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Harjunpää #9
Harjunpää ja rakkauden nälkä
Finnish
333 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
7 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Matti Yrjänä Joensuu
19 books28 followersMatti Yrjänä Joensuu (born 1948) was a Finnish writer of crime fiction. He was awarded the State's Literature Prize (1982), Vuoden johtolanka prize (1985, 1994, 2004), and he was nominated for two Finlandias. He received the Martin Beck Award in 1987. He graduated as a police in 1973 and worked as a crime investigator at the Helsinki police station's violence group.
Joensuu wrote several novels about the personal life and work of policeman Timo Harjunpää. He is a very credible and pleasant man, who treats the criminals as humanely as his own family, which consists of Timo, his wife Elisa and three children (Valpuri, Pipsa and Pauliina).
Harjunpää has also been shown on TV. Joensuu's work has been translated into English, Bulgarian, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, French, Swedish, German, Slovak, Danish, Hungarian, Russian and Estonian.
Joensuu wrote several novels about the personal life and work of policeman Timo Harjunpää. He is a very credible and pleasant man, who treats the criminals as humanely as his own family, which consists of Timo, his wife Elisa and three children (Valpuri, Pipsa and Pauliina).
Harjunpää has also been shown on TV. Joensuu's work has been translated into English, Bulgarian, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, French, Swedish, German, Slovak, Danish, Hungarian, Russian and Estonian.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 4, 2012
The only reason I can see someone hating this book is if it disturbed you too easily and that is quite a common occurence in this book and easily understandable. Even from someone who names this one of the top 3 best books of all time.
To follow this series you need not know what the previous books are about, they all center around Timo Harjunpaa and his family.
The plot is that a man known as Tweety breaks into women's houses and watches them sleep. He also..."Gives them some" while they're asleep.
This isn't like your Hollywood cop plots where your villain has to be some crime triad group setting up a new drug ring or a serial killer. In this the antagonist is a normal man (outside his "hobby" anyway).
The backstory was also well set-up. Timo's father is a sad story and you care for Onerva, Timo and his family and weirdly enough you care for Tweety & "Wheatlocks" - a woman whose house he broke into that he fell in love with.
Overall this is a very well written crime book but to say its not for everyone is an understatement.
To follow this series you need not know what the previous books are about, they all center around Timo Harjunpaa and his family.
The plot is that a man known as Tweety breaks into women's houses and watches them sleep. He also..."Gives them some" while they're asleep.
This isn't like your Hollywood cop plots where your villain has to be some crime triad group setting up a new drug ring or a serial killer. In this the antagonist is a normal man (outside his "hobby" anyway).
The backstory was also well set-up. Timo's father is a sad story and you care for Onerva, Timo and his family and weirdly enough you care for Tweety & "Wheatlocks" - a woman whose house he broke into that he fell in love with.
Overall this is a very well written crime book but to say its not for everyone is an understatement.
February 8, 2025
Harjunpää # 9. Mu meelest jõuab siin Joensuu selle sarjaga absoluutsesse tippu, kuigi kaks eesti keeles mitteilmunut on mul veel ees. Psühholoogiliselt usutav, väga haarav ja päris realistlik. Helsingit päris hästi tundvana tean ma kõiki neid Hesperia parke ja Töölö tänavaid kus Harjunpää ja Onerva stalkerit taga ajasid.
Lugu algab sellega, et vägivallaosakonnale, kus nii Harjunpää kui Onerva töötavad, tuleb mitmeid teateid öiste sissemurdmiste kohta juuatäis peaga - ja tihti mõne mehe seltsis - kojujõudnud naiste juurde. Ohvritele tundub et keset ööd alkoholiuimas ja kottpimedas oma magamistoas ärgates, on seal veel keegi. See keegi ei tee suurt midagi, silitab ja hoiab kätt, aga juba fakt iseenesest on väga häiriv ja hirmutav.
Paralleelselt nagu ikka jälgitakse stalkeri, ilmselgelt vaevu terve mõistuse ja hullumeelsuse õhkõrnal piiril balansseeriva Asko tegemisi. Asko elab oma fantaasiamaailmas ja igatseb armastust. Kuskilt mujalt seda leidmata varitsebki ta kesklinnas baaridest koju minevaid naisi ning osava lukumeistrina murrab nende kannul nende kodudesse.
