A veteran police detective is vacationing in rural Sweden, and gets caught up in a serial killer case, in Håkan Nesser's Borkmann's Point.
The killer is called The Axman, and the local cops include a chief very close to retirement with a squad of inexperienced or ineffective detectives. Save one, an ambitious young woman who abruptly goes missing during the investigation, spurring the veteran cop along.
Nesser has had a popular run of mysteries in his native Sweden, and I enjoyed this one more as a character study than a mystery, as I felt a few story elements didn't hang together towards the end. But I will look for more of Nesser's work for its slice-of-life elements as well as rich characterizations.
I bought this from a used Engligh-language bookshop on a recent visit to Rome.
The killer is called The Axman, and the local cops include a chief very close to retirement with a squad of inexperienced or ineffective detectives. Save one, an ambitious young woman who abruptly goes missing during the investigation, spurring the veteran cop along.
Nesser has had a popular run of mysteries in his native Sweden, and I enjoyed this one more as a character study than a mystery, as I felt a few story elements didn't hang together towards the end. But I will look for more of Nesser's work for its slice-of-life elements as well as rich characterizations.
I bought this from a used Engligh-language bookshop on a recent visit to Rome.
