IN
OTHER WORDS....
TRANSLATED FROM OTHER LANGUAGES
by Doris Cassiday
Lisbeth Salander returns as
the nonconformist heroine of The Girl Who Played with
Fire (Knopf; $25.95) by the late Swedish author
Stieg Larsson.
Lisbeth is a creative hacker who could qualify as a
“cyberninja” now being recruited by the U. S. Pentagon to
block computer attacks.
In the last pages of Larsson’s first volume, Lisbeth
parlayed a clever arrangement that netted her a hefty sum of
money. Therefore, she is not only savvy but rich and can
function as she pleases. Although her personal background
has never been clearly defined, it has left her with a score
to settle.
Checking up on and tapping into the computer of Mikail
Blomkvist, the journalist she had worked with and loved,
Lisbeth discovers mention of a person who figured in her
past in Mikail’s incoming e-mail regarding sex trafficking.
Off she goes to visit the sender of the e-mail. Her arrival
and murder of the couple she is to visit dovetail. Police
find only Salander’s prints on the weapon and she becomes
suspect number one.
Incidentally, the gun will be traced to her guardian who is
also found murdered; so she has to keep a very low profile –
going undercover in her new apartment and devising various
disguises.
The police seek a girl with a tattoo of a wasp on the right
side of her neck. (Aha! it is no longer there.) “Nobody can
go around without leaving traces, like some kind of ghost.”
Little do they comprehend the craftiness of Lisbeth.
Reg Keeland’s translation keeps Larsson’s thrilling novel
moving forward at a swift pace as Salander hunts down the
demons in her life and in turn is pursued by police,
Blomkvist and professional killers.
The saga of Lisbeth Salander to be continued…
The setting for The
Darkest Room (Delta; $15.00) is a compelling factor
in the chiller by Johan Theorin.
Eel Point on the Island of Öland off the coast of Sweden
with its manor house, barn and twin lighthouses intrigues
Joakim and Katrine. They are intent on leaving their
renovated house in Stockholm and eager to restore the manor
house that has special meaning for Katrine.
On the other side of Öland the Serelius brothers and buddy
Henrik plan breaking and entering exploits.
At the manor house the excitement of moving into a new
environment for Joakim, Katrine, daughter Livia and son
Gabriel soon fades when Joakim receives word of a drowning
at Eel Point as he returns from Stockholm. Tilda Davidsson,
newly assigned local police officer, bears the brunt of
telling Joakim that Katrine has drowned.
Tilda, who questions the “accidental” drowning and her great
uncle Gerlof play important roles as the story unfolds.
Between chapters the backstory of people and happenings at
the manor house is revealed from excerpts of a history
written by artist Mirja Rambe, Katrine’s mother who lived at
Eel Point with her artist mother.
After the tragedy Joakim spends more time at the house
wallpapering and painting but at the same time he pokes
around the barn. In one of his forays he finds a wall in the
hayloft with carved names of those who died at Eel Point. He
persists and tells Mirja: “There’s a hidden room here. A
room without a door.”
Aside from the mysteries at Eel Point, thieves keep Tilda
and fellow officers busy.
An award-winning storyteller, Theorin brings it all together
at Christmastime with blizzard, thievery, murder, and in the
darkest room a gathering of those who died at Eel Point.
The translation by Marlaine Delargy sustains Theorin’s
gripping suspense and ghostlike essence for the reader’s
enjoyment.
When Harry Hole of the Oslo
Crime Squad looks in the mirror he sees: “Two bloodshot
eyes, a network of fine blue veins in a pale bony face.” The
Chief Superintendent sees Inspector Hole as “The alcoholic.
The trouble maker. The ever-unbearable, arrogant bullhead.
The best investigator” in the unit.
Jo Nesbo jump-starts Nemesis (Harper; $25.99)
with a bank robbery. Inspector Hole views a video of the
robbery and sees the fatal shooting of the bank teller. No
forensic evidence will be found at the scene.
Next case: A woman is found dead in her apartment, an
apartment that is familiar to Harry. Matter of fact, didn’t
he visit her the night before when she showed him her work
in progress named “Nemesis, the goddess of justice and
vengeance.”
The portrait is of three men. Later, we learn that his
partner Beate Lønn thinks the man in the center of the
portrait could be Harry. He finds himself definitely linked
to this supposed suicide. However, Harry knows she was
left-handed; the weapon is in her right hand. Murder!
A further complication is that someone knows of Harry’s
involvement. E-mail messages keep popping up: “… Let’s
imagine you’ve been to dinner with a woman and the next day
she’s found dead. What do you do?”
There is gypsy lore not to be overlooked in this police
thriller. A well known bank robber in prison is the dead
woman’s uncle – both gypsies. Skip reading is not
recommended because Nesbo craftily includes in the narrative
bits of information key to the solution.
If Don Bartlett’s translation provides a faithful rendition
of Norway’s headline crime novelist, it is well done.
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Reprinted from
Border Patrol, IACW/NA newsletter
© 2010, used by permission
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