Eriti hästi kujutab Joensuu Asko libisemist järjest sügavamale hullumeelsusesse. Lõpuosa dramaatilised sündmused tõukavad ta lõplikult üle piiri ja päris lõpp kui juba ringi lendab inimesekujuline kassikakk on mu meelest sama hea kui Thomas Harrise klassikaks muutunud "Punane Draakon".
See osa on tähelepanuväärne ka Harjunpää ja Onerva vahel aset leidnud suudluse pärast, mis polnud päris nii platooniline ja süütu kui hiilija jaoks paarikest mängivate kolleegide kohta võiks arvata. Traagiline avarii viib Onerva minema, ma päris huviga ootan, kas ta lahkubki kogu sarjast või on teda järgmises kahes osas veel mainitud.
Võimas elamus taaskord, vaatamata asjaolule et olen seda romaani lugenud ilmumisest saadik vähemalt 4 või 5 korda.
Lugu algab sellega, et vägivallaosakonnale, kus nii Harjunpää kui Onerva töötavad, tuleb mitmeid teateid öiste sissemurdmiste kohta juuatäis peaga - ja tihti mõne mehe seltsis - kojujõudnud naiste juurde. Ohvritele tundub et keset ööd alkoholiuimas ja kottpimedas oma magamistoas ärgates, on seal veel keegi. See keegi ei tee suurt midagi, silitab ja hoiab kätt, aga juba fakt iseenesest on väga häiriv ja hirmutav.
Paralleelselt nagu ikka jälgitakse stalkeri, ilmselgelt vaevu terve mõistuse ja hullumeelsuse õhkõrnal piiril balansseeriva Asko tegemisi. Asko elab oma fantaasiamaailmas ja igatseb armastust. Kuskilt mujalt seda leidmata varitsebki ta kesklinnas baaridest koju minevaid naisi ning osava lukumeistrina murrab nende kannul nende kodudesse.
Eriti hästi kujutab Joensuu Asko libisemist järjest sügavamale hullumeelsusesse. Lõpuosa dramaatilised sündmused tõukavad ta lõplikult üle piiri ja päris lõpp kui juba ringi lendab inimesekujuline kassikakk on mu meelest sama hea kui Thomas Harrise klassikaks muutunud "Punane Draakon".
See osa on tähelepanuväärne ka Harjunpää ja Onerva vahel aset leidnud suudluse pärast, mis polnud päris nii platooniline ja süütu kui hiilija jaoks paarikest mängivate kolleegide kohta võiks arvata. Traagiline avarii viib Onerva minema, ma päris huviga ootan, kas ta lahkubki kogu sarjast või on teda järgmises kahes osas veel mainitud.
Võimas elamus taaskord, vaatamata asjaolule et olen seda romaani lugenud ilmumisest saadik vähemalt 4 või 5 korda.
August 23, 2017
Läst på svenska: Hunger efter kärlek
September 22, 2018
Harvassa ovat ne dekkarikirjalijat joiden kirjoja voi sanoa ihan oikeiksi romaaneiksi. Tässä on sellainen, jopa roistotkin on kuvattu ymmärtävästi. Karhean hellä, jämäkkä teos.
July 3, 2021
Matti Yrjänä Joensuu achieve making the plot interesting and I liked that it was fun when it needed too.
January 10, 2016
To Steal Her Love is a police procedural set in Helsinki, though not a mystery in that the reader knows the culprit from the start. Indeed, Joensuu’s narrative is divided into two strands. The first charts the half-real, half-fantasist world of Tweety, a young man obsessed with beautiful women, but who is unable to approach them, instead breaking into their homes in the middle of the night to watch them sleep. When he’s not doing that he’s hiding from his domineering mother, working as a cobbler, or helping his brothers to rob banks. The second strand follows the home life and work of Detective Sergeant Timo Harjunpää of Helsinki’s violent crimes unit. Harjunpää is a stoic cop who grinds out results, and is torn between two women. Both strands are very nicely written and interwoven. Joensuu has an eye for characters and how they’re bound together in awkward relationships and conflicts, as well as the institutional politics and personal power games of the police (he was a serving police officer for many years). While the narrative seems to drift along and seems quite sedate, there’s actually an awful lot going on within the strands and subplots (some of which are not resolved). The result is a nicely written, layered tale that tells a compelling and engaging story.
