In this tense and twisty latest from Norway’s maven of crime, time shifts between Inspector Sejer’s interrogation of the accused Ragna Reigel and the shocking events that led up to her arrest. How did this lonely, quiet woman come to kill a man–or did she? How did a lonely, quiet woman come to kill a man–or did she? Ragna Riegel is a soft-spoken woman of routines. She must have order in her … routines. She must have order in her life, and she does, until one day she finds a letter in her mailbox with her name on the envelope and a clear threat written in block capitals on the sheet inside. With the arrival of the letter, and eventually others like it, Ragna’s carefully constructed life begins to unravel into a nightmare–threatened by an unknown enemy, paranoid and unable to sleep, her isolation becomes all the more extreme. Ragna’s distress does culminate in a death, but she is the perpetrator rather than the victim.
The Whisperer shifts between Inspector Sejer’s interrogation of Ragna and the shocking events that led up to her arrest. Sejer thinks it is an open-and-shut case, but is it? Compelling and unnerving, The Whisperer probes plausible madness in everyday life and asks us to question assumptions even in its final moments.
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For her thirteenth novel in the Inspector Sejer series, author Karin Fossum has tried something new. We KNOW who did it, or at least allegedly did it. The problem is, we don’t know WHAT she’s done – or why.
I admire this kind of creativity in an author. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as big a fan of the work. I read it through to completion but didn’t really find myself hooked until the crime was revealed. Was it because I was frustrated with the storytelling approach that the author took? I don’t think so. Ms. Fossum alternated between a history of Ragna Riegel (whose loss of voice due to botched surgery is the title character) and Inspector Sejer’s attempts to learn the motivation behind her perceived crime. I think my issue was simply that I didn’t have an emotional attachment to the lead character. I found I did not like Ragna, nor did I hate her. She was just there – and for me, it’s tough to get emotionally involved in a story where the characters do not inspire any emotion!!
Still, it is excellent storytelling, from a master of the craft. Therefore, I will rate it in the middle of the scale.
RATING: 3 ½ out of 5, rounded down to 3 where ½ is not permitted.
This book is the 13th in the Inspector Sejer series, but it was the first one I’ve read and it can be read as a stand alone. The main character Ragna Riegel is a woman of routine until one day that routine is tragically altered. This book is a hauntingly compelling read!
5 stars
This book shifts time between the present-day questioning of the suspect and the telling of the events leading up to her arrest by the suspect.
Ragna Riegel is shy and at the same time she is bold. She has some odd inconsistencies as well. If someone is outside in the cold and dark staring at your house, do you take a long soak in a bubble bath? I certainly wouldn’t!
Ragna has a son who lives in another country and from whom she almost never hears. She lives in an ordinary house and has an ordinary job. But from this job, she can watch people. She has spent a lifetime watching and reading people. Although her observations often turn into daydreams. She has a complicated personality in a deceptively simple exterior.
The question for the reader becomes then: Is Ragna mentally ill, or just plain eccentric? Is she imagining the threats? The notes? Does she hear things in the night? Are they real?
I really appreciate Inspector Sejer’s interviewing style. He is gentle and very observant of his interviewees body language. As is Ragna. But Sejer can be tough when the situation calls for it.
This is a moving and wonderfully well written/plotted story. It shines a bright light on the question: What is reality? Is mine the same as yours? Is it a qualitative difference – between yours and mine? I really have given this question quite a bit of thought since I finished this book. It broke my heart, and yet Ragna’s outlook remains hopeful. Remarkable, just remarkable Ms. Fossum.
I want to send a very big thank you to both NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for forwarding to me a copy of this enlightening book for me to read, enjoy and review.
“Alles ist gut.”