mariethelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Well this was refreshing! An actual courtroom drama for young adults! Yay! I loved it. It was perfectly paced and thrilling with surprising twists and turns!
mpr2000's review
4.0
What happens when there’s a brutal murder in high school and two teenagers are brutally murdered in a small town called Freidheim in Norway? That everyone knows the victims and the killer, so who could have killed two younger teenagers?
Inborn has attracted me since the first page, the case is interesting and twisted, yes, but what really surprised me was how the story is told: between the perspective of the different characters we enter to Inborn; Enver, that is testifying in a trial; but we don’t know if he is a testimony or the criminal. While he is starting speak, he will transport us to the past, when everything happened and everyone is a suspect. It was curious reading the story from the end and turning back to the beginning, the author, Thomas Enger did an amazing job, it was original and suspenseful reading the case during the trial.
We have the perspective of the police during the investigation too, how they suspect from everyone but at the same time, they rule some of the testimonies out of the investigation because they don’t think they could had been the killer. I suppose this is the problem of living in a small place, you know everyone and don’t think anyone can kill in cold blood.
The story has a lot of family secrets and lies, Enver doesn’t have a normal family, her father was killed in a car accident a long time ago and now is living with his younger brother and his mother. They are not a normal family, the mother is never at home and when she is, she is drunk, and with his brother you can not say they have a good relation. But he loves very much his uncle, it seems that is the glue of the family… Who could ever thought that they could have so many secrets and hidden truths?
I have to say that I suspected from each of the members of Enver’s family, all of them had a motive and the time to did it, but this made the book more attractive and twisted!
I would highly recommend you to read this book, is a quick read but original and addictive, you’ll not be able to put it down till you discover the truth!
Inborn has attracted me since the first page, the case is interesting and twisted, yes, but what really surprised me was how the story is told: between the perspective of the different characters we enter to Inborn; Enver, that is testifying in a trial; but we don’t know if he is a testimony or the criminal. While he is starting speak, he will transport us to the past, when everything happened and everyone is a suspect. It was curious reading the story from the end and turning back to the beginning, the author, Thomas Enger did an amazing job, it was original and suspenseful reading the case during the trial.
We have the perspective of the police during the investigation too, how they suspect from everyone but at the same time, they rule some of the testimonies out of the investigation because they don’t think they could had been the killer. I suppose this is the problem of living in a small place, you know everyone and don’t think anyone can kill in cold blood.
The story has a lot of family secrets and lies, Enver doesn’t have a normal family, her father was killed in a car accident a long time ago and now is living with his younger brother and his mother. They are not a normal family, the mother is never at home and when she is, she is drunk, and with his brother you can not say they have a good relation. But he loves very much his uncle, it seems that is the glue of the family… Who could ever thought that they could have so many secrets and hidden truths?
I have to say that I suspected from each of the members of Enver’s family, all of them had a motive and the time to did it, but this made the book more attractive and twisted!
I would highly recommend you to read this book, is a quick read but original and addictive, you’ll not be able to put it down till you discover the truth!
noveldeelights's review against another edition
5.0
Some of you may remember that I was a huge fan of Thomas Enger’s Henning Juul series, which sadly came to an end a while back. Sniff. I’m okay. Whew. Deep breath. Anyway, since then I’ve been rather impatiently awaiting what he would come up with next and the wait is finally over. Could Thomas Enger meet my slightly high expectations?
Now, admittedly I was a bit worried about Inborn because I kept seeing mention of YA (Young Adult for the uninitiated amongst us) everywhere and I’m a lot closer to SA (Senior Adult). So close in fact I barely remember my young adult days. But of course I shouldn’t have been worried at all! While Inborn is based on a YA novel Thomas Enger wrote a few years ago, it has been completely rewritten to appeal to a wider audience.
The small Norwegian village of Fredheim is shocked to the core when two of its teenagers are found dead in the high school. Soon fingers everywhere are pointing at seventeen year old Even. As Even tries to unravel the truth himself, he realises quite a lot of the residents in Fredheim have secrets they are desperate to hide. Does what happened at the school have its roots in the past? Who can Even trust? And can the reader trust him?
Small town murder mysteries will always be one of my most favourite things and when you throw in some courtroom drama, let’s just say : good luck trying to prise this book out of my hands! Switching seamlessly between the past and the present, I was utterly hooked from beginning to end. The plot is set up in such a remarkable way, which each chapter almost ending on a cliffhanger, that I couldn’t stop reading even if I wanted to.
