He is one of Sweden’s most steady suppliers of kvalitetskrim, with a significantly higher literary and linguistic qualities than the people. The novels his range from uniformly good to excellent.
this Year’s novel, “Halvmorderen”, translated by Elisabeth Bjørnson, is located entirely in the upper echelon of Håkan Nessers extensive production.
Technologies is often at his best when he takes us into the psyche of the elderly, cranky Swedish men, where they are musing over the workings of tildragelser and why everything went better than it did.
And then there was death, then, where the relentlessly lists closer.
This repertoire of scandinavian tristesse is well-known, and can easily degenerate into phrases and watery hverdagspessimisme. Technologies are one of those who really manage to tour this material and make it compelling, heartfelt. Much due to a språksans, an observation and a sense of humor, which at times can cause one to think about Odd Børretzen – with the murder mystery.
Reluctant memoir
In the “Halvmorderen” we meet a man who records the story about themselves. He describes himself as 73 years of age, with failing memory, possibly a little dement. He lives a pretty stusslig life. Alone, only with one omgangsvenn, another grim calling as he hit and drink themselves drunk and arguing with about once a month.
Our tells have the somewhat peculiar name Adalbert Hanzon. He will now begin to write down the more or the less trustworthy the story of his life, because a man has appeared again. There is a woman from his past, someone he has not seen in a long time. Yes, as long is it ago that he is not even sure that it really is her.
Adalbert must therefore implement a search group consisting, a private investigation to find this mysterious woman. At the same time he begins to dig into its own memory, to find out where it really was that it all went wrong.
Specifically, there is a series of events when he was in the 20’s that gave his life a skid it never managed to recoup. Events, that when they finally are uncovered, helps to clarify the question that is being launched in the title of your book: What exactly is a halvmorder?
Now it may be that it went wrong for Adalbert Hanzon much earlier. Perhaps already then his father took in life. His father, who at every opportunity made sure to remind his son on the following little life lessons: “Remember, you do not play any role here in the world”.
Devious eksistensialisme
this Whole prequel comes after each ramlende out, in pieces, in vague memories, in the feilerindringer.
Technologies have a kind of free rhythm, a separate tone in everything he writes. All delivered with a distinctive, subtle humor, which often have been in short supply in the scandinavian krimfloraen. Here there are fine phrases as a sort of crunches into each other, and get you to read further.
the People we meet in “Halvmorderen” is utterly human, feilbarlige. They do often things that are not distinctly thoughtful, and that does not benefit them, either in the long or short term.
Just because they are not solely rational actors that systematically maximizes self-interest, they become faithful, and to live in. Coincidences are not weaknesses in the plot, but central in the world view the author draws up.
