Sólo ha pasado un día tras la muerte de su joven esposa, pero el policía finlandés Kimmo Joentaa, incapaz de asumirlo, quiere volver al trabajo cuanto antes. No puede soportar quedarse ni un segundo más en su casa, situada frente a un lago de belleza inquietante, en un solitario paraje a las afueras de Torku. En la comisaría, su jefe, el antipático Ketola, acepta asignarle un nuevo caso: una mujer ha aparecido muerta en su casa, asfixiada en la cama con una almohada.
La puerta no ha sido forzada, no ha habido robo, no hay móvil. Joentaa no tardará en descubrir que se enfrenta a un escurridizo asesino en serie que se gaa la confianza de sus víctimas y se obsesionará con la investigación. La angustia que ambos sienten acabará creando una extraña empatía entre el criminal y su perseguidor.

Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner was more of a psychological study than a mystery. Set in Finland, at the beginning of the book, police detective Kimmo Joentaa’s wife dies and for the rest of the book he struggles with her absence. When he is assigned a case where the killer quietly strangles his victims in their sleep he feels a strange affinity for this murderer. While he works through his grief and loss, Joentaa struggles with keeping his mind on the job, working partly by police procedure and party by his own intuition.

Meanwhile the murderer is slowly coming apart and having difficulty keeping his life together and dealing with his solitary state. The feeling of being alone is a thread that runs throughout the book, from the detective to the murderer and on to the bereaved that are left behind, all are dealing with solitude in one way or another.

I didn’t like how the book ended. It felt that the author had run out of story so simply shut the story down. I will not be actively looking for the next book in the series, but if it happened to cross my path I would probably give it a try. ( )

Sehr faszinierend. Ich hatte bereits einen späteren Band des Autoren und mit Kommissar Joentaa gelesen, der mir sehr gut gefallen hatte. Umso interessanter war es nun, den Beginn der Reihe zu lesen, auch wenn ich mich ein wenig schwer damit tue, das Buch als Krimi einzuordnen. Krimi oder doch eher Roman? Ein Zwitter sozusagen, aber auf jeden Fall ein sehr lohnender, der das sehr schwierige Thema Tod aus vielen Richtungen beleuchtet und eine sprachlich sehr schöne Geschichte dazu erzählt. ( )

Set in Finland this is a psychological thriller about the many different ways a person handles or hides their grief. Liked the lead detective Kimmo Joenta, who doesn't know how to handle the fact that his wife as died and finds himself back at work and involved in a murder case. Intrigued enough to read his next US release called "Silence" which came out last week. ( )

First in a series of 3, with the 4th published in German. Have read #3. The protagonist, Joentaa, is a 29 year old Turku police detective, who has just lost his wife. In the midst of his mourning, there is a murder, followed by a similar one, and then .......more. The mourning isis genuine, a man who has lost his wife too soon, and cannot focus on the present without soon being consumed with memories of Saana. Very touching. The detective has a bit of a gift, a sixth sense of sorts - there are things he feels, things he knows - but cannot explain. other characters are well done, the translation is adequate. Will soon read book #2, Silence. Interesting series about Finland, written by a German. LAST BOOK OF 2011, # 100. ( )