Read to Karin Fossum is to succumb to unexpected black novel plots. Coincidences as a starting point to turn anyone not only into a victim but also into a sinister murderer. It is not that the reader does not know who may be "the bad guy" in the story. Rather, I am talking about how Karin convinces us to make a gentle housewife, a friendly postman, or your insurance agent a gloomy character whose plot of evil ends up dominating her soul and her will.
In the case of this book, Don't Look Back, the bewilderment comes even from the starting point. When little Ragnhild disappears, everyone sets out in search of her. The girl returns for her foot, safe and sound hours later. He has only been at Raymond's house for a while, which has been the town's fool, but with a dark point, how could it be otherwise in a novel of this genre.
The widespread relief calms the spirits of the community, the small Norwegian town where the story takes place. Until Ragnhild comments on a lurid detail. Suddenly he claims to have seen a naked woman near the lake. What he has actually seen is a corpse that the police will discover shortly after.
The famous inspector Konrad Sejer, whom I already surrendered to in the novel The Devil's Light, start probing staff. The residents of the town offer their testimonies, alibis and other arguments in the face of the mysterious death of the young Annie Holland.
The problem is that Sejer encounters a multitude of potentials. Many neighbors could have killed the young woman. Stormy pasts that do not bode well in some cases or disconcerting behaviors in others. Konrad navigates the bewilderment towards the resolution of the case while he reveals the insides of many characters that, in their sinister extrapolation, we can recognize as our neighbors.
You can now buy the book Don't Look Back, by the great Norwegian author Karin Fossum, here: