Crime & thriller

Farewell, Farah Diba

Karin Fossum

The third crime novel about the energetic detective Eddie Feber is one of the best books Karin Fossum has ever written. A man storms into a police station, limping, past the queuing system and shouts that his daughter has disappeared. His despair is heart-breaking. Kandis, almost 6 years old, has disappeared in the middle of the day on a Saturday. She was wearing a light blue dress and hair bow, strappy sandals, and her dark hair was gathered in a braid. The desperate man is Alfie René, Kandis’s dad. Her mother, Fayroz Mohaved, is dead from cancer. Alfie is visibly injured from a serious motorcycle accident. It turns out that a little girl has been observed in a grey van, both near a supermarket and a gas station near the forested area of Natvig. We follow Eddie Feber and his partner Margot as they search for traces. Has she been kidnapped by an abuser? Has the little girl in the beautiful dress been taken far into the dark forest? Does a shipment of OxyContin opiod pills have something to do with the disappearance? As the days go by, the hope of finding the girl alive becomes a desperate and perhaps unrealistic hope. Eddie Feber also has a daughter of the same age as Kandis and the case hits him hard. We get to know him on a more personal level than in previous books. Karin Fossum has written a painfully relevant and gripping story, where the readers will have their assumptions and suspicions turned on their heads. NOMINATED TO THE RIVERTON PRIZE 2024 Reveiws World class «Heart-wrenching topic which, by anyone other than Fossum would be speculative and tendentious. […] at her best she writes psychological thrillers of world class. As this one is.» Dagbladet, six/six stars «Elegant and intelligent crime […] fairy-tale like, gripping and almost surreal.» Bok365, six/six stars «… one of the smartest crime authors in Norway, especially how thoughtfully she writes about what humans are capable of, both good and bad.» Randaberg24, six/six stars «Karin Fossum is close to her very best. And crime literature doesn’t get much better than that.» Adresseavisen, five/six stars Farewell, Farah Diba – Excels! «To deliver so strongly only a year after her previous publication, is an achievement few Norwegian crime authors will do after her.» VG, five/six stars «Farewell, Farah Diba stands out as Karin Fossum at her most superb. It offers excitement, entertainment and wise reflections in a wonderful mix. Karin Fossum proves once again that she belongs to the very top echelon of Norwegian crime.» Dagsavisen Karin Fossum – A whole other class «Most crime stories, also the very good ones, are often particularly exciting in certain passages. With Fossum the whole novel is one continuous passage of excitement. No one does it better.» Nettavisen One of Bok365's best books of 2023 «We should and must live in uncertainty, as it should be, whether the mysteries can be solved or not, but there is a slow and almost imperceptible development in the relationship between child and adult which means that we as readers see with wonder and amazement and pure joy that the balance of power almost tips in favor of the child. In a blend of a fairy tale story, descriptions of nature, some philosophical considerations of life, the text gives us hope and faith in the forces of life.»