HET DERTIENDE STERRENBEELD

TITLE: HET DERTIENDE STERRENBEELD
AUTHOR: UNNI LINDELL
Pages: 378
Date: 10/05/2009
Grade: 4-
Details: no. 1 Inspector Cato Isakson Mystery
Own

Even though I scored this book a 4-, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. The mystery itself was certainly good. Men are being killed in Oslo, and underneath their bodies short notes with lines from a nursery rhyme are being found. In a country were serial killings are rare to non-existent, this creates a huge headache for Cato Isakson and his colleagues.
About halfway through the book it seem like the killer has been revealed, but thankfully things turn out to be less obvious than they seem.
It was the rest of the story that didn't quite sit right with me. Too large a part of the story was taken up by Cato's private life and problems for my liking. Yes, some part of his private life story tied in to the mystery, but I would have liked more attention to the detection and less for Cato's love and family life.
So, will I read more books in this series? I haven't made up my mind about that. I will be looking for books to bring home with me when I'm in Holland, and if nothing else peaks my interest I may pick up another Cato Isakson mystery, but I do not feel an urgent need to get one.
The Dutch have marketed this book as a "literary thriller"; for me it could have been less literary and more thriller.