Karin Fossum, Calling Out For You
Calling Out For You (aka The Indian Bride), by Karin Fossum, takes place in a small Norwegian town, where the body of an Indian woman is found, badly battered. The woman is Poona Bai, recently married to Gunder Jomann, a local seller of farm equipment. Poona was coming for the first time in Norway to live with her husband, who, after his sister was badly injured in a car accident, didn’t manage to be there on time to meet her at the airport. What happened between the airport and Gunder’s house? Who could wish harm to a lonely and probably frightened foreigner?
Calling Out for You is a fine novel, the story of Gunder’s search for a bride in India is poignant, and the novel is more about the suspicion and unease raised by a murder than about the actual finding of a resolution and an explanation. I liked the writing (the translator does an excellent job too), the psychological depth of the characters, the claustrophobic atmosphere of this seemingly peaceful and uneventful Norwegian small town, but I was a bit taken aback by the ambiguous ending. Inspector Sejer, Fossum’s recurrent character, is a flawed man, a realistic character, who has no spectacular intuitions but a strong compassion.
A recommended novel for all lovers of good Nordic mysteries…
Rating: 4/5
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