Håkan Nesser, En fortælling om hr Roos (2009)

Denne biblioteksbog er den tredje i den svenske serie om vicekriminalkommissær Gunnar Barbarotti. Se min anmeldelse af bind to.

Hovedpersonen, den usigeligt almindelige Valdemar Roos, sidder fast i sit dødsens kedsommelige liv med arbejdet på termokandefabrikken og det ikke-eksisterende samliv med Alice og steddøtrene.

Men en dag sker miraklet; den tipsrække, Roos pligtskyldigt har udfyldt i halvtreds år, fordi han arvede den efter sin far, kommer ud med den store gevinst: to millioner svenske kroner. Han siger sit job op og køber et gammelt hus langt inde i den øde skov, men uden at fortælle det til sin kone. For Valdemar Roos er luksus lig med at kunne trække sig tilbage fra alle de mennesker, han ikke længere bryder sig om.

Samtidig er unge Anna Gambowska frivilligt anbragt på en institution for at komme ud af sit narkomisbrug, men efter en måned føler hun sig endnu en gang misforstået og udenfor fællesskabet, og beslutter sig for at flygte.

Naturligvis krydses Valdemar og Annas veje langt inde i skoven, men første halvdel af bogen handler i det væsentlige om Valdemar, som nu har så mange muligheder og derfor føler sig tvunget til at overveje, hvad han vil bruge resten af sit liv på.

I anden halvdel forsvinder Valdemar Roos, og vicekriminalkommissær Gunnar Barbarotti bliver omsider indblandet. Han er netop udskrevet fra hospitalet med et brækket ben og kan ikke klare mere en enkelt dag hjemme i selskab med sin arbejdsløse, klæbende svoger, og kaster sig derfor ud i mysteriet Valdemar Roos, og hvad i alverden han foretager sig sammen med en purung narkoman på flugt.

Denne vidunderlige bog er ikke nogen traditional krimi, den handler mere om menneskeskæbnerne bag en forbrydelse – lidt i stil med Karin Fossums psykologiske spændingsromaner, men med mere humor og kærlighed til personerne.

Håkan Nesser, A Story about Mr Roos.
This library book is the third in the Swedish series about Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti. The series has not been translated into English yet. See my review of the second volume.

The main character, the incredibly ordinary Valdemar Roos, is stuck in his deadly dull factory job and the non-existent relationship with Alice and the stepdaughters.

Then the miracle happens: Roos wins two million Swedish kroner. He quits his job and buys an isolated house in the woods, but without telling anyone. To Valdemar Roos luxury is being able to withdraw from all the people he doesn´t care about any more.

Young Anna Gambowska is staying at a nearby institution to conquer her drug abuse, but after the first month she feels lonely and misunderstood so she makes up her mind to run away. Of course Valdemar and Anna´s paths cross in the woods, but the first half is mainly about Valdemar who has so many opportunities that he is forced to think about how he wants to spend the rest of his life.

In the second half Valdemar Roos disappears, and DI Barbarotti is finally involved. He has just been discharged from hospital with a broken leg, and as he cannot cope with more than one day in the company of his unemployed, clingy brother-in-law, he sets out to get to the bottom of what Valdemar Roos is doing together with a young drug addict on the run.

This wonderful book is not a traditional crime story; it focuses on the fates of the people behind an act of violence – somewhat similar to Karin Fossum´s psychological thrillers, but with more humour and love of the characters.
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Book Sale

My husband does not read as much crime fiction as I do, but we do share some favourite authors. Yesterday he made a real bargain and came home with this gorgeous Håkan Nesser spoil. The trilogy below is his new series, featuring Gunnar Barbarotti (not translated into English yet).

I have read most of them beforehand, but not the third Barbarotti story, and I love having these great crime novels on my shelf.

N for Nesbø and Nesser

A short post for a long working day.

Two excellent, Scandinavian Ns for this week´s Alphabet meme:

Norwegian Jo Nesbø with the very human and thirsty protagonist, Harry Hole.

And from Sweden, Håkan Nesser, known to English readers for his excellent series about Inspector Van Veeteren, the literate chess player, and also known for his new protagonist, Gunnar Barbarotti, by Scandinavian readers.

If you have not read these two yet, I can assure you they both write first class police procedurals, teeming with the most credible characters.

Håkan Nesser, En helt anden historie (2008)

Bogen er den anden i den svenske serie om Gunnar Barbarotti, den farverige vicekriminalkommissær med italienske aner. Jeg lånte den på biblioteket.

Læseren bliver kastet lige ud i morderens dagbogsoptegnelser. En selvoptaget morder med masser af underlige personlighedstræk.

”Jeg er ikke som andre mennesker. Og jeg ønsker heller ikke at være det. Hvis jeg på et eller andet tidspunkt i mit liv finder en gruppe, hvor jeg føler, at jeg hører hjemme, så betyder det, at jeg er blevet slidt ned.”

Denne dystre, afvigende person fortsætter sin beretning om en ferie i Bretagne, hvor seks svenskere tilfældigvis møder hinanden (to par og to enlige mænd), og da de opdager, at tre af dem har tilknytning til Kymlinge, er de naturligvis nødt til nærmest at sidde lårene af hinanden under resten af ferien.

