lørdag den 10. januar 2009

Anne Holt, Det der er mit (2001) (Punishment)

Ved en pinlig fejltagelse er jeg kommet til at købe denne bog på svensk. Vældig billigt, men det er nu ikke den helt rigtige måde at læse en norsk krimi på.

Anne Holt er allerede velkendt blandt skandinaviske krimielskere for en håndfuld bøger om seje, egenrådige Hanne Wilhelmsen, som er sendt på ferie i denne bog.

Citatet "Man gjorde et barn fortræd" kunne passende bruges til at angive temaet for denne krimi. Ni-årige Emilie forsvinder, og nogle få dage efter forsvinder endnu et barn. Kriminalassistent Yngvar Stubø bliver sat på sagen, og mens Norge bryder ud i panik, kontakter han psykologen Inger Johanne Vik, som har en vis erfaring med profiling.

Yngvar Stubø er ganske usædvanlig i rollen som midaldrende, mandlig krimihovedperson. Han er ikke gnaven og indesluttet, men et meget tiltalende familiemenneske. Og nej, han ser ikke engang ud til at have alkoholproblemer.

Inger Johanne Vik derimod er mere indadvendt og forsigtig, et menneske med en dyster forhistorie. Måske er hun næsten for nærtagende til at være psykolog? En profiler, som vægrer sig ved at profilere? Men Inger Johanne vil hellere tage sig af sin datter, Kristiane, et nyt og specielt bekendtskab, og begrave sig i sit forskningsprojekt, som involverer mordet på en lille pige helt tilbage i halvtredserne. Og det kræver mildt sagt alle Yngvars talenter at lokke hende ind i sagen.

Krimien tangerer femikrimi, selv om den ene hovedperson er en mand, idet private anliggender og det spirende forhold mellem de to fylder en del i historien. Men det skal understreges, at Anne Holt aldrig taber målet af syne: at skildre to spændende og vel-tilrettelagte krimiplots.

Et lille minuspoint fordi hun snyder en smule på vægten mod slutningen i form af et alt for påfaldende sammentræf (ikke flere afsløringer her), men alt i alt er denne krimi mindst lige så spændende som de udmærkede Hanne Wilhelmsen-bøger.

Anne Holt, Punishment (2006) (US: What is Mine)
Norwegian Anne Holt is already famous in Scandinavia for a handful of crime novels featuring chief inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen.

In this story we meet a new detective couple. Adam Stubo, police inspector (aka detective inspector & police commissioner), and Johanne Vik, a psychologist. At the beginning nine-year-old Emilie disappears, and so does a little boy a few days later. While Norway panicks, crying paedophile, Stubo contacts Johanne Vik who has some experience in profiling.

Stubo is a rather unusual middle-aged, male detective as he is neither grumpy nor introvert. In fact, he is a pleasant person. And no, he does not even seem to have any alcohol problems.

Johanne Vik on the other hand is a cautious person with a sinister history lurking in the background. Perhaps she is almost too sensitive to be a psychologist? A profiler who declines to profile? Johanne prefers taking care of her handicapped daughter, Kristiane, and bury herself in her research project, involving a fifty-year-old murder of a little girl. So Adam Stubo must use all his talents to engage her in the case.

As is characteristic for many female crime fiction writers, the private lives and growing relationship between Stubo and Vik take some space, but Anne Holt never forgets her main goal: depicting two exciting and well wrought crime plots.

One small minus for using a quite remarkable coincidence near the ending, but all in all this novel is just as fascinating as her great Hanne Wilhelmsen series.

7 kommentarer:

Anonym sagde ...

I agree with your take on this novel, I enjoyed it too, especially the interplay between Stubo and Vik. Stubo does seem refreshingly ordinary compared with many other detectives. I thought the back-story of his wife very sad. Unfortunately I have not read the author's other series but perhaps it is not translated into English.
We have a group on Friend Feed for discussing cime fiction - several blogs feed into it including Euro Crime. Please feel free to join us there: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/crime-and-mystery-fiction
Best wishes
Maxine.

Dorte H sagde ...

Thanks for the invitation :)
As far as I know, the Wilhelmsen-series has not been translated into English (but German, and all the Scandinavia languages)

Beth F sagde ...

Thanks for this review. I'm always looking for new mysteries/crime fiction. I'll look for What Is Mine and add it to my too-long wish list.

Dorte H sagde ...

I really think you will find her worth while. She is an experienced writer and actually a former minister of justice! - so small wonder she knows something about crime & police work.
Do return & tell me what you think when you have read one of her books.

Jose Ignacio Escribano sagde ...

Dorte may I have your opinion about Anne Holt Blind Goddess. I think this is the first of her Wilhemsen series. In Spain we already have available three books of her Vik-Stubo series. But I know this is an early novel.
Thanks for your help.

Dorte H sagde ...

Jose: Certainly. Yes, it is the first Wilhelmsen, and I didn´t even know it had been translated.

I really liked this series already from the beginning (perhaps even better than the last books). Interesting plot, and her protagonist, Hanne Wilhelmsen, may not have been fully developed then, but as far as I recall the book, I would say it is a very convincing ´first´. I never doubted that I would read more books by this author.

Jose Ignacio Escribano sagde ...

Thank you very much. The Blind Goddes in Spanish will on shelves starting November 2.