Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Minotaur Books (2007), Edition: 1st, 320 pages
Description
WhenThe Princess of Burundi was published by Thomas Dunne Books, American critics hailed Kjell Eriksson as Sweden's Ed McBain, and they compared him to Henning Mankell. NowThe Cruel Stars of the Night, the next in this internationally acclaimed crime series, unveils a spellbinding new tale again featuring police inspector Ann Lindell. The Cruel Stars of the Night opens one snowy day when thirty-five-year-old Laura Hindersten goes to the police to report that her father, a local professor, is missing. Inspector Ann Lindell and her colleagues can find no motive for the man's disappearance. And when the corpses of two elderly men do turn up, neither of the dead men is the missing academic. Unexpectedly, the police get help from one of the professor's colleagues, who believes there is an astonishing link between the murders and the disappearance of Professor Hindersten. But as the pressure on Lindell increases dramatically, she is shocked to discover that the killer has many more diabolical schemes in store. Combining heart-pounding suspense with brilliant psychological insight,The Cruel Stars of the Night moves like a comet as it approaches the cliff-hanging climax. It is sure to win Kjell Eriksson a whole new galaxy of American fans.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Mooose
This is the 2nd book I've read in this series and I'm still somewhat lost. So many characters that I forget who is responsible for what. Didn't buy the dumb thing Ann did in this book. I like the location so will read more once they come out.
LibraryThing member smik
An elderly professor has disappeared without trace from his home in Uppsala. And then two other seventy year olds are found dead. The first appears to have been planning suicide but some one beat him to it. Three missing or dead seventy year old men just feels a little too coincidental to Ann
Interwoven in the investigation is the arrival of a new member in the team, and Ann Lindell's own struggle to prove that she can manage to be both a vital member of the team, and also a single mother. The problem is that Ann Lindell is not always a team player, she doesn't keep everyone informed of what she is doing or where she is, and often turns her phone off when she needs thinking time.
THE CRUEL STARS OF THE NIGHT has a couple of intriguing sub-plots that add dimension to the main characters and intensify the main action. A good solid read.
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Lindell working with the Violent Crimes Squad of the Uppsala Police. As the team begin to look for a serial killer, they try to work out who the next victim will be. Will it be Queen Silvia due to visit the town in just a few days?Interwoven in the investigation is the arrival of a new member in the team, and Ann Lindell's own struggle to prove that she can manage to be both a vital member of the team, and also a single mother. The problem is that Ann Lindell is not always a team player, she doesn't keep everyone informed of what she is doing or where she is, and often turns her phone off when she needs thinking time.
THE CRUEL STARS OF THE NIGHT has a couple of intriguing sub-plots that add dimension to the main characters and intensify the main action. A good solid read.
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LibraryThing member FicusFan
I read this book for a RL book group, but I had already purchased it before the group picked it. I am drawn to the books set in Scandinavia, the cold and the constant dark are interesting to me.
This is book 2 in the Ann Lindell series that has been translated into English, though it is really the
This book was different than the first one, The Princess of Burundi (#1/#4) in a couple of ways. Ann was on maternity leave then, now she is back with a son who is a toddler, and can talk. The previous one also spent almost all the time with the police. This book spends only occasional time with the police. It focuses instead on the daughter of a man who is missing.
Laura Hindersten reports her elderly 70+ year old father missing from their home. He is a retired professor obsessed with his research subject: Petrarch. Laura's mother died when she was young, so it was her and her embittered father living together. He never received the attention or promotions he thought he deserved, so he took it out on the rest of life.
When the story focuses on the police, it shows them investigating a string of inexplicable murders. Elderly men who lived alone, had no criminal involvement and lived quiet tame lives are the victims. They don't seem to know each other and the police besides looking for clues, are trying to find a link between the men. There isn't any excitement to the crimes, rather they are shown to be a disruption to the banality of every day life for the old and forgotten. Even the police are not really moved. We see the sad effect on the few people left behind after the men have died. Small lives becoming smaller and emptier, as modern life passes them by.
Mixed with their professional involvement are the snatches of home life and personal musings of the police. Ann is trying to balance work and her time with her small son; she is also trying to get over her love for the child's distant and oblivious father, who didn't love her. She ends up awkwardly dating a newcomer to their ranks, a forensics man from another city. Her internal dialog tells of her uncertainty in the new man, and in herself.
Laura meanwhile is on leave because of her father's disappearance, but she also has her eye on a man at her workplace. The problem is, he is married to another co-worker, whom Laura hates. We spend time with Laura as she comes to terms with the permanence of her father's absence. She begins to clean out the house which is packed with old items, clothes, broken furniture, books and the detritus of a lifetime. As she cleans the house and throws items into a dumpster we see her relive her early life, and see her plan for a future with the married man. Physically she is also conducting a war with her nosy neighbors, and visiting her workplace to seduce the man.
