Black Seconds - Karin Fossum

Early on in Karin Fossum's 'Black Seconds', when her daughter Ida has not come back home long after going to purchase some comics, Helga starts getting nervous but also thinks "... Why did this feel so familiar? Because she had already, for many years now, been rehearsing this moment in her mind...". This insight into the mind of not just Helga but any parents whose child is young, the fear that your child cannot take care of him/herself, the fear that she may get lost/hurt and sets the tone for this compelling and moving novel.

When 11 year old Ida  goes missing, Inspector Sejer starts searching for her. Search parties are mounted, but to no avail. There are 2 other parallel threads, one concerning 'Emil' a curious character, who doesn't speak and generally shuns/is shunned by there and the other concerning, 'Tomme', the nephew of Helga. We see the lives of Tomme unraveling, witnessed with a sense of impending doom by Ruth his mother (and Helga's sister) and also 'Emil' whose isolated existence is also being threatened. Does any of these have any relation to Ida going missing or are these just red herrings? Though Fossum doesn't give out anything one way or the other, one can guess the perpetrator some way into the novel, though it doesn't have any major impact on your reading experience, because this is majorly a novel that deals with the fear/foreboding of loss , the actual pain that strikes you when your worst nightmare comes true, the ways in which people deal with it/try to come to turns with it and which incidentally also happens to be crime fiction. Sample this. As Helga becomes more and more frantic when Ida does not return, she decides to call the police and thinks that if she does it, Ida will come back, because then it would mean that Helga had overreacted and she is willing to be the target of derision from others, if it would mean that Ida will come back. We, the reader, looking from outside, know that Ida is not coming, are aware that these things very rarely end up being good, but the capacity of the human mind to create scenarios to avoid facing painful situations/to create happy resolutions, however unrealistic the scenarios may be, how much ever they fly in the face of reality (even Helga would be aware of this, but her love doesn't let her face it) the pathos of the whole thing, still moves us. 

The perpetrator is also one of us, he is not your standard cunning, scheming criminal master mind, but someone who makes a mistake without meaning to, is afraid to own up to it, puts on a face of deception, but to no avail because his initial mistake/deception in turns becomes a vicious circle of more mistakes and more deception, always pulling him deeper into the quagmire from which there is no escape. Towards the end, after he has been apprehended  ".. He got through his day one second at a time. He often tried to daydream, tried to nibble his way through this mountain of time that lay before him...". Yes, a mountain of time to get through, not just for him, not just for  Helga, but also for the families of everyone directly impacted by the events of the novel.  Fossum again succeeds in making us adjust our perceptions of crime, its consequences and empathize with everyone involved in this sad business, without compromising much on the core tenets of crime fiction,  reinforcing once again she remains a cut above the majority of crime writers and is one of the very best in the business.

The Nightmare - Lars Kepler

Penelope and her boyfriend Bjorn are joined at the last minute on their boating trip by Penelope's sister 'Viola'. Viola is murdered and Penelope and her boyfriend are on the run. Meanwhile, an important government official has apparently committed suicide. These two seemingly unrelated incidents start off the husband-wife team 'Lars Kepler's' 'The Nightmare', their follow up to their hugely successful debut novel 'The Hypnotist'. 

Like in their first novel, the duo are quite successful in the initial stages of the novel, in creating an atmosphere that reeks of evil and portending of more terrible things to come. Detective Joona gets involved in both the cases and as he investigates links come up between the two, hinting of involvement of people at very high levels. There is also a bit of 'open suspense' in that, the reader knows what happened/is happening to Penelope whereas the police doesn't know it adding a bit more tension to the reader, as he internally wills on Joona to take the correct path. The first part of the novel is the best part as we initially get hit by the full force of evil,  regain our bearings and wait for what will happen next as Joona proceeds with his investigation.

The best of Scandinavian crime fiction/police procedural has always been characterized by a strong sense of geographic atmosphere and of time and place where the events take place. There could be multiple murders occurring, but one would not get the feeling that these are being staged hurriedly by the author just to get a rise out of the reader.  One can sense shift in the genre from police procedural to a more (mainstream) 'American' thriller kind of works in Jo Nesbo's novels. Lars Kepler, too seem to  be following on this route judging from the first 2 books, but with far less control over. Incidents take at seemingly break neck speed, but the reader is left thinking as to how much more suspension of disbelief is required from him. Though it slagged off a bit, 'The Hypnotist' managed the tightrope walk between being a procedural as well as a thriller at the same time, quite well. Though one was left with the feeling, that more depth could have been possible, whatever emotional core was in the novel did create quite a bit of impact, which salvaged the novel overall. But here, the best features of crime fiction (sense of time, place, characters, emotional investment into them) seem to be sacrificed at the altar of thrill. For instance, the main antagonist of the novel is a kind of modern day 'Mephistopheles' who could have been an unforgettable character, but ends being a caricature. There are throwaway lines that hint at his past, his relationship with his son is briefly shown but none of them are dwelt into deeply enough for us to see the protagonist even as a human being, let one as 'Mephistopheles'. Towards the end of the novel, it devolves from a thriller to some kind of action packed novel with raids etc testing our patience.

