An axe murderer is at large! The realisation of this struck terror in the little coastal town of Kaalbringen. All in all, 3 people had been brutally murdered, all in cold blood. Welcome to "Borkmann's Point", a crime thriller made in Scandinavia, courtesy of one Hakan Nesser (translated from Swedish to English by British translator Laurie Thompson).The book kicked off with the ghastly slaying of Ernst Simmel, a wealthy real-estate mogul. A very bloody way to begin the story. This killing of Simmel was the second axe murder in Kaalbringen. The first was the murder of Heinz Eggers, a shady ex-convicted criminal. It was the slaying of Simmel that raised alarm bells, it was this slaying which sparked off speculation that there was a serial killer in town. Chief Inspector Van Veeteren happened to be on vacation nearby. After Simmel's murder, Van Veeteren was summoned to assist the Kaalbringen police force.
Despite the best efforts of all involved in the investigation, there were absolutely no clues which could link the 2 murders. One of the few things Van Veeteren managed to learn was that Simmel (the second victim) was not a particularly nice individual with questionably morals. Then a third person was butchered to death, this being Dr Maurice Ruhme. Investigations fail to come up with any links to the first 2 murders, let alone clues as to whom the axe murderer might be. Van Veeteren & his team of investigators would come under pressure (from the media & the public) to solve the case, especially given that the local veteran police chief is on the verge of retirement & would like the case solved before he calls it a day. To complicate things even further, one of Van Veeteren's fellow investigators, Beate Mork, then went missing - possibly abducted by the killer.
When I picked up the novel "Borkmann's Point" from the library & looked at the front cover, my first thought was that it was a infamous spot where terrible crimes were committed. As it turned out, it was not actually a place. It was an old rule which Van Veeteren inherited from an old police officer, Borkmann, whom he had come across in the past. More accurately, it was not really a rule, but more of a comment, a landmark for tricky cases. Borkmann's Point was that in every investigation, there comes a point beyond which one does not really need any more information. When one reaches that point, one already know enough to solve the case by means of nothing more than some decent thinking. A good investigator should try to ascertain when that point has been reached or passed. According to Borkmann, it is precisely this ability, or lack of it, which distinguishes a good detective from a bad one.
Easier said than done, though, given that all the investigative work done by Van Veeteren & his team had come up with precious little clues. But after Mork's disappearance, Van Veeteren would crank things up. Using all his wit, Van Veeteren would eventually reach Borkmann's Point & solve the case.
Overall, I found "Borkmann's Point" to be a good read. The details of the killings were very gory - perhaps more so than any other crime novels I have read. But that's axe murders for you - brutal to the extreme. The ending was a bit too quick for my liking (it just came like that). It's because of the Borkmann's Point theory - for a long while, Van Veeteren & his crew dug & dug for information. Everything was right there, but needed some thinking in order to reach Borkmann's Point & solve the case. I never managed to guess who the killer was - then again, I hardly succeed in all the books I have read.
The book has an obvious European flavour. Interesting, Mr Nesser would use the setting of a fictitious Northern European town. Apparently, that is his style - he sets his books in fictitious places. The character names in the book are mostly either Swedish, Dutch or German. However, when I read the book, I imagined the story as being set in the Netherlands, mainly because of the surname Van Veeteren. The town Kaalbringen sounds either Dutch or German, & the author is Swedish. Hhhhmmm, oh well, "Borkmann's Point" is European. A good European crime novel, one worth reading.
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