Esta entrada es bilingüe, para ver la versión en castellano desplazarse hacia abajo
Translated by Charlotte Barslund, 2011. Faber and Faber Crime, 2011. Kindle Edition. 521 KB. Originally published in Norway as Skinndød, 2010. ASIN: B0052RCVXU. ISBN: 978-0-571-27223-5.
The action is set in Oslo during the month of June, 2009. Following a period of extended leave, Henning Juul, a journalist in an online newspaper called 123news has returned to his day work. He lost his only son, a six year old child called Jonas, during a house fire a couple of years ago, which have left him physical, emotional and psychological scars.
On his first day back to work Henning has to cover the story of a young woman found brutally murdered in a tent at an Oslo public park. She had been buried up to her neck and, at first glance, stoned to death. The police have arrested her boyfriend, of Pakistani origin, as a main suspect. But Henning does not believe is an honour killing and begins to investigate by his own. And then a second murder takes place and Henning’s life will be in serious danger.
I found that Burned has an excellent plot, very much in the tradition of the best whodunit of the Golden Age. It includes some red herrings that, for me, have worked just fine and has a superb ending with some unexpected twists and turns. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Besides, the main character is quite attractive. Maybe it’s not a great novel. It’s not flawless. Certainly some secondary characters are not well defined, the narrative has some ups and downs in the middle of the story, and there are some things that are not credible, in my view; but in any case it is a promising debut and I’ll be looking forward to the next book in the series.
My rating: 4/5.
Burned is Thomas Enger debut novel and the first in a series of six that will be featuring the journalist Henning Juul. The second novel Pierced (originally titled Fantomsmerte) was released in English last July. The third novel, Scarred (originally titled Blodtåke), is due to be released in Norway in the beginning of 2013.
Burned has been reviewed by Sarah at Crimepieces, Karen at Euro Crime, Barbara at Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Maxine at Petrona, Bernadette at Reactions to Reading, Peter at Nordic Bookblog, Lynn Harvey at Euro Crime, Norman at Crime Scraps among others.
Tomas Enger at Scandinoir (in English)
Fuego de Thomas Enger
La acción se desarrolla en Oslo durante el mes de junio de 2009. Después de un largo periodo de ausencia, Henning Juul, un periodista de un periódico en digital llamado 123news ha vuelto a su trabajo diario. Él perdió a su único hijo, un niño de seis años llamado Jonas, durante un incendio en su casa un par de años atrás, que le han dejado secuelas físicas, emocionales y psicológicas.
En su primer día de vuelta al trabajo Henning tiene que cubrir la historia de una joven encontrada brutalmente asesinada en una tienda de campaña en un parque público de Oslo. Ella había sido enterrada hasta el cuello y, a simple vista, apedreada hasta morir. La policía ha detenido a su novio, de origen paquistaní, como principal sospechoso. Pero Henning no cree que sea un asesinato por honor y comienza a investigar por su cuenta. Y luego tiene lugar un segundo asesinato y la vida de Henning correrá un grave peligro.
He encontrado que Fuego tiene una trama excelente, muy en la tradición de la mejor novela policíaca de la Era Dorada. Incluye algunas pistas falsas que, para mí, han funcionado muy bien y tiene un final excelente, con algunos giros inesperados. Tengo que admitir que me ha sorprendido gratamente. Además, su personaje principal resulta bastante atractivo. Tal vez no se trata de una gran novela. No es perfecta. Es cierto que algunos personajes secundarios no están bien definidos, la narración tiene algunos altibajos hacia la mitad de la historia, y hay algunas cosas que no me han resultado creíbles; pero en cualquier caso se trata de un debut muy prometedor y voy a estar esperando con interés el siguiente libro de la serie.
Mi calificación: 4/5.
Fuego, es la primera novela de Thomas Enger y la primera en una serie de seis que tienen como protagonista al periodista Henning Juul. La segunda novela Pierced (titulada originalmente Fantomsmerte) fue publicada en Inglés el pasado mes de julio. La tercera novela, Scarred (titulada originalmente Blodtåke), se espera que sea publicada en Noruega a principios de 2013.
Editorial Medialive. Publicado el 21 de noviembre de 2011.
Tomas Enger at Scandinoir (en castellano)
A Crime is Afoot 
I thought this was a great debut with an interesting lead character. I suspect the series is going to get better as it progresses.
I agree with you Sarah regarding the interesting lead character and I also expect the series to get better as it progresses..
Glad you enjoyed it, Jose Ignacio. Like Sarah, I liked the main character, the humour and the observations on the values in modern journalism. I thought the plot went a bit wayward in this one, but having read Pierced, I think the plotting is a great deal better in that.
Thanks for your comment Maxine. Glad to know that Pierced is a great deal better in your view