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Johanne Vik is a Norwegian college teacher who has an interest in serial killers and has taken courses in the US with the FBI on serial killers and profiling and became interested in the criminal mind. Divorced with a young daughter who has a form of autism, she's also writing a book about the media and how it deals with people who insist they are innocent of the crime for which they are in prison. She's a loner, happy with her home and young child. A series of children are kidnapped near Johanne's hometown in Norway. Police Superintendent Stubo is the head detective on the case. He and his men are working hard to catch this killer but there are no leads and no connection between the children or their families. Then two of the three kidnapped children are returned to their parents, dead with the message, "You Got What You Deserved" in a note attached to their bodies. On top of that, the medical examiner can't find a cause of death for the children and the media and the people in that small country are frantic with worry. Even though his colleagues laugh at profiling, Detective Stubo contacts the FBI for help. Johanne is recommended and he meets with her and pleads for help, unofficially, to find the killer. Johanne simply can't bring herself to assist. She needs to travel to America to interview a subject for her book, and more importantly, everything about the kidnappings makes her depressed and uncomfortable. She refuses to help. When another child is murdered and found, while the first child kidnapped is still missing, Stubo believes that the first child might still be alive. He makes himself into a pest until Johanne can no longer refuse to help him stop the kidnappings. They begin to work together in private, going over each bit of evidence until they can catch the killer. Author Anne Holt is an exceptional writer. She's created solid characters in PUNISHMENT. Johanne is so well fleshed out that the readers can feel for the woman's emotional state right away. She's a sensitive person who has been through the mill and we can understand why she feels she can't get personally involved with this heartrending case. Superintendent Stubo is also a great creation, a realistic person. He's a worn-out cop who looks like he's 60 at the age of 45, gaining weight and anxieties while trying to stop this killer. Even the characters of the first kidnapped child and the murdering kidnapper are well crafted and intriguing. Holt's dialogue is also well-paced and natural. You can almost hear the voices of the people talking. The story's premise of a painstaking kidnapper who strikes in plain sight but leaves no evidence is a fascinating idea. It’s also interesting to note how a small country like Norway differs from the US and how things are done differently there. Unfortunately, all of these wonderful elements are done in by the solution and wrap-up of the murder mystery. There were far too many connections made between the characters and the end of the book just didn’t work for me. In the last chapter, Holt decides to give an overview of each person's future lives, and this completely threw me out of living with her characters inside the story and ruined the connection I felt with the main characters. Three quarters of PUNISHMENT is a wonderful book, a joy to read and is fascinating. The final chapters unfortunately ruin the story, and left this reader feeling hugely let down.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, September 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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