Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2015
240 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Carmen and Nicolai failed to resuscitate their son, Tommy, after finding him floating in their backyard pond. When Inspector Skarre arrives on the scene, Carmen reports that Tommy, a healthy toddler with Down syndrome, wandered into the garden while Nicolai was working in the basement and she was cleaning the house. Skarre senses something is off with Carmen's story and consults his trusted colleague, the famed Inspector Sejer. An autopsy reveals Tommy's lungs to be full of soap.
When Sejer and Skarre revisit the couple, Carmen, an epileptic, changes her story, confessing that she'd been knocked unconscious by a seizure while bathing Tommy. When she came to, she found him drowned in the tub and, horrified and frightened, threw him into the pond.
But Skarre and Sejer's doubt is not appeased and the case is reopened. What more could Carmen be hiding? And what lengths will she take to cover her guilt? As Carmen's own family starts to doubt her, Skarre and Sejer work to find the truth.
"Starred Review. Fossum explores the aftershocks of the boy's death for Carmen and Nicolai in a riveting tale that's more psychological study than police procedural." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. A chilling crime novel from the award-winning Fossum." - Booklist
"Fossom's 12th Sejer installment doesn't disappoint. Her writing style keeps the reader guessing to the final page. This title will appeal to mystery readers of all stripes." - Library Journal
"Minimalist but compelling work from the author who seems to have inherited the late Ruth Rendell's gift of spinning the darkest complications out of what might seem like nothing at all." - Kirkus
This information about The Drowned Boy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Karin Fossum is the author of many novels and two collections of short
stories. Her crime novels featuring Inspector Sejer have been translated into sixteen languages.
Don't Look Back is the first of Fossum's police
procedurals to be published in the USA. The second in the series, He Who Fears The Wolf was published in 2005, and other translations of the series in English include Calling Out For You and Black Seconds.
Fossum has recently been honored with Gumshoe Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller. She lives in a small town in southeastern Norway.
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