Ragna Riegel, her voice reduced to a whisper from a botched operation, lives a solitary life. Living in her childhood home, her parents are deceased and her only son moved to Berlin years ago, only sending Ragna an occasional Christmas card. While her life is a series of routines, she finds comfort in sitting in the same seat on the bus every day, seeing the same things at her local shop, and the work she does. However, Ragna's life is uprooted the day she receives an anonymous letter in her mailbox with a clear threat written on the single sheet of paper. Now, threatened by an unknown and unseen enemy, Ragna feels she must use everything she has to defend herself.
We meet Ragna at the beginning of the story being interviewed by Inspector Konrad Sejer because she has been accused of murder. Just how did this quiet, seemingly meek woman get to this point? The book slowly unravels Ragna's life, giving a glimpse into this woman's increasingly claustrophobic life. At first, it seems like Ragna is fine and you wonder who is threatening her and then as the story continues, you get a sense that something is off. It's almost like it's at the peripheral edge of your vision; you can't quite get a hold of what it is, but you definitely feel like something's not right. And the something appears to be Ragna, herself.
I have not read many of the Konrad Sejer books, so I appreciate that Fossum doesn't require that you have a strong background for this character, or need to know in-depth details of his background. In this story, it is enough to know what his job is, and a little about him as is revealed through his conversations with Ragna. However, Ragna is the focus and as the story develops, I found I became quite intrigued by her character. At first, I felt sympathetic and wondered if perhaps Ragna had been the victim of trauma, or had a touch of Asperger's. I found myself thinking of the character of Eleanor Oliphant (Gail Honeyman's character). However, as I continued to turn the pages, I started to find Ragna was perhaps not as sympathetic and instead, there was something darker at work here.
No spoilers on this ending. Suffice to say, if you like psychological mysteries where characters are slowly revealed, this is your kind of story. For readers who like their mysteries to be thoughtful and who enjoy books by Ruth Rendell or Minette Walters.
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