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categj's review against another edition
2.0
I'm always on the lookout for a good mystery - mystery books are my comfort read ever since I found Agatha Christie when I was twelve or thirteen.
Lately, I been sampling Scandinavian authors, but haven't yet found a favourite. So when I saw a copy 1222 by Anne Holt (a very popular Norwegian writer) in the bargain book shelf at my local bookstore, I snapped it up to give it a try.
Holt's set up of the story in promising. A wild winter storm, derails a train and strands hundreds of passengers, including, ex-police inspector, Hanne Wilhelmsen, a misfit teenager, several members of a religious group, a Muslim couple, a racist journalist and a mysterious isolated, group of people, rumoured to be members of the royal family. Rescuers transport the passengers to a hotel, located high in the Norwegian mountains 1222 metres above sea level.
Initially, the travellers are optimistic and relieved to be ensconced in the warm mountain hotel where they can safely wait out the raging blizzard before searchers can reach them and take them home.
When one of the passengers is found murdered, Hanne is recruited to take charge of the matter. Irritable and anti-social, the ex-police inspector grudgingly begins to piece together the case.
Even though I was intrigued by the sardonic ex-police inspector with her extraordinary powers of observation and excellent memory, and I found Holt's writing style flowed well and was easy to read, I was disappointed with this novel.
It is impossible for the reader to attempt to solve the case as they must rely solely on Hanne to reveal any information, which she does not. Several times, Hanne thinks to herself that she has figured out a piece to the puzzle, but that is all that we find out. Hanne gives no real ideas about what she is thinking and the actions of other characters do not give any clues either. Many characters act suspiciously, but that suspicion is neither explained nor elaborated upon and are often forgotten. There are many devices that mystery authors use to provide the reader with information that can lead to guesses and assumptions, but Holt does not use any of them.
I had no sense of “who-dunnit” while reading this novel, no clue of the motive for the crime and the “twist” of the mysterious guests added nothing to the suspense of the tale but was just another frustrating detail. There was no sense of “sleuthing” in this book, no clever deductions, no feeling of eliminating suspects, no stunning detective work in bringing the murderer to light. There was little excitement and no sense of danger conveyed in this story — the unveiling of the culprit was flat and disappointing.
Needless to say, I won’t read another “Hanne Wilhelmsen novel” anytime soon.
Lately, I been sampling Scandinavian authors, but haven't yet found a favourite. So when I saw a copy 1222 by Anne Holt (a very popular Norwegian writer) in the bargain book shelf at my local bookstore, I snapped it up to give it a try.
Holt's set up of the story in promising. A wild winter storm, derails a train and strands hundreds of passengers, including, ex-police inspector, Hanne Wilhelmsen, a misfit teenager, several members of a religious group, a Muslim couple, a racist journalist and a mysterious isolated, group of people, rumoured to be members of the royal family. Rescuers transport the passengers to a hotel, located high in the Norwegian mountains 1222 metres above sea level.
Initially, the travellers are optimistic and relieved to be ensconced in the warm mountain hotel where they can safely wait out the raging blizzard before searchers can reach them and take them home.
When one of the passengers is found murdered, Hanne is recruited to take charge of the matter. Irritable and anti-social, the ex-police inspector grudgingly begins to piece together the case.
Even though I was intrigued by the sardonic ex-police inspector with her extraordinary powers of observation and excellent memory, and I found Holt's writing style flowed well and was easy to read, I was disappointed with this novel.
It is impossible for the reader to attempt to solve the case as they must rely solely on Hanne to reveal any information, which she does not. Several times, Hanne thinks to herself that she has figured out a piece to the puzzle, but that is all that we find out. Hanne gives no real ideas about what she is thinking and the actions of other characters do not give any clues either. Many characters act suspiciously, but that suspicion is neither explained nor elaborated upon and are often forgotten. There are many devices that mystery authors use to provide the reader with information that can lead to guesses and assumptions, but Holt does not use any of them.
