The Cruel Stars of the Night (Audible Audio Edition) Kjell Eriksson Julie Maisey Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : The Cruel Stars of the Night (Audible Audio Edition) Kjell Eriksson Julie Maisey Audible Studios Books
As autumn creeps across the Swedish city of Uppsala, elderly Professor Ulrik Hindersten disappears without a trace. When the bludgeoned corpses of two local farmers are unearthed within days of each other, Inspector Ann Lindell and her team are called in to investigate what might connect the crimes. Caught in the middle of a dangerous web as distant events take on a devastating and urgent clarity, Lindell must unravel the threads if she is to stop the deranged killer who may be closer than she thinks...
Kjell Eriksson once again shows why he has become an international crime-writing sensation - discover him now.
The Cruel Stars of the Night (Audible Audio Edition) Kjell Eriksson Julie Maisey Audible Studios Books
I'm always hesitant to criticize the translation of a book from another language into English. After all, English is not an easy language, and I think it must be very difficult to convey the meaning of another language into English in a smooth, easy-flowing manner. That being the case, I still must say that I found this particular translation by Ebba Segerberg of Kjell Eriksson's The Cruel Stars of the the Night from Swedish into English to be especially clunky and stilted. It is likely that it contributed to my overall somewhat negative opinion of the book.Having recently read and been entertained by Eriksson's first book to be translated into English, The Princess of Burundi, I decided to push ahead with reading this second book in translation (actually the sixth in the series). I found it much less enjoyable.
The plot here was rather confusing. I was well over halfway through the book before I really started to sort it out and make sense of it.
It began with a woman reporting her father, a professor of around seventy years, as missing. We don't really learn too much about the police's response to this report. Presumably, they investigate, but we're given no particulars.
About a month after that disappearance, we have the first of three murders of seventyish men. The other two murders follow within weeks, but at first there doesn't appear to be any connection between the incidents, other than the fact that all three men were bashed on the head with a blunt instrument of some sort. They do not seem to have known each other in life and they all lived quietly and had no obvious enemies.
Meantime, we also get to know more about the woman who had initially reported her father missing - her father who has never turned up. Her name is Laura Hindersten and she seems to be quite crazy. She is obsessed with one of her male co-workers, whom we learn, somewhat belatedly, is married. Laura is determined to have him and vows to get the wife out of the way.
During all this time, the police investigation of the murders is proceeding in a seemingly leisurely fashion. There are no leads and they have little hope of being able to solve the crimes.
Then a former (I think) police official has an epiphany while playing chess. He sees that his opponent is using the strategy from a little known match that only a chess nerd would be familiar with, and, suddenly, he is convinced that the murderer is following the same moves in choosing his victims. He notifies the police of his theory and they take it seriously. It's a weird theory, but the author spends considerable time developing it.
Once again in this book as in the previous one, Inspector Ann Lindell who leads the team at the Uppsala police department's Violent Crimes division seems almost secondary to the story. We learn more about her lonely personal life and are told that she's devoted to her career. Her co-workers are apparently very fond of her and loyal to her, but we don't really know the source of those feelings. Perhaps they were developed in some of the books that have not been translated into English.
In addition to the stilted translation, there are red herrings galore in this book, to the point of their being distracting and ultimately annoying. There are more red herrings than red meat.
The plot develops slowly and methodically. There's nothing wrong with that, but after such a slow buildup, one hopes for a satisfying climax and it just doesn't come. The ending is so ambiguous as to leave us hanging. Is this to be continued in a later book? There's no indication of that, but it would certainly have been good to know exactly what happened to the villain of the piece.
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The Cruel Stars of the Night (Audible Audio Edition) Kjell Eriksson Julie Maisey Audible Studios Books Reviews
I find Eriksson one of the best writers of crime novels writing today. Ann Lindell is a complex and thoroughly believable character as well as being a fine detective. The social background is interesting, the plots rich and varied, the subsidiary characters well drawn, and the writing is fine.
A hard-hitting suspense novel from Sweden -- well worth reading, even if it is not quite up to the standards of the same author's "Princess of Burundi". This one takes place in the university city of Uppsala, and evolves into a chase for a crazed serial killer. It features Inspector Ann Lindell, a plus, but I didn't find the some of the characters as convincing, or as interesting, as those in "Princess".
More than just a police procedural, this novel is made more complex with its psychological depiction of a mentally troubled woman. I enjoy the the main character Ann Lindell, and her interactions with her colleagues, as well as her independent detecting tendencies. I'll keep reading this series--they're always just a little different.
