Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


"It might be good to let yourself sink, he thought, stop the fear flowing through your body for good. An explosion in his head, a burning sensation in his lungs and it would be all over."

I am very sad as I have just read the third Karin Fossum's book in a row that I really do not like that much. About two months ago I was singing utter praise for the Norwegian author and in my review of Hell Fire I even wrote " Of hundreds of authors [...] that I have read in over 50 years, Ms. Fossum joins only Nicolas Freeling and Denise Mina in the select trio of mystery writers for whom I feel a deep, total, and virtually uncritical admiration." and explained in detail why I love Ms. Fossum's books so much. Well, the blind fascination is over. I need to acknowledge the truth. Some of her books are great. Not all! Bad Intentions (2008) appears to me the least favorite of all her books.

Jon, a young man, a boy really, is away from a psychiatric hospital where he is treated for anxiety and depression. His two best friends, Axel and Philip, take him camping on the shores of the Dead Water Lake. When they decide to go out on the lake in a rowing boat Jon has an anxiety attack, falls over the side of the boat, and drowns.

Inspectors Sejer and Skarre arrive at the scene; they interrogate Axel and Philip as well as Jon's mother. They also learn that all three boys had been routinely questioned in a missing person's case the year before. We meet some interesting people in the course of the investigation: Sejer's conversation with Dr. Wigert, the psychiatrist who was in care of Jon, is, to me, the highpoint of the entire novel. The reader is also offered hints that Jon was heavily burdened with a secret: something traumatic must have happened in his recent past.

About mid-novel the author begins offering fragments of Jon's diary, which - from the purely literary point of view - feels rather a clumsy and mechanical way of divulging the secrets. I do not particularly care for the characterization of Axel, one of the main characters, a sociopath always trying to be in control. His character reads more like a textbook case than a real person. I am also quite curious about the role of long passages involving his toothache; maybe I am just too obtuse to get the point. The character of Philip, a druggie and slacker, is shown more convincingly.

I used to praise Ms. Fossum for avoiding cheap sentimentality and overt didacticism in her novels. Well, yet another generalization of mine proves to be wrong: in this book several passages are far from stellar, for instance, the conversation between two mothers reads maudlin rather than deep. I feel that the author is a bit too intent on conveying her message and the layers of fiction that envelop the moral are just too flimsy. At least Ms. Fossum's writing is recognizable, and her short, clear sentences are still abound. The translation reads fine, which not always has been the case.

Well, I would have never expected not being able to recommend a Karin Fossum's novel. Learning something new every day...

Two stars.



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