February 12, 2015
"De honger naar liefde" is niet alleen een spannende detective maar ook een verhaal over liefde.
Liefde die hoop geeft maar ook liefde die pijn doet. Liefde tussen ouders en kinderen, "liefde" tussen collega's.
De verhaalstijl doet me een beetje denken aan de stijl van Murakami.
Net als in "het duivenritueel" is het hoofdpersonage iemand die waanideeën heeft.
Asko alias Tweety, meester in het openen van sloten, denkt in de eerste plaats dat hij een vogel is. Maar hij denkt ook dat hij onzichtbaar en geluidloos is. Hij denkt dat, als hij "inbreekt", hij onopgemerkt blijft. Hij is dan ook verwonderd als hij steeds vaker betrapt wordt. En toch kan de politie geen sporen vinden en kunnen de slachtoffers hem enkel beschrijven als klein en mager, een spichtig gezicht en gekleed in grijze of kleurloze kleren.
Inspecteur Harjunpää, privé in de problemen doordat zijn dementerende vader plots bij hem opgedoken is, professioneel in de problemen omdat hij zijn job, de corruptie en de politiehervormingen beu is moet dus op zoek naar een soort "spook".
Dit boek vind ik een aanrader. Het is spannend, realistisch maar ook diepgaand.
Liefde die hoop geeft maar ook liefde die pijn doet. Liefde tussen ouders en kinderen, "liefde" tussen collega's.
De verhaalstijl doet me een beetje denken aan de stijl van Murakami.
Net als in "het duivenritueel" is het hoofdpersonage iemand die waanideeën heeft.
Asko alias Tweety, meester in het openen van sloten, denkt in de eerste plaats dat hij een vogel is. Maar hij denkt ook dat hij onzichtbaar en geluidloos is. Hij denkt dat, als hij "inbreekt", hij onopgemerkt blijft. Hij is dan ook verwonderd als hij steeds vaker betrapt wordt. En toch kan de politie geen sporen vinden en kunnen de slachtoffers hem enkel beschrijven als klein en mager, een spichtig gezicht en gekleed in grijze of kleurloze kleren.
Inspecteur Harjunpää, privé in de problemen doordat zijn dementerende vader plots bij hem opgedoken is, professioneel in de problemen omdat hij zijn job, de corruptie en de politiehervormingen beu is moet dus op zoek naar een soort "spook".
Dit boek vind ik een aanrader. Het is spannend, realistisch maar ook diepgaand.
August 4, 2011
This is more than a one dimensional crime novel, it had depth, great characters, injustice and surprises. I have never read a novel by a Finnish author or one that is set in Finland so this made a nice change from the usual FBI type crime novels which I usually end up reading. I think that European novels always have more of a realistic nature than American authored ones. All in all this is a very interesting read, my only comment would be that maybe if the bank robbery element had not been included Tweety could have been more developed. We read snatches of his childhood but it would have been interesting to know more, interesting to know what motivated him. However a great novel if I ever have the chance to read any others in the series I think I would it was nice to read something a bit different from the more run of the mill crime stories.
September 9, 2008
The main thought after reading this book was that I'm very happy my boyfriend decided he didn't want to be a policeman after all :) It seems that all the bosses just wanted to make a career and not really cared if they stepped on several regular policemen and destroyed their careers. Those stupid bosses annoyed me so much that I can't understand why Harjunpää didn't quit. I would have!
Joensuu did a great job making Harjunpää a person who could really excist. All his troubles, worries and emotions were so real.
The book had a quite different ending to what I had expected.
Matti Yrjänä Joensuu is one of the best Scandinavian crime book writers, at least I think so!
Joensuu did a great job making Harjunpää a person who could really excist. All his troubles, worries and emotions were so real.
The book had a quite different ending to what I had expected.
Matti Yrjänä Joensuu is one of the best Scandinavian crime book writers, at least I think so!