When we meet Even, he is in the docks during a trial. He’s being questioned, forced to think back to the previous months and the night of the murders, until layer after layer we get to the truth. Being fed little pieces of information like this is such a joy. The detective in me (the really bad one because she often gets it wrong) couldn’t help but try and figure things out, pick up little clues along the way but Thomas Enger kept me guessing until the end. Along the way, we meet a cast of extremely fascinating characters : from Even’s struggling mother, to his uncle Imo, to the detective heading the murder investigation whom I just wanted to wrap up in a big hug.
Thomas Enger is one of those authors who just gets me excited but I can never quite pin down why. There’s something about his style of writing (captivating), something about the way he creates multi-layered and believable characters , and the compelling atmosphere he comes up with time and time again that has me utterly absorbed and desperately wanting more. I knew from the minute I read the first page that I was in for another treat. So yes, this is without a doubt another brilliantly written, suspenseful and hugely addictive page-turner! Slightly high expectations effortlessly met and even exceeded and I do really, really want more!
Now, admittedly I was a bit worried about Inborn because I kept seeing mention of YA (Young Adult for the uninitiated amongst us) everywhere and I’m a lot closer to SA (Senior Adult). So close in fact I barely remember my young adult days. But of course I shouldn’t have been worried at all! While Inborn is based on a YA novel Thomas Enger wrote a few years ago, it has been completely rewritten to appeal to a wider audience.
The small Norwegian village of Fredheim is shocked to the core when two of its teenagers are found dead in the high school. Soon fingers everywhere are pointing at seventeen year old Even. As Even tries to unravel the truth himself, he realises quite a lot of the residents in Fredheim have secrets they are desperate to hide. Does what happened at the school have its roots in the past? Who can Even trust? And can the reader trust him?
Small town murder mysteries will always be one of my most favourite things and when you throw in some courtroom drama, let’s just say : good luck trying to prise this book out of my hands! Switching seamlessly between the past and the present, I was utterly hooked from beginning to end. The plot is set up in such a remarkable way, which each chapter almost ending on a cliffhanger, that I couldn’t stop reading even if I wanted to.
When we meet Even, he is in the docks during a trial. He’s being questioned, forced to think back to the previous months and the night of the murders, until layer after layer we get to the truth. Being fed little pieces of information like this is such a joy. The detective in me (the really bad one because she often gets it wrong) couldn’t help but try and figure things out, pick up little clues along the way but Thomas Enger kept me guessing until the end. Along the way, we meet a cast of extremely fascinating characters : from Even’s struggling mother, to his uncle Imo, to the detective heading the murder investigation whom I just wanted to wrap up in a big hug.
Thomas Enger is one of those authors who just gets me excited but I can never quite pin down why. There’s something about his style of writing (captivating), something about the way he creates multi-layered and believable characters , and the compelling atmosphere he comes up with time and time again that has me utterly absorbed and desperately wanting more. I knew from the minute I read the first page that I was in for another treat. So yes, this is without a doubt another brilliantly written, suspenseful and hugely addictive page-turner! Slightly high expectations effortlessly met and even exceeded and I do really, really want more!
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
4.0
Finished reading: February 26th 2021
“I really didn't know. And that was maybe what scared me most.”
Spoiler
I've been meaning to try Thomas Enger's books for a long time now. I already knew I was going to enjoy his writing style after reading Death Deserved last year, which he wrote together with Jørn Lier Horst... I was originally going to start with his Henning Juul books, but my TBR jar thought otherwise and decided I had to read his YA stand-alone Inborn first. Not that I'm complaining, as I most definitely liked what I found! Inborn is part courtroom drama and part crime/detective thriller that can basically been seen as a crossover between YA and adult. How does that work, would you ask? Remarkably well! The story is divided into Then and Now. The part set in the past reads as a crime thriller and is split in two different POVs: Chief Inspector Yngve Mork and the young Even. This way, we get to follow the investigation itself as well as see things through the eyes of both a suspect and a teenager close to the events. Even is very important to the plot, as is shown in the part set in the present, where he is called on the stand in court to be questioned. I really liked this balance between past and present, as it is used both to add suspense as well as answer questions in an ingenious way. And I most definitely didn't guess the full truth about it all even though I was mostly right about who was behind it... Still, I really enjoyed my time with Inborn and I can't wait to read more of his books next.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
4.0
Visit the locations in the novel
This is a unique read from Thomas Enger based on his YA book Killerinstinkt. Maybe it should be called Reborn as that's what it is. A YA book rewritten for an adult audience. When I heard this, I wondered whether it would work and if it anyone else had written a book this way. Answer to the first worry - yes it does. Answer to the second - not sure but they probably should after reading this
There's a nice little author note which explains why and how the author reworked it and what the challenges were. Very interesting to read!
