- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: The Harvill Press (8 July 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843430916
- ISBN-13: 978-1843430919
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 807,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
When The Devil Holds The Candle
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for "Don't Look Back":
"Fossum's presentation of her characters is marked by an intelligence and compassion that is not often found in the pages of crime fiction."
--"Sunday Times"
"Fossum's presentation of her characters is marked by an intelligence and compassion that is not often found in the pages of crime fiction."
--"Sunday Times"
Product Description
Pulling a handbag from a pushchair handle, two teenage trouble-makers, Zipp and Andreas, unwittingly commit murder when the baby inside is thrown to the ground. Unaware of what has happened, the pair move on to their next target. Having followed home Irma, an elderly lady who lives nearby, Andreas enters her house armed, with his trusty flick-knife. Zipp waits nervously outside, but his friend never reappears. He will never see him alive again. Fossum toys with the roles of victim and killer and pens the inner monologue of her characters to chilling effect. There are no red herrings in this narrative as the crime is played out on the page, but it is the mental processes behind the murderer's sinister act that are the real pieces of this puzzle. Gradually, they fall into place as Irma and Andreas talk to each other. We are forced to question the familiar stereotypes: people are not always what they seem and it is not always bad people who do bad things. While the reader knows the truth of this crime, the police remain flummoxed. There is no reason for Sejer and his colleague Skarre to see a connection between the infant's death and the reported disappearance of a town trouble-maker. With Zipp too frightened to come forward, the police must wait for the evidence to present itself before they can begin to comprehend the unsettling nature of the case on their hands.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insanity is not always obvious,
By Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When The Devil Holds The Candle (Inspector Sejer Mystery) (Paperback)
Karin Fossum, Ruth Rendell's northern cousin, is one of the great masters of the psychological thriller. "When the Devil Holds the Candle" is a great example of her work at its best. In this tale of a petty crime that leads to great tragedy, Fossum cooks a soup of small town characters who are typical of their type on the surface, but far more complicated within. Those inner souls are the troublemakers that break loose in "Devil" and create the waves of disturbance that become disaster when they overlap. In this particular story, two teenage slackers, bored and looking for distraction, mug a young mother for her purse and start a series of events that will become life-changing for themselves and others in the small Norwegian town where they live. The first event leads to others that disturb the delicate emotional balance that exists for several of the characters and results in violence that was not imaginable by any of them. Author Fossum knits all of this interaction together with such skill that the reader hardly sees it coming. Once the chilling ending seems to be served up, still another hit is on the way. "When the Devil Holds the Candle" is a nice piece of work. Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What makes a murderer?,
By Reddy "Ruthie" (uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When The Devil Holds The Candle (Inspector Sejer Mystery) (Paperback)
Another good Inspector Sejer mystery from Fossum, but it's not a straightforward police procedural. Instead the author attempts to get to grips with what makes a criminal mind and, in particular, at what point does someone cross a line and become a killer?
Zipp and his friend, Andreas, are aimless 18 year olds on the edge of the of the criminal world who are beginning to dabble with such crimes as handbag theft. When their actions bring them into contact with lonely old lady, Irma Funder, things take a darker and more sinister turn. Although, it's not immediately clear to Sejer and his colleague Skarre what the crime is, they must unravel the truth before it's too late. This is a neatly told, fast-moving thriller with several side stories which keep the reader entertained. Widowed Sejer has a budding romance with psychologist Sara and is also investigating why a student, Robert, has shot his girlfriend in the face. Schoolboy Matteus, Sejer's adopted African grandson, also has a crucial role to play in this gripping crime drama. If you like other Nordic crime writers, you'll enjoy Fossum's take on this genre. Her plots are never trite, Sejer is an interesting detective and the reader is left with a sense that things are never quite what they seem on the outside.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another good one from this Nordic writer,
By Snowey "Real Democrat" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: When The Devil Holds The Candle (Inspector Sejer Mystery) (Paperback)
Karin Fossum is up ther with the other Nordic writers who have been so successful in the UK in recent years, another well thought out and executed legal thriller with excellent characterisation. She knows her craft.
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