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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: Ida Joner gets on her brand-new bike and sets off toward town. A good-natured, happy girl, she is looking forward to her tenth birthday. Thirty-five minutes after Ida should have come home, her mother starts to worry. She phones store owners, Ida's friends, anyone who could have seen her. But no one has. Suspicion immediately falls on Emil Mork, a local character who lives alone and hasn't spoken since childhood. His mother insists on cleaning his house weekly�??although she's sometimes afraid of what she might find there. A mother's worst nightmare in either case: to lose a child or to think a child capable of murder. As Ida's relatives reach the breaking point and the media frenzy surrounding the case begins, Inspector Konrad Sejer is his usual calm and reassuring self. But he's puzzled. And disturbed. This is the strangest case he's seen in years.… (more)
User reviews
When Inspector Konrad Sejer arrives at her house, Helga feels instinctively that he will find Ida. As time passes Sejer becomes concerned that no trace has been found of Ida or the bright yellow bicycle she rode to the shop. One hundred and fifty volunteers search for Ida without success. Eight days later there are still no clues, the search is to be scaled down, and a chance comment by Helga to Sejer gives them something new to work on.
The careful reader will pick up the clues laid by Fossum early in the book, and probably feel at the book’s end that he/she has always known where it was headed. But that won’t diminish your enjoyment of this novel, The path is rich with scenes, characters, and explorations of how people think, and why they make the choices they do. Even so, nothing is certain, the characters are as large as life, and the scenarios so believable.
This is the fifth title in Fossum’s Inspector Sejer series. What a pity it has taken five years for an English translation of this masterpiece by the Norwegian “Queen of Crime” to become available. If you’ve never read anything by Karin Fossum, after BLACK SECONDS, you’ll want to start the series at beginning, enjoying the connections between her novels, the plots she creates, and the development of the character of Konrad Sejer. Let’s hope the next two novels in the series, already published in Norwegian, become more quickly available.
Karin Fossum lives in Oslo, and, in her early fifties, a relatively young writer. Her successful Inspector Konrad Sejer series has been translated into over 16 languages. She won the Nordic Glass Key award in 1997 for DON'T LOOK BACK, and in 2005 CALLING OUT FOR YOU was shortlisted for a CWA Gold Dagger.
Nine-year-old Ida Joner vanishes, seemingly into thin air, after setting off on her brand new bike one afternoon to buy candy. The police are called in, and hundreds of volunteers comb the neighbourhood and surround area – nothing. Helga, Ida’s mother, reaches her breaking point, and other close relatives follow suit. Sejer struggles to remain reassuring. He knows that when missing children are not found within 48 hours, the result is most often tragic.
Fossum introduces several suspect characters: Willy Otherhals, an auto body tech, well known to police; Emil Johanes, a mentally challenged neighbourhood man; Tomme Skarre, Ida’s first cousin, who is keeping company with Otherhals and behaving furtively around family. But Sejer has precious little to go on. Finally, as the search is called off, he discovers letters that Ida has exchanged with a pen pal in Hamburg – which just might hold a lead. And, at last, the story begins to unravel. Still, even as the case is seemingly solved, something still does not sit right with Sejer: “They considered the case closed. Sejer did not.” (Ch 28)
Black Seconds is a well-written, intriguingly layered mystery. I love that Fossum keeps Sejer so personal. Here, I was taken, again, with Kollberg, his faithful dog – struggling now with old age, but still a part of Sejer’s routine every evening. Novel and series highly recommended.
Her heart was pounding hard and it hurt; she could hear the clock on the wall ticking mechanically.
That stuck with me throughout the entire book, and we’re brought back to it in the end as Ida’s cousin Tomme hears a ticking in his head. The plot here consists of several strings that Inspector Sejer masterfully manages to pull together as one. We’re treated to the points of view of several people — Sejer and his partner, Jacob Skarre; Ida’s mother, Helga; Ida’s aunt, Ruth; Tomme; and even Elsa and Emil Johannes Mork — and this gives us a more well-rounded view of the story. Unlike other crime series, the focus here is much more on the story than on one single character. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and look forward to exploring more of Fossum’s work. This emerging genre of 'nordic noir' is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
With no apparent clues and massive search parties turning up empty handed after a number of days, hope dims. All Inspector Sejer needs is a break but does he get one, or does what appears to be a break lead to more puzzles, puzzles that are difficult to answer unless he can think creatively think of a different way to communicate with some unique individuals.
Yet another page turner from Ms Fossum, of whom I am now a staunch fan.
Should you believe that Scandinavian novels are variations on a theme of dark, brooding angst, then this may dispel that belief. The subject matter is indeed very serious but the treatment doesn't have the
Recommended if your tastes veer towards spare evocative writing, "whydunnit" more than "whodunnit", and if you are a reader who doesn't prefer that every single loose end be tied up by the conclusion.
The next day a local search is organized, but without result. Ida Joner and her yellow bicycle seem to have vanished into thin air. As the relatives reach breaking point and the media frenzy begins, Inspector Sejer is calm and reassuring. But he finds the case puzzling. Usually missing children are found within forty-eight hours. Ida Joner seems to have vanished without a trace. Eventually, all he has to go on is a comment has feels may be significant.
Black Seconds deals with an crime that could happen anywhere. Karin Fossum tells a story of unfortunate confluences of events, accidental occurrences, and opportunities. The path is rich with scenes, characters, and explorations of how people think, and why they make the choices they do. Even so, nothing is certain, the characters are as large as life, and the scenarios so believable. Black Seconds is a powerful, impressive, probing and intriguing novel, almost as good as Calling out for You.
Highly recommended! A simple story, a traditional police procedural but it is the characters and the effects that crime has on ordinary people that make this such a great read.
Though it sounds perverse it really is a gentle thriller.
Fossum writes such empathy and compassion for her cast of characters and that includes for both victim, perpetrator and detectives.
First line:
~The days went by so slowly~
A young girl goes missing and seems to have vanished without a trace. Fossum takes us inside the head of her mother, her aunt and uncle, her cousins and the police who are investigating the disappearance.
I won this book a number
Although I figured out ‘who done it’, long before Inspector Sejer did, what worked for me was the depth of the characters and the way that the author crafted the story so that we, the reader do know before the police. We are privy to the ‘thinking’ of the characters so know much more than the inspector does who only has access to physical evidence and whatever information the people involved tell him. And, although I did figure out the perp it was through subtle information ie no one outright said, “I did it”. And it took the rest of the book to understand the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ for the crime.
I’ll definitely check out more by this author.
3.5 stars
Black Seconds
Mystery
Black Seconds, an Inspector Sejer mystery penned by Norway's "Queen of Crime," displays a curiously civilized and sedate tone. Although I was certain I'd figured out the mystery long before the end (in spite of purposely trying to be dense), Inspector Sejer's need
Recommended May 2009
Karim Fossum is a talented author, absolutely worth any reader's time.
The author’s accurate and sensitive writing and the slow step-by-step investigation felt extremely realistic. Although it is quite obvious to the reader who the perpetrator is from the early pages, we experience the frustration the police feel as they try to figure out what happened. Fossum often writes about crimes that aren’t open and shut cases and allows the reader to see all sides of the situation. Sejer’s empathetic and detailed handling of the suspects allows him to peel back the layers and get to the real truth of what happened.
I found Black Seconds to be an engaging read, the author digs a little deeper into the origins of the crime and allows us access to the thought process of not only the police and the mother of the missing child, but all other characters as well. I am looking forward to reading more of Karin Fossum books that feature Inspector Sejer as I find him, with his calm and refined manner, to be very charming.