We get to learn a bit more of Joona in this novel, his commitment phobia (really, is there any other kind of cop, other than Ake Edwardson's Erik Winters who seems to a rare exception), hints of a troubled past and there is even a hint of the supernatural at the end. This emotional involvement with Joona, the prospect to learning more about him, and the fact that Lars Kepler (have so far at-least) invariably do a great job in staging the set up of the novel,  makes one look forward to the other books in the series, though this one is not a worthy sophomore effort. 

My Soul to Take - Yrsa Sigurdardottir

A newly developed hotel/spa with rumors of being haunted, desolate farmhouses, a series of murders, all that could have formed part of a 'cozy crime' mystery, take a slightly darker tone in Yrsa Sigurdardottir's second novel 'My Soul to Take' in the attorney 'Thóra Gudmundsdóttir' series.

'Thora' is a much needed change from the world weary, alcoholic protagonists that have become the staple of Scandinavian crime fiction (and indeed in crime fiction from other countries too). Yes, Thora too is divorced, but thankfully she does not suffer from any existential crisis. Her problems are more practical, raising two kids as a single mother, with one of them a 16 year boy himself set to become a father, juggling work and handling 'Bella', her secretary who brings new meaning to the words 'slob' and 'insolence'. Thora is asked by her client 'Jónas' to investigate the hotel, as she had assisted him in the purchase of the lands. Thora goes there and is confronted by a murder almost immediately which is just the beginning.

'My Soul to Take' is more tightly plotted than 'Last Rituals' which relied more on it's atmosphere to salvage it. Multiple murders happen and there are lots of red herrings and twists thrown in to keep the reader guessing. Yes, there are 'ghosts' here, but not the malevolent ones that are said to harass human beings after their death. These are ghosts of actions done in the past, actions that leave a permanent scar and create ghosts of memories that haunts people. A small town atmosphere with practically everyone knowing everyone and most of them harboring a hatred for someone for a (in some cases perceived) slight/wrong done, creating a claustrophobic environment is brought out well.

Though the subject matter is dark, the tone of Yrsa's prose is light in most places (other than those about the past), Thora's exasperation at her son taking his heavily pregnant lover on a road trip, the various psychics in the  hotel/spa and their theories on the 'spirit'  that supposedly haunts the hotel, Thora's relation with  her lover 'Maththew' all provide a bit of relief from the heavy duty murders. Indeed, as in other successful series of novels, the reader is as invested in the main/recurring characters as he is in the actual core of the novel. I am very interested in seeing the growth of these characters in the next novels (Bella needs to be given a much bigger role in the next novels of the series, there is potential here for a recurring character which is borne out by descriptions of other novels where she apparently plays a much bigger role). When such characters are bound with a solid mystery as in this novel, it does make for an engrossing read.  This series is a worthy addition to the Scandinavian crime wave.

The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler

A policeman driven by his past to get at the root of every case he investigates, a psychiatrist  who is also tormented by an incident from his past, both their paths intersect in a case. So what's so path breaking about a person confronting his past in the very case that he investigates, it's a trope used quite frequently in crime fiction. So why do the blurbs go 'The next Stieg Larsson', 'more chilling than Shining, The silence of the lambs' etc. One can understand the need of publishers to sell their books at any cost, but blurbs that are contrary to the content of the book? Yes, having a reference 'Steig Larsson' would get more eye balls and  more chance of a person buying it,  but the only way that 'Lars Kepler' (pseudonym of the husband and wife team who have written this novel, which is the first is a series of novel set with Inspector  Joona Linna  as the primary character) can be compared to 'Stieg Larsson' is with the fame that both their first novels acquired.  Shouldn't there be at-least some common points of reference between two works (of-course other than both being in the genre of crime fiction) for them to be compared? But this kind of promotion is unavoidable and its up-to the reader to push them away before starting to read the book.

A family is decimated brutally by an unknown assailant with only the elder sister (who seems to be missing) and the son surviving the attack. Inspector 'Joona Linna' feels that the assailant would go after the elder sister too and asks psychiatrist 'Erik Maria Bark' to help him out by hypnotizing the son to get more information that would save her. Though Erik has a past with hypnotism he reluctantly agrees to do it, which sets off a train of events which traverse through two different plot lines, in which one triggers the other. 

The authors employ a visual style of story telling with short chapters ordered by the passage of time. In the early stages it does work, particularly when they go back and forth/parallel in time in the chapters, as we see one perspective of an event first and then another.  It does irritate in places, where incidents which are continuous over a period of time are split  necessarily into multiple chapters just to give the reader that something is happening at breakneck speed, when he would rather be more willing to soak up the information that is being given to him. A book that is the first in a series is not expected to dwell deep into the protagonist of the series,  but this novel reads more like an ensemble. There is of course, Erik who is an important part along with Linna, and parts of the story demand Linna's absence.  But there are also other characters who do investigations on their own, with Linna going missing at these points too. Suddenly you wonder, 'hey where has Linna gone, why are these guys hijacking his novel' . But I guess it is also because of our expectation that the main protagonist should be present most of the time.

There are moments that are genuinely scary, particularly the initial parts and the part about Erik's past, but they are not developed in detail.

The initial plot line and the sub-plot involving Erik's son and some bullies particularly had a great potential for a showcase of the evil in humans, but after a cursory mention of them, the authors start again on the next incident/twist to surprise us. But several of these twists seem implausible, not because one thinks that they cannot happen, but because the authors do not take much pains to justify them. More than the 'why'/'how', the 'who'/'what next' part is the one that drives the authors and to be fair to them they do a good job of it. They start off with one plot line, then another seems to start in parallel, then it seems like both are related, but then they finish one plot line and we find that yes both are related, but not in the manner that we/the characters thought.  There is another sub-plot involving Erik's family life, particularly his wife which is handled sensitively which deserves kudos, a lot is left unsaid here by the end, but it brings out well the dynamics of the relationship between the couple. 

Though the book is not bad at all, you end up feeling that it could have been much much better, if not for all the potential that were sacrificed at the altar of churning out a 'page turner'. They raise the tension to a high pitch, then just show a glimpse of the evil within all of us and then proceed immediately to bludgeon it before tackling the next evil. The result being that one is not as struck by the evil that the characters confront as one should ideally be, actually there is no time to think because the next evil has made its presence felt already. I would have actually liked it to slow down a bit now and then, take it's breath, contemplate and then proceed again. Forget the hype and you would get a fairly engaging read (which may seem even as a full throttle thrill ride which justify the blurbs, if you are willing overlook a few points. One can understand the reason for its huge success among the general audience). The authors writing style, choice of plots and Linna with his unassuming smugness (is this even a valid phrase?) have intrigued me and I would be looking out (though not too hard ) for their other works.

Missing -Karin Alvtegen

When we first see Sibylla, she is  dining at the Grand Hotel's magnificent French dining room. She looks the part of the successful executive unwinding after a tough day at office. But why is her suit then having a false label (is she so concerned about appearances that she resorts to such falsehood?), why is the waist button of her skirt replaced by a safety-pin (if she can dine in such a posh hotel, couldn't she have put on a new dress before coming to dinner?), why is she thinking of stealing the towels in the hotel rooms (is she a kleptomaniac?). Because Sibylla is nothing like what seems to be. She is in her early thirties, has been living underground for the past 15 years or so and is now trying to sponge off a costly dinner from another customer. She succeeds in both getting her dinner and also avoiding the advances of her patron. But the next day when he is found murdered, Sibylla is on the run, accused of the murder. Multiple murders occur as Karin alternates events from the present with those from the past, giving us bits and pieces of Sibylla's past life.

The concept of living 'on the road'  has occurred a legendary status, but it is still a lifestyle that is admired by a lot, but not attempted by many voluntarily. The reason being that it is not as fun as it may seem from the outside (how much fun can one have when he/she doesn't know when the next meal will come and has been living with this uncertainty for years) and Karin gives us a non-celebratory, hard hitting account of the life which leaves us with mixed feelings. While one cannot but marvel at the ingenuity shown by Sibylla in getting by having almost nothing, we keep thinking about the circumstances that would force someone to choose such a lifestyle, voluntarily excluding oneself completely from society. As we get know about events from Sibylla's past, we understand her rationale for renouncing her past life and even empathize with her. It's a creepy account of psychological abuse heaped upon her by own mother Beatrice, with her stony silences, subtle condescending attitude, studied ignoring of her daughter to achieve her ends, which are more painful than a stinging slap across the face (excellent observation of human behavior by Karin). The irony here is that Beatrice wouldn't have any inkling of the damage she was causing her daughter (or at-least not openly accept). From her viewpoint, she would have been doing her best and Sibylla would be the ungrateful creature for not understanding her mother's love. Whatever the motivation of Beatrice, the situation at home makes Sibylla insecure, feeling at fault for even things that are beyond her control, always in a state of tension as to whether she has displeased her mother in anyway, torn between the conflicting feelings of obedience and wanting to break free. All this results in a lot of repressed feelings and as in such cases, the breakdown when it happens is of epic proportions and that's what happens with Sibylla, resulting in her voluntary exile to the margins of society. The irony of the title hits us when we realize that though Sibylla has been living like this for 15 odd years, no one seems to have missed her (until the murders occur and society wakes up to the fact that there is a person called 'Sibylla'). There are so many of these kind of missing people, people who are present and yet not present, visible yet as good as invisible, people whom their immediate kith/kin and society has a whole do not seem to realize that they have gone missing.

One is reminded of 'Lisbeth Salander' while reading the novel. Like Lisbeth, Sibylla is spunky, detests authority, doesn't care much for society and looks to lead life on her own terms. They have their points of divergence too  as Sibylla is has come from a upper-middle class/rich household, didn't face any physical abuse (though the mental manipulation would more than make up for it). She is not your usual 'super-heroine' who is always ready to kick ass. The shadows of her past are always dogging her, she has her moments of indecision, moments where she feels like just giving up on everything. But she manages to find some inner resource of strength (or hate against society?) to take the next step and proceed further. Karin is her best in these portions where she shows us the dynamics of the interplay in human relationships and when she takes us into the vortex of the human mind. You do have female protagonists in works of 'Helen Tursten', Yrsa Sigurdardottir' etc.  Yes, they are a change from the mostly male protagonists of crime fiction, but they conform to the archetype of the working women  who struggle to balance their personal and professional lives but manage to do a good job of both. Salander and Sibylla though are nothing like them, they blaze a new trail for female protagonists in crime fiction, in which I hope to see other writers proceeding (before turning the prototype into a cliche). I would have like to know more about Sibylla, but since this is a standalone novel there is no hope for it.

The best works in crime fiction (any genre fiction) are the ones that go beyond the conventions of their genre without losing out on the core. While Karin does a great job in the former, it is in the latter that she falters. Sibylla is on the run, multiple murders occur for which she is accused, but none of the tension that should arise from such a situation seeps through to us. This could very well be the result of Karin's masterful evocation of Sibylla's past whereby we are so caught up in that the actual core of the book seems secondary. But whatever the reason, as a genre fiction the book does suffer a bit. The assurance that Karin shows while dealing with relationships/people is in stark contrast to the haphazard manner in which the core of the story ties up, so much so that it wouldn't be much of a surprise to know that 2 different people wrote the different parts. It's not that one expects very professional sleuthing here, after all Sibylla is an amateur and that too without any contact with society for a long time, so one does expect a few missteps in Sibylla's pursuit of the truth. But the hurried manner in which everything gets resolved at the end is so fast that everything seems to happen and end in a flash and requires a giant leap of faith to digest. 

Contrast this with the relationship between Sibylla and Patrik, a 15 year old who gets acquainted with Sibylla and wants to help her out. With very little real time (as in the novel) to flesh this out, Karin does a first rate job it. Though it is her vagabond lifestyle that initially fascinates Partik, he probably being a nerd (with some hints thrown about it about him not liking sports, more into computers etc) sees a kindred spirit in Sibylla, a person who is also on the outside. Patrik also reminds Sibylla of her past in a certain way, which adds to the bond that Sibylla feels with him. Though the novel ends before it is more fleshed out, you feel that Karin has got a lot  from the relationship. Yes, you feel to know how/whether this relationship would progress, but that's in a good way and not like the resolution of the murder where you feel shortchanged. 

Though the book has some flaws  I recommend it, as Karin's is an edgy, assured (in most parts) voice, a voice that cuts through the bland murmurings of conventional crime fiction, one that is not not unduly worried about the norms of the genre (much like her heroine). I for one hope to listen to more of this voice in the future.

The Darkest Room - Johan Theorin - The pain of loss and the weight of memories

"That's what we will all be one day. Memories and ghosts". Thus ends Johan Theorin's 'The Darkest Room' and it perfectly encapsulates the dilemma of the main character in the book and also of us readers. Throughout the novel and even at the end both cannot come to a conclusion as to whether there was actually any supernatural activity involved in the events that are described. Purists who either expect a typical crime fiction or a novel with explicit supernatural overtones would be disappointed, a little heads up for you to keep your mind open.

