Book Review: When the Devil Holds the Candle

Reviewed By: Lynn Harnett

When the Devil Holds the Candle     Amazon US TPB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada TPB Amazon Canada HC
Karin Fossum
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Psychological Suspense
Series: Inspector Konrad Sejer Mysteries # 3
Harcourt, July 2006, 272 pp

Following a set of characters whose paths cross one fateful day, Norwegian author Karin Fossum explores the dark places in the mind, the small moments when lives implode on a whim, a happenstance, a bad decision.

More psychological suspense than police procedural, this latest Inspector Konrad Sejer outing cedes center stage to several pathetic and dangerous characters.

The most sinister of these is the old woman who opens the book, Irma Funder. Irma comes to the police with a rambling story about a missing, ill husband. “ ‘I know where he is,’” she says, confusing handsome young detective Jacob Skarre completely. The book then moves back in time to follow two inseparable boys of 18, Andreas and Zipp, who ride around town looking for easy prey to mug for beer money.

The first is a young woman with a stroller. Andreas snatches her purse all right, but the stroller gets away and the baby falls out. Shaken by this, Andreas lets slip a secret, then concerned to cover up any perceived weakness and cap the day with something bigger to remember, he spies doddering old Irma Funder and determines to rob her. And that’s the last his family and friends see of Andreas.

As reserved, empathetic Sejer and his intuitive assistant Skarre look for Andreas and interview another sad young man who killed his girlfriend at a party, the narrative flows from one viewpoint to another, taking the reader where the police cannot go, into the minds of the characters. These are not pretty places.

Compelling, relentless, but ever calm, understanding and sympathetic, Fossum’s quiet, complex tale packs a punch. Even Sejer’s life, while uplifted by the advent of the unpredictable Sara, teeters on uncertainty. Exquisitely organized, this is a subtle, disturbing tale.

Lynn Harnett

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett