπτεται από την αρχή (Περ Κλάουσεν, Έρικ Μερκ, Στιγκ Άγκε Θόρσεν, Χέλε Σμιντ Γιόργκενσεν, Αναρριχητής) διαρρέεται στον Τύπο ότι οι δολοφονημένοι υπήρξαν παιδεραστές και ένα μεγάλο κομμάτι του κόσμου τάσσεται υπέρ της αυτοδικίας και κωλύει το έργο της αστυνομίας. Οπότε η εξιχνίαση της υπόθεσης θα εξελιχθεί σε ένα παιχνίδι σκακιού ανάμεσα στους διώκτες και τους διωκόμενους με πιόνι τον Τύπο, την Άννι Στάαλ που θέλει να πουλήσει τα φύλλα της εφημερίδας της και την εκπαιδευόμενή της Αννίτα Ντάλγκρεν που θέλει να πουλήσει την Άννι.
Το τέλος του παιχνιδιού θα καταλήξει σε ματ για τους διωκόμενους. Το θέμα είναι ότι οι διωκόμενοι έχουν υπάρξει τραγικά θύματα βιασμού κατά την παιδική τους ηλικία και θέλουν να ευαισθητοποιήσουν την κοινή γνώμη και να επιτύχουν πιο βαριές ποινές για τους παιδεραστές. Οπότε ναι μεν όχι στην αυτοδικία αλλά με τέτοιες ευαίσθητες ισορροπίες το αποτέλεσμα του θέματος που θίγει το βιβλίο είναι στην κόψη του ξυραφιού. Δηλαδή, όταν συλλαμβάνεται ο Αναρριχητής και τον "ταλαιπωρεί" λεκτικά ο Σίμονσεν, μόνο οίκτο νιώθω για τον άνθρωπο αυτόν. Ίσως παραήταν ψυχρή η προσέγγιση ενός τόσο καυτού θέματος.
Το τέλος του παιχνιδιού θα καταλήξει σε ματ για τους διωκόμενους. Το θέμα είναι ότι οι διωκόμενοι έχουν υπάρξει τραγικά θύματα βιασμού κατά την παιδική τους ηλικία και θέλουν να ευαισθητοποιήσουν την κοινή γνώμη και να επιτύχουν πιο βαριές ποινές για τους παιδεραστές. Οπότε ναι μεν όχι στην αυτοδικία αλλά με τέτοιες ευαίσθητες ισορροπίες το αποτέλεσμα του θέματος που θίγει το βιβλίο είναι στην κόψη του ξυραφιού. Δηλαδή, όταν συλλαμβάνεται ο Αναρριχητής και τον "ταλαιπωρεί" λεκτικά ο Σίμονσεν, μόνο οίκτο νιώθω για τον άνθρωπο αυτόν. Ίσως παραήταν ψυχρή η προσέγγιση ενός τόσο καυτού θέματος.
July 22, 2013
I had a rough time with this one. I was so hoping to really like it; hoping it would be a page turner like some of the other nordic novels out there - not so. The story opens with a major crime, the following investigation commences. You get to know all the players in the law enforcement team and some of there weaknesses and strengths. You also know the culprits. Then there is the dance bewtween the two. There is the underlying theme of pedophilia and Denmarks legal treatment of this crime. The story tends to be complicated and I think somewhat disjointed. It is jumpy, sometimes not connected. The authors seem to skip some info during multi-character conversations that leave you wondering if you missed something. Definitley not one I'd recommend.
February 15, 2017
Well, I quite liked this, although I see a lot of people didn't. I thought it read well enough; main threads are the relationships within the police team, which are a bit strange to say the least, and the issue of what happens when the public, and perhaps even some of the police, are more sympathetic to the killers (victims of child abuse taking revenge on paedophiles in adult life) than they are to the victims (paedophiles, but still victims of a horrific murder).
July 25, 2011
Ein Spitzen-Debüt! Intelligent und politisch, ohne dabei zu werten. Ein interessanter und kluger Plot. Die Charaktere sind durchwegs ausgefeilt und entwicklungsfähig. Ich hoffe, die Geschwister Hammer schreiben bald weiter!
July 5, 2015
Mystisk slutning, der tabte jeg tråden
July 29, 2020
Why are Scandinavian crime novels so grizzly? I guess the nicest people can write the most horrific crimes.
Book #1 in the Konrad Simonsen series, written by the brother and sister team of Lotte and Soren Hamme, opens with five super nasty murders with victims are dismembered and hung in a school gymnasium.
Thankfully it doesn’t get worse than that (frankly how could it?) and the story unfolds in a nice easy PG13 pace. The plot involves victims taking vigilante justice and challenging the “lenient” punishments handed down from Denmark’s justice system. It’s well thought out, well researched and somewhat plausible.
Despite the shocking crime, the book won’t knock your socks off, but it’s a good solid addition to the Scandinavian crime pantheon
Book #1 in the Konrad Simonsen series, written by the brother and sister team of Lotte and Soren Hamme, opens with five super nasty murders with victims are dismembered and hung in a school gymnasium.
Thankfully it doesn’t get worse than that (frankly how could it?) and the story unfolds in a nice easy PG13 pace. The plot involves victims taking vigilante justice and challenging the “lenient” punishments handed down from Denmark’s justice system. It’s well thought out, well researched and somewhat plausible.
Despite the shocking crime, the book won’t knock your socks off, but it’s a good solid addition to the Scandinavian crime pantheon
October 4, 2019
Interesting story with intriguing characters let down badly by a pretty atrocious translation. Clumsy sentence construction competes with a gripping plot, and the plot won out, so I was able to finish the book, but it felt a bit like hard work.
August 5, 2023
Prípad sám o sebe by bol zaujímavý, ale postavy absolútne nezaujímavé a vlastne mi od polovice bolo jedno ako to celé skončí. Zaslúžilo by si to zoškrtať tak o polovicu a vôbec by to knihe neublížilo.
November 11, 2017
3.5 stars
April 9, 2018
I enjoyed this right up to the end. The main character let me down and that’ll be difficult to come back from but I’ll try the next book in the series, regardless. One more try Konrad.
May 22, 2020
Den startede godt ud, men synes det blev for langtrukken, så det var svært at færdiggøre den. Har ikke mistet håbet for serien, da den havde gode elementer men håber nr 2 er bedre.
July 14, 2013
Normally when I get to the stage of actually finishing up a review and publishing it, I've had a good long think, a work through the notes I take as I read, and have formed an opinion that I'm confident I can support. I therefore cannot, for the life of me work out, why THE HANGING still has me unsure.
A confrontational plot, THE HANGING starts out with a death scene that's particularly uncomfortable. The possible reason for the death of five men, left hanging in a school gym, comes much later, with the likely motive a long time before a possible perpetrator. Of course, identifying the victims was obviously going to be a problem as there is a level of disfiguring of the bodies which clearly flags the initial problems the investigation will have. The second major problem, the reaction to the deaths of the public, and even some sectors of the authorities, takes a while longer to reveal itself, but it definitely creates issues for the investigation team.
The team itself, headed by Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen develops as an unusual combination of colleague, competitor, boss, subordinate, friends, lovers, possible lovers, enemies and all levels in between. This is a very difficult group to get a handle on, not just because Simonsen is taciturn, flat, dark and quite distant for a fair part of the novel. Even allowing for a mid novel decision that perhaps there's a dry, desiccated sense of humour going on here, this is still a difficult bunch to get to know. Which doesn't help with connection with the storyline.
Because of the motive behind the murders, the terrible and dark secret that the victims have in common, there's a lot about the plot that not serviced well by a narrative that plods and moves forwards in erratic leaps and bounds. Whilst there are stages when things teeter close to a direction, it always seemed to end up meandering. I'm still not 100% sure if that was actually because of the plotting or simply reader disconnection.
Not being the sort of reader that automatically wants to like or sympathise with a novel's protagonist, understanding is more than enough. Achieving that was a struggle no matter how much slack I sought to give this lot. Perhaps Simonsen's loner pretensions, his illness, his taciturn nature was a little too derivative. We all know that in Scandinavian crime fiction it's been done before with considerable panache and in those days originality. Perhaps it's also because the public reaction to these murders, so easily stirred and built by the perpetrator was somehow a little preachy or manipulative of the reader at the same time.
