Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I live about 20 miles from where the action of Kem Nunn's "Tijuana Straits" takes place. Mr. Nunn's feel for the place is extraordinary. The plot of the novel is interesting and the characters of Sam Fahey and Magdalena are rich and well drawn. Magdalena is a young woman from Mexico trying to uncover environmental crimes committed by factory owners. Sam is a famed surfer with a criminal past and a heart of gold. Yeah, a bit cliché but still effective. The ending is top notch.

Yet, I could hardly finish this book. One reason is that I have no interest in surfing whatsoever. I find all this mumbo jumbo about the Mystic Peak, the Third Notch, the one great wave just boring. Sam could be a state champion in knitting or embroidery, and it would be equally interesting to me. This is, of course, my bias, and I am sorry for it.

The main reason for how hard I struggled to read this book is the exalted language. The book is ridiculously overwrought. Pages upon pages of language when one sentence would suffice.

Other readers may find this book great and I will understand them. I can't stand books that use ten times more words than needed (a purely personal pet peeve).

Two and three quarters stars.


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Hour of the Wolf by Håkan Nesser
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am reluctant to assign five stars to a mystery novel that is in no way a literary masterpiece. Hakan Nesser's "Hour of the Wolf" does not have the sociological depths of Denise Mina's "Gartnethill". It does not have the simple beauty of some of Karin Fossum's best work. Yet it is such a darn good book. On the surface it is a police procedural, one in Mr. Nesser's Chief Inspector Van Veeteren series, which is located in a fictitious country in Northern Europe that seems like a cross between the Netherlands and Sweden, with some neighboring countries mixed in. When one looks deeper though, the novel is a treatise on guilt and human weakness, a contemplation of this side and the other side of our existence and non-existence.

I think that older people will appreciate this novel more than the young ones. One has to acknowledge the unavoidable proximity of the other side to understand some of the undercurrents present in the book. I was stricken by a beautiful sentence: "The dead are older than the living." I first thought it a quote from some famous philosopher. Not so. It seems to be Mr. Nesser's own. Beautiful. And wise.

To me "Hour of the Wolf" is the best of the six Nesser's novels I have read. It has an engrossing plot, economical and simple writing, and everything that happens in the plot leads to the final solution. As an icing on the cake it has an extremely funny ending, happening in New York, with Mr. Nesser having a field day writing about the U.S. culture. Some readers will complain that the denouement is predictable. Yes, it is. I do not care, with the book being so excellent in so many other ways.

A disclaimer: In some sense Mr. Nesser's work reminds me of novels by the great Nicholas Freeling, whose plots were located mainly in the Netherlands or France, but the locations felt just like "in Europe". Maybe I am biased, being a European.

Still, I have not had so much fun with a book for quite a long time.

Five stars.


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Midwinter Blood by Mons Kallentoft
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although Mons Kallentoft's novel "Midwinter Blood" is subtitled "A Thriller", it really is more of a police procedural. It is a Swedish procedural/thriller, with quite a complex plot. Detective Inspector Malin Fors is the main protagonist. Along with her police colleagues she is trying to solve a brutal murder of a man whose naked and mutilated body was found hanging from a tree. Soon, it becomes clear that the case has its roots in the distant past.

Ms. Fors is a divorced mother with a teenage daughter, Tove. The subplot involving her dealing with rapidly maturing Tove is quite interesting. More so than in an average police procedural where the only role of observations of detectives' private lives is to show that they are human.

The writing style seems a little pretentious and one may need some time to get accustomed to it. Just a brief example:

"Amber liquid.
Shall I have a bit?
No.
The motorbike program is over."

I do not think it is necessarily bad writing. But it does not seem to serve any other purpose than to be clearly different than the so called normal style.

What I like less is the presence of the voice of the dead person who occasionally comments on the events and their background. Maybe that's why the book is called "a thriller"? Again, it does not bother me very much. Despite the strange style and the dead man commenting, this is a realistic book rather than one that delves into the supernatural.

I understand that the denouement may seem less than satisfactory for some readers. I actually liked it.