I had no sense of “who-dunnit” while reading this novel, no clue of the motive for the crime and the “twist” of the mysterious guests added nothing to the suspense of the tale but was just another frustrating detail. There was no sense of “sleuthing” in this book, no clever deductions, no feeling of eliminating suspects, no stunning detective work in bringing the murderer to light. There was little excitement and no sense of danger conveyed in this story — the unveiling of the culprit was flat and disappointing.
Needless to say, I won’t read another “Hanne Wilhelmsen novel” anytime soon.
outi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
alnicholl77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
ortinggirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-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
4.0
barbarab's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Anne Holt wants to write a classic Poirot crime story. That’s ok, why should she not play with the genre. But the addition of the terrorists - or are they? - didn’t really add to the story for me. Not one of he best.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
This is Anne Holt's homage to Agatha Christie's style of murder mysteries, taken to modern Norway. Hanne Wilhelmsen is an ex-cop, a paraplegic traveling by train through the Norwegian mountains to Bergen to see a specialist. The train derails near an isolated holiday resort and the passengers are taken by snowmobile to the hotel to wait out the fierce winter storm that prevents them from being rescued. Sometime during that first night, a man is murdered and Hanne finds herself unwillingly heading up a quiet investigation, helped by the red cross worker who rescued her, a doctor and the hotel manager.
Holt excels at the character study and here she has plenty to work with. She remains true to the spirit of the genre, while creating a modern collection of people, who are on edge after surviving the crash and learning that a murderer is living among them. Holt even ends the story in a particularly Christie-like way, while retaining the its very modern setting.
I didn't look at her. Instead I met Geir Rugholmen's gaze. He was still standing on the table, his legs wide apart; he was strong, but there was an air of resignation about him. We were both thinking the same thing.
The people who were snowed in at Finse 1222 had begun to let go of their dignity. And only eighteen hours had passed since the accident.
Holt excels at the character study and here she has plenty to work with. She remains true to the spirit of the genre, while creating a modern collection of people, who are on edge after surviving the crash and learning that a murderer is living among them. Holt even ends the story in a particularly Christie-like way, while retaining the its very modern setting.
I didn't look at her. Instead I met Geir Rugholmen's gaze. He was still standing on the table, his legs wide apart; he was strong, but there was an air of resignation about him. We were both thinking the same thing.
The people who were snowed in at Finse 1222 had begun to let go of their dignity. And only eighteen hours had passed since the accident.
littletaiko's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed 1222, a Scandinavian mystery with a memorable detective. A classic setting, where a large group of people are stranded somewhere, and one by one they die. Fortunately, one of the stranded people is a retired police inspector who while very unsociable, hasn't lost her eye for details. The characters and plot were interesting and the solution satisfying.
eswaller's review against another edition
3.0
I think I enjoy the characters and will likely read more but it was a bit predictable and plodded on a little too much for the story it had to tell.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
3.0
Take one gloriously grumpy central protagonist, add that train crash, include a massive snowstorm cutting off a train full of people 1222 metres above sea level in an inaccessible hotel, add a mysterious locked carriage and a group of shadowy unknown passengers, then kill off a high-profile passenger and see what happens.
What happens is that our grumpy protagonist, Hanne Wilhemlsen, ex-police officer, in a wheelchair as a result of being shot on duty, has to work out what is going on before the body count continues to increase. With no official help from the outside, and way too much interfering help on the inside, Hanne and a small group of trusted people - some passengers, some staff, some locals, need to work out who wanted to kill off a seemingly harmless, albeit annoying, priest. And the killing doesn't stop there.
Of course this plot has more than a hat-tip to a few perennial favourite devices - a closed room setting, albeit a biggish closed room in this example. This is a very large, rather luxurious resort, capable of taking in 269 or so people at a moment's notice. Then there's the idea of the thinking, observational detective - in this case enforced because of physical restrictions, there's something vaguely reminiscent of Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poriot about Hanne, although her Archie / Hastings is embodied in more than one person in 1222.
