He Who Fears the Wolf, by Karin Fossum

Shortly after a schizophrenic, named Errki, escapes from a nearby mental institution, an elderly woman, Halldis Horn, is found murdered, her body lying across the steps of her small home. And there is a witness, an overweight boy who lives in a group home, Kannick Snellingen. Kannick hastily informs local law enforcement, and Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer is called to investigate the crime but gets sidetracked by a bank robbery/hostage situation that occurs moments after Sejer notices a suspicious character entering the bank.

A focal point in He Who Fears the Wolf is the strange relationship between the bank robber, who takes Errki as a hostage, and Errki. This relationship is quite dynamic, beautifully described, quite Hegelian in character, and that lends a lot of drive to the book. We feel how the power in the relationship switches, despite the fact that the bank robber holds a gun.

Konrad Sejer uses his intuition and great abilities in visualization in closing in on the truth.
And, as well, he falls in love. And, also, as usual, the masterful Norwegian crime fiction writer Karin Fossum delivers a well written and extremely exciting book!

He Who Fears the Wolf is a great book, a masterpiece, that gave Karin Fossum “The Booksellers’ Prize” in Norway.

Links to books by Karin Fossum at amazon US, amazon UK, amazon CAN, Fossum at Barnes & Noble

Tagged as: book review, Karin Fossum, Konrad Sejer, Norwegian crime fiction