Back to the story and the book however.....
This is a story about a murder trial - a teenager is on trial for the murder of two of his classmates. The story is then told in nice short chapters and captivating sections of then and now. The 'then'takes us back to the events leading up to the murder and the 'now' is set in a courtroom as the trial takes place. It's such an interesting set up and one which totally fascinated and held my attention throughout. The courtroom scenes are gripping as you're never really sure who is on trial and what is going on...
The murder in the school sends shockwaves throughout the close-knit village. The close sense of community in this small place adds to the problems of the case - people are quick to act and quick to assume. There's a nod or three to social media and the real meaning of a web which holds everyone and everything in its grip.
The two timelines move and merge until they catch you as a spider in a very intricate web. To create this from a YA beginning is quite something. The trial in the courtroom is suitably claustrophobic and real. Now I have never been in a courtroom or sat through a trial, but this seemed very authentic and raw.
Enger is a master at what he does. This for me takes him up a notch on the author brilliance scale.
The setting here is fictional but all the more enticing because of it. It's a small Norwegian village filled with darkness and a whole bunch of secrets.
There's dark clouds and a distinct chill in the air and that's not just because of where it is set. The snow, remoteness, sombre mood and sense of dread and foreboding are nicely done and omnipresent.
Enger entices the reader at every step.
marite's review against another edition
4.0
Mari slår opp med Even med en kortfattet sms. To dager seinere blir hun og en annen elev funnet myrdet på skolen etter en revyforestilling. Even har ikke alibi, og er hovedmistenkt. Ryktene svirrer, og kort tid seinere skjer nok et mord. Tettpakket og intens krim hvor mistankene kastes i ulike retninger. Boka er veldig spennende, og vil garantert få mange lesere. Denne leseren synes forfatteren kunne spart litt på kruttet, og mener at motivet for ugjerningene er lite troverdig. Men fint med en ekstra liten tvist mot slutten.
steph1rothwell's review against another edition
4.0
Having enjoyed Thomas Enger’s series of books featuring Henning Juul I was looking forward to reading this standalone YA/ adult fiction novel. My feeling was that it was more adult fiction than YA.
Even, the lead character is only one of the voices. There is also his mother Suzanne, who is to put it mildly, not much support to him or anybody else, and a police officer Yngve. Yngve was a character who I adored. I loved his approach to the investigation, how he tried to support Even whilst wondering if he was responsible for the murders that had taken place. But most of all I loved his conversations with his recently deceased wife Åse.
Because it is YA there is less detail than usual about the killings but it’s believable. The small town community that is stunned by the deaths, the suspicion regarding Even, the gossip and abuse on social media and the self imposed isolation caused by computer gaming.
There are many twists, I didn’t have a clue whether Even was guilty or innocent. I couldn’t even work out if he was the accused or a witness in the court scenes. Or if he wasn’t guilty, who was?
It is a completely different novel to the ones that are from the Henning Juul series but it is just as good.
Even, the lead character is only one of the voices. There is also his mother Suzanne, who is to put it mildly, not much support to him or anybody else, and a police officer Yngve. Yngve was a character who I adored. I loved his approach to the investigation, how he tried to support Even whilst wondering if he was responsible for the murders that had taken place. But most of all I loved his conversations with his recently deceased wife Åse.
Because it is YA there is less detail than usual about the killings but it’s believable. The small town community that is stunned by the deaths, the suspicion regarding Even, the gossip and abuse on social media and the self imposed isolation caused by computer gaming.
There are many twists, I didn’t have a clue whether Even was guilty or innocent. I couldn’t even work out if he was the accused or a witness in the court scenes. Or if he wasn’t guilty, who was?
It is a completely different novel to the ones that are from the Henning Juul series but it is just as good.
_lotti____'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
lindseypeapod's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
marge37's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5