A second English translation from another Scandinavian author, Åke Edwardson. This series features Chief Inspector Erik Winter, who must investigate a harrowing case in the midst of a sweltering Gothenburg summer. A nineteen year old girl is raped while walking home from a night out with friends. She missed the last tram, so decided to cut through the park on foot, a decision with awful consequences. Shortly after, a second rape ends in murder, and the cases seem connected. Winter's memory is jogged to five years earlier, when an identical crime took place - a rape and murder - in exactly the same location. That crime went unsolved - has the same culprit started again? Exactly which of the cases are connected, if any are at all? Never End is plotted really well; the plot itself, which could have been nothing particularly original, is given a nice little twist from the potential five-year gap in a killer/rapists activity, and the intriguing possible links between the cases. Winter, too, is a good read, as is his troop of police officers. His personal life and his relationship with his wife Angela develops very nicely. Edwardson depicts his characters well, and the case is interesting, suspenseful, and full of a host of characters behaving oddly, more than enough to keep suspicious, curious readers happy. The tone, too, is dark. I like Edwardson's attitude to crime fiction. This novel is a slow, considered affair; he turns away from violence, and unnecessary action, concentrates on character and seems to take more concern with constructing a good, rounded book rather than just a quick story. So, all the elements of a great crime novel seem present and correct. But, Never End is passionless. And that's its main problem. And it's a big one. The book is dark, but cold, and the writing isn't alive. It's almost exemplary in everything but this most intangible, but crucial of ways. There's little fire in the prose or the plot, and that's why this novel is a lot harder to truly enjoy than it should be. I hope further translations will reveal books with the strengths of this one, and none of the flaws.
Ake Edwardson in similar fashion to other Swedish crime novelists like the more famous Henning Mankell, chronicles a methodical homicide inquest while focusing in on both the psychological aspects of the suspects, victims and their police pursuers. In a sweltering summer heat wave in the coastal town of Gothenburg, a corpse of a young woman is found in a hollowed out area within a thicket of trees in a local park. Pathology reports have determined that she had been sexually violated and strangled. Chief Inspector Erik Winter, in charge of the investigation, is stunned as the crime is eerily similar to an unsolved rape and murder committed 5 years ago in the exact same location.
What do You think about Never End (2007)?
Wieder einer dieser mordlüsternen skandinavischen Schreibtischmörder und auch prinzipiell nicht so schlecht, ein bisschen erinnert mich "In alle Ewigkeit" an einen Hakan Nesser-Roman, so wie er das schwüle Wetter in Schwedens Jahrhundertsommer oder die liebevoll entwickelten Figuren beschreibt (z.B. die Probleme des Kommimisars mit dem Nikotinentzug). Auch der Mordfall hat unerwartete Wendungen und bleibt bis zum Schluss spannend. Leider gibt es auch einige gravierende Schwachstellen, weshalb ich diesmal mit Bedauern nur 3 Punkte geben kann.1. Die Übersetzung ist scheußlich und wimmelt so von Fehlern2. Der Plot hat oft unnötige sinnlose Gedankensprünge, die entweder auf die schlechte Übersetzung oder auf den Autor zurückzuführen sind3. wiegt am schwersten - Am Ende werden zwar die Morde aufgeklärt, die genauen Motive dafür erschliessen sich mir aber nicht wirklich. Was sehr bedauerlich ist, denn in die Polizisten konnte sich der Autor super hineinversetzen aber nicht in einen irren Mörder. Das kann der Nesser einfach besser!
—Alexandra
Ahh, another dark Scandinavian mystery filled with tortured detectives, inexplicable hot weather in a cold climate, and really weird - and I mean men wearing dog leashes and rapes-in-the-idyllic-park weird.Another day in the midnight sun of the Swedish justice system. I had never heard of this series featuring Detective Erik Winter, but I'll be looking for more in the series. It has every odd Swedish mystery trait that ticks my boxes.And I love the language. My favorite paragraph: "Winter drove the morning light. It had nuances of milk and spinach."Translation, smanslation. I love Scandinavian mysteries.
—Marsha
I am having a hard time deciding how to rate this one. It took a bit before I could actually get into this story. I think that was mostly due to the roughness of the translation. But once the story got going I felt it found its pace. Although I did not like how it wrapped up, it seemed to wrap too quickly.It would have been nice to learn a bit more about the main investigators life - they tried and it may have been there in another book. But it seemed a bit stilted and I couldn't follow what they were trying to get into.
—Kellylynn