The story was slow and tedious in some of the middle chapters, but the ending chapters were full of suspense. The character of Laura could have been more fully developed, and I would have liked to have Edvard come back into the story. All in all, I recommend the book to readers who like murder mysteries.
Character development by the author is outstanding. You feel that you know each character quite well throughout the book. The plot is tight, well developed and at no time does it drag. That is due to the author's ability to provide descriptions of physical surroundings, emotional reactions, attitudes with limited detail and great clarity.
This was my first book by this author, but I will certainly pursue some of his other works.
The novel starts good, but...
I picked Kjell Eriksson because it came as a suggestion in an email. Having read some scandinavian authors, it seemed a good choice. Ericsson is a good writer but he goes TOO deep into the character's histories and the novel gets muddled.. too thick to read, too dense.. in the end it seems like the crime's web is broken, is confused, gets kind of lost among all the details of EVERY character. It's not that he lingers on the main ones, which would be reasonable, he does it with ALL of them... and it's too much.
Having read all of Mankell's Wallander Mysteries, I find his (Mankell's) style much delicate and concise, with the exact amount of personal data and personal silences, which makes the reading an lot richer, even when you do not know certain things, and with the exact amount of plot's details.
But I'll read another one, I want to give Eriksson another chance.
Kjell Eriksson writes beautifully (or his translator does) so that the country becomes as much a character of the story as the people. Each of the people caught up in the story has his or her background and emotional state described briefly but brilliantly, so the reader can visualize them instantly. There are a great many various police personnel to keep straight as they come in and out of the story; I wish I had an appendix to refer to, however, the story flows well without pausing to consider whether each person mentioned has a backstory. After reading the first two books in this series, I'm eager to continue on to the next one. I love good writing and Kjell Eriksson doesn't disappoint me.
I'm always hesitant to criticize the translation of a book from another language into English. After all, English is not an easy language, and I think it must be very difficult to convey the meaning of another language into English in a smooth, easy-flowing manner. That being the case, I still must say that I found this particular translation by Ebba Segerberg of Kjell Eriksson's The Cruel Stars of the the Night from Swedish into English to be especially clunky and stilted. It is likely that it contributed to my overall somewhat negative opinion of the book.
Having recently read and been entertained by Eriksson's first book to be translated into English, The Princess of Burundi, I decided to push ahead with reading this second book in translation (actually the sixth in the series). I found it much less enjoyable.
The plot here was rather confusing. I was well over halfway through the book before I really started to sort it out and make sense of it.
It began with a woman reporting her father, a professor of around seventy years, as missing. We don't really learn too much about the police's response to this report. Presumably, they investigate, but we're given no particulars.
About a month after that disappearance, we have the first of three murders of seventyish men. The other two murders follow within weeks, but at first there doesn't appear to be any connection between the incidents, other than the fact that all three men were bashed on the head with a blunt instrument of some sort. They do not seem to have known each other in life and they all lived quietly and had no obvious enemies.
Meantime, we also get to know more about the woman who had initially reported her father missing - her father who has never turned up. Her name is Laura Hindersten and she seems to be quite crazy. She is obsessed with one of her male co-workers, whom we learn, somewhat belatedly, is married. Laura is determined to have him and vows to get the wife out of the way.
During all this time, the police investigation of the murders is proceeding in a seemingly leisurely fashion. There are no leads and they have little hope of being able to solve the crimes.
Then a former (I think) police official has an epiphany while playing chess. He sees that his opponent is using the strategy from a little known match that only a chess nerd would be familiar with, and, suddenly, he is convinced that the murderer is following the same moves in choosing his victims. He notifies the police of his theory and they take it seriously. It's a weird theory, but the author spends considerable time developing it.
Once again in this book as in the previous one, Inspector Ann Lindell who leads the team at the Uppsala police department's Violent Crimes division seems almost secondary to the story. We learn more about her lonely personal life and are told that she's devoted to her career. Her co-workers are apparently very fond of her and loyal to her, but we don't really know the source of those feelings. Perhaps they were developed in some of the books that have not been translated into English.
In addition to the stilted translation, there are red herrings galore in this book, to the point of their being distracting and ultimately annoying. There are more red herrings than red meat.
The plot develops slowly and methodically. There's nothing wrong with that, but after such a slow buildup, one hopes for a satisfying climax and it just doesn't come. The ending is so ambiguous as to leave us hanging. Is this to be continued in a later book? There's no indication of that, but it would certainly have been good to know exactly what happened to the villain of the piece.
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