About this title: Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delta Trade Paperbacks
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781607514169ISBN:1607514168
Description: Good. Used Condition-GOOD can be a well cared for Book that is in great condition to a Book that may show some signs of wear. GOOD Books sometimes are permanently marked; have some spine or page creases; exibit signs of aging or an ExLibrary copy. ** Sometimes grease pencil or permanent marking on cover. May contain limited notes and or highlighting. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases. ** SHIPS FROM USA-Domestic Delivery takes 5-14 days ** read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780552774635ISBN:0552774634
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 480 pages. Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? julia davidsson has not. her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the swedish island of oland. no trace of him has ever been found. until his shoe arrives in the post. it has been sent to julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. (Paperback) read more
Edition: BCE
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group, New York
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781607514169ISBN:1607514168
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 385 Pages. Measures: 5-3/4" x 8-1/2" Clean, tight copy with no writings or markings. Not an Ex-Library book. Colorfully illustrated dust jacket. Includes a brief biography of the author. Translated by Marlaine Delargy. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Doubleday & Co Inc
Date Published: 30/06/2008
ISBN-13:9780385613620ISBN:0385613628
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385613620ISBN:0385613628
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385613620ISBN:0385613628
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385613620ISBN:0385613628
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 400 pages. Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? julia davidsson has not. her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the swedish island of oland. no trace of him has ever been found. until his shoe arrives in the post. it has been sent to julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Inc
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385342216ISBN:0385342217
Description: Following in the footsteps of prize-winning authors Arnuldar Indridason and Henning Mankell comes a chilling new voice in European crime fiction. "Echoes From the Dead" is as chilling as it is psychologically acute--a gripping study of loss, sorrow, ... read more
"At last, a real mystery. It is the story of a little boy who disappeared one day, and how his grandfather and mother found his murderer twenty years later. There were plenty of twists and lots of very annoying missed opportunities for communication. in the first pages, the author tells you that the grandfather's name, Gerlof, is actually pronounced Yair-loff, which distracted me so much that I could hardly attend to the plot.
Every time the name appeared, I would need three tries (Ger-loff, Hair-loff, and finally, with effort, Yair-loff) to get it right. It slowed me down significantly.
Mysteries are not generally known for character development, and this is no exception, but it was pretty well-written and had far fewer cliches than most."
"Translated from the Swedish, this compelling story mingles past and present very skillfully. Julia Davidsson has been mourning the loss of her five-year-old son Jens for twenty years. He disappeared into the fog one day and was never seen again, presumed drowned, but his body was never found and Julia is haunted by the fact that he may still be alive and wants to know what happened to him. She has, over the years, distanced herself from family back on the Baltic island Öland because it's just too painful to continue seeing people who were in her life when Jens disappeared. Now she is simply existing and working as a nurse in a city some distance away, drinking too much and spending much time brooding over Jens.
When her father Gerlof calls her and says that he has received one of the sandals that Jens was wearing when he disappeared in a parcel in the mail, Julia extends a work leave and is off to Öland to once again take up the quest for knowledge. While there, she reacquaints herself with Gerlof, now elderly and living in a care home, suffering from Sjögren's syndrome, which causes much pain and difficulty with movement. She really knows no one else, and has plenty of time to confront the past and her own demons as she spends time in the places of her childhood. When one of Gerlof's friends who had been working on the mystery of Jens' disappearance with Gerlof is found dead, crushed by one of his stone sculptures, Gerlof (who has been rather reticent with Julia about some of his thoughts and findings) realizes how real the danger of knowledge about the past likely is.
Has the past come back to haunt the whole island? Is the mysterious Nils Kant, a felon who shot three people--including a local police superintendant--with a shotgun and then fled to South America still alive and coming back for revenge? His body was returned and is presumably buried in the cemetery, but some believe he is alive. The local policeman, who was the son of the one Kant shot, thinks this is nonsense and tells Julia so as they begin striking up a friendship. As the story is unveiled in bits and pieces--told from several points of view including that of the young Nils Kant--clues are dropped here and there.
I admit I did figure out most of the mystery well ahead of time, but it made the story no less compelling. You just had to read on and find out what happens to Julia and to Gerlof, too. Dark and brooding (which seems fairly typical for Scandinavian mysteries) and very well-written--and thus, presumably well-translated also--I was thoroughly enthralled with this story from beginning to end and would highly recommend it."
"Johan Theorin's Swedish mystery about a missing boy and his mother is an extremely addicting novel. The story starts in the 70s, with the disappearance of Julia's young son. Skip to the present and Julia's father wants to see her, 20 years after her son went missing. What starts as Julia trying to make peace with the fact that her son is probably dead ends up turning into a mystery no one expects. The story is strong, and at the end, quite brutal. I enjoyed reading it, but my low rating is because what happened at the end was shockingly disappointing. I don't mean to say that it didn't work, because it was quite effective, I just didn't like it."
"I thought this book was highly atmospheric (the fog on Öland was most vividly described, and the locals' scorn of "summer people" amusing) and quite well paced. I liked the gentle and natural way the story unfolded, seen as it was from a number of perspectives. Where I think it misses a bit is in the ending: too much complicated stuff happens in the very last pages. That always leaves the reader feeling a little manipulated. But I look forward to the next one."
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