The Serbian Dane and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Serbian Dane
 
 
Start reading The Serbian Dane on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Serbian Dane [Paperback]

Leif Davidsen; Barbara J. Haveland
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.30  
Paperback --  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Arcadia Books; paperback / softback edition (20 Jun 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1905147678
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905147670
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 511,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Product Description

Iranian Mullahs have offered a $4 million reward to the person who carries out their fatwa, the death sentence of the internationally acclaimed author Sara Santanda. A Danish daily newspaper has in cooperation with Danish PEN Centre invited her to Copenhagen, and police officer Per Toftlund of the Danish Secret Police is put in charge of protecting the author. A politician in parliament strikes a deal with dire consequences. And somewhere in the former Yugoslavia a young man signs up for murder. The man is Vuk. He is the Serbian Dane.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Franji Draskuvic, writer and philosopher, was a happy man. Read the first page
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, but ends up being a pretty basic story....., 23 Mar 2008
By 
johnverp "@johnverp1" (Budapest) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
A controversial author is about to visit Denmark and she has been sentenced to death for her writings. The Serbian Dane, who is called Vuk, accepts the job to take her out. He grew up in Denmark, of Serbian parents, and returned to Bosnia where he saw his parents butchered and where he participated in hostilities as a highly skilled soldier.

Enter also the policeman charged with protecting the author and a journalist who is to be her host - the two of them fall in love at an early stage!

Davidsen does bring some colour into the book with his descriptions of both Denmark and the Danish, but the story itself remains very shallow and the writing is not spectacular. The reason Vuk takes on the job is never explained, particularly as he makes much of not killing for money. So, much of the story becomes descriptive as Vuk prepares for the assignment. A lot falls into place conveniently and little challenges the reader, or the police for that matter.

The book is seemingly well-translated, but the proof-reading editors could have worked a little harder.

Overall, a plain vanilla effort, I would say. 7/10

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Page-turning Thriller, 10 Dec 2007
By 
Simon Clarke (Hackney, London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
A woman with a 'fatwa' hanging-over her is due to visit
Copenhagen .A Serbian Dane is hired to kill her for four
millions dollars.What follows is the basis of a page-turning
thriller ,meticulously researched and planned ,and completely
credible.An excellent read
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An assassin stalks his prey while the police stalk the assassin, 13 Sep 2006
By Rennie Petersen - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Serbian Dane (Eurocrime) (Paperback)
Leif Davidsen is a well-known Danish author of thrillers. Many of his books have been translated into other languages, and "Den Serbiske Dansker" ("The Serbian Dane") has been translated to English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian.

The main person in "The Serbian Dane" is Vuk, a young Bosnian Serb who was born and grew up in Denmark but later became a sniper in the turmoil of ex-Yugoslavia. For reasons that I never really understood, Vuk agrees to return to Denmark to assassinate an Iranian author who has been sentenced to death by the Ayatollahs in Iran. (A bounty of four million US dollars is involved, but Vuk claims repeatedly that he doesn't kill for money.)

There are two "good guys", Per Toftlund, a security specialist with the Danish national police (corresponds to the American FBI) and Lise Carlsen, a journalist with one of Denmark's largest newspapers. The two of them fall in love (typical for a Leif Davidsen thriller - there has to be a romance), although I found this to be rather silly. Lise Carlsen, in particular, does not come across as a person that is particularly loveable.

But the most interesting person in the book is Vuk, and he is also the person that most of the pages in the book focus on. Everything that Vuk does and thinks is described in detail, often excruciating detail.

We are told, step by step, about how Vuk travels from Bosnia to Copenhagen via Warsaw and Berlin. Vuk's past is slowly revealed to us as he wanders around Copenhagen, surprised by the changes that occurred during the short number of years that he was away. Vuk contacts one of his childhood friends, and more of his past is revealed, in particular his traumatic experiences in ex-Yugoslavia. We finally begin to understand why Vuk is the way he is.

The story slowly but surely moves towards the climax, too slowly in my opinion, but this is again typical for Leif Davidsen. Will Vuk succeed in killing the Iranian author, or will the police, who are aware of him and his intentions, succeed in capturing him?

This is a very Danish book in some ways, in that many of the things that are discussed are primarily of interest to Danes. It is not as good as most of Leif Davidsen's books, but it still manages to get four stars by my standards, mostly because I like the way Leif Davidsen describes people and social situations so well.

Two minor nit-picking criticisms:
- The childhood friend is described as a total nerd who has a poster of his hero Bill Gates on his wall. Real nerds don't like Bill Gates.
- Vuk goes shopping for diving equipment and gets an "oxygen" tank. Should be a compressed air tank.

In summary, not one of Leif Davidsen's best, but still a good thriller, especially for a Danish reader or for those interested in modern Europe.

Rennie Petersen
 Go to Amazon U.S. to see the review  4.0 out of 5 stars 
Was this review helpful?   Let us know
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback