The Caller

Given I am neither particularly liberally minded or profound, I am surprised at my affection for the mesmering prose of Karin Fossum, an author whose intelligence and understanding transcends barriers and packs a hefty punch each and every time. Fossum is less concerned with apportioning blame and simply seeing the wrongdoer dealt with by the criminal justice system. Her concern is in exploring every aspect of a crime; from the motivation of the perpetrator to the effects on victims, communities [...]

Norway's Karin Fossum is one of my most favorite authors. She writes about things that interest me, and she writes in a way that is close to perfect for my taste. I do not care much about plot, and do not need fast action. Ms. Fossum writes about Little Things That Are Important In Life, and she writes about them beautifully. "The Caller" is another lovely, little, quiet book, where seemingly nothing much extraordinary happens for the most part. And yet, people get sick, divorce, and die, becaus [...]

I don't think it is the book, or I should say, the writing, that merits one star. Karin Fossum is who she is - she writes offbeat quiet books about oddballs with compassion and yadayadayada I think I am just done with the oddball genre. Halfway through this book I found myself flipping to get back to the parts about Sejer and Skarre, the 2 detectives, who are delightful characters. I just couldn't take any more mopey pov from the nut case(s)(there's always more than just the one). I realized th [...]

Both Karin Fossum and Barbara Vine have that gift of creating characters who leap off the page and into full realization from the first time they appear. Their ability to build empathy for their most troubled creations which makes their novels especially rich and affecting.In "The Caller" someone is playing cruel pranks in the neighborhood. These tricks are of the sort that undermine the victims' basic sense of safety and trust in the world, no one is hurt, but their lives will never be the same [...]

This is a Norwegian mystery by Karin Fossum - one of the best authors. She writes poetic sentences. Like most Norwegian authors, she is brief and to the point. It is also interesting to see how police work is done in Norway. One of the most fascinating points is how criminals are viewed and approached. They are people to be pitied, people who need help. There is no anger, revenge, or hatred towards them. Instead, the police seek to understand them and help them 'recover'. It is difficult for me [...]

How would you feel at his place?And here we go - another psychological thriller from cold north. I was impressed by the annotation, because I like crime stories with teenagers and doesn't matter if they're offenders or victims. Yes, so little it takes to happiness.As we already know, the main ''provocateur'' (by the way, that's how they translated the name of this book in my country) is Johnny Beskow, who doesn't have enviable life. He never knew his father and his mother - alcoholic, doesn't ca [...]

The book takes you deep into the hearts and minds of both victims and perpetrators, and, as in other Karin Fossum novels, the mystery is not who did it, but what made them do it. Fossum is no apologist for criminal behaviour, and never makes light of the consequences of her characters' villainous actions. Nevertheless, she can make you understand them in ways no other writer can. She shows a depth of compassion and insight rare not only in crime literature, but any literature. It's as if she's s [...]

È il secondo romanzo “giallo” che leggo di Karem Fossum e condivide con il precedente il senso della misura e la sobrietà espressiva, che non prevede l’uso di scenari esageratamente cruenti e motivazioni al limite del credibile. Si tratta più di una “quieta anormalità”, che finisce per colpire proprio per la sua banale e realissima possibilità di verificarsi. C’è una fondamentale amarezza che permea tutto l’insieme, che offre al lettore il senso di una sconfitta che accomuna [...]

notes to self - not a perfect book as some things were left unresolved. This had as focus a disturbed young man who lived with alcoholic mother who wanted to stir things up, and he managed that in various forms of torture that many referred to as pranks. Dripping blood all over an infant in pram in her backyard whilst the mother was in house preparing meal; after observing a husband in wheelchair with his wife sitting next to him he called for a hearse, pretending to be a doctor reporting a deat [...]

Okay, this is a Norwegian mystery, one of the many Scandinavian novels flooding the market since the success of the Millennium trilogy. The premise is interesting. A 17 year-old boy with a deprived homelife sets about playing malicious pranks on people in and around his village. Some of them have dreadful consequences. Kids can be really vicious, for sure.The novel's problem is simple: there is very little suspense or tension. Much of it is written from the POV of the boy and you know his motiva [...]

A great Inspector Sejer mystery; however, a little slower paced than most of Fossum's novels. Overall, a great read. The ending is sublime.

[This review contains spoilers]The main character in this book is Johnny Beskow, a teenager with a moped and a mother. His mother leaves a lot to be desired. She is an alcoholic with no real interest in her son, who is left to fend for himself a great deal. He does have a grandfather, whom he visits regularly and tries to look after. His mother has an interest in the old man too – how much money he might leave her when he dies. Johnny, having little life of his own, decides to make an impact o [...]

“The Caller” lives in a world of slow-grinding cruelty, of mean neighborhood streets. The stakes aren’t high, unless you’re one of the rattled victims of the mean pranks and cruel tricks, but Karin Fossum shows how much mental destruction is possible even from low-grade violence. “The Caller” didn’t really work that well for me because there wasn’t a whole lot of detection and uncovering going on by Inspector Konrad Sejer. He seems kind of la-dee-dah about the whole situation, ev [...]

Billed as a thriller, it did anything but. Maybe I need to re-visit it later on, but for now it was just ok. Ok enough for me to let you know it was ok, but not enough for me to write a full blown review.To be honest, the blurb was far more interesting than the book itself.

A prankster keeps Inspector Sejer and Sharre on their toes. This novel might not be Karin Fossum best but it is a good read. The ending may disappoint readers who want their lose ends tied neatly.

אלמוני שולח למפקח סאייר מכתב בו הוא מודיע לו שהגיהנום התחיל, ומרגע זה ואילך פוקדים את העיירה הקטנה שרשרת מעשי קונדס אכזריים במיוחד, שגובים מחיר כבד וכואב מכל אחד מהקורבנות. עד שמעשי הקונדס מתחילים לגבות חיים, ואנשי העיירה מחליטים להפסיק לשתוק. בסך הכל רעיון מעניין, אבל הבחירה [...]

Karin Fossum: The Caller (originally "Varsleren" in Norwegian; read a Finnish transl.)I have read several of Karin Fossum's, a Norwegian crime writer's, novels. This was as good as her novels are, though a bit different in the plot. In many a usual crime novel the crime/murder happens in the beginning, and the rest is about solving the case. Not this time.The book starts with a baby sleeping peacefully in the family garden while the parents happily eat in their house. They find their little girl [...]

The Caller, by Karin Fossum, A. Narrated by David Rintoul, produced by Random House Audio, downloaded from audible.The latest in the Inspector Sejer, Norway, series. A happy couple with a sweet little baby think nothing could go wrong in their world. They have left the baby to sleep in her pram under the maple tree while they had a meal. But when the mother comes out to get the baby, she finds her daughter bathed in blood. They rush to the hospital and it turns out that blood is not her baby’s [...]

"The Caller," an Inspector Sejer Mystery, by Karin Fossum is a very strange book. I'm not sure if the mystery genre it's supposed to represent is psychological thriller or black comedy because it overlaps into both categories, with a little murder thrown in where you don't expect it, but whatever it is it kept me enthralled from the first page. Fast-paced and slightly claustrophobic due to the proximity of the victims, the caller, preys upon it's less a book about outright horror than creeping s [...]

I have never read Karin Fossum before, and it strikes me that this book may not have been the right place to start. It’s something of an anti-mystery/thriller. The perpetrator is known from the start and the victims for the most part remain unknown to the reader until just before bad luck befalls them. As a consequence, much of the dramatic tension comes from the general sense of inconvenience (one could hardly call it danger) felt by the residents of a small town with a cruel prankster on the [...]

This book was between a 4 and a 5 for me. It's very unusual, in that we are pretty sure from the outset who is behind the upsetting doings in the small Norwegian town. This book features the detective work of Inspector Sejer but it is really a character study and a study of human relationships. What small thing can tear a seemingly very happy nuclear family apart? What is most frightening to those who know they are near death by disease? How strong is the bond between humans and the animals in t [...]

Read this while on vacation.Great mystery for those who like to explore the characters and motivations and repercussions of the crime, rather than just figure out who did it.Inspector Sejer is called in to investigate a series of what appear to be petty crimes - prank calls, fake obituaries, etc.However, the events feel related and Fossum shows how each one - trivial as it may appear on the surface - affects the victims over time, messing with their heads and senses of self.She also takes you in [...]

Johan oli taas kirja Fossumilta. Alkoi rauhallisesti ja tuuditti jo lukijansa siihen käsitykseen, että tällä kerralla ei tapahdu mitään. Ei mitään pahaa. Kunnes. Ensin lukija ajattelee, että ei näin. Tämähän on halpamaista ja kieroa, eihän tämä näin voi mennä. Mutta voi se, ja vielä pahemmin kuin etukäteen ajatteli. Sitten vedetään hiukan mattoa lukijan jalkojen alta ja ihan lopulta sitä pyllähtää, kun matto lopulta nykäistään jalkojen alta kokonaan. Sitten sitä vai [...]

I wasn't sure about this book at first, it seemed a bit saccharin-sweet at times (perhaps something lost in translation?). However, about halfway through, I really started to enjoy the story. We are aware of who the perp is from the beginning which I found interesting as we were able to assess his character in more detail. Great ending as well - I won't spoil it but you have to read it to see what I mean.

This book was perhaps the most disappointing of all the books I have read by this author. It allows us to believe that people, even young people, have little or no moral compass if they grow up with troubled parents. I found the book incredibly sad and not even good as a mystery. Better to direct her prodigious talents on writing better mystery stories.

Stephen King recommended book. He said in Entertainment Weekly's column The Best Books I Read in 2012: "Pranks can have lethal consequences, even when they seem harmless to start with. Fossum, a Norwegian poet who has turned to crime, has confected a poison bonbon that ranks with the best of Ruth Rendell."

Another absolute winner from Karin Fossum. I am so happy I didn't wait for its' US release date! I did end up giving this book 4 stars which is pretty uncommon for me with this author's books because it seemed to come off a tad more disjointed than what others in the Ins. Sejer series have. Still very much worth the read though!!

This was a good read, always a new story with plots changing. Karin haas a great grasp on how the mind works and she's at her best in this book.

Not my cup of tea. But I needed to read a book translated into English and this was on the shelf. At least it is done.

Subtle, but profound. Another great read by one of my favorite crime authors!