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The Drowned Boy

(Konrad Sejer #11)

Karin Fossum,

Kari Dickson (Translator)

3.50 · Rating details · 2,111 ratings · 314 reviews

A new addition to the captivating Inspector Sejer series, the first since The Caller,from Norway’s finest crime writer

Carmen and Nicolai failed to resuscitate their son, Tommy, after finding him floating in their backyardpond. When Inspector Skarre arrives on the scene, Carmen reports that Tommy, a healthy toddler with Down syndrome, wandered into the garden while Nicolai ...more

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Hardcover, 240 pages

Published August 25th 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published September 4th 2013)

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May 29, 2015 Cathrine ☯️ rated it it was ok

Shelves: group-challenge

2
Background check: I’ve previously read and enjoyed all the books in this series. This is #11 and no doubt my swan song with the collection.
It concerns what happens when a spoiled, definitely not right in the head "child has a child" of her own but not the perfect one she hoped for. He’s damaged, inconvenient, and as the title tells us, has drowned. No Sherlock Holmes needed to figure out how that happened, especially since it’s served up on the pages from the beginning. I had to take a look at ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

3.5 So glad that Fossum has decided to return to the Inspector Sejer series. In this one he becomes involved in the case of a drowned 15 month old boy with Down Syndrome. Although on the surface the death looks accidental, something just doesn't sit well with the mother's explanation. Enter, Carmen, the nineteen year old mother, who seems to view everything with rose colored glasses. Added to this is that in her father's eyes Carmen can do no wrong. Nicolei, the father of the boy sees things ...more

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Jul 09, 2015 Dale Harcombe rated it really liked it

Tommy, a 16 month old boy, is believed drowned in a pond near his home. Tommy has Down’s syndrome. His mother claims he wandered off, while she was otherwise occupied for a few minutes. But something about the story doesn’t ring true to Inspector Jacob Skarre. He calls in chief Inspector Sejer to investigate. The mother, Carmen, is cold, selfish and manipulative. Given her behaviour and attitudes to many things, I found her hard to like. But is she capable of murder or was it an unfortunate ...more

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May 17, 2015 Regina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, 2015

3.5 Stars Okay, straight up, the drowned 16month old child has Down Syndrome (that’s not a spoiler), and I have a child with a developmental disability. There was stuff or rather, characters in The Drowned Boy that made my blood boil.

However, I still really enjoyed The Drowned Boy. Yes, Fossum has such skill that I still enjoyed reading her latest offering despite my blood boiling throughout it.

Why not a higher rating? I thought the very end was weak.

Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for ...more

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Jun 01, 2015 Paul rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-thrillers

The Drowned Boy – Stylish Nordic Noir

Karin Fossum is back with her 11th book in the Inspector Sejer Novel and it is once again easy to see why she is regarded as the Norwegian ‘Queen of Crime’. The Drowned Boy is another vintage Fossum creation; this book is a really compelling read, where nothing is lost in translation. Once again Karin Fossum gives us a tightly written, very compelling carefully crafted plot.

For those who have never read the Inspector Sejer series need to understand that this The Drowned Boy – Stylish Nordic Noir

Karin Fossum is back with her 11th book in the Inspector Sejer Novel and it is once again easy to see why she is regarded as the Norwegian ‘Queen of Crime’. The Drowned Boy is another vintage Fossum creation; this book is a really compelling read, where nothing is lost in translation. Once again Karin Fossum gives us a tightly written, very compelling carefully crafted plot.

For those who have never read the Inspector Sejer series need to understand that this is not a blood and gore crime story. This is a well thought-out intellectual detective who works the evidence and to solve the crime requires an element of luck. This is an old fashioned styled whodunit, it may seem pedestrian to some but this is an engaging and engrossing read.

Sejer reminds me of Poirot in that he is very calm, a hypochondriac at times, intelligent, kind hearted and very thoughtful. Unlike a lot of modern detective series he does not require brawn, guns or threats; he treats everyone with respect no matter who they are. At times Frank his dog is a scene stealer and even a calming affect up on the reader.

On a hot Wednesday in August Sejer is called out to a suspected drowning in Damtjern of a young child, usually his team could handle this without him but his assistant Jacob Skarre has a feeling that something does not seem right. When he arrives the child is layout on a tarpaulin, naked and dead. The child called Tommy looks fit for his age and he could see that he had ‘Down’s syndrome’ and he begins to wonder how he has managed to get to the pond on his own.