En lokal, meget livlig teenagepige slutter sig til dem, og man fornemmer hurtigt, at noget lurer under overfladen. Under en udflugt til en lille klippeø går det hele galt, og tragedien rammer gruppen. Morderen iagttager med interesse, hvordan civiliserede svenskere agerer, når nogle af vilkårene fra Goldings Fluernes Herre genskabes.

Fem år efter denne ferie beslutter morderen, at han er nødt til at slå de fem andre ihjel, fordi ”handlinger skal have konsekvenser, ellers løber skabelsen af sporet.” Og da han jo ikke er som andre mennesker, skriver han hver gang et brev direkte til Barbarotti med en meddelelse om, hvem han nu vil myrde.

Jeg læste Nessers første Barbarotti-krimi, Menneske uden hund, for et par år siden, men var ikke helt klar til at overgive mig til en ny hovedperson efter så mange år med Van Veeteren. Men i denne bog er den forelskede hovedperson så fuld af menneskelighed og personlighed, at jeg har slugt fem hundrede sider uden at savne noget som helst (måske lidt nattesøvn?)

Mit helhedsindtryk: en krimi, hvor man nyder personer og miljø, og hvor man uvilkårligt sætter farten op undervejs, fordi man er nødt til at vide besked!

Håkan Nesser, A Completely Different Story.

This Swedish crime novel (Best of Swedish crime fiction 2007) is the second in Nesser´s Barbarotti series which has not been translated into English yet. But it will!

I read the first Barbarotti a couple of years ago and was not quite convinced, but this one sets out with a fabulous plot. The murderer writes a kind of diary so the reader knows immediately that we have a weird loner, somewhat like Inger Frimansson´s Justine Dalvik, who seems unable to feel much empathy.

The murderer recounts a story about six Swedish tourists who meet by accident in Bretagne (two couples and two single men), and as three of them are related to Kymlinge (Barbarotti´s home town), they obviously have to spend the rest of their holiday together. Later a local teenage girl joins them, and one feels that she has an unsettling influence on the group. They go for a trip to a small, uninhabited island, and in some kind of Lord of the Flies atmosphere, everything begins to go wrong.

Five years after this holiday the murderer decides he must kill the other Swedes, and as he is not like everybody else, he writes a letter ahead of each murder, informing Gunnar Barbarotti whom he is going to kill.

I borrow this book from the library.

My overall impression: interesting and engaging characters and environment, plus a compelling plot that made me race through five hundred pages because I had to know ...

Håkan Nesser & Humour

Jane, blogging in Danish from Birmingham, wrote an interesting comment on my Nesser review the other day:

I love Nesser, but have only been able to lay my hands on the first two van Veteeren novels -I really enjoyed them! I cannot believe that anyone could miss the humor in Nessers books. It is very understated, but nevertheless always present (in my opinion, there might be almost too much understated humor in the Barbarotti novels, but that is another story).

A good question for international readers: does the type of humor used by Nesser only make Scandinavian people laugh or chuckle?

I also think that this is a good question. So good that I wanted to post about it today - and hopefully some of you will take the time to think about it, and write a comment.

Håkan Nesser, Kvinde med modermærke (2007)

Denne fjerde Van Veeteren-krimi begynder med en trøstesløs begravelse, og hovedpersonen fortæller os, hvordan det passer glimrende med hele hendes mors triste og mislykkede liv. Det står også klart, at hun er ved at give sig i kast med en eller anden form for mission for sin mor, og som hun siger: ”måske er der flere, der kommer til at græde over hendes bortgang. Med tiden.” Endelig oplever hun at have et formål med sit liv, og at det pludselig er meget nemmere at holde sig fra stofferne.

Kort efter begynder en række mænd at modtage mystiske telefonopringninger, hvor de bare hører en gammel popmelodi fra 1960erne – og nogle dage efter bliver de myrdet.

Kriminalkommissær Van Veeteren er fraskilt, har store problemer med sin voksne søn, og kan godt være både tvær og humørsyg, når han pludselig bliver kaldt ud i en mordsag. Lyder det velkendt? Måske, men Van Veeteren har et liv udenfor jobbet, hvor han nyder god litteratur, vin, musik og hyggeligt selskab, for eksempel over et spil skak, mens han spekulerer over, om jobbet som kriminalkommissær er ved at gøre ham for kynisk.

Den svenske forfatter har ladet hele Van Veeteren-serien udspille sig i et fiktivt område som ofte diskuteres ivrigt af Nessers fans. Både person- og stednavne klinger imidlertid hollandsk, og den valuta, der benyttes er gylden.

Og så en hilsen til læsere, der hævder, der ikke er humor i Nessers bøger:
”Hej. Jeg har hummer, vin og roser. Det er til dig alt sammen, hvis du er her inden er er gået en time.”
”Det er jo mandag,” svarede kvinden i den anden ende. ”Hvis man ikke gør noget ved den slags,” sagde Reinhart, ”så bliver det ved med at være mandag resten af livet.”
”Okay,” sagde kvinden. ”Jeg kommer.”

Det er min personlige erfaring at Håkan Nesser kan nydes på enhver dag, og her er min anmeldelse af Borkmanns punkt.

Håkan Nesser, Woman with Birthmark (2009)
This crime story, which is the fourth in the series, begins with a dreary burial, and the main character informs us that this ties in well with her mother´s dreary, wasted life. It is also clear that she is embarking on some kind of mission for her mother, and as she says, “… I sincerely hope that several more will be mourning soon.” Finally her life has a goal, and it is much easier for her to stay away from the heroin.

Soon after a number of men begin to receive mysterious phone calls. All they can hear is an old pop song from the 1960s – and some days later they are killed.

Chief Inspector Van Veeteren is divorced, has a troubled relationship with his grown son, and he can be sullen and moody when he is suddenly called out on a murder case. Does all that sound far too familiar? Perhaps, but Van Veeteren has a life which is not related to his job. He enjoys good literature, wine, music and good company, and often returns to the question whether his job is making him too cynical.

The Swedish author has chosen a fictive area for his Van Veeteren series which is often discussed by his fans. The names of characters and places ring Dutch, and the currency which is used is guilders.

And now a quotation for readers who cannot find glimpses of humor in Nesser´s books:
“Hi. I have lobster, wine and roses. It is all for you if you are here within an hour.”
“But it is Monday” said the woman at the other end.
“If you don´t do something about things like that,” Reinhart said, “it will be Monday for the rest of your life.”
“Okay,” she said. “I´ll be there.”

In my experience Håkan Nesser can be enjoyed on any day. Here is my review of Borkmann´s Point.

Håkan Nesser, Borkmanns Punkt (1995)

I den anden krimi af svenske Håkan Nesser, er en øksemorder med tilnavnet Bødlen på spil ude ved kysten i seriens frit opfundne nederlandske miljø.

Samtidig er Nessers hovedperson, kommissær Van Veeteren, draget på ferie ved havet, hvor han keder sig bravt. Han har tilbragt den første ferieuge sammen med sin voksne søn Erik, som afsoner en fængselsstraf for narkohandel, men forholdet mellem dem er langt fra ideelt. Van Veeteren traver rundt og filosoferer ved stranden; det går op for ham, at han ikke længere længes efter noget, han længes bare væk. Van Veeteren er lidt af en rugende Martin Beck-type, men tager sig tid til at filosofere over livet og døden, drikke et køligt glas øl og spille et parti skak, når lejlighed byder sig.

Mordene løser naturligvis Van Veeterens problem, da han bliver indkaldt til at hjælpe det lokale politi. Bogen byder på et spændende samarbejde mellem kommissæren og den lokale politimester Bausen, også noget af en personlighed med jungle i baghaven og egen vinkælder, samt den unge, ambitiøse kriminalbetjent Beate Moerk.

Bogen har nogle machokrimi-træk i kraft af den mandlige forfatter og de to mandlige hovedpersoner, men Van Veeteren udviser stor respekt for Beate Moerk, og til trods for sin enspænder-rolle, er han en vellidt og belæst overordnet, som ganske vist selv er fraskilt, men aldrig viser tegn på modvilje eller nedladenhed overfor kvinder. Sidst, men ikke mindst indeholder bogen nogle udmærkede scener, set fra Moerks synsvinkel.

Når sådan en række kompetente politifolk er på sagen, hvorfor varer det så så længe, før de kommer på sporet af, hvem der er bøddel, og hvem der er ofre? Læs bogen og få svaret i denne svenske krimi af høj standard.


Hakan Nesser, Borkmann´s Point (2006)
In the second crime novel by Swedish Hakan Nesser an axe murderer nicknamed the Executioner is at work on the coast of the imaginary setting somewhere in the Netherlands.

At the same time Nesser´s protagonist, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, is bored stiff during his annual holidays at the seaside. He has spent the first week together with his grown son Erik, out on parole from a sentence for drug dealing, but the relationship between the two of them is far from ideal. Van Veeteren takes long philosophical walks on the beach, realizing that he no longer longs for anything, he just longs to get away. To some extent Van Veeteren is a brooding Martin Beck type (Sjöwall & Wahlöö), but takes his time to muse over life and death, enjoy a cold glass of beer and play a game of chess when the occasion arises.

The murders solve Van Veeteren´s problem as he is called in to assist the local police. The novel offers an interesting insight in the co-operation between the Chief Inspector and the local police chief Bausen who is also a real character complete with his own jungle and wine cellar, plus the young, ambitious detective constable Beate Moerk.

The book has some macho crime features as it is written by a male author and has two male protagonists, but Van Veeteren regards Beate Moerk with the highest respect and in spite of his lonely wolf role, he is generally a well-liked and well-read superior. Personally, he is divorced, but he never shows signs of aversion or condescension towards women. Last, but not least, there are also some excellent scenes seen from Moerk´s point of view.

When so many competent police officers are on the case, why does it take so long before they figure out who is the executioner and who are the victims? Read the book and find the astonishing answer. A Swedish crime novel of high standard, and English readers have several pleasant encounters with Van Veeteren to look forward to in addition to the four which have been translated so far.