The writing is good, though the pace is very slow. The characters seem a little bland and tentative, which mirror their lives. The story didn't really grab me until the end when it started to come together. I liked the book, but was also wanting it to end as I was reading.
This is book 2 in the Ann Lindell series that has been translated into English, though it is really the
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6th book in the series. I don't know why publishers do that, publish them out of order ?This book was different than the first one, The Princess of Burundi (#1/#4) in a couple of ways. Ann was on maternity leave then, now she is back with a son who is a toddler, and can talk. The previous one also spent almost all the time with the police. This book spends only occasional time with the police. It focuses instead on the daughter of a man who is missing.
Laura Hindersten reports her elderly 70+ year old father missing from their home. He is a retired professor obsessed with his research subject: Petrarch. Laura's mother died when she was young, so it was her and her embittered father living together. He never received the attention or promotions he thought he deserved, so he took it out on the rest of life.
When the story focuses on the police, it shows them investigating a string of inexplicable murders. Elderly men who lived alone, had no criminal involvement and lived quiet tame lives are the victims. They don't seem to know each other and the police besides looking for clues, are trying to find a link between the men. There isn't any excitement to the crimes, rather they are shown to be a disruption to the banality of every day life for the old and forgotten. Even the police are not really moved. We see the sad effect on the few people left behind after the men have died. Small lives becoming smaller and emptier, as modern life passes them by.
Mixed with their professional involvement are the snatches of home life and personal musings of the police. Ann is trying to balance work and her time with her small son; she is also trying to get over her love for the child's distant and oblivious father, who didn't love her. She ends up awkwardly dating a newcomer to their ranks, a forensics man from another city. Her internal dialog tells of her uncertainty in the new man, and in herself.
Laura meanwhile is on leave because of her father's disappearance, but she also has her eye on a man at her workplace. The problem is, he is married to another co-worker, whom Laura hates. We spend time with Laura as she comes to terms with the permanence of her father's absence. She begins to clean out the house which is packed with old items, clothes, broken furniture, books and the detritus of a lifetime. As she cleans the house and throws items into a dumpster we see her relive her early life, and see her plan for a future with the married man. Physically she is also conducting a war with her nosy neighbors, and visiting her workplace to seduce the man.
The writing is good, though the pace is very slow. The characters seem a little bland and tentative, which mirror their lives. The story didn't really grab me until the end when it started to come together. I liked the book, but was also wanting it to end as I was reading.
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
In this, Eriksson’s second book to be translated into English, we once again meet up with Ann Lindell and her team from the Uppsala police department’s Violent Crimes division. This time, the team is called in to investigate the seemingly motiveless deaths of three elderly men, all very quiet,
I love the way Eriksson writes and I love the slow and methodical pacing of this novel, even though many readers complained that it was too slow for their liking. I liked the characters and I liked the dual plotline. What I didn’t like was that the author allowed his main character, Lindell, to make a really stupid mistake that I don’t think was in keeping with the police side of her character, in order to build to a bit of a hair-raising climax. This error, especially for a writer of Eriksson’s caliber, would normally be (for me) an unforgiveable lapse, but the rest of it was so good that I could overlook it, once I got past my initial annoyance. I can definitely recommend Cruel Stars of the Night to those who enjoy a really good police procedural, and to those who also enjoy psychological suspense. It’s also a bit more gritty than the lighthearted books cozy readers tend to enjoy, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it for that crowd. This author is also definitely a must for those who are exploring the realm of Scandinavian crime fiction.
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all living alone. The police, in the search for anything which might lead them to a killer, try to fathom why these men were killed and what tied their lives together. Lindell gets the idea that perhaps she should make the examination broader, and begins comes up with a man who turned up missing around the same area some time back. It seems that a Laura Hindersten had turned in a missing person report when her father, a professor with a love of Petrarch, went missing. Laura’s story interweaves with that of the police investigation, and the combination of the two lead to an incredible read.I love the way Eriksson writes and I love the slow and methodical pacing of this novel, even though many readers complained that it was too slow for their liking. I liked the characters and I liked the dual plotline. What I didn’t like was that the author allowed his main character, Lindell, to make a really stupid mistake that I don’t think was in keeping with the police side of her character, in order to build to a bit of a hair-raising climax. This error, especially for a writer of Eriksson’s caliber, would normally be (for me) an unforgiveable lapse, but the rest of it was so good that I could overlook it, once I got past my initial annoyance. I can definitely recommend Cruel Stars of the Night to those who enjoy a really good police procedural, and to those who also enjoy psychological suspense. It’s also a bit more gritty than the lighthearted books cozy readers tend to enjoy, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it for that crowd. This author is also definitely a must for those who are exploring the realm of Scandinavian crime fiction.
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LibraryThing member maneekuhi
Nice, detailed background of killer - history, family, events of 30 years ago, etc., similar to structure of "Burundi" book, but Laura in Cruel Stars in no where near as interesting. Also, the back story of the police team did not advance the series at all. Can't really say I'm looking forward to
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Dakar (#3 in English), but we'll see. One last gripe - the climax tension is built largely on the hero cop not sharing her "aha ! " moment with fellow cops so she goes in alone and ...... Show Less
LibraryThing member thornton37814
A 70-year-old professor is missing. A few months later, it is apparent that there is a serial murderer killing 70-year-old men. Is there a link between the missing man and the dead men? Inspector Ann Liddell in Uppsala sets out to investigate. The professor's daughter is acting strange. Is it
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because she's hiding something, or is she just crazy? This is a novel that plays with many layers. Sometimes the writing seems a bit choppy because chapters alternate between various viewpoints of characters, and some are very short. I really did not like the ending very well for a number of reasons--some upon which I cannot comment without revealing spoilers. I did not find the Inspector's actions plausible toward the end. Still, the book is an interesting venture into the world of Swedish crime fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member annbury
A hard-hitting suspense novel from Sweden -- well worth reading, even if it is not quite up to the standards of the same author's "Princess of Burundi". This one takes place in the university city of Uppsala, and evolves into a chase for a crazed serial killer. It features Inspector Ann Lindell, a
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plus, but I didn't find the some of the characters as convincing, or as interesting, as those in "Princess". Show Less
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
While Inspector Ann Lindell and her colleagues in Uppsala are investigating the murder of an elderly farmer, another one is murdered. Then another elderly man dies. The murders must be connected, but the investigators are unable to find a common thread. Perhaps they're related to the disappearance
This is a fairly solid police procedural, but I didn't like it as well as the ones I've read by Karin Fossum. The police didn't seem to work well as a team. Perhaps that's the fault of the department head rather than a flaw in Lindell's character. Lindell did withhold important information from her colleagues, and she went off on her own to follow hunches. Both of these traits got her into trouble. I don't like cozy mysteries with amateur detectives who unthinkingly put themselves into dangerous situations, and it's even more unforgivable when the investigator is a professional. The book ended abruptly with some threads unresolved. I've come to accept this as a characteristic of many Scandi crime novels. Readers who prefer a tidy resolution to their crime fiction might want to skip this one.
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of an elderly professor a few weeks earlier, but again, any connection isn't immediately apparent.This is a fairly solid police procedural, but I didn't like it as well as the ones I've read by Karin Fossum. The police didn't seem to work well as a team. Perhaps that's the fault of the department head rather than a flaw in Lindell's character. Lindell did withhold important information from her colleagues, and she went off on her own to follow hunches. Both of these traits got her into trouble. I don't like cozy mysteries with amateur detectives who unthinkingly put themselves into dangerous situations, and it's even more unforgivable when the investigator is a professional. The book ended abruptly with some threads unresolved. I've come to accept this as a characteristic of many Scandi crime novels. Readers who prefer a tidy resolution to their crime fiction might want to skip this one.
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LibraryThing member capewood
I was surprised to learn that this was only Eriksson's second book about Ann Lindell (the chief investigator on the case). The police team characters seemed to have been together for awhile and the author does a great job conveying a sense of a long-standing team working well together. I was
I liked the book a lot despite the fact that, to me anyway, there was no mystery of who the killer had to be. The mystery was, why the obvious killer was the killer. It certainly wasn't obvious to the police who, except for Lindell, never made a connection between the old professor's disappearance and the murders of the old men.
I thought the bit with the chess pieces and the potential connection to an assassination attempt on the queen was a total distraction. It might have work better if the author had explained a bit better what the connection was. The old chess match history was interesting but I never did get the connection.
But that was only a minor complaint. On the whole I enjoyed the book quite a lot. I had a hard time putting it down.
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looking forward to finding earlier books of the series but I guess I have to be satisfied with there being only one.I liked the book a lot despite the fact that, to me anyway, there was no mystery of who the killer had to be. The mystery was, why the obvious killer was the killer. It certainly wasn't obvious to the police who, except for Lindell, never made a connection between the old professor's disappearance and the murders of the old men.
I thought the bit with the chess pieces and the potential connection to an assassination attempt on the queen was a total distraction. It might have work better if the author had explained a bit better what the connection was. The old chess match history was interesting but I never did get the connection.
But that was only a minor complaint. On the whole I enjoyed the book quite a lot. I had a hard time putting it down.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2004 (original Swedish)
2007 (English translation)
ISBN
0312366671 / 9780312366674