But strangely, and for reasons that I still can't quite put my finger on, finishing the book wasn't a total chore. There is something there, somewhere that's sort of promising, despite THE HANGING not playing out as well as you'd think it should have from the blurb and the hype. Maybe it is a sense of humour that hasn't translated well. Maybe it was that slight feeling of having been there before. Either way, if the series continues, then I'd like to try another book. After the heavy lifting of the team introductions are out of the way, there might be room for a bit more character development and maybe a plot point or two that stay on message.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
A confrontational plot, THE HANGING starts out with a death scene that's particularly uncomfortable. The possible reason for the death of five men, left hanging in a school gym, comes much later, with the likely motive a long time before a possible perpetrator. Of course, identifying the victims was obviously going to be a problem as there is a level of disfiguring of the bodies which clearly flags the initial problems the investigation will have. The second major problem, the reaction to the deaths of the public, and even some sectors of the authorities, takes a while longer to reveal itself, but it definitely creates issues for the investigation team.
The team itself, headed by Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen develops as an unusual combination of colleague, competitor, boss, subordinate, friends, lovers, possible lovers, enemies and all levels in between. This is a very difficult group to get a handle on, not just because Simonsen is taciturn, flat, dark and quite distant for a fair part of the novel. Even allowing for a mid novel decision that perhaps there's a dry, desiccated sense of humour going on here, this is still a difficult bunch to get to know. Which doesn't help with connection with the storyline.
Because of the motive behind the murders, the terrible and dark secret that the victims have in common, there's a lot about the plot that not serviced well by a narrative that plods and moves forwards in erratic leaps and bounds. Whilst there are stages when things teeter close to a direction, it always seemed to end up meandering. I'm still not 100% sure if that was actually because of the plotting or simply reader disconnection.
Not being the sort of reader that automatically wants to like or sympathise with a novel's protagonist, understanding is more than enough. Achieving that was a struggle no matter how much slack I sought to give this lot. Perhaps Simonsen's loner pretensions, his illness, his taciturn nature was a little too derivative. We all know that in Scandinavian crime fiction it's been done before with considerable panache and in those days originality. Perhaps it's also because the public reaction to these murders, so easily stirred and built by the perpetrator was somehow a little preachy or manipulative of the reader at the same time.
But strangely, and for reasons that I still can't quite put my finger on, finishing the book wasn't a total chore. There is something there, somewhere that's sort of promising, despite THE HANGING not playing out as well as you'd think it should have from the blurb and the hype. Maybe it is a sense of humour that hasn't translated well. Maybe it was that slight feeling of having been there before. Either way, if the series continues, then I'd like to try another book. After the heavy lifting of the team introductions are out of the way, there might be room for a bit more character development and maybe a plot point or two that stay on message.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
June 6, 2012
Inhalt: Eine Schule in Kopenhagen, zwei Schüler, die in der Turnhalle 5 Leichen finden. Es handelt sich bei den Toten um fünf Männer, die auf bestialische Weise gefoltert und ermordet wurden. Die Kriminalpolizei, angeführt vom Hauptkommissar Konrad Simonsen, begibt sich nur wenige Stunden nach dem Fund der Leichen auf die Suche nach dem Mörder. Doch für viele Ermittlungsfragen lassen sich nur schwer Antworten finden und vor allem das Motiv des Mörders bleibt für die Ermittler lange Zeit ein Rätsel. Plötzlich tauchen in den Medien Videos der Hinrichtung der Männer auf und langsam erkennt die Kripo, weshalb die Männer ihr Leben lassen mussten und, dass noch viele weitere Menschen um ihr Leben bangen müssen.
