Bogen er norske Karin Fossums femte kriminalroman eller thriller om Konrad Sejer.”En køn fyr på atten år, med et smalt ansigt og uregerligt hår. Køn siger jeg, det er jeg storsindet nok til. Så køn, at han kom for let til tingene. Han spankulerede rundt med sit smukke ansigt og tog alting som en selvfølge.”
Irma Funder, en af hovedpersonerne, er omkring de tres, har et helt livs træning i at indordne sig og aldrig være til besvær, men undrer sig over sine medmennesker, som slet ikke gør sig umage.
Og så er der venneparret Zipp og Andreas, to unge, tankeløse fyre, som måske slet ikke kender hinanden så godt, som de tror. De kører omkring i byen om aftenen, rastløse og opsat på, at der skal ske noget.
Forbrydelserne i denne roman sker tidligt, og bagefter går Karin Fossum så under huden på sine hovedpersoner, indtil vi får en form for forståelse for, hvorfor det hele gik så galt. Irma Funder agerer gerne talerør for første gang i sit liv, og forklarer, hvad der sker, når det er djævelen, som holder lyset, og når det pludselig ikke bare er Irma, men Irma og Andreas. Sker alting ved tilfældigheder, eller er der mennesker, som er onde? Og i så fald, hvem er det så, der er de onde?
Hele vejen er der en form for uundgåelighed i plottet, som nærmere er en psykologisk thriller af høj karat end en egentlig politi-krimi. Fossum sammenlignes af nogle anmeldere med Ruth Rendell, og det er der en hel del om.
When the Devil Holds the Candle (2004)
This thriller is the fifth in the Norwegian series about Konrad Sejer.
“A nice-looking boy of eighteen, with a thin face and unruly hair. I say “nice-looking”; I´m generous enough to admit that. So handsome that things came easily to him. He strutted around with that handsome face and took things for granted.”
Irma Funder, one of the main characters, is around sixty years old, and has conformed to the rules all her life, never bothered anyone, and wonders at her fellow creatures who don´t even make an effort.
And then there are the two friends Zipp and Andreas, young and thoughtless guys who may not even know each other as well as they think. They roam around in the town at night, restless and intent on making something happen.
The crimes in this novel happen early, and afterwards Karin Fossum moves under the skin of her main characters until we achieve some kind of understanding why everything could go so horribly wrong. Irma Funder speaks out for herself for the first time in her life and explains what happens when the devil holds the candle, and when it is not just Irma, but Irma and Andreas. Do things happen by accident, or are human beings evil? And if so, who are evil?
All the way through there is a certain inevitability in the plot, a psychological thriller of high quality. Some reviewers compare Fossum to Ruth Rendell, with some justification.
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6 kommentarer:
Endnu en bog skrevet paa oenskelisten - jeg kender nogle stakkels danske foraeldre, der faar en tung kuffert at slaebe til Syden :-)
Jane, det må du meget undskylde ;)
Men efter min mening er hun altså fremragende til det psykologiske.
If there's one thing I aspire to in my fiction, it's that sense of inevitability without making things predictable. This book sounds exactly like that.
I love Rendell. Has Fossum been translated into English?
I've got to get going on this series. A friend whose recommendations I value most highly recommended 'The Indian Bride' awhile ago, but I still have yet to get to it.
Julia, I am not sure the novel is very realistic, but it is compelling, and she makes what happens seem so convincing, and that is what matters to me as a reader.
Ms Bookish, yes, this one was published in 2004.
Seanag; apart from one or two which have been too different for me, I think Fossum´s novels are a fine mixture of thriller & police procedural. This one is mostly thriller as the police do not play a major role.
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