What’s it about?
Black Seconds is a mystery. At first, it might just be a disappearance. A young girl has left to ride her bike to the store for a magazine and some candy and never comes home. But as time goes on, it becomes more. It becomes about mistakes and her family and a particular friend she’s made who maybe isn’t entirely right in the head.
Why should you read it?
Black Seconds sounds like it should be about something horrible, but it really isn’t. Or maybe it is, and you just don’t realize it because Karin Fossum’s spare writing treats all her characters with dignity and respect. No one is a caricature, no one’s exaggerated to make a point. It’s very stereotypically Scandinavian – Fossum is Norse, and the book takes place in small-town Norway. I quite enjoyed it.