A detective in the Swedish town of Kymlinge receives a letter telling him a murder is about to be committed. Once the crime is confirmed further letters arrive, but the police are powerless to stop the murders continuing.

There are three main threads to this story. The first is the police procedural, both to identify and protect the named victims and to identify and capture the murderer themself. The second is the story told by the murderer of the events five years previously that drove them to commit these crimes. The third thread is the increasingly complex personal life of Inspector Barbarotti himself - falling in love, doubting his motivations for police work and worrying about his children.

The ending is very strange. Apart from the usual dramatic twist in identifying the killer we are never told how this person was identified and caught! We are told that one of the officers spotted a previously overlooked clue and that led them to the actual killer; I think the idea is that the reader should think about what we have been told and try to identify the clue(s) for themselves.

The writing is very good. The action is always believable and the conversations and discussions are very naturalistic. Any weirdness comes from the lifestyles and customs of the Swedes that the rest of us may not be used to. ( )

Auch dieser 'Barbarotti' hat mir wiederum sehr gut gefallen. Beinahe wichtiger als der Krimiteil des Buches war mir das Geschehen um das Personal der Geschichte (Barbarotti, Backmann).
Ich habe mir beim Lesen immer wieder gewünscht, ich hätte die ersten drei Bände in der richtigen Reihenfolge gelesen. ( )

Riktigt bra igen. Det är kul att följa Barbarottis öden. Han känns trovärdig. Och Nesser har en förmåga att använda ett innerligt språk, utan att ens nästan bli sentimental.
Jag gillar verkligen upplägget med parallellhändelserna (som sker fem år tidigare). Växlingen mellan då och nu driver verkligen på berättelsen.

Sista fjärdedelen blir en aning segt, det idisslas lite för många gånger, men plötsligt kommer slutet. Och jag gillar upplösningen även om den känns lite okonvetionell. ( )

Bra ( )

Glimrende. Kan sikkert genlæses - med opklaringen af forbrydelsen i baghovedet - som "en helt anden historie". ( )