The Indian Bride, also published as Calling Out For You in the UK, is the fifth Inspector Sejer crime novel from Karin Fossum. Not as complex as some of her others, it's a story of lives upended by a sudden unnecessary act of violence, told with a sad melancholy.
Gunder lives in a small rural community, still unmarried in his fifties. Intrigued by a book with photos of all nations, he tells his sister Marie that he is going to India to find a wife. Without telling anyone else, he goes, and meets Poona, a waitress who shows him the city of Mumbai. They marry and he returns to Norway to prepare for her arrival. The night her plane is to land, his sister has a car accident and ends up in the hospital on life support. He sends a friend to pick up Poona, but although she landed, she is not there. Inspector Sejer is called to investigate when the body of a foreign woman is found beaten in a field, 1000 yards from Gundar's house.
It's a small community, and the story follows a few locals who may have seen her on that night. Stories conflict, lessen and grow more important as time goes on. Linda is a young girl who may have seen a man and a woman in the field, and she becomes a prime witness. Lonely and bit naive, once she is interviewed by handsome officer Skarre, she begins to fantasize about her importance in the case, how she will intrigue Skarre with her relations, and how he will soon realize her love for him - obsessive fantasies that lead beyond marriage to everlasting devotion beyond the grave.
The mood of the novel is somber and sad. The opening introduces us to Gundar and his wishes for someone to care for in an open and heart touching way. When he meets Poona, she is also lonely and wanting to care for someone - they make a perfect pair. What happens to her is senseless and heartbreaking, making the novel difficult to read. I don't want anything to happen to Poona. Even after it is all over, I want to remember Gundar and Poona the way it was supposed to be, happily living on his farm. The Indian Bride packs an emotional punch.
Gundar spends his time visiting his unresponsive sister in the hospital, while Inspector Sejer quickly narrows the suspects to one. It's not difficult for the reader to deduce who killed her, and Sejer spends most of the time working a confession out of him.
Fossum doesn't try to wrap everything up and leaves many unanswered questions, I guess that is the way things are sometimes. It would be nice to see the obsessive Linda reappear in a future novel, she was a great character. Another fine novel from Karin Fossum, which I found her most emotional so far. I've started the next novel, but this will stay with me, a somber mood that is hard to shake.
My other reviews for Karin Fossum:
The Whisperer (Inspector Sejer #13)
The Drowned Boy (Inspector Sejer #11)
The Caller (Inspector Sejer #10)
Bad Intentions (Inspector Sejer #9)
The Water's Edge (Inspector Sejer #8)
The Murder of Harriet Krohn (Inspector Sejer #7)
Black Seconds (Inspector Sejer #6)
When The Devil Holds The Candle (Inspector Sejer #4)
He Who Fears The Wolf (Inspector Sejer #3)
Don't Look Back (Inspector Sejer #2)
In The Darkness (Inspector Sejer #1)
2001 / Hardcover / 297 pages
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