He Who Fears Not Reading a Series in Order

Tue, 12/30/2008 - 10:57am by manz

I intended to start Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer series with book one, of course. But after reading the back cover of book two, He Who Fears the Wolf, I had to skip book one and dive right into book two. There have been five books translated into English from Norwegian thus far and Fossum is definitely a hot author on the “Scandinavian Mysteries to Read list.” She is also a poet and it is clear in her writing, as her words float across the page and down your spine. This time around a woman is found murdered on the front porch of her farm house. The only witness is an overweight 12 year boy who is obsessed with archery and is living in a home for juvenile delinquents. He reports that a local man named Errki, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution, was at the scene and he soon becomes the top suspect. The same day the body is found a bank is robbed in the center of town (and was actually half witnessed by Sejer himself). The bank robber takes a hostage with him, who turns out to be the escaped schizophrenic. The three misfits are soon drawn into each others webs and each end up individually contemplating how much they have in common. This mystery is ironic, sad, heartwarming, and suspenseful all at the same time.