> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409019961
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 368

When the Devil Holds the Candle




A brilliantly taut, atmospheric thriller starring Inspector Sejer from Norway's 'Queen of Crime'

Andreas's disappearance is a mystery to all, including his inseparable friend Zipp. But as much as the police question him, its not easy for Zipp to come forward with details of the last time he saw his friend: following an old woman into her home, brandishing his knife. Zipp waited anxiously outside but Andreas failed to reappear.

Inspector Sejer and his colleague Skarre are baffled but while the confusion in the outside world continues, a chilling and heart-stopping drama is unfolding inside the old woman's home. In a plot in the tradition of Stephen King, Fossum deploys her trademark skill of looking realistically, terrifyingly, into the minds of criminal and victim. Appearances aren't always to be believed, and people are not always what they seem.

  • Published: 1 May 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409019961
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 368

About the author

Karin Fossum

Karin Fossum’s critically acclaimed novels have won numerous prizes. She is two-time winner of the prestigious Riverton Award and has also won the Glass Key Award for the best Nordic crime novel, an honour shared with Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo, as well as the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her highly acclaimed Inspector Sejer series has been published in more than forty countries.

Also by Karin Fossum

See all

Praise for When the Devil Holds the Candle

Like the best Rendell...she tackles the reasons people commit crimes and the devastating effect it has on the protagonists' lives

Good Book Guide

Explores the process of scapegoating, and the awful human cost of false accusations ... may well bring the half-Swedish Ruth Rendell irresistibly to mind

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Fossum's elucidation of the criminally degenerate mind is first-rate

Mail on Sunday

An engrossing pyschological thriller

Sunday Telegraph