Broken - by Karin Fossum (Paperback)

About the Book

For the first time, Fossum shows her hand-- a novel about an author whose latest creation is the melancholy tale of a complacent man whose life is ripped apart by a young drug addict.

Book Synopsis

A woman wakes up in the middle of the night. A strange man is in her bedroom. She lies there in silence, paralyzed with fear. The woman is an author and the man one of her characters, one in a long line that waits in her driveway for the time when she'll tell their stories. He is so desperate that he has resorted to breaking into her house and demanding that she begin. He, the author decides, is named Alvar Eide, forty-two years old, single, works in a gallery. He lives a quiet, orderly life and likes it that way--no demands, no unpleasantness. Until the icy winter morning when a young drug addict, skinny and fragile, walks into the gallery. Alvar gives her a cup of coffee to warm her up. And then one day she appears on his doorstep. Broken is an unconventional, subtle, and disturbing mystery from a master of the form.

From the Back Cover

I always eagerly await a new novel from Karin Fossum. Ruth Rendell
She is a master of the slow build, the controlled burn. Chicago Tribune
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night. A strange man is in her bedroom. She lies there in silence, paralyzed with fear. The woman is an author and the man one of her characters, one in a long line that waits in her driveway for the time when she ll tell their story. He is so desperately eager for his story to be told that he has resorted to breaking into her house and demanding that she begin.
He, the author decides, is named Alvar Eide, forty-two years old, single, works in a gallery. He lives a quiet, orderly life and likes it that way no demands, no unpleasantness. Until an icy winter afternoon when a young drug addict, skinny and fragile, walks into the gallery. Alvar gives her a cup of coffee to warm her up. She returns to the gallery a few weeks later, and then one day she appears on his doorstep.
Haunting . . . The author s narrative skills are on dazzling display. Washington Post
Karin Fossum is the author of the internationally successful Inspector Konrad Sejer crime series. She received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for her novel The Indian Bride. She lives in a small town in southeastern Norway.
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