Joakim and Katrine have moved to an old manor house (Eel Point) in the Swedish island of Oland with their 2 kids. There are some vague hints thrown about some family tragedy that occured about and year ago and also about Katrine's history with Oland both of which are not explained in detail. Could they be relevant to the story? Soon after, Kartine dies in what is termed as a drowning accident and the core events of the novel are set in motion.

Following in the tradition of Scandinavian crime fiction, Johan focuses more on the characters, bringing out the pain of loss and the unhinging it may cause. Livia, Joakim's daughter has habit of talking in sleep and after her mother's death she says things to the effect that Katrine is outside the home and waiting to come in. Joakim initially seems to dismiss it as a kid's fantasy but seems to slowly start believing in it. This is brought out particularly well. Initially when Joakim sleeps with Katrine's dress it seems as a way of numbing the pain. Then he starts asking Livia as to what she sees outside the house, what her mother is saying. But when he then purchases a Christmas present for Katrine, it is then you know that he is going too far down a path from which there is no return.

Interleaved into the main narrative are 2 parallel narrative threads involving a trio of house-breakers and Tilda a policewoman who has personal problems of her own. Also in the mix is a series of vignettes from the life of people who lived in 'Eel Point' in the past. Though we do not know whether these vignettes are true, they do add a sense of foreboding.Whether it is a case of too much memories or ghosts, both cannot do much good. Johan takes his time unfolding his story, alternating between the various strands. There are also the standard set pieces one can see/read in works involving the supernatural, like the barn door always getting open even though Joakim closes it (is it an invitation for him to explore it?), Joakim suddenly missing the kids, searching frantically for them everywhere and finally finding them at their bedroom, the legends about the dead coming back on Christmas eve to have their own mass etc. 

Thought nothing much happens for about 3 quarters of the novel, other than vague hints about dark things to come, Johan ensures that it doesn't get boring or repetitive with both this characterization and also by his masterful evocation of Oland and Eel point. This is a very atmospheric novel, where the landscape/climate become an integral part of the narrative without us even noticing it. The landscapes and the manor are at times beautifully desolate, sometimes forbidding and sometimes downright scary. One can almost hear the groans of the memories (or ghosts?) of the people who lived in Eel point waiting to get out. By far this is the most atmospheric of all Scandinavian crime fiction that I have read (just about edging 'Arnaldur Indridason').

Towards the end there is a bit of looseness when Johan ties up the major threads on the night of Christmas eve (when the blizzard hits the island). The issue is not that it seems forced to resolve everything on a single night (which of course requires a certain suspension of disbelief), but that a couple of resolutions are quite predictable, you can guess them even as the final events start to unfold. But as a set piece, the events in the blizzard are quite good, with particularly Joakim's experience having an hallucinatory feel about it.  There is actually a solution to the core mystery (with a final confrontation that seems have been put in to give at-least some measure of closure to Joakim), but an ambiguity remains in how did Joakim arrive at it. This ensures that the ending doesn't betray what the novel stood for from the beginning.

So is this crime fiction or a supernatural story? One could argue both ways and both could be correct as per the individual view point, but that wouldn't be sufficient to try to make sense of the novel. 'The Darkest' room doesn't just refer to a room in the manor, it also refers to a part in us (am reminded a bit of Denise Mina's 'Sanctum') where all our memories get accumulated. Some like Tilda's grandfather and Katrine's mother treat those memories as 'Ghosts' (for both of them, ghosts are always around us and talking to ghosts is no big thing) which is one way of dealing with them. 

Johan's works seem to be standalone novels so there seems to be no chance to read further about Joakim, but I would be/am very interested to see how Joakim carries on with his life. Though Joakim can't completely decide one way or other at the end of the novel, I suspect that if we (Johan) continue to follow Joakim, we could see him start to completely believe in ghosts. For, that seems to be the only way to alleviate a bit of the pain caused by loss and memories.

This is the only book of Johan that I have read, so am not sure about the quality of his oeuvre. But but based on this novel, I would say that he is a worthy descendant of the Scandinavian masters. Give this book a read.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Micheal Chabon

The genre of crime/mystery fiction seems to have fascinated our more reputed writers of general fiction in the modern era(I use 'general' here instead of 'literary' since the latter sounds snobbish). From Borges to Eco to Orhan Pamuk several writers have written works based on this genre. But can we classify 'The Name Of the Rose' or 'My Name is Red' as conventional crime fiction? The base is crime yes, but the writers expand the boundaries, in fact tear open conventions of crime fiction so that their works become a new genre of sorts themselves. We mostly see the inventiveness and even playfulness of the writers when they attempt such works. The crime becomes a secondary part in the works. But a true blue crime fiction or noir? They are pretty rare. Of such works Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) and Micheal Chabon (The Yiddish Policemen's Union) tend to tread the path of hardboiled crime fiction genre. The authors bring in their own twist to the genre, while not deviating too much from the established conventions of the genre.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union starts of a alternate history premise. It is set in 'Sitka in Alaska'. The premise is that at the end of world war II, Jews were settled in Sitka instead of at Jerusalem. This is apparently based on a actual proposal about settling Jews in America, that came up in the 1940's. (It was not carried out in the end). Chabon starts off with this unique setting. Sitka is now a Jewish settlement, with the Jews living together with the native americans of the area. The main protagonist is 'Meyer Landsman', a typical hardboiled police detective with all the traits that such a detective has in novels. He is alcoholic, divorced (his wife is his superior), does not play by the rules and what not, basically a pest who some how gets things done his way and for that has to be put up with. A murder has occurred in the hotel that he is staying. The victim is Mendel, who was supposed to be a  'Tzaddik ha-Dor'. (This refers to a person who could be the potential messiah for the Jews. Such a person is supposed to be born every generation). The story kicks off as Meyer starts the investigation.
Chabon also weaves in the story of the entire jewish community which is facing another exile. The lease given to them for Sitka is set to expire in the next few months and the American government would not renew it. People are applying to go to other countries or to migrate within America itself. Chabon paints a picture of an almost claustrophobic and insular Jewish community who are very tightly integrated and at despair about the future. Suffice to say that Meyer is not worried about it. As a typical fictional detective, he has his own emotional baggage to carry (his sister's death, his relationship with his deceased father) that solving crime seems to be the only way out for him to survive that baggage. Mendel is found to be the son of a rebbe who is the head of one of most powerful crime syndicate in Sitka. He antagonizes Mendel's father and as a result is told to lay off from investigating the crime. He continues with it and as a result is suspended from work. Being the classic stubborn type he still continues with his investigation in private and starts piecing together the details about Mendel's life.
Along with the normal set pieces of crime fiction, Chabon gives a moving account of Mendel's story, his glorious childhood to youth when he was revered by most people who came in contact with him, the expectancy of great things from him and his fall from grace just before his marriage. He runs away from home before his marriage and his father disowns him. We get a hint that his sexual orientation could have played a role in it, but it's not explicit. At this point, we find ourself empathizing with Mendel more, how would it have been to carry the burden of an entire race as being the chosen one, being under scrutiny always, always expected to be perfect. It is in these pages, that Chabon pushes the boundary of crime fiction to something more. I found myself transfixed by Mendel's story up to the point and the crime took a back seat. More than Meyer, Mendel fascinated me. (To digress here a bit, the victim in 'My Name Is Red' did not affect me as much, though he even talks to us in the beginning. This again could be because, the author there was more concerned about things other than the victim or the mystery, namely the Ottoman art and the nature of painting itself).
During the course of the investigations, Meyers gets shot at, imprisoned, has a chase, gets beaten and bruised, but still on the move and determined to get the end. (Your typical set pieces). He also comes to know some new details about his Sister's death. He uncovers a diabolical plot, but is not able to divulge it. He is released on making that promise. Ironically it does not seem to have anything to do with Mendel's murder. Meyer reunites with his wife, but is still nagged by the thought of the murder being unsolved. Finally he cracks it, which is quite surprising to say the least. The novel ends with Meyer ready to face life wherever it takes him in the upcoming exodus. 
The novel worked for me as a generic fiction and not as pure crime fiction. Chabon paints an minutely detailed picture of the Jewish community in exile, their quirks, makes his characters flawed in more than one ways, which in turn makes them more believable. Meyer, with his template habits could be a worthy successor to Philip Marlowe. The relationship between the natives of Alaska and the Jews is also brought out well, in some cases humorously. One sees both the groups being racist towards each other, in an almost unconscious manner, which is bit ironic when we consider the Jews being a bit racist in their day to day life. Chabon uses some beautiful similes throughout the novel, one other thing we cannot find in your conventional crime fiction.  But these same things hinder the novel from being a great crime fiction. At some point, you just want to move ahead in the story instead of getting more character portraits. At the end I was not too interested in the murderer, but was caught up in the individual characters lives. This is surely a triumph of his story telling, but from  the perspective of a crime fiction aficionado, it was a bit of a letdown, though the author is not the reason for it. If you approach the novel as a generic one, with not much expectations on the crime front, you would like this. This is probably the closest one could get while trying to straddle 2 genres, without disappointing much in either. For hardcore crime fictions fans however, it better to stick to Raymond Chandler, Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin and the other masters. 


Chabon has also tried out the intermixing of genres with his 'The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay' which concerns comic books juxtaposed with the second world war and the holocaust. The life of a comic book hero rescuing Jews contrasts with the reality of that time. 
. 
Micheal Chabon's website is www.michaelchabon.com. 

Crime Watch - Some Authors/Series- Genre Fiction

Crime has a (morbid) fascination for a lot us and we like to read about crimes and novels on crime and thrillers. Even some of the so called 'high brow' readers read it, but do not accept it (guilty pleasures is what it is called :)). There are a lot of sub-genres within this, of which I like the police procedural the best. How does it differ from the classical British mysteries or the slasher/serial killer genre?. 
Unlike the British closed room mysteries or serial killer thrillers, there is no super-intelligent main character who solves all the crimes in his mind, explains his solution to the perpetrator of the crime and the perpetrator accepts it almost with no objection. The detective work is done painstakingly, going for door to door searches, cross checking the witnesses and the solution lies in some of the voluminous data unearthed by them. Sometimes, it is almost by chance, that the solution is arrived upon. In some cases, it is also a bit late to save someone else who has been murdered in the meantime.  This happens also because, in these novels, the characters have to work on several cases at a time and they don't have the luxury of working on only one case at a time. 


The best novels in this genre are those which continue as a series. The main characters come in all the novels and the reader can see the evolution of the characters over a period of time. For e.g. in one of the series, the main character starts off with having a difficult relationship with this wife and over the course of the series, the relationship deteriorates, they get divorced and he starts seeing another woman. This may seem trivial, but these info on their personal lives give us an insight into the emotional baggage carried by police offers.The policemen/women are not super humans who have no faults of their own. They too have their own insecurities, ego, professional jealousies which is manifested in the novels. They are also socially insecure in the sense that they are not able to deal with the so called normal people. Several of them are divorced. They are also bothered by the unsolved cases, by the criminals who got away and even by the victims of the crimes whose cases they take up. Their work is their sanctuary. They even drink a lot to get away from the real world. For e.g. Rebus is a heavy drinker, but still, when he goes home and gets drunk, is haunted by the faces of the victims. 


The who/how part of the crime is not as important in these novels as the why and most importantly the ramifications of the crime. In several cases, the person who commits the crime is revealed very early itself. The authors are more concerned about why he did the crime and it's impact on the families of the victim. For instance, a young girl of 16-17 is killed. What impact it does have on the parents. In lots of cases, the family drifts apart, the father blaming (implicitly) the mother for not monitoring the girl enough, the mother in turn blaming the father for not being around enough. A normal family torn apart by some unforeseeable event. And what does push the person to commit the crimes. In several cases, he is not some crazed evil genius who kills for the pure joy of killing. He is someone, whom in a moment of madness commits a crime, destroys an entire family and without meaning too sets in a series of chain of motions and has to face the ramifications himself. I am not trying to give the impression that these novels tend to glorify or mitigate the criminal deeds, but they just try to look at it from other angles too. The why part of the crime also tend to look at society as a whole and try to understand why these crimes occur and at such brutality. A murder is a murder anywhere and anytime, but the brutality and almost casualness of them has been increasing over the years and at some point we fail to recognize the society which was present around 20 years ago with the one now. As Wallender says often 'How did Sweden come to this state'?. 


The characters of the series also age over real time, unlike most others in other genre, where time is static. This is not a criticism of those novels, but when characters age, their experiences change, the reader also gets a feeling of being a part of their lives. Ian Rankin has retired Rebus after nearly 30 years of service. I have listed the novelists/characters whom I like the most. What makes these series so good is the characters, if a character holds your attention you want to stick through him for the entire series, irrespective of the actual plots of the novels and most of the authors/characters mentioned below fall into that category.


Henning Mankell/Wallander - Mankell is one of the high priests of this genre. Set in Sweden, the series Kurt Wallander has the main character and leads a team which solves crimes. In the beginning of the series, Wallander is divorced, his daughter does not talk to him and he has a difficult relationship with his own father. Over the series, he mends fences with daughter and father and his daughter too joins the force. Kurt is a obstinate man, heavy drinker and a loner. (He is caught one time for drunken driving, but the policemen let him go). He is also not in any sort of long term stable relationship. (He was for sometime in a long distance relationship with one of the characters he met during the course of an investigation, but it did not work out). He also has a reasonably good relationship with this team members, but as he himself asks in one novel 'Do we really know anyone else fully'?.
A must read for anyone wanting to get into this genre.


Ian Rankin/Jack Rebus - Rankin along with Mankell, should be the topmost tier of this genre. The series is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. Jack Rebus is almost a social misfit, egoistic, antagonistic with even his superiors. In fact, he is being monitored by his superiors for any slip up so that he can be booted out. But his great track record in solving crimes, saves him. He tramples across all authorities, departments to get his job done. The job is his private shell where he can escape from his inner demons. He is by no means a perfect characters, in fact he could be someone the reader could actually hate.  Rebus has retired from the service. Siobhan is a female character who teamed up with Rebus in the later novels, started of a minor character and by the end became as important as Rebus. The series could continue with Siobhan taking over and Rebus giving her help. The relationship between the two also has evolved over the period with Rebus almost taking a mentor/protective role over him, which of course is disliked by Siobhan.


Arnaldur Indridason/Erlunder - Set in Iceland, this series is probably the bleakest  and gloomy of them all. The mood of the novels mirrors the landscape of the country. This is also the series where the detective part is probably the least and the novel focuses more on the characters and at the end the conclusion is arrived not due to any major brainwave, but simply as a logical progression. Erlunder too has a troubled family life, his daughter is a drug junkie. Erlunder too is haunted by the death of this brother when they were kids and has an almost morbid fascination in reading books about people who get lost in the artic. He also likes the old Icelandic sagas. Indridason also brings up the past, when in a novel he refers to Iceland's part in the second world war and the people who worked with the Nazis.  Highly recommended.


Val Mcdermid/Tony Hill-Carol Jordan - Set in Scotland again. Mcdermid writes the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series and also standalones other series. I have read only the Tony hill series. It has Tony Hill, a profiler who suffers from sexual dysfunction and Carol Jordan a detective. The two team up to solve macabre crimes, in fact this series has some of the most gory crimes committed.  The relationship between the two, which is still evolving is a major sub-text of the series. She writes stand alone novels also, which are also really good.


Fred Vargas/Adamsberg - Set in France. Adamsberg is almost an antithesis of the characters mentioned above in that he is almost whimsical person, whose head is in the clouds as they say. Depends more on intuition, but unlike Poirot, Holmes etc, these are not flashes of brillance. Adamsberg himself cannot explain why or how he gets these ideas, but ultimately he gets his man. These series can be seem almost as a play on this genre.


Colin Dexter/Morse - Set in Oxford, England. This series probably does not belong here technically, in that it is close to the classical British mystery too. But Morse is a pretty unique character in this genre. He is pedantic, egoistic, miserly (drinks a lot, but does not pay for it, it is his sub-ordinate Lewis, who pays most of the time) and un-imaginably rude with others who he this is not up to the mark intellectually (for e.g. he rips people who make simple spelling errors). It is also hinted that Morse suffered a failed love affair and which resulted in poor academic performance and in him being booted out of college. These hinted details, give us an insight into the troubled and hurt man inside the almost boorish outward detective. More than Adamsberg, Morse depends on intuition to get the killers. He disregards clues which are in front of him and goes galloping down the wrong path. Later he understands that he was wrong, but without any acceptance of that or remorse, goes along another path. His relationships with Max the pathologist and Lewis has it's prickly moments, but the heartfelt feelings he has for them and they for him are one of the major high points of this series for me.


Other novelists which I like are Jo Nesbo, Ake Edwardsen, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Stuart Mcbride, Sjöwall and Wahlöö (who created the martin beck series). Steig Larsson is one who has gained great fame posthumously with his Millennium trilogy. But personally, I liked only the first part of the trilogy. The next two seemed to be hastily put out and read more like scenes from a film than as a novel. The character 'Salander' however is a pretty unique one, in this genre. Micheal Connelly is the only American I have here, his stand alone novels 'The Poet' and 'The Narrows' are really good.


Notes


1. One can see that many of the novelists referred above are from Europe, particularly the Scandinavian countries. Personally for me, the best crime fiction in recent years have been written from the Scandinavian countries. But this too has a pitfall, where there is a glut of novels  from there and as it's known when there is almost an assembly line production of such novels, the quality is bound to suffer. For instance, a lot of the novels have the same template of middle aged detective, divorced, somewhat socially incompatible etc. After a time, the template gets too repetitive and boring. The novelists mentioned above are among the forerunners of this genre.


2. While reading these novels, it would be better to read them chronologically. While there is not much overlap of the main story lines in the series, understanding the back stories of the main characters and their history would be easier if they are read in the order they were published. However this is not possible always since you would not be able to purchase books in the same order, it depends on the availability of them. I myself have read several out of order, did not face many issues, but yes better to read them in in order.