[Inspector Konrad Sejer 03] • He Who Fears the Wolf

Following her critically acclaimed debut, Don't Look Back, Karin Fossum's next mystery finds Inspect Sejer at the scene of a brutal murder in a stark, strange town.

Inspector Sejer is hard at work again, investigating the murder of a woman who lived alone in the middle of the woods. The chief suspect is another loner, a schizophrenic recently escaped from a mental institution. The only witness is a twelve-year-old boy, overweight, obsessed with archery, and a resident at a home for delinquents. When a demented man robs a nearby bank and accidentally takes the suspect hostage, the three misfits are drawn into an uneasy alliance. Shrewdly, patiently, as is his way, Inspector Sejer confronts a case where the strangeness of the crime is matched only by the strangeness of the criminals, and where small-town prejudices warp every piece of information he tries to collect.

From Publishers WeeklyIn Fossum's impressive psychological police procedural, her second to be published in the U.S. to feature Insp. Konrad Sejer (after 2004's Don't Look Back), a troubled youngster claims to have seen escaped mental patient Errki Johrma, a schizophrenic rumored to have left a string of corpses in his wake, in the vicinity of a brutal murder. Sejer himself becomes a crucial witness to another crime—a daylight bank robbery that turns into a hostage situation. Blaming himself for not acting on his suspicions of the man who held up the bank, Sejer races to prevent further bloodshed. The gripping plot takes another sharp turn when the possible killer—Johrma—is identified as the robber's captive. Fossum succeeds in evoking sympathy for all her characters while maintaining the conventions of the fair-play whodunit. Her detective's shy, slow courtship of the psychiatrist responsible for Johrma's care is patiently and convincingly integrated into the plot. Fossum's harrowing journey inside Johrma's warped mind elevates this above the pack and bodes well for future efforts. (July 6) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ReviewPRAISE FOR HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF

"A superb writer of psychological suspense."--The New York Times

"Fossum's presentation of her characters is marked by an intelligence and compassion that is not often found in the pages of crime fiction."--The Sunday Times (London)

"Easily one of the best new imports the genre has to offer"

(Baltimore Sun 20050731)

"A superb writer of psychological suspense"

(Marilyn Stasio New York Times 20050710)

"Fossum raises interesting questions throughout...That she doesn't pretend to have all the answers only adds to the force of her story."

(Wall Street Journal 20050715)