Hakan Nesser - Borkmanns Point

book review by showhost nov 2013

this is the first book by this author that I have read but as it is another nordic noir author (Swedish) I thought I'd give it a go as I carry on with my quest to find another as good as Steig Larsson.  Nesser is three time winner of the best Swedish Crime Novel Award, winner of european Crime fiction Star Award and shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger award.  It was published in 1994, and the first to be translated into English.

On the cover it states: an 'Inspector Van Veeteren mystery'. 

Inspector VV is quite a laid back character who is given to deep thinking and enjoys chess.  He is a warm, character who likes good wine and good company and toothpicks which I imagine must get on the nerves of his colleagues!  There is some subtle wit dialogue which stops it from being like the gruesome, usual serial killer type novel.  Inspector VV is on holiday when he is called in to assist the local authorities near where he is taking his leave.  Two men, with no apparent link, are brutally murdered with an axe, months apart, in the quiet, coastal town of Kaalbringen.  The chief of police there is winding down to his retirement and would like to get the case solved before he retires.

Inspector VV doesn't seem to be getting near to solving the case and calls in one of his men 'Munster', to assist along with the local police staff.  When a third body is discovered with the same death blows the community are becoming very nervous.  The police appeal for witnesses, the past of all three victims are detailed to try to find a link.  An extensive 35 page report is assembled but still no clue.  Have they reached Borkmanns point?  One of the local detectives, young female, thinks she may have found something in the report and leaves a message on Munsters phone to that effect arranging to meet him at 7.30pm.

She doesn't turn up, she is last seen jogging along the beach at 6.45, by Inpsector VV himself.

They need to get the breakthrough and soon but will their colleague be dead or alive they don't know.

It was slow to get going and is never a fast paced book like Simon Kernick's but the build up is deliberate and eventually consuming.  You learn to ignore the place names as it doesn't mean anything to us & doesn't detract from the story.  I quite enjoyed this crime book but def not Steig Larsson but then to me neither is Jo Nesbo.

Oh, yes, so what is Borkmanns Point, you may ask?  Well quote from book: its Bormanns rule, more a landmark for tricky cases.  In every investigation there comes a point beyond which we don't really need any more information.  When we reach that point, we already know enough to solve the case by means of nothing more than some decent thinking. (this apparently was the muse of a snr officer VV worked with when he was younger & who he admired & respected).

Hakan Nesser - Borkmann’s Point

reviewed live on bookshow by Brian Lowen Nov 2013 

This is a detective story set in Scandinavia featuring Chief Inspector Van Veeteren.

When two men are brutally murdered in the quiet coastal town of Kaalbringen, CI Van Veeteren, who happens to be on holiday close by is summoned to go to the aid of the local Police force.

There appears to be no link between the two killings, despite extensive investigations. Then a third murder occurs and the murder weapon, a very sharp butcher’s axe is left in the corpse, hopefully signalling that this is the last killing. The local police chief, just days away from retirement, is determined to wrap things up before he goes.

Then a brilliant young female detective goes missing, just before she comes to a meeting to reveal what she thinks is a link between the three murders.

Borkmann’s point is a comment made by a senior detective, now retired, who maintained that in every investigation there comes a point beyond which further investigation is unnecessary because enough information has been accumulated for the case to be solved by reasoned thinking. The young female detective had appeared to have reached this point.

I found I was not able to fully gel with the characters and started to speed read just to get to a point where something was happening. It may just be an unfortunate coincidence, but I have found that most of the detective novels set in Scandinavia that I have read seem to be very slow moving, with little action and this was the case with this book. I also found the ending disappointing, so will not be looking out for any more books by this author.

Hakan Nesser - Borkmann's Point

review by Malcolm Martland on show 29th September 2011
When I saw the title of this book, I thought it sounded a little bit like a New World Cabernet Sauvignon, or perhaps a wine from South East Australia.
From the cover:
Borkmann’s point was hardly a rule; in fact, it was more of a comment, a landmark for tricky cases . . . In every investigation, he maintained, there comes a point beyond which we don’t really need any more information. When we reach that point, we already know enough to solve the case by means of nothing more than some decent thinking etc.
My review.
I seem to be reading more and more Nordic Noir these days but far from the fraught and depressed Kurt Wallander Detective Chief Inspector van Veeteren enjoys a leisurely afternoon with wine and pastries or cake a game of chess with a colleague a pleasant walk by the sea. In this novel he's on holiday by the seaside with his son who is on parole from prison for drugs offences. He is not getting onto well with the relationship and wishes he was back at work when there is a murder in a nearby town and he is offered the chance to extend his holiday and go and help out floundering local police force.
It transpires that the latest murder is the second of a similar type. The victim staggering home late from the pub one might is attacked by a mad axemen who almost severs his head. Van Veeteren quickly makes himself at home in a comfortable hotel and acquaints himself with the local chief of police who is shortly to retire. They get on famously and start to make serious inroads into the police chief's massive ancient fine wine store! Then there is a third attack this time a young doctor who is discovered by his girlfriend lying in a pool of blood in the hallway of their apartment but this time with the axe left embedded in his back.

Witness statements pour in and the Department is overloaded with information and van Veeteren is left to ponder over the information between his high teas and Danish pastries.

Then a woman detective is kidnapped and things hot up a bit. Van Veeteren finds himself a witness having seen her going for a run only shortly before. But of course he solves the whole mystery before local police chief, and fellow chessplayer, retires. Van Veeteren probably goes back to his hotel and rewards himself with a glass of beer and maybe some bratwurst before having a nice dinner somewhere, he "could think of no better companion than a good meal".

Although these mysteries don't have the hard edge of the Wallander novels I find myself enjoying them and am now on my third!

Malcolm Martland broadcast on RadioScilly 107.9 FM, 29 September 2011