THE WATER’S EDGE

Karin Fossum

Harvill Secker £11.99pbk

Released: July 2009

Reviewer: Martin Edwards

 

Martin Edwards is a leading lawyer and crime fiction writer. He has edited ten anthologies of crime writing and written eight crime novels and more than 700 articles for more than 60 publications. www.martinedwardsbooks.com

 

You don’t read Karin Fossum for the snappy one-liners and witty plot twists, and her latest case for Inspector Sejer, which deals with child murder and disintegrating relationships, is as dark as a Norwegian night. It is also poignant and original, benefiting from a sympathetic translation by Charlotte Barslund. The book opens with a man carrying a boy’s corpse through a wood. After disposing of his melancholy burden, he passes a man and a woman, and panics, realising that they will remember him ‘and tell the whole world.’  

It is a hallmark of Fossum’s elliptical style of story-telling that attention then switches to the couple (‘they had been married for many years and no they no longer held hands.’) Their relationship is in trouble, and is put under further strain by the husband’s prurient fascination over the death of the boy, and his role as a witness. Sejer takes charge of the case, in his customary low-key yet caring way, but then another boy goes missing. Fossum’s insight into the way people behave, and the mistakes they make, is acute, and this is the strength of her books. And it would be unfair to suggest that all is gloom – Fossum’s humanity shines through even at the grimmest moments, such as the final conversation when Sejer contemplates the child killer’s fate. This is an accomplished novel – but don’t buy it if you’re already down in the dumps and in need of a bit of light and frothy entertainment . Karin Fossum doesn’t do comfortable. 

Martin Edwards’ latest novel is The Serpent Pool (Allison & Busby)

 


 

 

 


 

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