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Review
`Håkan Nesser's Chief Inspector van Veeteren has earned his place among the great Swedish detectives...The courtroom scenes that begin this novel are cracking.' --Daily Telegraph
`Holds the tension right to the end...Another winner from Scandinavia.' --Irish Times
`Move over Ian Rankin...' --Guardian
`The Mind's Eye by Håkan Nesser is a psychological thriller in a class of its own...This stunning novel by one of Sweden's foremost crime writers might have been written as a script for Alfred Hitchcock.'
--Sunday Times
`Holds the tension right to the end...Another winner from Scandinavia.' --Irish Times
`Move over Ian Rankin...' --Guardian
`The Mind's Eye by Håkan Nesser is a psychological thriller in a class of its own...This stunning novel by one of Sweden's foremost crime writers might have been written as a script for Alfred Hitchcock.'
--Sunday Times
Product Description
The third novel in the internationally acclaimed Inspector Van Veeteren series
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was Hakan Nesser's debut novel, which came out in Sweden in the early 1990s. We are just beginning to get his wonderful Inspector Van Veeteren books translated into English, but reading this very first in the series I was amazed at how well drawn the characters are, especially the dour Inspector; "He's big, his face is purple and he swears," as one of his interviewees puts it.
The plot is rather simple in some ways, but unfolds with satisfying pace. Highly influenced by other Swedish writers, especially Sjowall and Wahloo, there is a large cast of policemen and lots of stuff about contemporary Swedish society. The story is also told in compact little scenes like S&W, which I love as little time is wasted on 'scene-setting'.
In fact my only complaint is that the publishers did that annoying thing of putting the first chapter of the next book at the end, which means that you think you have longer to go in the novel than you realise! Argh.
Very, very enjoyable, especially when you know there are several more to come in the series!
The plot is rather simple in some ways, but unfolds with satisfying pace. Highly influenced by other Swedish writers, especially Sjowall and Wahloo, there is a large cast of policemen and lots of stuff about contemporary Swedish society. The story is also told in compact little scenes like S&W, which I love as little time is wasted on 'scene-setting'.
In fact my only complaint is that the publishers did that annoying thing of putting the first chapter of the next book at the end, which means that you think you have longer to go in the novel than you realise! Argh.
Very, very enjoyable, especially when you know there are several more to come in the series!
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first in Hakan Nesser's Van Veeteren series, although numbers two and three, Borkmann's Point and The Return, were published before it in the UK.
The story opens as Janek Mitter wakes with a massive hangover and takes some considerable time to come to his senses, remember who he is, work out that he is in his own home, force his way into the locked bathroom and discover the drowned body of Eva Ringmar, his wife of three months. Unable to remember much of the events leading up to the murder and offer any defence, he is convicted of her murder and sent to a psychiatric institution.
Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is the local police chief and, whilst he could find no reason in his interrogation of Mitter for him not to be charged, he is nonetheless unconvinced by the outcome and sets about further investigation, and so the case begins.
The writing style is recognisably Scandinavian, crisply narrated and with a classically tragic basis. The dialogue is believable, as is the story overall, and it is an easy read. However, I found Van Veeteren's supremely enigmatic and cerebral character difficult to establish any rapport with and his intuitive thought processes often impenetrably shrouded in obscure language. Meanwhile, his sizeable team of investigating officers offered plenty of scope to build a platform for future stories but were left more as a set of names rather than developing characters and, as the story concluded, I felt somewhat short-changed and unfulfilled.
That said, Van Veeteren's brooding mystery and Nesser's writing has the potential to establish their joint credentials in the varied genre of European detectives and I look forward to reading Borkmann's Point.
The story opens as Janek Mitter wakes with a massive hangover and takes some considerable time to come to his senses, remember who he is, work out that he is in his own home, force his way into the locked bathroom and discover the drowned body of Eva Ringmar, his wife of three months. Unable to remember much of the events leading up to the murder and offer any defence, he is convicted of her murder and sent to a psychiatric institution.
Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is the local police chief and, whilst he could find no reason in his interrogation of Mitter for him not to be charged, he is nonetheless unconvinced by the outcome and sets about further investigation, and so the case begins.
The writing style is recognisably Scandinavian, crisply narrated and with a classically tragic basis. The dialogue is believable, as is the story overall, and it is an easy read. However, I found Van Veeteren's supremely enigmatic and cerebral character difficult to establish any rapport with and his intuitive thought processes often impenetrably shrouded in obscure language. Meanwhile, his sizeable team of investigating officers offered plenty of scope to build a platform for future stories but were left more as a set of names rather than developing characters and, as the story concluded, I felt somewhat short-changed and unfulfilled.
That said, Van Veeteren's brooding mystery and Nesser's writing has the potential to establish their joint credentials in the varied genre of European detectives and I look forward to reading Borkmann's Point.
27 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In Håkan Nesser's acerbic and sardonic detective Van Veeteren, we have a wonderful winner. As police procedurals go, The Mind's Eye is representative of the genre; what raises this above the usual is the meta-text provided by the author - knowing asides and darkly humorous commentary that enliven the pages. Often, the chapters start with pronouns, requiring some amount of concentration from the reader to decide exactly who is being talked about; unlike reviewers elsewhere who found this confusing, I thought it refreshing, serving to keep the story going as well as keeping me alert. Van Veeteren is the classic noir footpad with a troubled marriage and a jailbird son, and has the usual likes (jazz and classical music) one expects from such a detective. He investigates the case of a husband wakes up one day to find his memory gone and his beautiful wife slaughtered. A sparkling set piece in a court enumerates the facts of the case. The husband is consigned to a mental institution where his memory returns, and for no reason I can discern, he sends a message to the killer. Shortly thereafter he is killed as well. The police procedural then takes over and the investigation proceeds meticulously. It is fairly obvious who the murderer is, even if it's not clear for a while what triggered the murderous spree. This is one of the better crime novels I've read, and I heartily recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is not just good, it's very very good
I stumbled upon the name Hakan Nesser by pure chance and, boy, am I glad I did. It took me a while to find out the first book in the series, as they were translated into English... Read more
Published 28 days ago by Yorkshire Rose
Good introduction to the European cop
The Mind's Eye is the first novel in the Van Veeteren sereies of books written by Håkan Nesser. Although it was not the first in the series to be published in the UK, it does not... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mikey
Very good!
I read all his books, I was very pleased; actually all the Scandinavian authors are very unique in their writing and make you discover another dimension of the policeman character,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Silvia
Unfulfilling Read
I read this book hoping for great things but was left feeling unfulfilled. The story itself is alright but the characters don't really grab you. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. C. Mytum
NOT ALL THAT GLISTERS.......
I have been seduced by the current fad of things Scandinavian and have devoured Mankell and Nesbo, both of whom I enjoyed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lindy
Another great read from Nesser
My wife's review:
I have just finished this novel and have come on here to write a review of what I believed was Nesser's third novel only to see other reviews that say... Read more
I have just finished this novel and have come on here to write a review of what I believed was Nesser's third novel only to see other reviews that say... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. S. N. Pattison
READ THIS - Van Veeteren - current FIRST novel in English
Boring title of the review - apologies.
But how I wish I had been pointed to this English translation of HN's Van Veeteren series, first. Read more
But how I wish I had been pointed to this English translation of HN's Van Veeteren series, first. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ginola14
Lost in Translation?
This may well be a great story in its original form. However, the translation leaves a lot to be desired. Read more
Published 11 months ago by S. D. Crawshaw
A rather disappointing book...
Unlike the previous reviewer's, I found this book to be somewhat of a disappointment. Having previously read both the Wallander series (and it's fore runner, the Martin Beck... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Finnson32
Great start!
I enjoyed this first in series detective story featuring inspector Veeteren. The plot is fascinating. It was hard for me to put the book down. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Dona Rendell
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