ECHOES FROM THE DEAD
By Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy, Delta, 388 pages, $14
Ask any parent: What's worse than knowing your child is dead? Not knowing. That's the grim back story to this brilliant debut from Swedish novelist Johan Theorin. He takes us into the living death of Julia Davidsson, whose life went on hold one day 20 years earlier, when her son Jens vanished from her family home on Oland Island.
Since that day, Julia has waited for a sign. She fled Oland, cut herself off from her father, waited for the bones to appear, the clues to surface, and tried to kill the small hope that Jens is still alive somewhere. Doing what? Grown into whom?
Theorin sets that scene in so few pages that it's a shock when the story begins. Gerlof Davidsson, Julia's father, calls her. Come to Oland, he says. There is news of Jens.
Julia is prepared for bones or hair. Not for a sandal. A small one, repaired with sewing thread and put on her son that last day by her own hand. And someone has sent that sandal to Gerlof.
Just what happened to Jens could alone make a great suspense novel, but Theorin doesn't stop there. We travel along Julia's road, from despair to hope to fear of hope, as she and her father revisit the site of Jens's disappearance, talk to people who remember the day — and who also remember Oland's most notorious murder, and the rich young man who killed and died long before Jens was born. What did Nils Kant have to do with the vanished child?
This taut and suspenseful psychological thriller never lets up. I found it impossible to put down and, once read, unforgettable.
THE CHALK CIRCLE MAN
By Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds, Knopf Canada, 247 pages, $29.95 Like legions of other devoted readers, I've become addicted to the adventures of Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the highly eccentric Parisian policeman. Adamsberg's mind is unique. His method of observation, of putting clues together is utterly different and infinitely engaging. The Chalk Circle Man is the first Adamsberg novel and, while I've loved the later ones, there is something enchanting about this one, like the first Hercule Poirot or the first Sherlock Holmes.
The story begins with strange blue chalk circles appearing on Paris streets. They are quickly taken up by the press, and all sorts of possible explanations are discussed. Psychologists and sociologists are consulted, everyone has a theory. Only Adamsberg believes they are sinister, portents of evil to come. Where others see interesting psychological games, he sees a message of murder.
Like all Vargas's plots, this one is dense and full of metaphors. Adamsberg's investigations are never simply a dogged search for clues. Instead, we follow a brilliantly contrived quest. If you've already discovered Adamsberg, this novel is essential reading. If you haven't, this is the perfect place to begin.
THE PYRAMID
By Henning Mankell, translated by Ebba Segerberg, New Press, 400 pages, $26.95
Who was Kurt Wallander before he became the intelligent, committed police Inspector of Henning Mankell's brilliant mysteries? The five collected stories in this book fill in the blanks, beginning with Wallander's First Case, when the 21-year-old patrolman follows his first case. Mankell then takes us along the detection road until we have Wallander, all grown up and the best investigator on the force.
It's fun to have the back story of a favourite character, and if Wallander the young isn't as interesting as his older, smarter self, he's still better than the average callow youth.
Mankell isn't at his best in the short story; he needs the larger canvas to fill in his deep and twisting plotlines. Still, this collection, as a unit, is almost as good as a novel.
THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE
By C.J. Box, St. Martin's, 352 pages, $27.95
C.J. Box is best known for his Joe Pickett series, set in the great outdoors, but he's equally adept at stand-alone thrillers, and this one is one terrifying little tale.
Jack and Melissa McGuane are typical middle-class Americans, living the good life in a comfortable Denver suburb. All they need to make life ideal is a baby; the adoption service calls and they have their perfect daughter, Angelina.