Meine Meinung: Der Anfang des Buches und die Beschreibung des Fundes der Leichen bieten einen gelungenen Auftakt und sind in meine Augen nichts für schwache Gemüter. Auch die nächsten Seiten, in denen die ersten Schritte der dänischen Polizei beschrieben werden und in denen vor allem auf die Leichen und deren Hinrichtung eingegangen werden, sind perfekt für einen Thriller. Doch dieser Eindruck schwindet von Seite zu Seite, da der weitere Verlauf den Spannungsgehalt eines solchen Genres vermissen lässt. Das Buch liest sich zwar flüssig, aber spannend ist es nur selten. Da die Autoren sich dafür entschieden haben, den Leser sowohl an den Ermittlungen der Polizei, als auch an den weiteren Handlungen des Mörders teilhaben zu lassen, ist dem Leser schon vor der Polizei klar, wer hinter den Morden steckt. Das hat der zunächst nervenaufreibenden Geschichte in meinen Augen einen Dämpfer verpasst.
Die Beschreibung der einzelnen Charaktere ist nicht an allen Stellen gelungen. Während des Lesens hatte ich das Gefühl, nur den Hauptkommissar Konrad Simonsen ein wenig kennengelernt zu haben. Aufgrund der ansonsten blassen Charakterzeichnungen und der vielen dänischen Namen, ist es mir sehr schwer gefallen die Personen zuzuordnen. Das legt sich zwar im Laufe der Handlung, aber gerade am Anfang hatte ich den Eindruck viele Informationen und Schlüsse verpasst zu haben, weil ich bereits eingeführte Namen nicht einordnen konnte.
Ich vergebe trotzdem 3 Sterne, da ich die Geschichte und vor allem die detailliert beschriebene polizeiliche Arbeit mit Interesse verfolgt habe. ‚Schweinehunde‘ behandelt ein Thema, was jeden Leser berührt und dessen Brisanz von den Autoren bewegend und anschaulich aufgegriffen wurde.
Fazit: Hinter ‚Schweinehunde‘ verbirgt sich ein Thriller mit ein paar Schwächen. Fans von skandinavischen Kriminalgeschichten werden am Buch von den Geschwistern Lotte und Søren Hammer sicherlich Gefallen finden.
Meine Meinung: Der Anfang des Buches und die Beschreibung des Fundes der Leichen bieten einen gelungenen Auftakt und sind in meine Augen nichts für schwache Gemüter. Auch die nächsten Seiten, in denen die ersten Schritte der dänischen Polizei beschrieben werden und in denen vor allem auf die Leichen und deren Hinrichtung eingegangen werden, sind perfekt für einen Thriller. Doch dieser Eindruck schwindet von Seite zu Seite, da der weitere Verlauf den Spannungsgehalt eines solchen Genres vermissen lässt. Das Buch liest sich zwar flüssig, aber spannend ist es nur selten. Da die Autoren sich dafür entschieden haben, den Leser sowohl an den Ermittlungen der Polizei, als auch an den weiteren Handlungen des Mörders teilhaben zu lassen, ist dem Leser schon vor der Polizei klar, wer hinter den Morden steckt. Das hat der zunächst nervenaufreibenden Geschichte in meinen Augen einen Dämpfer verpasst.
Die Beschreibung der einzelnen Charaktere ist nicht an allen Stellen gelungen. Während des Lesens hatte ich das Gefühl, nur den Hauptkommissar Konrad Simonsen ein wenig kennengelernt zu haben. Aufgrund der ansonsten blassen Charakterzeichnungen und der vielen dänischen Namen, ist es mir sehr schwer gefallen die Personen zuzuordnen. Das legt sich zwar im Laufe der Handlung, aber gerade am Anfang hatte ich den Eindruck viele Informationen und Schlüsse verpasst zu haben, weil ich bereits eingeführte Namen nicht einordnen konnte.
Ich vergebe trotzdem 3 Sterne, da ich die Geschichte und vor allem die detailliert beschriebene polizeiliche Arbeit mit Interesse verfolgt habe. ‚Schweinehunde‘ behandelt ein Thema, was jeden Leser berührt und dessen Brisanz von den Autoren bewegend und anschaulich aufgegriffen wurde.
Fazit: Hinter ‚Schweinehunde‘ verbirgt sich ein Thriller mit ein paar Schwächen. Fans von skandinavischen Kriminalgeschichten werden am Buch von den Geschwistern Lotte und Søren Hammer sicherlich Gefallen finden.
