Don’t Look Back! – Karin Fossum

January 17, 2009 by
Filed under: crime book, Inspector Konrad Sejer, Karin Fossum, Norwegian writer, Prize winning novel 

In a sleepy little village at the foot of a Norwegian mountain, a child — 6 year old Ragnhild — goes missing. It is a village where the children run in and out of one another’s Karin Fossum: Don't Look Back! houses and play unafraid in the streets. Yet the search for her reveals the naked body of the well-liked local schoolgirl. Why would anyone want to murder Annie Holland? The investigation of this question is in the hands of Inspector Konrad Sejer and his young colleague Jacob Skarre.

Karin Fossum is one of my favorite Norwegian crime writers. Karin Fossum was born November 6, 1954 in Sandefjord. She now lives in Oslo. Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer novels are masterfully constructed, psychologically convincing, and compulsively readable.

This is a wonderful book with great characters, and it is very carefully written. The dialogue is realistic. It is also a book that gives a strong sense of community and that makes you feel and know that, yeah, this is how is could really have happened in a small community in Norway. As well, the police work is interesting and well described. The book is highly recommended to anyone who likes police-procedural novels.

And, so that you know that this really is a high quality book, I should mention that Don’t Look Back! received The Riverton Prize and The Glass Key (for the best Nordic detective novel).

Read an excerpt of the book at the Hardcourt publishers’ site. We have more reviews of Karin Fossum’s books at ScandinavianBooks!

Aftenposten’s reviewer said the book “has hit the bull’s eye. It has scored a direct hit and is an exceptional top score! This is a dazzling writing in the crime genre”.

“Don’t Look Back! shows just how well Fossum deserves her continental fame.” — Sunday Times

You can order books by Karin Fossum from amazon US or see all books by Karin Fossum at Amazon UK!

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