Literature and Fiction / Mystery and Crime · Paperback

In the Darkness

Norwegian title: Evas øye

Karin Fossum

Eva Magnus is a struggling artist and divorced mother of a seven-year-old child, Emma. One afternoon she and Emma are walking by the river when an unknown mans 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 booth Eva dials another number all together. The Police find the body on their own, and it does not take long for Inspector Sejer and his team to determine that the man, Egil, died in a violent attack. But Egil has been missing for months, and the trail to his killer 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 three days before Egil went missing.

Sejer sets to work piercing together the fragments of these two impossible cases; soon enough he realizes they might not be as separate as they had seemed. Gripping and thought provoking, In the Darkness is Karin Fossums first novel featuring the iconic Inspector Sejer.

A truly great writer. JO NESBØ

Fossum is admired by Ruth Rendell and you can see why: Both prefer to explore the vagaries of the human mind rather than deal with the bullets and car chases.DAILY MAIL

A contemporary Patricia Highsmith, her offbeat obsession with the psychology of the criminal mind, and the human cost of criminal activity, pays off handsomely again.IRISH TIMES