Scan barcode
danahag's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
jmatkinson1's review
4.0
Ante Valdemar Roos is 59 and bored with his life. He has worked for the same company for most of his life and lives with his wife and two stepdaughters, all of whom seem to ignore him. His most treasured memories are of time spent with his father in the woods and when Roos wins on the pools he decides to make changes. Without telling his wife he quits his job and buys an isolated cabin in the woods, every day he sets off for work as normal but spends the day in quiet contemplation until one day he finds a stranger has taken up residence. Anna is 21 and has run away from an addiction centre and an abusive relationship. She and Roos find companionable comfort in a strange friendship until one day Anna’s crazy ex catches up with her.
This book is a real slow burn. Roos is an engaging and curmudgeonly character who spends the first half of the book being introduced and developing his odd double life. The second half of the book suddenly becomes a murder investigation with the team of Barbarotti and Backmann, quirky detectives in pursuit of the truth. This half is also incredibly satisfying and the final act is given a little bit of uncertainty because that just seems right.
This book is a real slow burn. Roos is an engaging and curmudgeonly character who spends the first half of the book being introduced and developing his odd double life. The second half of the book suddenly becomes a murder investigation with the team of Barbarotti and Backmann, quirky detectives in pursuit of the truth. This half is also incredibly satisfying and the final act is given a little bit of uncertainty because that just seems right.
technomage's review against another edition
3.0
This another bit of fun. A gentle tale not so much a detective story as a story with a detective in it. A good relaxing read
marais90's review
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
4.0
Visit the locations in The Secret of Mr Roos
There's always a reason to read a Håkan Nesser
Book 3 of the Barbarotti series. This is what I would call slow paced Swedish Noir with a sting in its tail. Characters with more layers than an onion and just as tricky to get to without it affecting your breathing and ability to see clearly. Motivations and secrets come to light and you never know who or why...
Take this story - a man comes into a windfall but decides not to tell his family. He moves into a small cabin in the woods. He's just lost his job but pretends to his wife that he's going to work each day. He's an odd character in more ways than one too!
What follows is a slow building novel with red herrings, shades of doubt and twisty characters blending in that Swedish forest. When Mr Roos goes to his woodland cabin, he's not the only one no -one else knows is there....
feeona's review against another edition
2.0
Auch wenn die Kommissare einen Mordfall zu lösen haben, geht es in diesem Buch nicht wirklich um einen spannenden Kriminalfall, sondern eher um die beiden Hauptcharaktere und die Entwicklung ihrer Beziehungen - vor allem zueinander. Die Idee war gut, jedoch ging die Entwicklung für meinen Geschmack etwas zu schnell und simpel. Diese plötzlichen Beweggründe und Aktionen konnte ich nicht wirklich nachvollziehen. Auch die Ermittlung wirkt mehr wie eine Ausrede um die Kommissare auch in die Geschichte einbringen zu können, ohne sie wirklich mit den beiden Charakteren verbinden zu müssen.
Zudem war die Geschichte nicht wirklich spannend. Es war eine ganz nette Lektüre, aber sie ist nicht das, was sie vermutlich sein sollte und hätte sein können, sondern eher ein wenig fad.
Zudem war die Geschichte nicht wirklich spannend. Es war eine ganz nette Lektüre, aber sie ist nicht das, was sie vermutlich sein sollte und hätte sein können, sondern eher ein wenig fad.
nataliya_x's review against another edition
4.0
“Events, always so infernally overestimated, are nothing compared to the parentheses around the spaces in between. You do well to bear that in mind, all you people who blindly rush about the world and think you are on the way somewhere – everything is in the pauses. It is also worth noting that expensive whisky tastes significantly better than the cheap kind. Now I am done and have nothing more to add.”Let’s be clear from the start here: don’t pick up this book if you’re looking for a mystery or a murder or a detective story. It’s not crime fiction, and you’ll end up disappointed if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s something else entirely — a quiet story of life slowly wasted in monotony until one day, at nearly sixty, a man opens himself to the possibility of gentle, fragile almost-happiness.
“An hour and a half passed, and it was in the course of those ninety minutes, as Valdemar sat behind the wheel, watching the birds in flight beneath the clear skies of a May morning, with the light playing over the fields and over the veins on his hands, where his blood pumped round with the aid of his trusty old heart, that he realized it was at times like this his soul made a space for itself in the world and set up home there. At exactly these times.”
Valdemar Roos is viewed by people as an equivalent of a glass of tepid water. “Boring” is the word that comes to mind. His is not a life that lends itself to winning money, secretly quitting a job and finding a secret little cottage in the woods, unbeknownst to everyone around him - not like anyone would care. And it would take a sudden life turn to bring him face to face with a young runaway from a residential rehab program, and from that a turn in life that nobody would have predicted.
“What the devil is it you want to wring out of your remaining years here on earth, Ante Valdemar Roos?”
It’s a melancholic story, drenched in wistful sadness and quiet resignation. It combines sadness and gentle hint of humor in strange ways — like sad clowns that are anything but funny. In a way it made me remember [b:A Man Called Ove|18774964|A Man Called Ove|Fredrik Backman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405259930l/18774964._SY75_.jpg|21619954], but less heartwarming and much more melancholic. There’s loneliness and sadness and meeting of two souls craving real human connection. And you know the brief happiness is doomed, and cherish it even more because of it. Because you never know when that flash of something blindingly real will burn up your dull existence.
Oh, and the side quest of a graffiti crime solving by Barbarotti also happens, for a much-needed moment of levity.
4 stars.
———————
Buddy read with William, Nat K, Mark and Neale — although I’m about 3 months late finishing it. Sorry ‘bout that…
——————
Also posted on my blog.
————
Recommended by: William
carolachiusi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
miatitley22's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75