Tommy’s parents are young, the mother Carmen is only 19 and a waif, while his father Nicolai is 20 and both seem confused. The story they tell the police is identical but their reactions are different Nicolai is heartbroken, confused and lost while Carmen seems to be crying on demand. But they are sticking to their story.

Sejer knows that something is amiss and that all he wants to do is find justice for Tommy but he also realises that sometimes justice does not happen for the victim. He recognises that people handle grief in many different ways but Nicolai and Carmen are chalk and cheese especially in the way that they are handling Tommy’s death.

Karin Fossum has once again dug deep in to the human psyche and gives us some very interesting characters. We also seem an examination of a dominant personality on to someone who is not as strong and this dominance screams at you throughout the book and at times comes across as arrogant.

Does Tommy get justice? You will have to read to find out. One thing that does strike you is that Sejer and Frank really are the mirror image of each other!

...more

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May 01, 2015 sue rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers, unputdownable, part-of-series, family-saga, net-galley

I am a bit of a sucker for reading books with children in it, either missing, kidnapped etc
This is one of them that caught my eye.

We have a young couple, young in age, married, with a child of their own.

The one thing that made me cringe each time was that their son had Down's syndrome and it was a problem for the Mom, I think it was her attitude that wanted me to slap her and appreciate the child she had.

The trouble was, he was only a little toddler and on a hot summers day the Mom left the door ...more

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Apr 02, 2017 Rachel Hall rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Long-time admirers of the writing of Karin Fossum will know that her police procedural novels are rarely a simple matter of identifying a culprit and attributing blame. For Fossum, the psychological study of a crime and the individuals involved takes overriding precedence and matters are never definitively black and white. In a harrowing and sensitively observed eleventh outing she is in sublime form as she addresses the death of a sixteen-month-old Down syndrome toddler and portrays the Long-time admirers of the writing of Karin Fossum will know that her police procedural novels are rarely a simple matter of identifying a culprit and attributing blame. For Fossum, the psychological study of a crime and the individuals involved takes overriding precedence and matters are never definitively black and white. In a harrowing and sensitively observed eleventh outing she is in sublime form as she addresses the death of a sixteen-month-old Down syndrome toddler and portrays the repercussions for the child’s family. In a typically pared back narrative she manages to treat her subject matter with honesty and well-informed insight, yet never shirk from exploring the contentious debates and associated complexities of parenting a disabled infant.

It is an agitated Jacob Skarre who opens this novel when he contacts his partner Konrad Sejer from the scene of a drowned toddler with an ominous feeling that the death of the boy might not be the unfortunate accident that it appears. Requesting Sejer’s assistance, Skarre is concerned that something about the mother feels a little bit ‘off’ and is unsettled by her detached response. Nineteen-year-old Carmen Zita’s theatrical manner, fleeting eye contact and no shortage of tears similarly disconcerts Sejer. As a torrent of angry words and evasive answers pour forth from Carmen, her story of a naked Tommy toddling to his fate as she was busy cleaning and preparing lunch inside the house registers doubts, especially in a case devoid of witnesses. Reserved and clearly grief-stricken, Tommy’s father, twenty-year-old Nicolai Brandt was repairing bikes in the cellar and appears shell-shocked by what has transpired. However with no set formula for grieving and the bond between a mother and her child unique, is it ever fair to judge how an individual reacts to an sudden and unexpected death?

Petulant and casually flippant, the response of a naive and overindulged Carmen and her willingness to move on from the tragedy and dismantle Tommy’s cot and throw his clothes out sits uneasily with Nicolai who is shocked by her indifferent attitude. As Fossum takes readers inside the conflicted home of the two young parents and portrays their growing distance the characterisation is second to none and the reader lives and breathes every moment of the horror alongside them. As Sejer delicately gauges whether Tommy was a planned pregnancy and the response of both parents to their son’s condition, an autopsy is performed as a matter of routine and the only possible way to irrefutably establish whether there could be a more sinister interpretation to Tommy’s death. When pathologist Bardy Snorrason confirms that Tommy’s lungs contained not pond water but a mixture of soap, Carmen is quick to counter and offers a very different explanation. Asserting a history of epilepsy she cites a seizure whilst bathing Tommy and claims her resulting confusion is to blame for placing his body in the pond. Kind-hearted and earnest, Inspector Konrad Sejer is a sincere and non-judgemental investigator and treats the case with his usual integrity but Carmen’s willingness to confidently fabricate an alternative alibi concerns not only Sejer but Nicolai and her overprotective father, restaurant owner Marian Zita. As Sejer looks back on previous cases bearing similarities, he finds the conditions for extenuating circumstances open to interpretation and the beleaguered detective is concerned that even if his suspicions of the mother are grounded proving clear intent is a far harder proposition. With no conclusive proof and reliant on an assured Carmen wavering on the stand, both Sejer and Skarre are torn by the plight of a deeply depressed and inconsolable Nicolai.

