In the Darkness

By: Karin Fossum

Narrated by: David Rintoul

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Eva is walking by the river one afternoon when a body floats to the surface of the icy water. She tells her daughter to wait patiently while she calls the police, but when she reaches the phone box Eva dials another number altogether. The dead man, Egil, has been missing for months, and it doesn't take long for Inspector Sejer and his team to establish that he was the victim of a very violent killer. But the trail has gone cold. It's as puzzling as another unsolved case on Sejer's desk: the murder of a prostitute who was found dead just before Egil went missing. While Sejer is trying to piece together the fragments of a seemingly impossible case, Eva gets a phone call late one night. A stranger speaks and then swiftly hangs up. Eva looks out into the darkness and listens. All is quiet. Gripping and thought-provoking, In the Darkness is Karin Fossum's first novel featuring the iconic Inspector Sejer. The prizewinning series has been published around the world to great acclaim.

©2012 Karin Fossum (P)2012 Random House AudioGo

Complex, subtle and satisfying mystery

Where does In the Darkness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is high quality detective fiction. Karin Fossum is one of Sandinavia's finest mystery writers.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot is complex and the characters are fully rounded people who evolve throughout. What makes the listening experience so engaging is how the characters interact, often in unexpected ways.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I can't say it made me laugh or cry (pretty extreme reactions) but it certainly fascinated me, raising my expectations and suspense.

Any additional comments?

I plan to continue reading Karin Fossum

Disappointing

Would you try another book from Karin Fossum and/or David Rintoul?

Probably not.

If you’ve listened to books by Karin Fossum before, how does this one compare?

This was my first

What didn’t you like about David Rintoul’s performance?

I found the his style irritating. I enjoy his screen performances but constant stress on on the penultimate word in the sentence was annoying.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from In the Darkness?

Not sure

Any additional comments?

On the whole .... disappointing.

Another goodie from Karin

Where does In the Darkness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have listened to about 3 books by this author and always enjoy them. I like the characters very much and the reader was very good. Always a good mystery and believable characters

Generally a good listen

At first I found the book confusing as I couldn't get to grips with who was whom, but after about 45 minutes I began to recognize the different characters and get to grips with the increasingly engrossing story. Inspector Sager is the principle detective but doesn't figure as prominently as in previous books, which is a pity as he is an interesting creation unburdened by many of the cliches of this genre of fiction. Despite these quibbles it is a very good story and narrated by the excellent David Rintoul.

Could be better performed by Norwegian female.

What did you like most about In the Darkness?

The focus on a very believable and relatable female character - Eva and the insights her character brings to the realities of life in Norway (despite its status as a utopian welfare state).

What was one of the most memorable moments of In the Darkness?

Scenes of when Eve and Maya meet and discuss. Eve's relationship with her dad.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

As I live in the Nordic region, I know that storytelling here is much more nuanced than the very British style and intonation that David Rintoul utilises in this audiobook. I would have preferred someone who actually speaks Norwegian (as well as English) and is familiar with the culture and place, performing the audiobook. It's important to keep linguistic and cultural characteristics of a text, even when it's translated.

Additionally, since Karin Fossum is one of few female Nordic crime fiction writers, it would have been nice to have used the voice of a woman...particularly since the story centres around female characters too.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wouldn't say 'moved' but you do feel sorry for certain characters at certain points in the story.

Any additional comments?

Please can audible try to retain the original character of stories by employing narrators who are from the same culture/linguistic background of the original story but are English speakers? In this case, there is no shortage of strong English speakers in Norway!