There is a large potential cast of passengers, staff and local helpers so it's just possible that the concept of a resort (that's further divided after a particular storm event) could be what makes the action being centred around a very small group of people feasible. Despite this, there was more than one point where I did wonder where everybody else was hiding - 269 plus people not being a small number after all. Add to that the secretive sub-thread about the mysterious closed off carriage, and you couldn't help wondering what was going on behind closed doors, besides the murder plotting of course!
That secretive sub-thread is probably the only part of the book that simply flat-out, doesn't work. This reader had to assume that perhaps the closed carriage was there as a bit of a hap-tip to the classic red-herring (being another perennial favourite), but to be honest, it didn't work as a red-herring throughout the book and the resolution... well it was just pointless.
Ignoring that bit of off-kilter action, the rest of the book was really good. I really like Hanne (and not just because I like grumpy protagonists!), and the use of the setting to provide a closed off, claustrophobic environment along with a sense of potential threat worked. There was a good cast of supporting characters, some nice touches of humour and good pace, and for readers who like to work out the whodonnit aspects, the author has played pretty fair - you've got a good chance of sorting it out, although you will be waiting until the last minute to get your deductions confirmed.
After a bit of a look around it seems that, in that delightful habit publishers have designed to drive readers mildly bats, 1222 is the eighth Hanne Wilhelmsen novel, but the first to be translated into English. Hopefully we'll get the rest of the series "toots sweet". In the right order would be greatly appreciated.
What happens is that our grumpy protagonist, Hanne Wilhemlsen, ex-police officer, in a wheelchair as a result of being shot on duty, has to work out what is going on before the body count continues to increase. With no official help from the outside, and way too much interfering help on the inside, Hanne and a small group of trusted people - some passengers, some staff, some locals, need to work out who wanted to kill off a seemingly harmless, albeit annoying, priest. And the killing doesn't stop there.
Of course this plot has more than a hat-tip to a few perennial favourite devices - a closed room setting, albeit a biggish closed room in this example. This is a very large, rather luxurious resort, capable of taking in 269 or so people at a moment's notice. Then there's the idea of the thinking, observational detective - in this case enforced because of physical restrictions, there's something vaguely reminiscent of Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poriot about Hanne, although her Archie / Hastings is embodied in more than one person in 1222.
There is a large potential cast of passengers, staff and local helpers so it's just possible that the concept of a resort (that's further divided after a particular storm event) could be what makes the action being centred around a very small group of people feasible. Despite this, there was more than one point where I did wonder where everybody else was hiding - 269 plus people not being a small number after all. Add to that the secretive sub-thread about the mysterious closed off carriage, and you couldn't help wondering what was going on behind closed doors, besides the murder plotting of course!
That secretive sub-thread is probably the only part of the book that simply flat-out, doesn't work. This reader had to assume that perhaps the closed carriage was there as a bit of a hap-tip to the classic red-herring (being another perennial favourite), but to be honest, it didn't work as a red-herring throughout the book and the resolution... well it was just pointless.
Ignoring that bit of off-kilter action, the rest of the book was really good. I really like Hanne (and not just because I like grumpy protagonists!), and the use of the setting to provide a closed off, claustrophobic environment along with a sense of potential threat worked. There was a good cast of supporting characters, some nice touches of humour and good pace, and for readers who like to work out the whodonnit aspects, the author has played pretty fair - you've got a good chance of sorting it out, although you will be waiting until the last minute to get your deductions confirmed.
After a bit of a look around it seems that, in that delightful habit publishers have designed to drive readers mildly bats, 1222 is the eighth Hanne Wilhelmsen novel, but the first to be translated into English. Hopefully we'll get the rest of the series "toots sweet". In the right order would be greatly appreciated.