This eleventh outing gives a powerful insight into a nightmare scenario for any parent and one mired in unremittingly ominous overtones. Through a timeline stretching from August to June the following year and told from multiple perspectives, The Drowned Boy takes readers uncomfortably close to a marriage under the strain of a child’s death and considers a parent’s response to a child with a disability and and an individual’s attitude to the life that remains. Contributing to the melancholy tone of this novel are Inspector Sejer’s frequent dizzy spells often accompanied by a loss of balance. At the age of fifty-five he considers his own mortality and convinced he has a serious ailment he dwells on the premature loss of his wife, Elise, at the age of forty from liver cancer. In the course of a ponderous and introspective novel it is perhaps Sejer’s own concerns with meeting his maker that keep him so determined to deliver baby Tommy the justice he deserves. Broaching such decisive areas as religion and faith, Karin Fossum stops short of proscribing answers but uses Jacob Skarre’s faith as a platform for discussion.

Whilst the premise of The Drowned Boy is straightforward, in the hands of an always candid Karin Fossum she deftly draws out the darker implications of her storyline with a considered and pragmatic eye for reality. Compelling and unsettling, The Drowned Boy held my attention fast in a state of appalled fascination and Fossum excels with a nuanced character study of all parties involved. A sedate and considered story which pulls it punches with an emotive storyline over the dynamism of more familiar police procedural novels. There are rarely any winners when it comes down to the fate of Fossum’s protagonists and this painstaking search for answers and the quagmire of unintended consequences proves so once again. Expect little in the way of action but a psychologically superior police procedural in an unstintingly morose outing for Sejer and Skarre. ...more

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Aug 31, 2017 Dimitris Passas (TapTheLine) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book was a disappointment for me as i deeply appreciate Karin Fossum's prose and choice of hard to handle subjects which often involve heinous criminal acts such as pedophilia or child abuse.This book is not an exception as Inspector Konrad Sejer is investigating a little child's -accidental or not?- death and mainly focuses on the two parents of the deceased, narrating the effects that the tragic event had on them as a couple. In my opinion, K. Fossum doesn't manage to move the reader in ...more

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Jun 17, 2015 Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley-arc, 4-star

If you want to cling to the myth that drowning is a peaceful way to die, DO NOT read the prologue to this book. It lays out the mechanics of drowning in horrific detail.

But please, DO read this book. Just skip the prologue.

Young mother Carmen finds her Down's Syndrome toddler son Tommy floating in the pond in the back yard after having left him momentarily to go to the bathroom. Husband Nicolai was working on repairing bikes in the basement and heard nothing until Carmen's screams alerted him.

...more

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Jan 01, 2016 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-authors-first-reads

Finally i have found a Scandinavian author that got my attention.

The Drowning Boy By Karin Fossum was a very quick read which kept me turning the pages the story was well written with likable characters will read more of this author

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Sep 22, 2015 William Koon rated it did not like it

I admire Fossum, although she is always dark in her interpretation of crime fiction. She once again pulls out her now aging Inspector Seger to investigate the death of a Down syndrome boy, Tommy.

There’s not much conflict. Mother Carmen is apparently guilty from early on of killing her two year old. Husband Nicolai is weak and ineffectual; so let’s have him commit suicide.

Throughout Carmen is too strong willed to be let go. We need to punish her for her attitude and her looks and her spirit.

...more

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Sep 15, 2015 Dawn G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The Drowned Boy, number 11 in the Inspector Sejer Series, reminded me why Karin Fossum is one of my top 10 favorite authors. Fossum is a true psychological thriller/suspense writer focusing more on characterization and atmosphere than any other literary device. Her writing style and plots are uncluttered and are clearly intended to help the reader understand why the perpetrator acts the way he/she does.

This is a long running series; however, Fossum does not focus mainly on Inspector Sejer in ...more

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Jul 13, 2015 switterbug (Betsey) rated it really liked it

Norwegian author Karin Fossum has written another captivating mystery, and, as usual, she explores the human side of suspects just as much as the procedural one. Fossum, who was a poet before a mystery writer, suffuses the tragic story with fertile images and paces her stories with a pulse that keeps the pages turning. Word of caution: the jacket summary reveals crucial plot points that occur at the midpoint of the story. Don’t read it if you don’t want major spoilers.

The series’ regular Norwegian author Karin Fossum has written another captivating mystery, and, as usual, she explores the human side of suspects just as much as the procedural one. Fossum, who was a poet before a mystery writer, suffuses the tragic story with fertile images and paces her stories with a pulse that keeps the pages turning. Word of caution: the jacket summary reveals crucial plot points that occur at the midpoint of the story. Don’t read it if you don’t want major spoilers.

The series’ regular inspectors, Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre, are investigating the drowning of a sixteen-month-old baby boy born with Down’s Syndrome. Babies born with Down’s have physical and cognitive delays, and will need adult supervision (variable) for the rest of their lives. Tommy’s parents, Carmen and Nicolai, are only nineteen and twenty, respectively. Carmen never had the prenatal screening that would have detected this chromosomal disorder, so they were ill-prepared for the news at birth. However, they received loving support from Carmen’s parents, and didn’t have to face the demands alone.

Tommy’s body was retrieved by Carmen in a pond fifty meters from the house. She called EMS, but resuscitation efforts failed. There was no fence or other barricade to thwart easy access to the pond from the house, and in the heat of Oslo’s exceptionally hot summer, Carmen had kept the door open, and left Tommy’s sight for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. In a flood of hysterical tears, the young mother admitted that she was guilty of taking her eyes off Tommy momentarily, and failed to consider that he might wander outside to the jetty and fall into the pond. Nicolai had reportedly been in the basement, repairing a bike.

THE DROWNED BOY, as usual in a Fossim book, is more than a mystery. It is a study in human behavior, and how people cope with grief and loss. Her witnesses, even when unlikable, are sympathetic and complex. The key suspect here is Carmen, whose story is plausible, but there’s something in her demeanor and her “artificial” waterworks that give the inspectors pause. Along the way, the author candidly discusses the challenge of raising a special needs child. The narrative also considers the moral controversy of terminating a pregnancy if you know in advance that your baby has Down’s. The topic is handled delicately and honestly, without authorial intrusion.

The principle mystery for the police to solve is whether Carmen, or Carmen and Nicolai, purposely drowned their boy. It isn't easy to disprove a plea of innocence when there are no other witnesses, so it is paramount for Sejer and Skarre to examine every detail and look for inconsistencies. The autopsy results provide answers, but also provoke more questions.

Carmen is strong-willed and determined, ready to move on to the future. Nicolai, however, is buried in grief. Their marriage is faltering, as they cannot understand each other's mourning. There's enough guilt to go around about not erecting a fence (the grandfather thought there was plenty of time), but the reader feels an undercurrent of panic and a murmur of secrets.

Sejer's grief for his dead wife, and his new worry about recent dizzy spells, parallels and intensifies the theme of loss, and the dread of the unknown. The last page is chilling, and in the hands of a lesser author, would come off as contrived. But Fossim’s talent rekindled my imagination, even as I reached the end. ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: scandinavian, ebook, crime, netgalley

The 11th Inspector Sejer novel from Karin Fossum, specialising again in the why of a crime. Why in this instance is a series of very big questions. Why did a young toddler end up dead in a pond near his house? Why did nobody think that secure fencing would be necessary for any child that age so close to water? Why is it particularly noteworthy that Tommy is a healthy boy, who happens to have Down's Syndrome? Why is his mother behaving so weirdly, and more to the point is she a spoilt princess or The 11th Inspector Sejer novel from Karin Fossum, specialising again in the why of a crime. Why in this instance is a series of very big questions. Why did a young toddler end up dead in a pond near his house? Why did nobody think that secure fencing would be necessary for any child that age so close to water? Why is it particularly noteworthy that Tommy is a healthy boy, who happens to have Down's Syndrome? Why is his mother behaving so weirdly, and more to the point is she a spoilt princess or a bit odd? Why do Sejer and Skarre think there's something odd about this death and what can they do about that suspicion with very little evidence?

Fossum often tackles difficult subjects and this is not the first time she's put characters with Down's Syndrome in the forefront of consideration. Whilst she uses this as a way of exploring reactions and expectations it's not disrespectful, opportunistic or uninformed, but it is pointed and thought-provoking. Even more chillingly in THE DROWNED BOY as the parents of young Tommy, Carmen and Nicolai, are very young. The reader is left wondering if they are too young to be parents at all, let alone to a disabled child, or has age less to do with it than just being dysfunctional people. Certainly Carmen seems way too narcissistic to possibly care for anybody but herself. Nicolai on the other hand seems brittle, young, overwhelmed and despite trying to parent, ineffectual and ephemeral.

In contrast to this young couple, and her rather controlling, domineering father, Sejer is the epitome of calm, kind and thoughtful. Struggling with the need to address a health condition of his own, there's something about the reactions to Tommy's death that worries him from the start. In his normal manner he doesn't take those concerns up front to the possible suspects, instead gently digs away, prodding and searching for an explanation.

Readers who are passionately addicted to investigation and closure in their crime fiction may find Fossum's books tough reading. Because they look deep into the human psyche, they aren't about the how or even necessarily the who, although the truth is eventually revealed, as are some further shocks and sad outcomes. Not that the reveal is necessarily because of just good investigative techniques, but rather the way that people react to pressure and the spotlight.

Why would a young Down's Syndrome boy drown, naked in a pond near his home on a hot summer's day and how will his short life and that death affect those around him? There's no question that anybody is going to get away with anything in THE DROWNED BOY, but the why remains the focus, and all the more heart-rendering as a result.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie... ...more

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Jul 25, 2015 Barbara rated it did not like it

I normally enjoy Karin Fossum's writing but struggled with this book. I thought it was tediously repetitive and the ending was ridiculous.

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Jun 04, 2015 Gary rated it liked it

Received this book of Net Galley in exchange for a honest review. This is the first book I have read by this author and I found her writing style very easy to read and the characters well described and believable.
The story is very dark and focuses on some very difficult and thought provoking subjects such as the death of children and Down syndrome.
There was not a lot of action in this book and given the storyline I couldn't understand what was making me want to read more but that's exactly how I ...more

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Jun 16, 2015 Bookread2day rated it really liked it

This is my first Karin Fossum novel that I have read. I wanted to read The Drowned Boy as I wondered how the author could make her novel about drowning different from the other novels.
I love the twist that Karin added with the 16 month old boy who had Down's Syndrome was found drowned in a pond. It is very rare that any author adds a child with Down's Syndrome.
My friend's sister had a beautiful baby girl with Down's Syndrome who had long eye lashes, but sadly died before she one.
And my ...more

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Oct 17, 2015 Leeann Staggs rated it it was ok

Conversations were awkward and unemotional; details were given that seemed important, and that they might lead somewhere, only to fall flat, mean nothing, and be completely irrelevant; no ending (why even put so much time and detail into a story without giving it a conclusion...I mean, sure, we are to assume that the coincidence of all coincidences happened, but really? You can't have your main character do something more than stumble across pure dumb luck?) Pretty disappointing.

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May 25, 2019 Jeanette rated it liked it

2.5 stars rounded up for the quick, clear read. But as another GR reader posted in her review- this also was my least favorite Sejer so far. It's Sejer novel #11. Getting to #11 before I got to any which I had to consider giving a 2 star! That's fairly well said for this series.

This entire copy, every portion just felt different than any of the others. Not only in mood but in flow. This one goes into diary reads in portions, and doesn't roll evenly either. It started flat and went flatter for 2.5 stars rounded up for the quick, clear read. But as another GR reader posted in her review- this also was my least favorite Sejer so far. It's Sejer novel #11. Getting to #11 before I got to any which I had to consider giving a 2 star! That's fairly well said for this series.