June 15, 2013
While flawed, this debut novel from Danish brother-sister writing team Lotte and Soren Hammer, is not without merit. It brought more than just gore (a plus in my book), it raised questions about the true meaning of justice. The perpetrators of the vicious crime the book centers around (spoiler alert) are victims of childhood sexual abuse. Their victims? Known and active pedophiles. In addition, they launch a campaign to bring pedophiles to justice, by whatever means necessary, that spreads like wildfire around the country and the world. Not only do citizens refuse to help the police in their investigations into the brutal murders, they actively try and sabotage them. Groups of people hunt down sex offenders and punish them however they see fit. Even the police themselves sometimes have trouble deciding what is just. It's a fascinating concept and one I pondered long after I finished the book. Unfortunately the writing was a bit choppy and sometimes difficult to understand and I wonder if that was due to translation. I think some sections might have made more sense in its original language. Even starting the book, I felt lost, as though I'd been dropped in the middle of a series, with characters I should already be familiar with. It was disconcerting and hard to stay interested. Again, this could be due to the translation. In addition, the ending was anti-climactic, as nothing new was revealed. The authors are talented and I would definitely check out their next book, hopefully it will be better!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2017
Not great, by any stretch. Hard to tell if it's poor writing or a poor translation, but the the characterisation is weak, the dialogue clunky and at times the plot quite murky, in terms of things being implied that, to me at least, were nigh on impenetrable. It might be that I'm dense, of course, but it felt like the authors, knowing in their heads what was going on, overestimated how much reading between the lines was possible.
It also doesn't really convince as a police procedural, some of the actions and capabilities of the team don't ring true. That said, it rattles along at a fair clip, makes decent enough use of its Columbo-esque early reveal of the perpetrators, and most interestingly does raise some pointed questions about how people react to crimes where the victims are guilty of horrific crimes themselves.
Somewhat clumsily executed, then, but interesting enough to keep me reading.
It also doesn't really convince as a police procedural, some of the actions and capabilities of the team don't ring true. That said, it rattles along at a fair clip, makes decent enough use of its Columbo-esque early reveal of the perpetrators, and most interestingly does raise some pointed questions about how people react to crimes where the victims are guilty of horrific crimes themselves.
Somewhat clumsily executed, then, but interesting enough to keep me reading.
July 5, 2013
The mystery part of this book was great - raised a few issues and really made you think. And the main parts of the 'cast' are OK - Simonsen is sympathetic, and the Countess, Pauline and Arne all are interesting and seem like they could develop into more compelling characters. But the language was so stilted that I really questioned the translation; parts of the book also seemed to be confusing - the parts with the journalists could have been simplified. Again, that might be due to the translation, but it felt like the author was making things more complicated than they had to be.
It's a creative first outing, and I'd pick up their 2nd book. But it's not the strongest entree into this genre I've seen, by a long shot.
It's a creative first outing, and I'd pick up their 2nd book. But it's not the strongest entree into this genre I've seen, by a long shot.
April 15, 2014
Lousy attempt to write a police procedural. No sense of what provides the reading pleasure in such novels, the building of suspense, the development of character, the various possible solutions that the investigative team pursues. The chief character stops one of his subordinates from ideating because he says he'd rather engage in action than speculation! So basically it becomes a blow by blow forensic investigation which is definitely not my cup of tea. The authors also need a class in character development. None of the characters was interesting, their relationships were caught in media res (which is fine with a skilled narration to fill in the details) and I found the dialogue just plain boring.
March 29, 2017
I found it hard to get in to this book at first and I put it down to read another then came back to it and it all clicked. I think this book is amazing as mostly you live the investigation with the detectives as it's written like a documentary. The boss is often grumpy and insensitive, the detectives complain about the hours and want to go home, the witnesses are unco-operative and the press don't appear to have to or want to turn over valuable evidence, most of which you don't see often in crime fiction. The subject matter is also thought provoking - the murder of six peodophiles. Does the nature of the victims exempt the killer from punishment? I enjoyed this book and will definitely read the next one.
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