When the Devil Holds the Candle (Konrad Sejer, #4) By Karin Fossum

I greatly enjoy Karin Fossum's writing and Konrad Sejer as her protagonist, but I was unable to finish this book due to the subject matter of torture. I couldn't endure reading about it, so have set this one aside. Undaunted, I look forward to her next book in this series. Karin Fossum This is a Norwegian mystery with that particular existential, fatalist almost nihilist point of view. And also it is postmodern in that the detective doesn’t solve anything, although his circling the perpetuators of the crime helps bring resolution, which is karmic and not from the long arm of the law. I actually liked that part. The only sane people are Inspector Sejer, his sidekick, Skarre, Sejer’s huge dog and Sejer’s girlfriend. Sejer seems the persona of a stable Europe that is struck by the erosion of societal structures, his girlfriend has phone sex when he is not in the mood, his side kick wears an earring. He sees young adult men with no purpose, with mindless jobs or no jobs, drinking and easily almost naturally falling into violence against others, although there is mortification after the fact. They psychodynamic motivation of the childhood of the crazy killer, and the repressed homosexuality of another character without morals, is a bit simplistic and overdrawn. However the peak of town life in Norway is wonderful, and it is psychological evocative, but all in all a bit disturbing view of humans. Except the Inspector continues and finds some small joys in life, maybe he is who we are to identify with amidst lost people and meaningless violence around us. Karin Fossum Me gustó mucho. Muy angustioso. Los finales de esta saga son progresivamente, cada vez más deprimentes. Este fue particularmente desolador. Karin Fossum I was totally surprised When the Devil Holds the Candle didn’t flow like Don’t Look Back, an Inspector Sejer police procedural, an investigation in progress. Fossum changed up and wrote a thriller in progress. And I’m glad she did, because sequels can become too predictable.

Fossum definitely knows twisted evil. I don’t mean she’s twisted or has first-hand experience in evil (does she?). What I mean is that she developed evil characters and, in a twist, put them at odds with each other.

Though we all know evil people, we often don’t know what made them that way. But, we have ideas. Brash alphas are often evil because they misuse their strengths. Meek people take all the shit the world shovels at them then suddenly crack.

It’s interesting that Fossum took those two types, characterized them evilly, and threw them at each other. Evil can beat evil just like good can overcome evil. When the former happens, the result is uglier than evil squared. It’s terrifying and Fossum couldn’t have written a better example.

Fossum creeps out and tosses a bit of cheese your way. You get the cheese and scamper back. Next, she doles out a bit more, but farther away so that you have to leave the cozy security of your nest. More cheese, further and further away. Again and again until you look up and she’s standing there crookedly smiling at you with her arms folded. You want to run except that your tiny pink feet are locked in the sticky trap!

Our Inspector Sejer doesn’t play a major role until it’s too late. Even so, he’s not the same Sejer as he was in DLB. He’s as astute in his patient, plodding way, there’s no doubt. He seems younger and livelier now that Sara is more in his life and bed. Skarre is there throughout and he’s learning to become a good investigator as well.

Interestingly, the voices are written in first person and third. That gives this well-written story a thrilling perspective. The plot, part of which might have been controversial when first published, produces a great beat. Karin Fossum С тази си книга Карин Фосум вече окончателно ми се превръща в една от любимите скандинавски писателки. Изключително добре написан роман, интересна интрига (дори не само една!), чудесно изградени пълнокръвни образи, стегнат стил на писане (само 260 стр.), без нито едно излишно нещо!
Специално в тази книга много ми хареса психологическия подход при изграждането на образите, което присъства и в другите книги на Фосум. Но тази дори не бих могла да я опредея като криминална книга сама по себе си...
Давам 5 звезди, напълно заслужени! Да четеш тази авторка е като да ядеш белгийски шоколад по време на диета :) Karin Fossum

When two teenagers steal a purse from a stroller, it results in an infant’s death. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his switchblade. In the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.

Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant’s death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion outside mounts, the heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman’s home.

Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small- town tranquility in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives. When the Devil Holds the Candle (Konrad Sejer, #4)

A couple of teenage friends, Andreas and Zipp, are bored, without much to do. They go around bullying immigrants, stealing purses from women going on a stroll with their babies and breaking and entering in old ladies' houses. One of the last goes wrong and silly things start to happen. All the while the police and its detectives do nothing.

That is basically the plot of lame and silly When the Devil Holds the Candle a novel just because the cover says it is a novel. It is 230-pages-long of stupid plot and character decision after stupid plot and character decision. None of the motives of the characters make much sense, and even if Karin Fossum tries to infuse them with lives and motives and justify bad decisions, it all ends up being risible, laughable, a bad joke. Even if the book is short, it could actually have been one forth, because there is so much padding and stretching without end that it makes things crawl to a stop.

This is no crime/mystery novel. This is just a sad excuse of a book.

The best: how the author tries to make the characters human

The worst: everything else: it's a mess, the character's decisions make no sense, the plot is silly and worth of a rubbish bin, there is no mystery, there is no point to the whole proceedings

Other options: any other mystery novel; if you want one with actual character development you can have Agatha Christie and Miss Marple; if you want them from the cold, you can pick from Camilla Läckberg to Henning Mankell; you can go Japanese and pick Miyabe Miyuki or Natsuo Kirino... Anything else but this.

1/10

(English translation by Felicity David) Karin Fossum Oduševljena sam! Nemam niti jednu zamjerku,samo pohvale.Majstorica! Karin Fossum The story is chilling because the characters are so believeable. It's not about a murderer with some strange fixation or obsession, no revenge that dates 40 years ago, or a murderer who derives joy from killing. It's not about who did it, but how did things end up like this? It is about how everyday people's lives can quickly spiral out of control, or descend to tragedy - through pure chance and even though inaction... It is about how close to the edge most of us are, without realising. It makes you feel that this could happen to anyone.. how we could end up being a killer, or a victim... or both, at the same time. It makes you question the sanity of everyone around you, and even yourself...
Karin Fossum A cacophony of voices tell this story, some innocent, some perverted and the execution may have been successful in original language but definitely not in translation. Not for me. Just a taste: My name is Irma. Now I'm the one who's doing the talking. I won't take much time, and I'm not saying that I have a monopoly on the truth. But what you're reading now is my version. A childhood memory comes back to me. I can summon it whenever I like...And I remember the feeling, a sweet pressure, like warm oil running through my body. The certainty that this was evil. My face in the bluish glass: the hideous, evil person you become when the Devil holds the candle.
Bad stuff happens, but there are no consequences. Twisted. Karin Fossum When the Devil Holds the Candle is an entry in the Detective Sejur series set in Norway. This book is more psychological thriller than police investigation as much of our time is spent with intricately drawn characters who have slid over the line from good to evil. One of the cover blurbs of the edition I read compares this book to Ruth Rendall's writing. I heartily agree, if you like Rendall this novel should appeal to you. Both writers were able to dig under the public facade of characters to reveal what they kept hidden. Karin Fossum

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