This entire copy, every portion just felt different than any of the others. Not only in mood but in flow. This one goes into diary reads in portions, and doesn't roll evenly either. It started flat and went flatter for me as it progressed. Sejer decided guilt from a "feeling" hunch early too. Something homicide detectives I know well NEVER do. Or at least they won't admit that ever do. It's almost as if Karin Fossum was positing a question and choice treatise for the cognition of being a parent to a different/ special needs child. And how it is to resolve acceptance for "difference" or refuse to accept it because it wasn't what you "picked". And whatever outcomes of answers that has become enabled and evident during the last decade? Particularly the outcomes in the Nordic nations which are deemed highly acceptable; even to the straight out refusal to accept anything but perfection. And this concerns the parental position of a child with Down Syndrome condition in particular. Using this Carmen characterization in the way she did? I feel it was sort of a cop out in that the author framed her as so young and rather amoral to values in general. Also in how she (Fossum)"completed" this Sejer case. Both. You never really "get" what her (Carmen's) real life consequence is for the act either within Norway's court judgments. You might guess, but you truly don't know for sure any quantity of consequence (prison?) which occurs. I can't remember that ever happening at all in any other Sejer. Or leaving the feeling of/for a murderer being so ambivalent from Sejer and from the other police / people. Even the boss of dire aspect who is retiring now seems beyond the case completion/ summation. And man was he in bad shape for being 55 years old. Did the author want to get rid of him some way? Make Sejer boss?

Ironically, something I just read not a month ago in the very non-fiction world medical reports/ newspapers is the core to this particular novel. It was about Sweden and Iceland- not Norway, but the gist was nearly identical about the posit of "choice" to parent a Down Syndrome human. Most testing being done has eliminated the condition, as if it were a "disease". Iceland brags it now has only 2 Down Syndrome children born in the last few 4 or 5 years. In the entire country, all the 1 out 700 (occurrence for Down Syndrome) have been aborted.

Depressing, depressing book. My enjoyment of it was 2 star. The ending was ridiculous. Maybe I should have given it a 2 star instead. Despite the dog.

I don't believe Sejer would ever be that obtuse over the dizziness either. I think this novel was written to state some kind of equation to thinking about the burden of raising a special needs child. And how that can be avoided. ...more

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Oct 12, 2017 Cherie rated it liked it

Shelves: series, published-since-2000

Chilling, but I liked the dogs "treasure" at the end. Do 19 and 20 year old people really think and talk like this or is it the translation? I read this in ebook format. I did not listen to the audio version.

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Apr 17, 2015 Joseph - Relax And Read Reviews rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I would like to thank Random House, Vintage Publishing and NetGalley for approving my request to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

A tragedy... A terrible accident... Every parent's worst nightmare.

Tommy, a sixteen-month-old boy is left unattended at home for just a few minutes while his mother is doing house chores in another room. He is then nowhere to be found. After a frenetic search, his mother Carmen, is horrified to find him face down in the pond at the back of their house. ...more

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Dec 04, 2015 Minty McBunny rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2015, december-2015

I absolutely adore this series, I have read every one and, with the exception of the Indian. Bride, I have loved them all. I was over the moon to see a new Inspector Sejer book in the library. And horribly disappointed once I read it.

First off, the translation was not nearly as good as usual. The phrasing was stilted and awkward in places, and since that has absolutely never been a problem with Fossum's writing, I know the translator must be to blame.

That aside, the story had potential but did ...more

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Aug 25, 2015 Elisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am a big fan of Inspector Sejer's. As usual, Fossum takes her time telling the story. She doesn't need guns, bombs or serial killers to write an engrossing plot, just ordinary humans in horrific circumstances. It was nice to see some known faces, like Irene or Skarre, even if Frank the dog is more of Sejer's partner on this one. I thought that the story was going to end in a very dissatisfying way, but then a final twist made it all better. I hope there are many more stories to come.

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Nov 28, 2015 Elizabeth Sulzby rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, mystery-thriller

This is my first, and probably my last, by this author. None of the characters were very engaging and the ending was too gimmicky. I am readings lots of Scandinavian crime novels/noir so I thought I would give Fossum/Sejer a try.

P.S. This book is so bad that I forgot I read it entirely. I thought I quit it early on but, no, I read all of it.

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Sep 20, 2016 Renita D'Silva rated it it was amazing

Thrilling and poignant, loved this book.

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Mar 25, 2017 Lukasz Pruski rated it really liked it

"There's a lot you don't know."

I do have "a thing" for Karin Fossum's prose and have rated several of her novels with five stars. I love that she writes about everyday matters and captures the extraordinary meanings of completely ordinary, everyday events. She teaches us the truth and beauty of little things using narration closer to a whisper than to a scream. She is a serious mystery writer who has not yet succumbed to the allure of commercialism. While The Drowned Boy is certainly not Ms. "There's a lot you don't know."

I do have "a thing" for Karin Fossum's prose and have rated several of her novels with five stars. I love that she writes about everyday matters and captures the extraordinary meanings of completely ordinary, everyday events. She teaches us the truth and beauty of little things using narration closer to a whisper than to a scream. She is a serious mystery writer who has not yet succumbed to the allure of commercialism. While The Drowned Boy is certainly not Ms. Fossum's best book I still like it a lot.

Inspector Sejer is called by Jacob Skarre to the scene of an accident. Carmen, a very young mother, found her sixteen-month-old boy drowned in a pond. Despite Carmen's and her young husband's lifesaving efforts the boy dies. Neither Skarre nor Sejer are certain what exactly happened as Carmen's version of the accident does not quite ring true. Yet it is not the mystery of the boy's death that provides the main narrative axis of the plot, but the moral and ethical questions raised by Ms. Fossum. When making momentous decisions should we follow our moral standards or are obligations to other people more important? And an even tougher question: when a honestly reasoned decision happens to be the most convenient one, is it still OK to follow it?

I'd rather Ms. Fossum did not solve the mystery of what happened to the boy; the resolution is based on an awkward literary device - a diary that is way too erudite considering its author. On the other hand I like the in-your-face artifice of the denouement: the author makes it patently clear that there should not be a solution and one is provided only because it is expected by readers. This is one of the main reasons I love Ms. Fossum's novels: she does not really care about the "story" - she cares about her characters instead. Another major reason of my attraction is that Ms. Fossum never judges her characters but tries to understand them instead.

This is not a book for younger readers (meaning below 40, 50 or 60, whatever one's definition of "young" is). For instance, Inspector Sejer suffers bouts of dizziness and, of course, worries about brain tumor. This provides a lighter counterpoint to the serious main thread, but to me, a true geezer, it is clear that the author is one of us, the 60+ crowd, who have "been there, done that."

I have a problem with the translation by Kari Dickson (she did not translate any of the other novels by Ms. Fossum that I have read). The sentences, especially the dialogues sometimes sound unnatural and the prose does not sound right. For instance, someone roughly estimates the distance to be 165 feet. Yes, 50 meters is 165 feet, but no one would use such an exact number in a conversation.

Flawed yet wonderful read.

Three and three quarter stars. ...more

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Aug 23, 2015 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it really liked it

The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum is a highly recommended eleventh book in the Norwegian police procedural featuring Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre. Be forewarned that the novel opens with a very graphic description of what happens when someone drowns.

Tommy Brandt, a healthy 16-month-old boy with Down syndrome, is found drowned in the pond behind his parent's house. Carmen Zita, Tommy's mother, claims he wandered outside when she was cleaning, or in the bathroom washing out some clothes. The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum is a highly recommended eleventh book in the Norwegian police procedural featuring Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre. Be forewarned that the novel opens with a very graphic description of what happens when someone drowns.

Tommy Brandt, a healthy 16-month-old boy with Down syndrome, is found drowned in the pond behind his parent's house. Carmen Zita, Tommy's mother, claims he wandered outside when she was cleaning, or in the bathroom washing out some clothes. She had left the back door open because it was so hot and Tommy must have walked down to the pond and fell in. His father, Nicolai Brandt, was in the basement fixing a bicycle. He rushed outside when he heard Carmen yelling, after she found Tommy, but it was too late.

The problem is that something is not quite right about Carmen's behavior. She's crying, but it also appears to be an act rather than true mourning. The boy's father is seriously grieving and never considered a suspect. The two present a stark contrast in their different behavior. The drowning may be an accident, as Carmen claims, but she seems to be having a hard time remembering exactly what she was doing when Tommy would have wandered down to the pond and drowned. She also seems very eager to pack up and move out all of Tommy's things.

Carmen's story changes after the autopsy. The inspectors are even more suspicious, but have nothing to definitively prove Carmen is lying. Complicating the interpersonal dynamics is Papa Zita, Carmen's father. Carmen's a daddy's girl, and her father is right there, supporting her every statement as fact and trying to help. Papa Zita owns a fast food restaurant where Nicolai and Carmen both work.

The writing in this series is very much to the point and concise. There is not a lot of extra verbiage and descriptions beyond just what is needed to propel the story forward. It should also be noted that The Drowned Boy is more psychological study than a police procedural. Carmen's odd behavior will stand out in stark contrast to Nicolai's grief. She is determined to move on, maybe have another child, while Nicolai is completely overwhelmed with grief. The incongruity between the two is startling. When the question is raised if it would have been better for Carmen to have aborted Tommy, she thinks it would have been better while Nicolai most decidedly says no. (Those following the series will also be concerned about Sejer's recent dizzy spells and his reluctance to go to the doctor.)

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for review purposes.

...more

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Jun 27, 2015 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: thriller, fiction, crime

This story is a bit sad. The prologue tried to put me in a funk as it describes what it is like for someone to drown. The Drowned Boy had some really unlikable characters and a few good guys. This book had me really just hoping for justice for little Tommy.

The synopsis for this story really gives everything away. I am so glad I don’t read synopsis much, I skim them and go with my gut based on the cover. It’s a real scientific method.

Here is what I would have said for the synopsis:
Detective This story is a bit sad. The prologue tried to put me in a funk as it describes what it is like for someone to drown. The Drowned Boy had some really unlikable characters and a few good guys. This book had me really just hoping for justice for little Tommy.

The synopsis for this story really gives everything away. I am so glad I don’t read synopsis much, I skim them and go with my gut based on the cover. It’s a real scientific method.

Here is what I would have said for the synopsis:
Detective Sejer has just been notified of a suspicious drowning. A 16 month old named Tommy, with Down’s Syndrome wandered away from his home and drowned in a nearby pond. The parents are beside themselves with grief. But the mother Carmen, isn’t acting right. It is up to Sejer to figure out if this was a terrible accident or foul play.

Okay, that may not be long enough to be legit, but at least it doesn’t spoil it for the reader.

On to my review…

I actually enjoyed this story. The detective Sejer is an interesting character. His dog and him enjoy a kind of sad existence, and so he looses himself in his work. He is a good detective. When his good friend, Inspector Skarre, initially interviews the couple to see what happened, he gets a bad feeling about the mother. His instincts turn out to be 100% correct. The book switches between Sejer, Carman, and Nicolai’s POV. Carmen just wants what she wants, she makes no apologies for the person she is. Her parents have supported her her whole life and now they support her and her husband. Nicolai (the father of the drowned boy and Carmen’s husband), is at a pivotal point in his life. He just lost his son, and he can barely face his wife. He can’t face that maybe she did this on purpose.

Between those three characters, we get a pretty good tale about good and evil. The boy in this story has down syndrome. His condition is explored as either a factor in his demise, or an irrelevant piece of information. This story is bit depressing except for the very end, which gave me pause to imagine what happened next. I especially wondered about the way Nicolai and Carmen interacted with each other. There are people “in love” that live like this and it is just sad. Carmen was really a nasty person.

I should mention that this book is like #11 in a series about the detective, but it is a complete stand alone. It was also originally written in another language, but it was still a good mystery. I have to say, I did guess who the guilty party was in the story, but I still loved how the author revealed it. ...more

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Apr 28, 2015 Maria Beltrami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, narrativa-scandinava, in-inglese

A child drowned in a pool, for everyone a horrible accident, but not for the inspector Sejer. For him something don't happens to be, because of that mother too young and too bright, and because the child has Down syndrome. And yet he can't find anything that could support his intuition, even when the autopsy shows that the baby did not die in the puddle, and will not find anything it until the end, in a last page that might have been better was not written, and that is the only fall of style in ...more

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Oct 12, 2016 Jane rated it really liked it

Shelves: scandinavia, reviewed, mystery, library, psychological-fiction, police-procedural

A quick and easy read in the Inspector Sejer series. A young boy with Down's syndrome is murdered--drowned in a pond near his family's home. From the outset, the policemen [Scarre and Sejer] feel intuitively something isn't quite right with the mother's attitude and story. The murderer is revealed fairly early on--taken into custody as well as caught in a lie. But how to prove intent? I liked the author's showing the inner life of the characters, with no violence. The ending was too abrupt, ...more

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About Karin Fossum

Karin Fossum

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Karin Fossum (née Mathisen) 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 ...more