Borkmann's Point: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery (An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery, 2)

An excellent msytery, wih great characterization and plot, and one of he best narrations I've come across (this is approximately the 40th audio book I've "read"). Simon Vance is a wonderful reader; must be a terrific actor. I'm going to look up his career on IMDB.com and try to see any films or TV shows he's been in; and, of course, find other audio books he narrates.

Borkmann's Point is the recent English translation of Håkan Nesser's third book. Originally written in 1994, it was awarded that year's Best Swedish Crime Novel Award. Nesser's story is reminiscent of the works of fellow Swedes Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (The Laughing Policeman) and early Henning Mankell (Faceless Killers), it begins with a violent and shocking crime but soon evolves into an extensive police procedural with two capital `P's. The overtaxed local police department is assisted by Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, a world weary police veteran who, in his many years of service, has seen and worked on every kind of case there is, except axe murders. Now he is working on two of them, which have taken place in the seaside village of Kaalbringen, in a fictional country amazingly similar to Sweden. If identifying and apprehending a serial axe murderer doesn't put enough pressure on the officers, one of their own disappears soon after announcing she has something she needs to discuss.

As with most good procedurals, the police follow every possible lead, interview hundreds of people, gather massive reams if information, pursue unrelated lines of inquiry and, somewhere in the process, find the one piece of information that will ultimately break the case wide open. It's sort of like finding a needle in a haystack. To some, this type of story will be boring. Such people are likely to want lots of action and a resolution they don't need to figure out for themselves. Nesser will probably appeal to a more cerebral crowd, one that wants an experience closer to what actually happens in an investigation and one that offers the reader the chance to spot the relevant clues before the detectives.

This is the second in a series of books featuring DCI Van Veeteren. I haven't read the first book and did not feel like I was missing anything by it.

This review is of the unabridged audio recording by Englishman Simon Vance, a prolific narrator best known for his work on Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey series. I personally believe I would have gotten more out of this book had I read it rather than listened to it, mainly because of the level of attention required to fully appreciate it. This is not intended to be a slight against the author or narrator, merely a statement of personal preference.

The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the LibraryThing Early Review Program.

This is a review of the audio book version of this police procedural, by the Swedish author Hakan Nesser. This mystery has some very familiar elements - the mysterious serial killer whose motive (if any) is unknown; an aging, world-weary detective (we know him only as Detective Inspector Van Veeteren, no first name); and a cast of police detectives of various skill levels and degrees of eccentricity. Nesser's writing skill is really the only thing that sets this book apart from many Scandinavian counterparts. His dialogue is crisp, his descriptive paragraphs evocative. His plotting is not exceptional, at least in this volume, but the story keeps moving forward in fits and starts.

My personal reaction to most northern European mysteries is, I have to say, depression. Like so many protagonists in such books, Van Veeteren is obsessive, keeps his thoughts to himself, and doesn't seem to have any friends or family. If he were a Sherlock Holmes and promptly identified the killer, one would understand why he is a revered homicide detective, but, at least in this instance, he seems to be making little progress in his detection until the end.

Kudos to the narrator (Simon Vance), who manages to give the various characters their own voices, even if the police chief reminded me strongly of John Cleese.