Wednesday, January 24, 2007

bitre blomster

I finally finished my Norwegian mystery novel the other day, and you know what? The ending was pretty lame. The detective, Varg Veum, was looking into two murders, and he got sidetracked onto this 10-year-old case where a little girl had disappeared from her house and had never been seen again. And then he meets the 16-year-old daughter of one of the murder victims, and she'd been adopted at the right age. And all the parallels are there and everything and you're all set, like, oo! Varg is going to prove that Kari was actually Camilla and the Camilla case will be solved once and for all!

And then - it's ok if I spoil the ending, right? No one is ever going to read this? So then it turns out that little Camilla hid in her dad's car, fell asleep, was driven off to a factory (a major setting in the novel) by her mom's lover, and fell into an open hole of chemical waste. So she's been dead for 10 years. The whole Kari thing was a total red herring. He never even mentions her again. All the other murders were to cover up the fact that once, 10 years ago, the chemical company left the top of the waste tank open without a guard. Seriously? That's a reason to kill people?

Is it just me, or is that the dumbest ending to a mystery novel ever?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a little-known fact that Norwegian chemical companies are some of the most devious in the world. Behind the politeness and the hospitality, they're forcing employees to bathe in radioactive waste.

Coloradan said...

I recommend the movie "Silver City" for an equally lame solution to the mystery, this one with a hefty dose of liberal political moralizing. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I think I can safely reveal that... the victim was killing by deregulation!

grrrbear said...

The nice thing about radioactive waste is that it generates its own heat - thereby helping Norway reduce it's CO2 emissions, because they don't use water heaters anymore. Sure, you lose a kid here and there, but it's a small price to pay, for a greener tomorrow, right?

towwas said...

I just looked up the word for the waste, blÄsyre, online - it wasn't in my dictionary. (I need a new dictionary.) It's hydrogen cyanide, which I gather is pretty deadly.

Deregulation?!? Horrors!! Yeah, like this one, in which they killed people...to cover up NEGLIGENCE! Omg!

They're making a movie of the book, so if it does become an international hit this year, I apologize in advance for spoiling the ending.