He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


"He wasn't made like other people, though this wasn't plain to see. [...] He had always moved in a different space, seeing the world through a murky veil that took the sting out of the light and the sounds coming from outside. He held the veil in place by concentrating hard."

It comes to me as a shock that I have just read a Karin Fossum's novel that I am a little hesitant to recommend. She is one of my absolutely favorite authors and I have rated two of her novels ( Black Seconds and The Murder of Harriet Krohn ) with rare five stars. Yet now comes He Who Fears the Wolf (2003, English translation), a psychological thriller that I do not believe is strong on psychology.

I have to offer a disclaimer though: readers who enjoy Ms. Fossum's books because of the characters of Chief Inspector Sejer and officer Skarre may like the novel a lot. But since I am not in the least interested in Sejer/Skarre but instead look for Ms. Fossum's trademark acute observations of human behavior, I am a bit disappointed.

After a "teaser" with hints of supernatural the story begins with an elderly, widowed woman found brutally murdered on her farm in a remote rural area of Norway. Kannick, a 12-year-old boy from a "boys' home" who has found the body saw Erkki near the woman's farm. Erkki is a convenient suspect: not only is he a Finn but also he has escaped from a psychiatric institution.

Inspector Sejer who is investigating the case notices a suspiciously looking man walking towards a bank in a nearby town. He follows him but nothing happens for quite some time. When the inspector leaves the bank he hears shots and screams. Witnesses say that the bank robber has kidnapped a woman. The two cases become intertwined in a rather unexpected way.

The book is not a police procedural, though. The major part of the novel focuses on Kannick, Erkki, and another young man. Their behaviors and the dynamics of relationships between them are observed in minute detail, which would normally be the strongest aspect of a novel by Ms. Fossum's. Alas, I am unable to find the portraits of the characters psychologically plausible. They feel custom-made by the author to illustrate her theses about people unable to adjust to life in society. The author also seems to be inattentive to detail: for instance, the bottle of whisky from which the three main characters partake for quite some time would have to be really huge.

On the positive side, I like the somewhat ambiguous ending, and I love one of the most oddball sentences I have ever seen in prose, which may be the author's joke or the translator's clumsiness:

"[he] was not a hamster. He was a father!"

And, of course, the sarcastic take on American police is worth noting:

"It's better in the U.S. The police just shoot them dead, and show a lot more consideration for the community."

Despite the good bits I am rounding my low rating down.

Two and a half stars



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