Three stars.


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Phantom by Jo Nesbø
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Phantom" is the ninth novel in Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, and his sixth book I have read. Unfortunately, I find it a big disappointment. The usual macho, hard-boiled, and brutal style is ok. Harry being a virtual superman is not a problem. "Phantom" pushes the believability boundaries too far, though. Let me just quote a scene where Harry cuts the throat of someone who is cutting his throat.

There is way too much action. Too many twists and turns. There are too many characters. Not enough thought. No depth. A paper template of Harry Hole twisting in an idiotic Hollywood-style plot.

Nesbo's "Redbreast" is a great novel. Several of his other books are refreshing takes on crime noir, with the unique Norwegian twist. This is not a good novel unless one needs some pastime for a 12-hour flight. I have never expected I will regret wasting time for a Nesbo's book.

Two stars (for good writing and good translation).


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The Inspector and Silence by Håkan Nesser
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Hakan Nesser's "The Inspector and Silence" the Chief Inspector Van Veeteren plans his vacations and contemplates retirement. However, he is called to aid in explaining suspicious happenings at a camp for girls organized by a shady religious sect. Soon a brutal murder is discovered, and Van Veeteren has to cancel his vacation plans.

I do not particularly care for book series, but at least in this series the author tries to make each book a little different rather than rewriting the same story using different names. "The Inspector and Silence" is a little whimsical, a little philosophical, and quite literary. It is a lot of fun to read for people who are into these things. Particularly the first half of the book is quite slow but delightful from a literary point of view. In the second half the writing gets more pedestrian but the author speeds up the plot instead and prepares a rather unexpected denouement.

The descriptions of the sect members and their behaviors are quite believable. Characterizations of many police members are rather thin, but then the descriptions of all Van Veeteren's meals and his constant eating and drinking are great. The conversations between the Chief Inspector and Andrej Przebuda are a gem.

I love Nesser's literary device of placing the action of the novel in a non-existent country that is a cross between the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and Poland and using a mixture of names coming from respective languages, although I realize it is most fun for people (such as myself) who were born in one of these countries.

Four solid stars.


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Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbøl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Invisible Murder" by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis is a good thriller. I actually liked it more than the well-known "The Boy in the Suitcase" by the same pair of Danish authors because it reaches deeper into the layer of acute social issues. Without spoiling the plot, let's just say it involves Hungarian Roma (Gypsy) refugees in Denmark. Nina Borg is one of the main characters as is her teenage daughter Ida (a very well drawn portrait of a mixture of natural teenage stupidity and strength of character). The characterizations of Danish security people are not as deep and rich, but then they serve mainly as plot-moving devices.

The plot is quite slow, but it delivers towards the end. All the threads of the plot come together at the end in a gloriously absurd yet believable denouement.

The misery of Eastern European refugees in Denmark is shown quite dramatically. It is definitely not a book for people with right-wing leanings.

The writing is high quality, and the credit must be given not only to the writers but also to the translator.

Four stars.


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The Absent One by Jussi Adler-Olsen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A disappointment! I liked Jussi Adler-Olsen's "Keeper of the Lost Causes" quite a lot. "The Absent One" is definitely not in the same class. Carl Morcks's character is still interesting, but the characterizations of two other protagonists, Assad and Rosa, are just caricatures.

"The Absent One" could have been a great revenge story, yet it veered into a totally unbelievable territory. Would you believe rich industrialists and fashion celebrities to be mass murderers? No, I guess not. But the book asks us to. Add to it a rabid fox. A hungry hyaena. Hunting wild animals in the heart of Denmark? Come on, man! Be serious.

The novel reads pretty well for about 300 pages, and then it deteriorates into a totally ridiculous mess of utterly contrived fast-paced action of the worst Hollywood variety. This is globalization of rubbish. This is crap on the order of "Da Vinci Code".

Three and a half stars for the first 300 pages. Zero stars for the last 100 pages. What an utter waste of human talent! I am hesitant to read any more stuff from this author.

Two stars.


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