Maybe 2 1/2 stars... I don't like it when the detective discovers something that isn't shared with the reader. So when Inspector Van Veeteren comes across an important clue in the telephone book, I am frustrated by the author not telling me what he saw. Then he meets with an unnamed woman who was previously married to a pedophile - clearly the murderer but since we don't know who the woman is how can we figure out who that is?!

I also felt that it seemed like a lot of descriptive details went into describing Van Veeteren's food and bathing - maybe this is supposed to make him human but it was just too much detail. ( )

Not as good as his other books, the ending came out of nowhere. ( )

I found the narrative quite disjointed at times and a hard time keeping track of all the secondary characters. The Silence refers to the three sisters I'd the religious cult Pure Life who refuse to say anything about the whereabouts of the sect's leader or the disappearance of two of the sect's girls. ( )

After reading the Stieg Larsson series of Swedish crime novels (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, The Girl Who Played with Fire), I thought I'd try another popular crime novelist from Sweden, Hakan Nesser.

In The Inspector and the Silence, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren takes on the investigation into the murder of a pre-teen girl from the summer camp of a small religious sect in rural Sweden. The leaders of the sect remain silent and secretive, and clues are few, compounding Van Veeteren's problems.

The book does not have the tension or graphic depravity of the Stieg Larsson books, which might make it an easier read for the squeamish. In Hakan Nesser's book, the characters are interesting individuals, very human, and somewhat folksy in nature.

All in all, it's a nice little crime mystery without a lot of unnecessary graphic details, and keeps you wondering how the crime will be solved to the end. ( )

Dass er spannende Geschichten erzählen kann, deren Auflösung auch Kenner des Genres unerwartet trifft, hat btb-Bestsellerautor Håkan Nesser bereits mehrfach und mit großem Erfolg bewiesen. Seine Fangemeinde in Deutschland ist inzwischen riesig. Mit seinem eigenwilligen Ermittler Van Veeteren hat er einen Helden geschaffen, der das Zeug zum Klassiker hat - ein Mann mittleren Alters mit Magenbeschwerden, der klassische Musik liebt und seine Fälle mit einer Mischung aus schwarzem Humor und Intuition löst. Diesmal steht Van Veeteren vor einer besonders schwierigen Aufgabe. Aus einem Ferienlager sind zwei kleine Mädchen verschwunden. Kurz darauf werden sie ermordet aufgefunden. Steckt ein obskurer Sektenführer hinter den Taten? Oder hat man es mit einem unbekannten Psychopathen zu tun? Vor allem aber: Kann Van Veeteren ihn stoppen, bevor er erneut zuschlägt?