- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Harvill Secker (2 July 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846551706
- ISBN-13: 978-1846551703
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 280,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Water's Edge
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
`As a portrait of a community possessed by suspicion, The Water's Edge can scarcely be bettered' --Independent
Book Description
Inspector Sejer must track down a sinister figure who fled from the scene of a terrible crime
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the latest excellent Inspector Sejer detective story that is so enthralling I couldn't stop reading and finished it the day it arrived. Karin Fossum is rightly called the Norwegian Ruth Rendell: she has the same sensitivity in her writing about feelings and motivations and the ability to keep one hooked by the sheer narrative drive. If anything, Fossum, is even better in the way she creates the atmosphere of the countryside in which her stories are set. She is also very good at painting word-pictures of her main characters and her Inspector Sejer is a believable and complex man who tries to understand the criminals he pursues. In The Water's Edge she explores the tipping-point at which some paedophiles turn into active abusers and murderers. Some of the text is harrowing, but more in ones imagination as she doesn't go into gory detail.
The translator of the book also deserves credit for the fluid prose. An added bonus is this paper-back has been very nicely printed with a good clear typeface and generous line-spacing and margins that makes the text easy on the eyes.
The translator of the book also deserves credit for the fluid prose. An added bonus is this paper-back has been very nicely printed with a good clear typeface and generous line-spacing and margins that makes the text easy on the eyes.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
'The Water's Edge' shows Karin Fossum at her very best.
This intelligent psychological thriller is beautifully
written in easy,economic, flowing prose.
A married couple on their weekend walk come across the
dead body of a young boy.The investigation is led by the
calm,thoughtful and moral Inspector Sejer,when another
boy goes missing.What follows is not so much police procedural,
but an examination of those affected by these events.
We see into the mind of a paedophile,we experience the depair
of the mothers' of the two boys,the musings of Sejer and his
colleague ,Skarre,as they try to understand the perpetrator's
motivation,and the disintegration of the marriage of the couple
who found the boy's body.
This is a work of exceptional acuity and understanding by a
unique writer.
This intelligent psychological thriller is beautifully
written in easy,economic, flowing prose.
A married couple on their weekend walk come across the
dead body of a young boy.The investigation is led by the
calm,thoughtful and moral Inspector Sejer,when another
boy goes missing.What follows is not so much police procedural,
but an examination of those affected by these events.
We see into the mind of a paedophile,we experience the depair
of the mothers' of the two boys,the musings of Sejer and his
colleague ,Skarre,as they try to understand the perpetrator's
motivation,and the disintegration of the marriage of the couple
who found the boy's body.
This is a work of exceptional acuity and understanding by a
unique writer.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The reader soon knows what is in store on the first page of the first chapter of this disturbing yet immensely absorbing novel by Karin Fossum, when we are told: "He did not wish to discard his burden casually on the ground; he wanted this precise cluster of trees, which would serve as a kind of monument. This last scrap of decency comforted him, he was still a human being, he had feelings, many of them good ones." This is a prelude to the discovery of the dead body of a young boy, nearly eight years old, in the forest near the edge of a lake, naked from the waist down.
This newest in the Inspector Sejer mystery series finds him and his assistant, Jacob Skarre, somewhat contemplative and trying to define what draws them to their work, asking Sejer "Why are we so drawn to the death of others? . . . Why do you think people are so fascinated by crime? Nothing sells better than murder and the worse it is, the more interested people are. What does that say about us?" As the search for the killer begins, Sejer expresses his main concern: that "this man will strike again."
Conrad Sejer is an interesting man, "always correct, reserved and polite. His formality might at times be mistaken for arrogance, unless you knew him well. Hardly anyone knew him well." He is the owner of a dog, "Frank Robert [great name for a dog!], a Chinese Shar Pei, [who] had the same temperament as his fellow countrymen; he was both inscrutable and dignified. In addition he never barked, but might occasionally emit a disgruntled snort."
The author again, as in her excellent "Black Seconds," captures the anguish that the loss of a child brings, of "the magnitude of losing those closest to you." In the aftermath of the tragedy, lives, and marriages, are completely torn asunder. The author also examines the often fraught relationships between children and their parents, and between husbands and wives. As I read, the hours, and the pages, flew. The book is highly recommended.
This newest in the Inspector Sejer mystery series finds him and his assistant, Jacob Skarre, somewhat contemplative and trying to define what draws them to their work, asking Sejer "Why are we so drawn to the death of others? . . . Why do you think people are so fascinated by crime? Nothing sells better than murder and the worse it is, the more interested people are. What does that say about us?" As the search for the killer begins, Sejer expresses his main concern: that "this man will strike again."
Conrad Sejer is an interesting man, "always correct, reserved and polite. His formality might at times be mistaken for arrogance, unless you knew him well. Hardly anyone knew him well." He is the owner of a dog, "Frank Robert [great name for a dog!], a Chinese Shar Pei, [who] had the same temperament as his fellow countrymen; he was both inscrutable and dignified. In addition he never barked, but might occasionally emit a disgruntled snort."
The author again, as in her excellent "Black Seconds," captures the anguish that the loss of a child brings, of "the magnitude of losing those closest to you." In the aftermath of the tragedy, lives, and marriages, are completely torn asunder. The author also examines the often fraught relationships between children and their parents, and between husbands and wives. As I read, the hours, and the pages, flew. The book is highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stark and gripping
Karin Fossum's books are striking in the way that they include as much detail, if not more, in the portraits of their villains as their protagonists. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Blue in Washington
Disturbing in its no-nonsense realism
This is an excellent, disturbing, read from Karin Fossum. It tackles the difficult subject of child murder and abuse, but in a way that attempts to understand why such things... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jl Adcock
Karin Fossum's The Water's Edge
The third of four of Fossum's Inspector Sejer stories I have read in past 10 days. Think this one is my favourite. Read more
Published 9 months ago by willow
Norwegian Queen of Crime
Fossum is, of course, known as the Norwegian Queen of Crime, and noted for her psychological approach to writing. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr Creepy
Not impressed.
Granted that I have never heard of this author before, or even the series of books this is linked to in regards to the main detective, I found this book to be completely... Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. Fleming
yet another gripping read from a solid scandanavian crime author
Karin Fossum is hugely poplular Norwegian crime author and rightly so. Inspector Sejer is a great fictional detective and her writing is intelligent, engrossing and highly... Read more
Published 23 months ago by lovemurakami
Possibly her best yet!
I discovered Karin Fossum a while ago now, and she seldom disappoints. A great plot, well constructed and the classic twist in the tale makes this book compulsive reading. Read more
Published on 21 May 2010 by Mrs. Liz M. McLaren
probing the effects of evil
This book, centred on the disappearance or death of two boys in a rural Norwegian community, will not give everyone what they want in a detective story, but can be rated very... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by maryleopard
Predilection.
On a sunday afternoon a married couple, Kristine and Reinhardt Ris, takes a walk around the park. Suddenly they see a man who walks fast to the park exit. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2009 by Jan Dierckx
The Karin Fossum novel we've been waiting for
Karen Fossum's previous novels are about characters that you tend to think are going to turn out to be child molesters. Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by A. Butterfield
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