October 20, 2011
Is it possible for a book to peter out into the nothingness for its entire duration? That's exactly what this clumsily translated and poorly plotted crime novel does. Harjunpää is a non-character, investigating a man who dissolves as the book progresses, while simultaneously fighting off vague threats from inside the criminally underfunded police force. A bizarre accident in the dying pages serves only to compound the slipshod nature of the whole thing.
I think that even with a translation that wasn't this awkward, To Steal Her Love is still too badly constructed to amount to much. There is very little satisfaction to be had here.
I think that even with a translation that wasn't this awkward, To Steal Her Love is still too badly constructed to amount to much. There is very little satisfaction to be had here.
October 22, 2012
This is the best book I have ever read in my opinion. With that being the case I would rather people read The Priest Of Evil or The Stone Murders first instead of this one. Mainly because of the creepy villain "Tweety".
I did enjoy the plot very much of this book. It was something that I found engaging to read and continue with... despite it being disturbing in places. In this one I did feel sorry for Timo because of his relationship with his father.
So if you are looking for a disturbing crime novel (written by a cop - so don't think it's innacurate in terms of police procedure etc.) that has a good story then I suggest this.
I did enjoy the plot very much of this book. It was something that I found engaging to read and continue with... despite it being disturbing in places. In this one I did feel sorry for Timo because of his relationship with his father.
So if you are looking for a disturbing crime novel (written by a cop - so don't think it's innacurate in terms of police procedure etc.) that has a good story then I suggest this.
August 19, 2023
Tavoitteena lukea kaikki Finlandia-palkintoehdokkaat:
(1984-1991: 74/74)
1993: 3/6
1984-2022: 77/262
4,5/5. Ensin kuuntelin äänikirjana (3/5) ja sitten luin (4,5/5). Jo toinen Harjunpää Finlandia-ehdokkaana (eka oli Harjunpää ja heimolaiset); ja ovatko nämä edelleenkin jopa ainoat ehdolla olleet dekkarit? Olihan tämä kyllä komea! Joensuu kuljettaa täysin suvereenisti ja uskottavasti eri tarinalinjoja läpi kirjan. Ehkä vain aivan lopussa oli yksi tai kaksi pientä kauneusvirhettä, jossa intensiteetti ja uskottavuus mielestäni vähän kärsivät (ainakin työtoverin käden vammautuminen). Mutta kokonaisuutena erinomainen teos. Finlandia-voittaja ainesta?
(1984-1991: 74/74)
1993: 3/6
1984-2022: 77/262
4,5/5. Ensin kuuntelin äänikirjana (3/5) ja sitten luin (4,5/5). Jo toinen Harjunpää Finlandia-ehdokkaana (eka oli Harjunpää ja heimolaiset); ja ovatko nämä edelleenkin jopa ainoat ehdolla olleet dekkarit? Olihan tämä kyllä komea! Joensuu kuljettaa täysin suvereenisti ja uskottavasti eri tarinalinjoja läpi kirjan. Ehkä vain aivan lopussa oli yksi tai kaksi pientä kauneusvirhettä, jossa intensiteetti ja uskottavuus mielestäni vähän kärsivät (ainakin työtoverin käden vammautuminen). Mutta kokonaisuutena erinomainen teos. Finlandia-voittaja ainesta?
March 30, 2010
Good crime book (detective book). Tells about couple of different stories which keeps you tight to book. All mr. Harjunpää´s books locates in Helsinki.
This time somebody seems to have access peoples homes during the night time. Nothing have stolen or broken?
Same time somebody murders people in Helsinki. Is it same person or...?
This time somebody seems to have access peoples homes during the night time. Nothing have stolen or broken?
Same time somebody murders people in Helsinki. Is it same person or...?
June 21, 2012
I really liked this one! The second main character Tipi was very well constructed and very believable. This story is also somehow about how fragile we are and in what ways the human mind can go really really wrong. This crudeness even reminded me of my other favourite writer Chuck Palahniuk
March 2, 2014
This was a really good book, I can't wait for the next one. I won't give the story away, but it works out in the end. Harjunpää is a good cop and he has a lot of empathy for people. Come on Finland give us more books.
July 8, 2017
Ahdistava
Want to read
February 27, 2019Synopsis: DS Timo Harjunpaa takes on an elusive case that begins with reports of a nocturnal visitor who tiptoes through apartments in Helsinki.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews